Quote:
Originally Posted by strangeseraph
A question about proprietary formats. Which format is the most mainstream in terms of ebook reading. .mobi? If so can I convert pdfs and other formats to that to read them? How does it differ from say, a pdf which has pages that you can flip? What about images and book covers, how do they work? I've been trapped with simple text html for awhile and no real image covers because they take up my memstick space.
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All e-book formats are more similar to HTML than PDF, in that they "reflow" the text based on the screen size and the font size chosen. One advantage of this is that there is no need for a separate large print version - just change the font size (some devices put a limit on the maximum font size though).
I suggest you try
MobiPocket Reader and
FBReader under Windows on your e-books and see how you like them. Note that the only e-ink device with FBReader is the iLiad, and you should experiment with the settings under "Options" before deciding if you like it. The MobiPocket Reader is available on the iLiad and the Cybook, but note that the Windows version has more options than the iLiad and Cybook versions (which are different, but both read MOBI and PRC files with and without DRM). FBReader also reads MOBI and PRC without DRM, and I prefer it to the MobiPocket Reader on the iLiad.
FBreader supports many e-book formats, including several with images. It reads single-file HTML (with images) directly, but if you have multi-file HTML then you need to convert it to an OEB book by adding a .opf file. I think Windows MobiPocket Reader converts HTML (or OEB) to MOBI, and on other devices only MOBI/PRC is supported (but I'm not entirely sure). The CyBook does have (single-file?) HTML support. MOBI includes images, but GIFs can be small (on the screen) because images must be less than 64KB each. If you create the MOBI files yourself then you can use JPEGs instead for larger images.
If you have non-encrypted PDF's then MobiPocket Reader will import them and try to convert them to MOBI, but that often does not work well. They can be read on the iLiad using its PDF reader (ipdf), and the 8" screen does make this possible for A4 or letter pages - but not if your eyesight is below average.