why convert book format?

[Fynjisx]

Why use converting books? Well, I have a book in pdf or djvu, so what? Why should I convert it to epub, mobi? What features do other formats give me?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fynjisx

Why use converting books? Well, I have a book in pdf or djvu, so what? Why should I convert it to epub, mobi? What features do other formats give me?

You should ignore PDF and Djvu. It's not worth the hassle converting these formats.

[Fynjisx]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You should ignore PDF and Djvu. It's not worth the hassle converting these formats.

I asked why should I convert pdf / djvu to other formats?

[Sarmat89]

For smaller file size and word wrapping.

[Quoth]

Except it often doesn't work well, and sometimes not at all to convert pdf or djvu. If they are actually having all the pages as images, you can use a utility to convert to the same format, but reducing noise, improving brightness and contrast, reducing bit depth (if mono). Not converting to other formats such as epub.

You might run OCR and then proof PDF/djvu to convert to docx and then when all fixed convert that to epub.

Some PDFs have uncorrected OCR layer.
Some PDFs do have text and vectors, then you can convert/edit them in MS Word, or LO Writer, and then fix, make docx and then epub.

It's too much work. If you have hundreds or more better to get a larger screen device with more storage. I gave up, so have a 10″ tablet with 256G SD card and 10.3″ Elipsa and 8″ Sage (more dots) eink both 32 G Flash.

[retiredbiker]

Originally Posted by Fynjisx

Why use converting books? Well, I have a book in pdf or djvu, so what? Why should I convert it to epub, mobi? What features do other formats give me?

The only "feature" you would get by converting is the ability to read it as flowing text on an e-ink device. But many pdf or djvu files have content not well displayed on small readers -- like textbooks and scientific papers. They are best left as they are.

A pdf of a novel, for example from Internet Archive, might well be turned into an epub, but as others have pointed out, it can be a discouraging amount of work.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Fynjisx

Why use converting books? Well, I have a book in pdf or djvu, so what? Why should I convert it to epub, mobi? What features do other formats give me?

#1 reason TO: The device does not support the format you have.

I think many newbies think conversions ADD stuff the source did not have:
Colors where there was no colors coded (Conversions can do an over all color, but not just a word ). Enabling THE DEVICES ability for Note taking.

OTOH If you are willing to do 'value added' editing, you cam make up for deficiencies in the original (eg. original Mobi was very limited in styling)

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by theducks

#1 reason TO: The device does not support the format you have.

This. It's the only reason why I would convert. Most of the pdfs, however, have a lot of illustration so make no sense to convert. I just read those on my tablet. I have nothing in that other format.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fynjisx

I asked why should I convert pdf / djvu to other formats?

You should not because it can be a disaster to convert. Once you sort of convert, you then have to fix the mess that you've ended up with. PDF and Djvu do not convert well. They are not worth the bother. It would be easier to just buy a proper copy in ePub.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Tarana

This. It's the only reason why I would convert. Most of the pdfs, however, have a lot of illustration so make no sense to convert. I just read those on my tablet. I have nothing in that other format.

djvu in my experience are all scans. I can convert to image based PDF or export one page as an image. PDF was designed for WYSIWYG preview and files for publishing so has many more features. The Djvu seems just for multipage scans, an alternative to multipage TIFF which used to be used for electronic computer fax reception.

I'd convert djvu to PDF if I needed them on a Kobo or Kindle. I think the viewer I use on my tablet for PDFs also does djvu and images.

[Sirtel]

As has been said multiple times, converting PDF and DJVU is not a really good idea. As a rule, they don't convert well and the result can be a real mess. And they're not really ebook formats, because they're not suitable for small screens.

For novels on a small screen ("small" meaning anything smaller than 10'') you want reflowable formats, like epub or azw3 (the latter is a Kindle format).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

For novels on a small screen ("small" meaning anything smaller than 10'') you want reflowable formats, like epub or azw3 (the latter is a Kindle format).

KF8 is the official name.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

KF8 is the official name.

I know, but azw3 is in general use and no one would understand what I'm talking about if I used KF8.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I know, but azw3 is in general use and no one would understand what I'm talking about if I used KF8.

Use it often enough and other will understand.

[Fiat_Lux]

Originally Posted by Fynjisx

Why use converting books? Well, I have a book in pdf or djvu, so what? Why should I convert it to epub, mobi? What features do other formats give me?

The only reason to convert DJVU to PDF, or vice versus, is because you only want to deal with one file format. Converting either of those to another file format is usually a waste of time and energy. Results are guaranteed to be failures.

I usually convert WARC, CBZ and CBR to PDF, because ebook readers usually suck at deciphering those file formats. OTOH, even as PDFs, ebook reader rendering is sub-optimal.