Delphi Classics - Now you can buy direct - Page 2

kennyc · 07-23-2011, 12:46 PM

DAMN! I was going to thank you for this but now I'm just pissed.
I ordered the short story book (free) and it won't complete processing....
Okay so I think I'll order a book and it will then download. I order Chekhov, Lawrence and Tolstoy fine, but I still can't download the free book. Damnit.

Then I open the Chekhov book and check for a story I recently read (The Lady with the Dog) and it's f'n only partially there, it stops about 1/3 way in and the next story starts

Man that was a waste of $6.00!

And yes, I've emailed them....

The other thing, these collections are Huge! They take significant time to page/format/search/convert...

P.S. I Must say...THEY RESPONDED Immediately about the short story book....not sure about the missing/messed up story....which of course makes me VERY VERY leery about everything else.

PPS got a second email saying the Chekhov book was an old one and they will let me know when the correct one is uploaded.

I think I'm pretty much done with this place at this point.

I imported the Chekhov book into Calibre and converted to epub (18 mins!) but none of the TOC links (I guess they are links, they work in mobiPocket reader, but not in Calibre...not sure I'll spend any more time on this to see if they work on my Xoom or Kindle or Sony.... Sheesh!

And I see no reason to try reading these if the links don't work, way more trouble than it's worth.

Sorry to keep adding to this post, but I copied the Short Story Book (which I got! Yea!) to may Kindle and the TOC and links work there!

kennyc · 07-23-2011, 03:14 PM

Okay, so my last post here for a while. I just got an email that the corrected version of Chekhov was on the server -- downloaded and checked the story...looks great.... they also provided a free copy of Turgenev.

Excellent and impressive customer service!

That is what will make the future in this brave new publishing world!

PaulineDesigns · 07-23-2011, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yeah, I was looking at that one, it's 22 stories but doesn't what..and is Free, but only when you purchase other items....

I'm sorry, I should have checked the page again before posting. Since I was purchasing it wasn't a problem for me.

kennyc · 07-23-2011, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulineDesigns

I'm sorry, I should have checked the page again before posting. Since I was purchasing it wasn't a problem for me.

Not your fault at all. It said it, but I assumed something else I guess.

I just copied the Chekhov and a other to my Xoom and the links and all work fine in FBReader .... wonderful!

Too bad the converted epubs don't work (or at least didn't on my Sony 505).

Thanks!

PaulineDesigns · 07-23-2011, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm a little confused by some of their descriptions. Eg, the Conan Doyle collection specifically claims to contain "ALL the Sherlock Holmes stories" (their capitalisation) but then doesn't list "The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes" in the contents - it's not in the public domain in the US. So does it contain ALL the Sherlock Holmes stories or doesn't it?

Here's the list of Sherlock Holmes books from my copy of the Conan Doyle collection:

The Sherlock Holmes Works
A STUDY IN SCARLET
THE SIGN OF THE FOUR
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
THE VALLEY OF FEAR
HIS LAST BOW
THE FIELD BAZAAR
HOW WATSON LEARNT THE TRICK
THE ADVENTURE OF THE TALL MAN
THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

I think the title just got left out of the list on the description by mistake. I went down to the book and then checked for the last chapter (Adventure XII) so the book is there and would appear to be complete. (sorry, not a mystery fan so I'm not familiar with the book)

HarryT · 07-23-2011, 04:40 PM

Thanks!

anamardoll · 07-23-2011, 05:00 PM

Wow, these are really interesting. Generally, I shy away from compilations because of the size issue, but they seem to have gone to a LOT of trouble to provide illustrations and multiple versions/translations of everything. I kind of like that from a "want it in my library for ease of searching" perspective.

On the other hand, the Jane Austen collection is large enough that it crashed the Calibre viewer the first time around, and the S&S pictures are culled from such a variety of sources that it's almost...jarring to see them in the text. The girls' appearances keep changing from picture to picture, and I don't think I like that.

I think I'll still buy a few more. The KJV Bible seems very nicely formatted and Mom will like that. And I do love that they have a few of the more "obscure" classics on their site. Delightful.

