Does anyone make eReader format ebooks?

[Nate the great]

We know the B&N Nook supports eReader. Does anyone know of a free ebook creation tool for this format?

I know calibre has eReader as an output. Does it do a good job?

There is also an Open Office plugin. Does anyone use it?

Does anyone know of other tools?

[AnemicOak]

There's DropBook, but you have to format the file in PML first...
http://www.ereader.com/ereader/softw...opbook_win.htm

[JSWolf]

You can also try Publish eBook which is an add on for MS Word.

I've attached it because you cannot get it from the website any longer.

[wallcraft]

For DRM-free ebooks, ePub may still be the best choice. From the FAQ:

Nook supports all eBooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers sold at Barnes & Noble.com. You can also load many other files, including MP3s and PDFs, as well as ePub and PDB files.

If PDB isn't eReader it is probably PalmDOC.

[JSWolf]

The Nook does support eReader.

[Madam Broshkina]

I used Calibre to convert some .lrf files to .pdb. The books look fine when viewing with the Barnes and Noble desktop application. I did notice that the cover images do not show up it just shows a generic cover. Of course I do not know how the desktop version will compare with the actual reader. Here is how Dickens looked.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I know calibre has eReader as an output. Does it do a good job?

A big part of the conversion depends on the input. Garbage in garbage out as the saying goes. One thing to be a where is I'm constantly improving both the input and output. So I'd say yes and it's getting better.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

There is also an Open Office plugin. Does anyone use it?

Does anyone know of other tools?

Every tool I know of save calibre only produces PML. Feed the PML into dropbook (do not use makebook, it produces and older less feature rich version of the format) to produce the actual PDB file.

Originally Posted by Madam Broshkina

I did notice that the cover images do not show up it just shows a generic cover.

I did not know about this. I will look into correcting it.

[=X=]

Yeah what User_none said is my experience too. Most tools like the OpenOffice tool create PML (Peanut Markup Language) then you have to use a tool like DropBook to create the PDB file.

I've looked into the OOo Tool and it's pretty straight forward and does a decent job since PML is such a simple mark up language. But you will need DropBook with this tool. There is also a Java version called MakeBook.jar


Also there is a tool called ETools here on this site, its a Perl tool that converts many formats, one of the formats is PDB.

I belive Nick wrote a script that used ETools to create a HTML file from PDB. It's called Ereader2HTML.pl, whe also created an executable for it. You can reverse his script to create eReader from HTML.

All in all though I think calibre , thanks User_none, is the best solution.

[HarryT]

BD can create eReader books - it does so using the "Dropbook" tool previously mentioned.

[user_none]

Originally Posted by =X=

Also there is a tool called ETools here on this site, its a Perl tool that converts many formats, one of the formats is PDB.

I belive Nick wrote a script that used ETools to create a HTML file from PDB. It's called Ereader2HTML.pl, whe also created an executable for it. You can reverse his script to create eReader from HTML.

The reader in the ETools package only reads eReader files. It cannot create them, even if reversed. The issue is that there are a number of records that have only recently been understood (after that perl library as last updated) and a number of those records require calculations based on the input itself. Also, a reader on a computer only needs to know about a few of the records. On a mobile device the rest of the records are used due, mainly, to the memory limitations. While you can produce a reader using the minimal number of records, producing a file using only those records will not open in the desktop software or a mobile device.

[FizzyWater]

eReader sells eBook Studio to create eReader books...

I suspect you're looking for a freebie though.

[Madam Broshkina]

I have been doing more experiments converting books to .pdb files using Calibre. When I use the Doc option to make the ebooks the author does not show up on the main B and N desktop app. When using the eReader option the author does show up. However when using the eReader option there is a lot of space between the paragraphs that I do not get with the doc option. There is also a third option called ztxt that will not open using the B and N software. It states that I need a newer version of the ereader software.

[pking36330]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

eReader sells eBook Studio to create eReader books...

I suspect you're looking for a freebie though.

$30 with a free trial download.

But Nate, I'm not being sarcastic or trolling or whatever, but why would anyone want to create an eReader ebook? (Unless you are B&N and trying to perpetuate the format)

Since even the B&N Nook will read ePub, wouldn't you want to create ePub books?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by pking36330

$30 with a free trial download.

But Nate, I'm not being sarcastic or trolling or whatever, but why would anyone want to create an eReader ebook? (Unless you are B&N and trying to perpetuate the format)

Since even the B&N Nook will read ePub, wouldn't you want to create ePub books?

When I originally started this because the nook pages didn't say Epub, only eReader. Since there was a dedicated device that supported the format, I thought it would it might help people put their own content on their nook.

[pking36330]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

When I originally started this because the nook pages didn't say Epub, only eReader.

Yep, I had exactly the same fear posted in another thread, that eReader was the only format B&N would support in their store or on their yet to be released reader (the Nook).