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Bob Russell · 08-14-2006, 03:21 PM

Let me ask about a topic that I think a lot of ebook fans are curious about, but I'm not sure anyone has a good answer for...

Suppose we want to scan a book that is not under copyright. It could be a hardback, paperback, or a binder of printed 8.5x11" pages. Assume the following:

* We want the whole process to be easy and fast and cheap, but mostly easy and not so slow that it's not worth bothering.
* We want to spend a minimal amount of money on scanners or software.
* We don't care much about quality. Assume it's for personal reading only.
* A reasonable amount of OCR errors is tolerable as long as one can still read the text without too much trouble. So it's okay if "cl" sometimes becomes a "d", or vice versa, and so forth.
* The book has a fairly standard layout and a fairly normal font style.
* We are willing to destroy the book if necessary (unbind, cut, etc)
* No pictures or formatting are required, just the text for reading on a small screen device.

I realize there may be multiple answers depending on whether or not the book is destroyed, or based on the size of the book.

Edited to make the question more evident...
Has anyone already got a good answer for [how to do] this, or do we all need to start from scratch if we decide to jump into such a project?

BTW, the copyright issue may limit some of us to old books that we don't want to destroy. Any answers for the case we don't want to damage the book? Or suppose we are willing to accept images instead of characters, such as a pdf scan of a math book to keep diagrams and symbols, etc. Any different solutions now?

08-14-2006, 03:21 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Simplest scanning methods and equipment Let me ask about a topic that I think a lot of ebook fans are curious about, but I'm not sure anyone has a good answer for... Suppose we want to scan a book that is not under copyright. It could be a hardback, paperback, or a binder of printed 8.5x11" pages. Assume the following: * We want the whole process to be easy and fast and cheap, but mostly easy and not so slow that it's not worth bothering. * We want to spend a minimal amount of money on scanners or software. * We don't care much about quality. Assume it's for personal reading only. * A reasonable amount of OCR errors is tolerable as long as one can still read the text without too much trouble. So it's okay if "cl" sometimes becomes a "d", or vice versa, and so forth. * The book has a fairly standard layout and a fairly normal font style. * We are willing to destroy the book if necessary (unbind, cut, etc) * No pictures or formatting are required, just the text for reading on a small screen device. I realize there may be multiple answers depending on whether or not the book is destroyed, or based on the size of the book. Edited to make the question more evident... *Has anyone already got a good answer for [how to do]* this, or do we all need to start from scratch if we decide to jump into such a project?** BTW, the copyright issue may limit some of us to old books that we don't want to destroy. Any answers for the case we don't want to damage the book? Or suppose we are willing to accept images instead of characters, such as a pdf scan of a math book to keep diagrams and symbols, etc. Any different solutions now? Last edited by Bob Russell; 08-14-2006 at 04:04 PM. Reason: For clarity...