E-BookStores offering titles in *.lrf - Page 4

kovidgoyal · 07-20-2007, 01:40 PM

Maybe you should offer to provide your LRF files to the baen guys so they can make them available from their website.

Xenophon · 07-20-2007, 01:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Maybe you should offer to provide your LRF files to the baen guys so they can make them available from their website.

I plan to offer the scripts to their web guy as soon as html2lrf settles down a bit more*. There're still enough bug fixes happening that it doesn't yet seem to be time for them to pick it up. I rather suspect that Arnold will jump on the converter as soon as the rate of fixes drops off.

* note that this is NOT a complaint -- you're doing a great job fixing things. It's just a matter of getting to a point where they can do a conversion and not worry about having to re-release piles of books the next week.

kovidgoyal · 07-20-2007, 03:15 PM

A fair point.

bingle · 07-20-2007, 05:07 PM

Hehheh, whoops. "Read the whole thread before replying" is the lesson here, kids.

Panurge · 07-21-2007, 12:16 AM

I own a number of books that I have converted to lrf format using a $50 HP scanner so that I can read them while traveling. Note that I own these books.
What about the Xerox machine? That hasn't been part of this debate for decades, but when it came out, it prompted the remark that everyone could now be his own publisher.

JSWolf · 07-21-2007, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkius

I have been getting a lot of books from baen.com from their free library as well as some you can purchase and download.

Pros:
- All of the files are available without DRM.

Cons:
- I have to use some perl scripts to bump up the font size on the rtf files and have to manually add the author / title information so the Reader can see it.

For me, getting the book without DRM is the biggest issue. It is not that I want to pirate the books, but rather I want to be able to read the books I purchase for years to come. While the Reader is good now, I want my library to transfer to whatever electronic book I use in the future.

You would be best to convert your Baen books into LRF. You would have a better read that way. And you can also have a proper ToC. If you download the HTML versions, you can use html2lrf or download the LIT version and use lit2lrf (also part of libprs500) or Book Designer (if on Windows). Any of these solutions is better then reading the RTF.

JSWolf · 07-21-2007, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Edit-- The other thing is that all the html versions of stuff from Baen are extremely stylized. This makes it easy to write a script that does right by any Baen html book, complete with extracting title and author meta-data, getting the cover art, and so on.

So if I was to use html2lrf instead of lit2lrf on the Baen books, would I get a better looking book in return?

Xenophon · 07-21-2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So if I was to use html2lrf instead of lit2lrf on the Baen books, would I get a better looking book in return?

I don't actually know. I've been using html2lrf because lit2lrf didn't exist yet when I got started. I recommend trying a book both ways and seeing what the difference is -- if any.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 07-23-2007, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panurge

What about the Xerox machine? That hasn't been part of this debate for decades, but when it came out, it prompted the remark that everyone could now be his own publisher.

True. They also thought that, after the '69 Moon landing, we'd have dozens of colonies there by 2000. Chalk that up to wishful thinking.

Fact is, reproducing the book is easy, and only one of many other steps involved in book production (not the least of which is writing it!). Besides, publishers, aware of the ease of duplicating their books, quickly acted to alter reproduction laws, and even put pressure on copier makers to limit the effectiveness of bulk book copying, to avoid the scenario you suggested. So for publishing, the copier's usefulness is limited at best.

The only real advantage of the photocopier is its ability to make 1 copy as cheaply as many... an economy that a printing press cannot equal, and something that an individual who wants to can take advantage of, as you have. But in bulk, a printing press beats out a copier economically by a mile.

HarryT · 07-29-2007, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You would be best to convert your Baen books into LRF. You would have a better read that way. And you can also have a proper ToC. If you download the HTML versions, you can use html2lrf or download the LIT version and use lit2lrf (also part of libprs500) or Book Designer (if on Windows). Any of these solutions is better then reading the RTF.

I prefer to download the RTF version from Baen, and convert that to LRF with BD. Gives excellent results.

MMascaro · 07-29-2007, 09:39 AM

Its the leagal side that makes it wrong not the ethical side.

Music CDs do not have any copy protection built into them, niether does LRF format books and some versions of LIT PRC and PDF.

The DRMA (Digital Rights Millenium Act) ,a US federal Law, makes it illegal to copy,convert or remove copy protection from any file,disc... regardless of other Fair Use laws.