Bah, and now the Twain book is crashing my Calibre. Mmph. I like to think Twain would appreciate the irony of the situation.

PaulineDesigns · 07-23-2011, 05:21 PM

Twain's is by far the biggest at 128 Mb. I haven't tried to open it yet, Calibre opens stuff slowly on my (older) computer). The next biggest is Thackeray's at 75 Mb.

PaulineDesigns · 07-23-2011, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

(I guess they are links, they work in mobiPocket reader, but not in Calibre...

I'd forgotten I have mobipocket reader installed on this computer and tried opening the Twain file in it. It opened in only a few seconds and all the links work properly. I'll definitely be using this program on the computer for these files.

anamardoll · 07-24-2011, 09:01 AM

Update: It took over two hours (ha!) for Calibre to convert the Mark Twain book to epub, but now that it has completed conversion, the epub version is quite snappy -- loads in Calibre lickety split.

I don't know enough about Mobi/Epub differences to know what got lost in translation to make it so much faster, but I'm happy.

jgray · 07-24-2011, 11:39 PM

Anxiously awaiting the epub versions. Hopefully they aren't quick-and-dirty Calibre conversions, considering the comments so far.

Obviously, some of what they offer can be had elsewhere for free. If they offer titles not available elsewhere, better versions, or additional content (notes, etc.) I'd gladly pay a small sum to purchase public domain titles.

I've done lots of conversions between ebook formats over the years. I've grown tired of it and have decided that if I can't get it in a decently formatted epub, then I'll do without.

Joe

HarryT · 07-25-2011, 01:48 AM

ALL of what they offer can be obtained elsewhere - it's all in the public domain. You're paying for the convenience of a nicely-formatted collection.

anamardoll · 07-25-2011, 08:30 AM

Well, this has been an interesting exercise in theoretical limits. These Delphi books are anathema to my Sony Reader, or possibly to my patience.

The inclusion of the four works I bought (Euripides, Austen, Wells, Twain) added at least a couple of hours to my "load the Sony" time from Calibre and caused the Sony, when identifying the new books on the device, to COMPLETELY seize up... or at least to take so long that I lost patience after 20 minutes, yanked the SD card, and perform a hard reset.

I'm not *certain* the Delphi books are to blame, but of all the new books I've added to my Sony recently, they seem the most likely culprits. Testing will have to be done on my end.

PaulineDesigns · 07-25-2011, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Update: It took over two hours (ha!) for Calibre to convert the Mark Twain book to epub, but now that it has completed conversion, the epub version is quite snappy -- loads in Calibre lickety split.

I don't know enough about Mobi/Epub differences to know what got lost in translation to make it so much faster, but I'm happy.

Out of curiosity I converted the Twain file with calibre last night. On my computer it took 6 hrs & 14 min! The epub is much faster in calibre's viewer--5 min to open the original mobi/prc file and only 20-30 seconds to open the epub.

anamardoll · 07-25-2011, 11:51 AM

Have you tried loading it to a reader yet? That's where I hit a snag, I think.

The epub conversion is something like 133 MB, according to Calibre.

07-23-2011, 12:46 PM	#16
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,891 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	DAMN! I was going to thank you for this but now I'm just pissed. I ordered the short story book (free) and it won't complete processing.... Okay so I think I'll order a book and it will then download. I order Chekhov, Lawrence and Tolstoy fine, but I still can't download the free book. Damnit. Then I open the Chekhov book and check for a story I recently read (The Lady with the Dog) and it's f'n only partially there, it stops about 1/3 way in and the next story starts Man that was a waste of $6.00! And yes, I've emailed them.... The other thing, these collections are Huge! They take significant time to page/format/search/convert... P.S. I Must say...THEY RESPONDED Immediately about the short story book....not sure about the missing/messed up story....which of course makes me VERY VERY leery about everything else. PPS got a second email saying the Chekhov book was an old one and they will let me know when the correct one is uploaded. I think I'm pretty much done with this place at this point. I imported the Chekhov book into Calibre and converted to epub (18 mins!) but none of the TOC links (I guess they are links, they work in mobiPocket reader, but not in Calibre...not sure I'll spend any more time on this to see if they work on my Xoom or Kindle or Sony.... Sheesh! And I see no reason to try reading these if the links don't work, way more trouble than it's worth. Sorry to keep adding to this post, but I copied the Short Story Book (which I got! Yea!) to may Kindle and the TOC and links work there! Last edited by kennyc; 07-23-2011 at 01:43 PM.

