Buying books with a Mac

[macman217]

Ok I understand how to use Calibre... Kinda, but is there anyway to buy books from Sony using a Mac? I know this question has probably been asked several times, but I just can't find the information. Also... Is there a dummies guide to Calibre. I know that the app can do a lot of things, but what exactly... And how?!?

So my two questions:

1. How can I buy books from Sony while using a Mac?

2. What can Calibre do and how can I learn how to do these wonderful tasks?

[Andybaby]

1. with Boot Camp Or VMware, Yes you should be able to.
2. it can organize your Ebooks (i prefer just using a Desktop Search program to find ebooks, i really dont like the library function of calibre) you can also use it to convert ebooks to different formats (which i prefer to use programs like Book Designer that way i can control the output.

[shighfield]

1) You need windows. I bought Parallels and use that for booting a virtual windows machine. For the most part I just browse the sony store in Safari and if I can't buy the same book for the same price at Fictionwise then I'll launch windows and buy it that way.

2) Just play with it. I use it for maintaing my library, tags so I know what I have and haven't read, rating's, etc. Like Andybaby I don't use it for converting though, as I also prefer to use Bookdesigner under windows for that.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by macman217

So my two questions:

1. How can I buy books from Sony while using a Mac?

Ok.. this has been answered... you need Windows running on your Mac.

the question is, why would you WANT to buy from Sony. The selection nor prices are not any better than other stores. The DRM on the ebooks is not removable so your are stuck with that format.

You are better off to learn to remove DRM using mobidedrm on your Mac. Once you have learned this then you can buy books from fictionwise.com or booksonboard.com (or others), remove the DRM.

Originally Posted by macman217

2. What can Calibre do and how can I learn how to do these wonderful tasks?

Here is where calibre comes into play. Once you have removed the DRM from your ebook you will need to convert it to a format Sony can read...either LRF or ePub. Calibre also helps you organize your books with tags so you can search it pretty much any way you want. Calibre will also send books to your reader rather than having to navigate your folders to find the correct files to move in Finder.

BOb