have any of you heard of Michelangelo 2.0?

josephct3 · 09-17-2007, 10:14 PM

In my effort to find a really good way to get readable PDF on my Sony, I stumbled across this unusual website, http://www.prs-500formatter.com/, which offers for sale software called Michelangelo 2.0. Saying the website is unusual is of course a subjective statement.

It sounds like this software might be fantastic, but the fact that you can't try it out for free, you have to buy it up front, worries me. Also, that subjective reaction to the site raises questions for me.

Have any of you heard anything about this software, or seen it in action, or actually purchased it? I used the forum search engine to see if it has shown up anywhere, but apparently it hasn't.

Thanks.

Joe

jasonkchapman · 09-18-2007, 07:42 AM

My opinion:

1: The page is written in heavy, misleading hype. That doesn't bode well. The signal-to-fluff ratio is really, really low.
2: Too many details are left out. From the writing style, that appears to be intentional.
3: It appears to be little more than a Word macro very similar to this one, which is fine, if you're starting out with text. But the page keeps talking about e-books, not text documents.
4: I wouldn't use Paypal if they paid me.

JSWolf · 09-18-2007, 09:07 AM

This program doesn't seem to do anything you cannot do with free programs you get here or Sourceforge.

adinb · 09-19-2007, 11:58 PM

Domain is registered from mexico:

Technical Contact:
M*****, Daniel danlandieri@*****.com
************
Los Pirules
Tlalnepantla, Mexico 54040
Mexico

RWood · 09-20-2007, 12:10 AM

If you are real lucky it might be close to Stingo's Word Macro that I have used since last November. I still use it for preprocessing text files before I load them into BookDesigner.

DoctorBri · 09-21-2007, 04:54 PM

Maybe MobileRead should ask if they can write a review on it. That should clear things up.

lanekko · 09-22-2007, 02:05 AM

I've been using it for 2 weeks now and it's great. I've formatted more than 43 ebooks of my collection (still 26 to go lol) since then. gotta lot to read now

And I finally bought my sd memory for my sony reader, all those ebooks exceeded the internal memory

.

HarryT · 09-22-2007, 04:15 AM

But how does it compare with the free tools that many of us are happily using? Book Designer, for example? Does it generate nice tables of contents? How is the support for images? Footnotes? Hyperlinks within the document?

delphidb96 · 09-22-2007, 02:24 PM

HarryT,

I guess someone's just going to have to buy that there old poke and see if there really *is* a pig inside. Want to volunteer? You could throw yourself on the hand-grenade and write up a review.

Derek

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

But how does it compare with the free tools that many of us are happily using? Book Designer, for example? Does it generate nice tables of contents? How is the support for images? Footnotes? Hyperlinks within the document?

Mitchll · 09-23-2007, 01:30 PM

Attached is the manual for the program. It gives you a clearer idea of what the program does than the sales pitch.

It appears to work well...nothing new but a different approach. It does not support images at all.

Mitchll

JSWolf · 09-23-2007, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mitchll

Attached is the manual for the program. It gives you a clearer idea of what the program does than the sales pitch.

It appears to work well...nothing new but a different approach. It does not support images at all.

Mitchll

The manual attachment had to be unapproved as this is a commercial program and the manual is copyrighted.

igorsk · 09-24-2007, 06:32 AM

Did you mean copyrighted?

gardenstate · 09-24-2007, 08:24 AM

A LITE version is for sale on eBay for $10USD

http://cgi.ebay.com/CONVERT-your-ebo...QQcmdZViewItem

lanekko · 09-24-2007, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

But how does it compare with the free tools that many of us are happily using? Book Designer, for example? Does it generate nice tables of contents? How is the support for images? Footnotes? Hyperlinks within the document?

It does support images, tables, etc... anything you can get pasted or created in a Word Document

If you can paste it or edit it in word, then you can read it in your PRS-500, as simple as that.

If you are creating a document and want to read it on your PRS-500, you can create footnotes on your word document as you would normally do and all that stuff gets into the final .pdf or .rtf that you are going to load to your PRS-500.

Just go to the official site of Michelangelo 2.0 and there you will find (like after the first 2 paragraphs) the sales page itself formatted for your PRS-500 available for download, so you can even read it on your PRS-500 if you hate reading on the computer screen as much as I do.

You will see in your own PRS-500 how the margins are setup correctly, the images are displayed even visualize how documents are actually seen on your PRS-500 when you load an ebook filled with line breaks and then when you load one with the line breaks removed using the software.

I've used Book designer in the past (that's what I was using -or trying to use- before this) but it is waaaay too hard to understand and very complicated as it supports god knows how many different reading devices

also is very unstable, not for the regular user thats for sure

And I am no expert in computers, I am a regular user, so all that having to modify .dll files and all that programming stuff is hard to me.

