Web-based Format Conversion

GtrsRGr8 · 01-08-2015, 05:40 PM

Hi. You probably don't recognize me; I am almost always in the "Deals, Freebies, and Resources" forum.

I hope that I'm in the correct forum for this topic. Also, I did not see a thread which really addressed this topic, although I did searches. So, I took the liberty to create one. If I've erred, please kindly let me know.

Has anyone seen the Docsrush website? The site is apparently new--the "about" webpage is "under construction" and the site seems still to need some bugs worked out.

The site claims to let people convert files without the need to download software. There is a huge number of formats that it says that it can convert from and and equally huge number of formats that it says that it can convert to. Among those are a number of ebook formats.

Forgive me if I give a format here which is not actually an ebook format, this is not my forte. The ebook formats that it says can be converted from and/or converted to are these: pdf, ePub, mobi, fb2, tcr, lrf, pdb, and rb. I may have left out a format or two (I direct your attention to the first sentence in this paragraph for the reason).

Now here's a monkey wrench in the works, only temporarily I hope. When I tried several ebook conversions, using several different "from" and "to" formats, I couldn't get them to work. I got a message that "the pdf cannot be converted," or something worded similarly to that. Or, I got a message that the "file is too big." I know that the site can convert some files, because they have a page where they show some recent conversions (but perhaps tellingly none of the examples are apparently ebook conversions). I am not very computer savvy, though, so there is a very real possibility that there is something that I didn't do that I should have done or something that I did do that I shouldn't have done.

As I said, I'm not very computer savvy, but to me this website has a lot of potential. Heretofore, the closest that I've seen to something non-software with this ability and ease of use are some web browser extensions like the well-reviewed Chrome extension EPub to Mobi. These, of course, are very limited in what they can do.

dwig · 01-08-2015, 07:34 PM

I always wonder how many of these online conversion sites and the various "create a QR code" sites exist for the purpose of data collection (read: theft).

eschwartz · 01-09-2015, 01:26 AM

I have also seen this one: http://www.online-convert.com/

I suspect they all use calibre under the hood, and not necessarily the latest version either.

GtrsRGr8 · 01-09-2015, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwig

I always wonder how many of these online conversion sites and the various "create a QR code" sites exist for the purpose of data collection (read: theft).

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I have also seen this one: http://www.online-convert.com/

I suspect they all use calibre under the hood, and not necessarily the latest version either.

Thanks for your responses.

I thought that this book conversion on the Web idea/execution might be a novel (no pun intended. ha) one, but I see now that it isn't. It's just novel to me.

After your responses, I went rummaging around on the Web and found a couple more conversion sites. The first one (supposedly) sends you the converted file via your email address. This sounds fishy. Sounds like maybe a way to harvest email addresses.

I'll try out Online-Convert also.

I don't know what any of these online conversion services could do with DRM-protected books.

Thinking about these supposed online conversion services makes an old saying keep popping up in my head, "If it sounds too good to be true . . . ."

Difflugia · 01-09-2015, 03:05 PM

For grins, I tried both sites with a book from Project Gutenberg. I couldn't find a combination of formats for Docsrush that would even work. Online-Convert uses Calibre, as eschwartz suspected. The metadata says it's Calibre version 2.15.0, though, so it's at least up-to-date

.

eschwartz · 01-09-2015, 04:21 PM

Just keep in mind that nothing you submit is guaranteed privacy, and that the only thing they offer is the convenience of not having to install calibre yourself -- no doubt useful for those who will only ever convert one thing. (But keeping in mind that you can hardly edit the conversion settings...)

Mostly I just consider them a total waste of time.

eschwartz · 01-09-2015, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Difflugia

For grins, I tried both sites with a book from Project Gutenberg. I couldn't find a combination of formats for Docsrush that would even work. Online-Convert uses Calibre, as eschwartz suspected. The metadata says it's Calibre version 2.15.0, though, so it's at least up-to-date

.

Very interesting... I know I tried it a long time ago, also for grins, and I got an outdated calibre version showing in the metadata.

GtrsRGr8 · 01-09-2015, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Difflugia

For grins, I tried both sites with a book from Project Gutenberg. I couldn't find a combination of formats for Docsrush that would even work. Online-Convert uses Calibre, as eschwartz suspected. The metadata says it's Calibre version 2.15.0, though, so it's at least up-to-date

.

Difflugia! So this is one place that you hang out when you're not in the Deals, Freebies, and Resources forum!

Interesting about the results of your DocsRush experiment . . . . Maybe it's just a beta program (or gamma or even delta. ha) and we can expect better results in the future.

GtrsRGr8 · 01-09-2015, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Just keep in mind that nothing you submit is guaranteed privacy, and that the only thing they offer is the convenience of not having to install calibre yourself -- no doubt useful for those who will only ever convert one thing. (But keeping in mind that you can hardly edit the conversion settings...)

