Suggested best formats for JBL?

[dougf4]

I am awaiting my JBL from Newegg. Purchased on the $99.00 special.

I am collecting and downloading books prior to its arrival.

Any hints/tips on which formats are best and also what free conversion software is most effective and user friendly in "prepping" files for use with the JBL?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Doug

[jblitereader]

The following is my opinion only. You shouldn't take it as truth.

I've been trying to use every format that the jbl would show. I've come to the conclusion that plain text format really is the simplest and best format for me.

Calibre is a decent free conversion software.

[GhostHawk]

For me, *.RTF is my #1 choice not that I can really tell you why.
It seems to do a better job of formatting than straight txt does.

As for conversion software I'm the rebel in the crowd.
Calibre has done nothing but tick me off and screw up my library.

Zilla PDF to txt converter is free, will convert PDF to straight txt.
ABC Ambler lit converter will convert any *.lit files.

Anything else, I just load it in wordpad, and save as .rtf. Which works fine for fixing the few .doc files, etc.

[steven522]

I second the plain text. I have converted the books I read to TXT and threw a few simple line spacings in to allow chapter to break to a new page. I have been tracking down some older books I would like to re-read, and converting the RTF and HTML to straight text using simple word processors like ConText and note/wordpad for direct search and replace of formatting strings. If needed, then Word itself can clear end-of-line breaks that occur in the middle of sentences.

[dougf4]

Thanks for your great insight!

What about .mobi? How well does JBL do with this format?

A friend gave me a CD with a couple dozen novels in this format and I was wondering if I should convert some to txt files in order to get full benefit on the JBL?

[jblitereader]

Originally Posted by steven522

If needed, then Word itself can clear end-of-line breaks that occur in the middle of sentences.

Interesting... I didn't know word processor has this option. How do you do this?

[Ken Maltby]

It's been my experience that the JBL does a pretty good job with all the formats
that it can work with, within its limitations. It can't, as of yet, handle a few of the
features its hardware could support, if the firmware reader program were to be made
to implement them. So some things like internal link support are not generally available
even if the format includes it. The basic ability to read the text of the listed formats
is there though.

It is also often quite possible to work around most of the limitations that sometimes
prevent, or delay, a particular ebook's display/loading. ( For instance I ended up using
"mobi2HTML.exe" to get a 23MB .mobi file to load and display properly on the JBL.)

"Best Format" is even more subjective than "Best Rechargeable Battery". I usually
like the job Calibre does (using the "Jetbook 5-inch" output profile) converting my old
Palm .pdb ebooks to .epub. I prefer the wider spacing of these .epub, some like the
tighter spacing of the .pdb.

Ectaco recomends .txt as the most compatible format for the JBL. I've had little trouble
getting an ebook in any of the listed formats to be readable on the JBL. I may have had
to convert a troublesome case into a different listed format, but that is easily, and quickly
done with Calibre. In the vast majority of cases the ebook will be readable, without any
adjustment being required.

Luck;
Ken

[hiaig]

Originally Posted by livingenzyme

Interesting... I didn't know word processor has this option. How do you do this?

I think it's the find and replace all function... you can replace special characters like end of line, end of page etc. with nothing.

[steven522]

Originally Posted by livingenzyme

Interesting... I didn't know word processor has this option. How do you do this?

With MS Word, you can search for "^p" which is the manual line break character. I usually replace with a space, so that this:

<p>It was a dark
and stormy night.</p>
<p>A shot rang out.</p>

becomes this:

<p>It was a dark and stormy night.</p> <p>A shot rang out.</p>

Then you can search and replace </p> with a ^p to get:

<p>It was a dark and stormy night.
<p>A shot rang out.

And replace the <p> markers with nothing to finish cleaning up.

The only drawback is if you are converting a file that has no specific end of line marker such as </p> in html. Attempting to convert any badly formatted plain text is a pain no matter what.

[dougf4]

Thanks again for all the great advice.

Steven - that's exactly what I was looking for.

So does "Open Office" do a better job or is just the preferred word processor of some?

[jblitereader]

Originally Posted by steven522

With MS Word, you can search for "^p" which is the manual line break character. I usually replace with a space, so that this:

<p>It was a dark
and stormy night.</p>
<p>A shot rang out.</p>

becomes this:

<p>It was a dark and stormy night.</p> <p>A shot rang out.</p>

Then you can search and replace </p> with a ^p to get:

<p>It was a dark and stormy night.
<p>A shot rang out.

And replace the <p> markers with nothing to finish cleaning up.

The only drawback is if you are converting a file that has no specific end of line marker such as </p> in html. Attempting to convert any badly formatted plain text is a pain no matter what.

That's cool.

Might I suggest autounbreak. It does exactly what you just described automatically and it's free. Just cut and paste the texts and it will unbreak for you.

Also, check out my other thread about the best pdf to whatever converter I have ever seen.

[bjones6416]

I think all of the books on my JBL right now are in epub, and they look just fine to me. When I started out I had some books I had bought in mobi format, and while most of those worked, some of them had some kind of compression issue and wouldn't open on the JBL. I use Calibre to manage my books, but for the JBL I "send to file" instead of "send to device" (with the JBL's SD card in the card reader of my netbook) so I can arrange my folders to suit me. This last time I updated it I just sent everything in epub format.

[LuBiB]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

I think all of the books on my JBL right now are in epub, and they look just fine to me. When I started out I had some books I had bought in mobi format, and while most of those worked, some of them had some kind of compression issue and wouldn't open on the JBL. I use Calibre to manage my books, but for the JBL I "send to file" instead of "send to device" (with the JBL's SD card in the card reader of my netbook) so I can arrange my folders to suit me. This last time I updated it I just sent everything in epub format.

TXT is a go for me (all rhyming aside)

Its simple and virtually every book can be found in this format. Calibre is superb for converting when you need to.

[treetotree]

Where can I purchase popular fiction. I have been told only at Ereader.com and Fictionwise. They do not seem to have much of a selection. Lots of romance and erotica. I am looking for NY Times best sellers. B&N says no, Kobo says no Ebook mall says no. My JBL is on the way, I am thinking of returning it. I found out about the lack of my type of available content after I bought it.

[Pranananda]

PDFs formatted specifically for the JBL are the best format for me. Here are the extras you get with PDFs formatted for a 3x4 inch screen:

• In the Books view, the book viewer looks inside the PDF for the Author and Title properties, and uses them on the book listing. It also splits the Author and Title onto separate lines, so you get to see more of a long title.
• No matter where you are in the book, you can use jump to the Table of Contents from the menu, and not lose your place in the book if decide not to go to another chapter.
• You get to use whatever fonts you like
• If you word processor does hyphenation, and you like hyphenation, you can have it.