I also used The Word Macro, available here at the forums but again... having to lower the security levels to use it really worries me (with all those hackers everywhere)

That's why this Michelangelo software with only 4 simple buttons installed to an interface which I am already familiar with (ms word) made sense for me to buy.

I really prefer to pay 45.95 for something that is predictable and works as I want it to (plus have full use of the powerful tools of microsoft word and not the limited editing tools of book designer) instead of spending hours reading posts on this forum for some information on how to even setup book designer in the first place!

I am still impressed how simple yet powerful this application is. I guess you get what you pay for. These free tools you're talking about sure are a nice contribution and gesture from their developers but they aren't that good... as usual...free not always means good.

bojan · 09-24-2007, 03:17 PM

I would really like to see their "EXCLUSIVE line break removal feature not available anywhere else in any other software in the market", if it wasn't for the fact, that it can't be done. Just selecting text and copying it to the other application will not give you paragraph information, because even pdf reader doesn't have it.

09-17-2007, 10:14 PM	#1
josephct3 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Sony PRS-500; Sony PRS-505; Irex Iliad; Palm Tungsten T5	have any of you heard of Michelangelo 2.0? In my effort to find a really good way to get readable PDF on my Sony, I stumbled across this unusual website, http://www.prs-500formatter.com/, which offers for sale software called Michelangelo 2.0. Saying the website is unusual is of course a subjective statement. It sounds like this software might be fantastic, but the fact that you can't try it out for free, you have to buy it up front, worries me. Also, that subjective reaction to the site raises questions for me. Have any of you heard anything about this software, or seen it in action, or actually purchased it? I used the forum search engine to see if it has shown up anywhere, but apparently it hasn't. Thanks. Joe

09-23-2007, 01:30 PM	#10
Mitchll Cave Dweller Posts: 220 Karma: 1986 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: Ipad Sony reader prs-505 prs-900	Attached is the manual for the program. It gives you a clearer idea of what the program does than the sales pitch. It appears to work well...nothing new but a different approach. It does not support images at all. Mitchll Last edited by Mitchll; 11-15-2007 at 06:20 PM.

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09-18-2007, 07:42 AM	#2
jasonkchapman Guru Posts: 767 Karma: 2347 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: NYC Device: Sony Reader, nook, Droid, nookColor, nookTablet	My opinion: 1: The page is written in heavy, misleading hype. That doesn't bode well. The signal-to-fluff ratio is really, really low. 2: Too many details are left out. From the writing style, that appears to be intentional. 3: It appears to be little more than a Word macro very similar to this one, which is fine, if you're starting out with text. But the page keeps talking about e-books, not text documents. 4: I wouldn't use Paypal if they paid me.

09-18-2007, 09:07 AM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,727 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	This program doesn't seem to do anything you cannot do with free programs you get here or Sourceforge.

09-19-2007, 11:58 PM	#4
adinb RSS &amp; Gadget Addict! Posts: 82 Karma: 67 Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Sony PRS-500, iPod Touch, iPhone	Domain is registered from mexico: Technical Contact: M***, Daniel danlandieri@*.com ********** Los Pirules Tlalnepantla, Mexico 54040 Mexico

09-20-2007, 12:10 AM	#5
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	If you are real lucky it might be close to Stingo's Word Macro that I have used since last November. I still use it for preprocessing text files before I load them into BookDesigner.

09-21-2007, 04:54 PM	#6
DoctorBri Member Posts: 24 Karma: 31 Join Date: Aug 2004 Device: Treo 680, Sony Reader	Maybe MobileRead should ask if they can write a review on it. That should clear things up.

09-22-2007, 02:05 AM	#7
lanekko Member Posts: 17 Karma: 121 Join Date: Sep 2007 Device: PRS-500	I've been using it for 2 weeks now and it's great. I've formatted more than 43 ebooks of my collection (still 26 to go lol) since then. gotta lot to read now And I finally bought my sd memory for my sony reader, all those ebooks exceeded the internal memory .

09-22-2007, 04:15 AM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	But how does it compare with the free tools that many of us are happily using? Book Designer, for example? Does it generate nice tables of contents? How is the support for images? Footnotes? Hyperlinks within the document?

09-24-2007, 06:32 AM	#12
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	Did you mean copyrighted?

09-24-2007, 08:24 AM	#13
gardenstate Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 1069472 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Chicago,IL USA suburb Device: Sony PRS-T1 and PRS-950	A LITE version is for sale on eBay for $10USD http://cgi.ebay.com/CONVERT-your-ebo...QQcmdZViewItem

09-24-2007, 03:17 PM	#15
bojan Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 68 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Slovenia Device: iRex iLiad	I would really like to see their "EXCLUSIVE line break removal feature not available anywhere else in any other software in the market", if it wasn't for the fact, that it can't be done. Just selecting text and copying it to the other application will not give you paragraph information, because even pdf reader doesn't have it.