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07-23-2011, 03:14 PM	#17
kennyc The Dank Side of the Moon Posts: 35,891 Karma: 119230421 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire	Okay, so my last post here for a while. I just got an email that the corrected version of Chekhov was on the server -- downloaded and checked the story...looks great.... they also provided a free copy of Turgenev. Excellent and impressive customer service! That is what will make the future in this brave new publishing world!

07-23-2011, 04:40 PM	#21
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Thanks!

07-23-2011, 05:00 PM	#22
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	Wow, these are really interesting. Generally, I shy away from compilations because of the size issue, but they seem to have gone to a LOT of trouble to provide illustrations and multiple versions/translations of everything. I kind of like that from a "want it in my library for ease of searching" perspective. On the other hand, the Jane Austen collection is large enough that it crashed the Calibre viewer the first time around, and the S&S pictures are culled from such a variety of sources that it's almost...jarring to see them in the text. The girls' appearances keep changing from picture to picture, and I don't think I like that. I think I'll still buy a few more. The KJV Bible seems very nicely formatted and Mom will like that. And I do love that they have a few of the more "obscure" classics on their site. Delightful. Bah, and now the Twain book is crashing my Calibre. Mmph. I like to think Twain would appreciate the irony of the situation.

07-23-2011, 05:21 PM	#23
PaulineDesigns Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 1634 Join Date: May 2011 Location: Northern Ontario, Canada Device: Aluratek Libre Pro, HS M700, Axim w/uBook	Twain's is by far the biggest at 128 Mb. I haven't tried to open it yet, Calibre opens stuff slowly on my (older) computer). The next biggest is Thackeray's at 75 Mb.

07-24-2011, 09:01 AM	#25
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	Update: It took over two hours (ha!) for Calibre to convert the Mark Twain book to epub, but now that it has completed conversion, the epub version is quite snappy -- loads in Calibre lickety split. I don't know enough about Mobi/Epub differences to know what got lost in translation to make it so much faster, but I'm happy.

07-24-2011, 11:39 PM	#26
jgray Fanatic Posts: 554 Karma: 2928497 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Clara 2E & Sage	Anxiously awaiting the epub versions. Hopefully they aren't quick-and-dirty Calibre conversions, considering the comments so far. Obviously, some of what they offer can be had elsewhere for free. If they offer titles not available elsewhere, better versions, or additional content (notes, etc.) I'd gladly pay a small sum to purchase public domain titles. I've done lots of conversions between ebook formats over the years. I've grown tired of it and have decided that if I can't get it in a decently formatted epub, then I'll do without. Joe

07-25-2011, 01:48 AM	#27
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	ALL of what they offer can be obtained elsewhere - it's all in the public domain. You're paying for the convenience of a nicely-formatted collection.

07-25-2011, 08:30 AM	#28
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	Well, this has been an interesting exercise in theoretical limits. These Delphi books are anathema to my Sony Reader, or possibly to my patience. The inclusion of the four works I bought (Euripides, Austen, Wells, Twain) added at least a couple of hours to my "load the Sony" time from Calibre and caused the Sony, when identifying the new books on the device, to COMPLETELY seize up... or at least to take so long that I lost patience after 20 minutes, yanked the SD card, and perform a hard reset. I'm not certain the Delphi books are to blame, but of all the new books I've added to my Sony recently, they seem the most likely culprits. Testing will have to be done on my end.

07-25-2011, 11:51 AM	#30
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	Have you tried loading it to a reader yet? That's where I hit a snag, I think. The epub conversion is something like 133 MB, according to Calibre.

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