So copying and converting the above list is legal only if ther is no copyright software/hardware involved.

Mark

HarryT · 07-29-2007, 09:50 AM

Some people have claimed that the fact that DRM-protected LIT files disable the "speech" function in Microsoft Reader make it legal to remove DRM from such files, under a DCMA exemption which allows removing DRM where it affects disabled people. I do not believe that this interesting theory has ever been tested in a court of law. It seems highly dubious to me that this exemption would apply to someone who is not affected by the disability being "blocked" by the DRM.

JSWolf · 07-29-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMascaro

Its the leagal side that makes it wrong not the ethical side.

Music CDs do not have any copy protection built into them, niether does LRF format books and some versions of LIT PRC and PDF.

The DRMA (Digital Rights Millenium Act) ,a US federal Law, makes it illegal to copy,convert or remove copy protection from any file,disc... regardless of other Fair Use laws.

So copying and converting the above list is legal only if ther is no copyright software/hardware involved.

Mark

There is an exception that says you can break the DRM on an ebook if the DRM prevents the use of the speech function.

KaiGoth · 08-05-2007, 10:50 PM

Since I just converted a TON (read all the CDs) from BAEN to lrf last night, I thought I'd throw out that I'm pretty satisfied with the lit2lrf conversion. It also keeps the title/author/publisher meta-data, so no changing whatsoever.

Took me about 30 minutes to extract all the .lit files, 60 minutes to convert (automatic), and about 2 hours to "organize" them by author/series.

I started reading "An Oblique Approach" last night and I was very pleased to find that the TOC was in the front, the cover page looked good, and all the maps were in the front. The only option for lit2lrf I used was "--delta-font=-1.25" because the original font was a little big.

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07-20-2007, 01:40 PM	#46
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,347 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Maybe you should offer to provide your LRF files to the baen guys so they can make them available from their website.

07-20-2007, 03:15 PM	#48
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,347 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	A fair point.

07-20-2007, 05:07 PM	#49
bingle Addict Posts: 273 Karma: 499 Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Device: Sony Reader	Hehheh, whoops. "Read the whole thread before replying" is the lesson here, kids.

07-21-2007, 12:16 AM	#50
Panurge Enthusiast Posts: 34 Karma: 336 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Texas Device: Sony Reader	I own a number of books that I have converted to lrf format using a $50 HP scanner so that I can read them while traveling. Note that I own these books. What about the Xerox machine? That hasn't been part of this debate for decades, but when it came out, it prompted the remark that everyone could now be his own publisher.

07-29-2007, 09:39 AM	#56
MMascaro Zealot Posts: 111 Karma: 1009 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Maryland USA Device: HP mini 1035/Sony Reader/IPad	Its the leagal side that makes it wrong not the ethical side. Music CDs do not have any copy protection built into them, niether does LRF format books and some versions of LIT PRC and PDF. The DRMA (Digital Rights Millenium Act) ,a US federal Law, makes it illegal to copy,convert or remove copy protection from any file,disc... regardless of other Fair Use laws. So copying and converting the above list is legal only if ther is no copyright software/hardware involved. Mark

07-29-2007, 09:50 AM	#57
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Some people have claimed that the fact that DRM-protected LIT files disable the "speech" function in Microsoft Reader make it legal to remove DRM from such files, under a DCMA exemption which allows removing DRM where it affects disabled people. I do not believe that this interesting theory has ever been tested in a court of law. It seems highly dubious to me that this exemption would apply to someone who is not affected by the disability being "blocked" by the DRM.

08-05-2007, 10:50 PM	#59
KaiGoth Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 22 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Sony PRS500 & PRS700	Since I just converted a TON (read all the CDs) from BAEN to lrf last night, I thought I'd throw out that I'm pretty satisfied with the lit2lrf conversion. It also keeps the title/author/publisher meta-data, so no changing whatsoever. Took me about 30 minutes to extract all the .lit files, 60 minutes to convert (automatic), and about 2 hours to "organize" them by author/series. I started reading "An Oblique Approach" last night and I was very pleased to find that the TOC was in the front, the cover page looked good, and all the maps were in the front. The only option for lit2lrf I used was "--delta-font=-1.25" because the original font was a little big.

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