Why is there no e-ink innovation in the USA?

[Barty]

Originally Posted by Rizla

I am personally convinced that if a large screen e-ink device that could read and annotate pdfs and be used as a monitor was brought to the market, it would prove profitable. All we need is a DX with Android on it, and keyboard / PC integration built-in. It seems to me that this is a place where the market is failing.

I'd like to see something like that too. But I don't see it happening, except perhaps with a small startup via crowd funding. And then you have to cross your fingers that they will come through.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

Sounds like you need to look for a ebook reader that is not dedicated to any one company or ebook format then you calibre to load your ebooks to the device. And you would need to have a computer and the hacks to Remove the DRM. Other than that you are stuck with one of the companies that does the ebooks and devices and live with what they have to offer.

(bold mine)
That makes no sense. There is absolutely no need to have support for multiple formats in any ebook reader if you use calibre as it automatically (if you wish to do so) converts on the fly. You can even use calibre to manage DRMed books that it will happily send to your device (the one that can open the book).

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

(bold mine)
That makes no sense. There is absolutely no need to have support for multiple formats in any ebook reader if you use calibre as it automatically (if you wish to do so) converts on the fly. You can even use calibre to manage DRMed books that it will happily send to your device (the one that can open the book).

Calibre doesn't convert every format though.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Calibre doesn't convert every format though.

So you buy things it can convert. It's not as though that restricts your choice in any way that matters.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

So you buy things it can convert. It's not as though that restricts your choice in any way that matters.

I have legacy ebooks (.lit) that my Pocket Pro reads albeit imperfectly.
It still works.

I should have converted them when the tools were around to do it, but I also had epubs. The epubs ,however, need the covers inserted, as those were in a separate file.

Basically we are talking about pulp novels that I picked up in the late nineties when copyright on the magazine versions had lapsed (since rectified) and there are maybe four hundred titles. I have dead tree versions of about a third of these as well.

I could go through all of the epubs and fix them, if I wished to spend a couple afternoons tinkering.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I have legacy ebooks (.lit) that my Pocket Pro reads albeit imperfectly.
It still works.

I should have converted them when the tools were around to do it, but I also had epubs. The epubs ,however, need the covers inserted, as those were in a separate file.

Calibre doesn't convert from .lit? The manual says it can:

(from: http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.html#id11 )

What formats does calibre support conversion to/from?

calibre supports the conversion of many input formats to many output formats. It can convert every input format in the following list, to every output format.

Input Formats: AZW, AZW3, AZW4, CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, DJVU, DOCX, EPUB, FB2, HTML, HTMLZ, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ

Output Formats: AZW3, EPUB, DOCX, FB2, HTMLZ, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PMLZ, RB, PDF, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ, ZIP

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Calibre doesn't convert from .lit? The manual says it can:

And it does it beautifully.
Lit is essentially epub 0.9 and it converts very quickly since the conversion is mostly a wrapper and metadata thing.

[barryem]

I use Calibre to do conversions all the time and I agree that it's quick and easy to use. Still, I'd love to have an ereader that was format agnostic. Better yet, I'd like all ereaders to be able to read all formats.

These new Boox and so forth Android e-ink readers seem to be a step in that direction but from the reviews I've seen they're not that well made. I keep hoping that will change.

My Kobo will read mobi files as well as epub and those are really the only file types I care about most of the time. But it's iffy with mobi files so rather than put up with that I convert to epub for the Kobo.

Barry

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I should have converted them when the tools were around to do it, but I also had epubs. The epubs ,however, need the covers inserted, as those were in a separate file.

If you have an ePub in Calibre with no cover in the ePub, but you have a cover for the book in Calibre and you convert ePub to ePub, won't it insert the cover? I think it does, because that's how I used to add covers back before I discovered Sigil. But it's been a long time.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Calibre doesn't convert every format though.

Which format doesn't it convert? That can be fixed...

Any format that is common enough to be used and noticed tends to find its way into calibre.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by barryem

I use Calibre to do conversions all the time and I agree that it's quick and easy to use. Still, I'd love to have an ereader that was format agnostic. Better yet, I'd like all ereaders to be able to read all formats.

I have some android apps that read both epub and Mobi. Fbreader does a decent job with epub but mangles Mobi. Moon+ does not display books correctly because it disregards a lot of book formatting. Apparently it is not easy to support one format well, let alone multiple, never mind all.