Mostly I just consider them a total waste of time.

I don't think that there would be anything that I'd want to convert that I would feel that I needed to be kept private. If I did, I could just not use one of the online services.

Yeah, convenience. That's what I was thinking about. Maybe it would be faster, too, I don't know. Maybe as time goes along the services will start giving (more?) options for editing the conversion settings. But maybe you're right and they are (and always will be) total wastes of time. Maybe I'm just

I've actually installed Calibre on two or three machines in the past 2-3 years. I've opened it and glanced over it. I was intimidated by it a little bit. I know that it has a reputation for being easy to use, but I didn't want anything that had any learning curve to it. ha I guess that I didn't really need to convert any ebooks or I would have learned how to use it, huh?

BTW--One of the similar sites that I found is Zamzar. I tried converting an ePub to a mobi (which would almost certainly be the conversion that I would want to do most often). Well, it told me that I had succeeded. But, I forgot that I am on a backup/standby computer (because my usual one is broken) and I don't have a mobi reader installed. doh! And I don't want to start installing stuff on this computer for the little while (fingers crossed) that I'll be using it. So, I don't know what the output(?) looks like. ack!

PeterT · 01-10-2015, 05:38 PM

Zamzar looks to be calibre based as well.

01-08-2015, 05:40 PM	#1
GtrsRGr8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,334 Karma: 27815322 Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Southeastern U.S., ya'll Device: Kindle; Kindle (10.1.1) for PC; Kindle Cloud Reader	Web-based Format Conversion Hi. You probably don't recognize me; I am almost always in the "Deals, Freebies, and Resources" forum. I hope that I'm in the correct forum for this topic. Also, I did not see a thread which really addressed this topic, although I did searches. So, I took the liberty to create one. If I've erred, please kindly let me know. Has anyone seen the Docsrush website? The site is apparently new--the "about" webpage is "under construction" and the site seems still to need some bugs worked out. The site claims to let people convert files *without the need to download software. There is a huge number of formats that it says that it can convert from* and and equally huge number of formats that it says that it can convert to. Among those are a number of ebook formats. Forgive me if I give a format here which is not actually an ebook format, this is not my forte. The ebook formats that it says can be converted from and/or converted to are these: pdf, ePub, mobi, fb2, tcr, lrf, pdb, and rb. I may have left out a format or two (I direct your attention to the first sentence in this paragraph for the reason). Now here's a monkey wrench in the works, only temporarily I hope. When I tried several ebook conversions, using several different "from" and "to" formats, I couldn't get them to work. I got a message that "the pdf cannot be converted," or something worded similarly to that. Or, I got a message that the "file is too big." I know that the site *can* convert some files, because they have a page where they show some recent conversions (but perhaps tellingly none of the examples are apparently ebook conversions). I am not very computer savvy, though, so there is a very real possibility that there is something that I didn't do that I should have done or something that I did do that I shouldn't have done. As I said, I'm not very computer savvy, but to me this website has a lot of potential. Heretofore, the closest that I've seen to something non-software with this ability and ease of use are some web browser extensions like the well-reviewed Chrome extension EPub to Mobi. These, of course, are very limited in what they can do. Last edited by GtrsRGr8; 01-09-2015 at 01:50 PM.

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01-08-2015, 07:34 PM	#2
dwig Wizard Posts: 1,613 Karma: 6718479 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Paradise (Key West, FL) Device: Current:Surface Go & Kindle 3 - Retired: DellV8p, Clie UX50, ...	I always wonder how many of these online conversion sites and the various "create a QR code" sites exist for the purpose of data collection (read: theft).

01-09-2015, 01:26 AM	#3
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I have also seen this one: http://www.online-convert.com/ I suspect they all use calibre under the hood, and not necessarily the latest version either.

01-09-2015, 03:05 PM	#5
Difflugia Testate Amoeba Posts: 3,049 Karma: 27300000 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Many Android devices, Kindle 2, Toshiba e755 PocketPC	For grins, I tried both sites with a book from Project Gutenberg. I couldn't find a combination of formats for Docsrush that would even work. Online-Convert uses Calibre, as eschwartz suspected. The metadata says it's Calibre version 2.15.0, though, so it's at least up-to-date .

01-09-2015, 04:21 PM	#6
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Just keep in mind that nothing you submit is guaranteed privacy, and that the only thing they offer is the convenience of not having to install calibre yourself -- no doubt useful for those who will only ever convert one thing. (But keeping in mind that you can hardly edit the conversion settings...) Mostly I just consider them a total waste of time.

01-10-2015, 05:38 PM	#10
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,250 Karma: 74000002 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Zamzar looks to be calibre based as well.

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