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Old 07-06-2009, 09:46 AM   #1
chaznsc
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New Member - advice on PRS-505

I have on order a PRS-505 which should arrive this week. I am NEW to the e-reader market so after shopping around and reading quite a bit I decided to dip my toe in the water with the 505.

Since I not only read books but online documents for technical issues, work related reports, I was wanting to know if PDF files can be converted to LRF with realative ease and if so, will these work on the 505?

Also, I saw a thread here somewhere that stated users borrow books from local libraries. Is this a regional thing or do most libraries offer this now?

Thanks for any advice and I look forward to being part of this community.

chaz
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Old 07-06-2009, 10:39 AM   #2
Kai Winters
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I use Calibre to convert non-lrf files to lrf files. This includes pdf and rtf files.
I also just import the pdf files to the "elibrary" and it is imported as an lrf file and reads great.
You can also use "Adobe Digital Editions".
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Old 07-06-2009, 10:54 AM   #3
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Libraries offering ebooks is a hit or miss thing depending on the region. For example where I used to live in California, my library system did not have ebooks. The poor underfunded library had no money for such technical advances. Now I live in my native Michigan, and the library in this town does have ebooks available through a shared system in the state that libraries can participate in. It's worth it to check if your local/regional library has ebooks to borrow. You might be pleasantly surprised.
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Old 07-06-2009, 12:19 PM   #4
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chaznsc--

The 505 will read PDF's without conversion--sometimes not very well, but sometimes they look okay. So you can try that before converting to LRF. I haven't converted PDF's to LRF, but know there are ways to do this. (There are posts in other threads here related to dealing with how to convert.)

As to libraries--as Falbe Publishing posted it's a "hit or miss thing". You can check to see if any of your libraries offer the Overdrive service here: search.overdrive.com . If you have a local library listed and it offers books in Adobe ePub (preferable) or Adobe PDF format, you can download them and read them on your reader. The files will expire after a period of days (typically 14 or 21 days).

If you don't have a regional library with Overdrive service or your local drive doesn't have what your interested in, there are some libraries that do offer library cards to out of area residents for a fee. (I paid $100 to the New York Public Library for a one year card) and am able to download books from there even though I live in California.

Hope you enjoy your 505!!

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Old 07-06-2009, 12:36 PM   #5
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Hi chaznsc and welcome to MobileRead. And congrats on your in-bound toy!

Lots of libraries do lend out eBooks. I borrow them from the Fairfax (VA) library all the time. Check out our Wiki at the top of the page here https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EBook_Lending_Libraries
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Old 07-06-2009, 12:48 PM   #6
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Gee, I think it will depend on the technical pdf's that you have if it will work ok for you. If they have lots of diagrams and flow charts and all types of stuff like that, I think it will not work that great. I think it will be hit and miss.
You can probably convert them as others are saying , but , just go into this prs-505 ereader as being best for reading regular books and "searchable" pdf's . If it's a scanned book it will not work that great at all.
Just think of pdf in 6 inch format and you will see that most pdf's are in much larger format and not tiny format. Conversation programs will work to re-flow it but just understand the limitations before you accept the package if that is your primary purpose. Most of my medical stuff will not work with prs-505 , but will work in my acer 8.9 netbook. So I use some of the medical stuff that works on my prs-505 and my pleasure reading on prs-505 and newspapers on prs-505 using calibre. And use my netbook for more involved stuff. I love the prs-505 and bought 2 of them , I like it so much, and I do have netbook and laptop. So go into this with your eyes OPEN and you will love it. If you have special needs , I think you are doing a good job of finding out before hand if this will work for you. Read lots of stuff from this forum and other places to help you make an informed decision.
p.s. Maybe post a pdf or some file that you are wondering if it will work on prs-505 and someone here can download it to prs-505 and see if it will work. OR download calibre and convert it and see what it looks like on your computer screen when you "view" it from ICON in cailbre. You will see what it should look like in converted form. Hope that helps.

Last edited by richman; 07-06-2009 at 12:51 PM.
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Old 07-06-2009, 01:05 PM   #7
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It's possible to convert PDF files to text based files. As mentioned, Calibre can do so, and also Mobipocket Creator Pro (when using this, you'll need to remember to save as HTML and then later have Calibre convert it - I don't know if this will improve quality, but it's a different option at least). When converting from PDF, you will usually have to accept minor errors in the formatting. It's far from ideal, most any other ebook format is a better starting point, and you will definitely have problems with for example graphs or code samples.

If you are from the USA, I understand that a large number of libraries provide ebook on loan - and that it might in some cases be possible to loan from libraries in other states (perhaps given a fee). If you are from another country, you'd better contact your local libraries. My library in Denmark do offer a good handful of ebooks, but none that interests me, unfortunately
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Old 07-06-2009, 01:43 PM   #8
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Ea!
Can you supply link to mobopocket creator pro, I did go to their website but could not find it. Do you mean mobipocket creator 4.2 or are you referring to something else? I'm open to find better ways to convert pdf's and will try your suggestions to see if some of my medical stuff will turn out better.
Thanks
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Old 07-06-2009, 02:07 PM   #9
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It's the publisher edition - here: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/Downloa...ilsCreator.asp - perhaps the 'home' and 'publisher' edition is the same. To be honest, it's some time since I installed it, andthey might have changed the description.

I've had - in my own opinion - resonable success with using this to convert PDFs, but then I hadn't great expectations to begin with. It seems to be the best I've found to convert plain text, but if you have images and graphs and so on, it might be more difficult. Don't expect miracles, but try it out, and see if it's good enough for you. And try out other options, too, to compare.
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Old 07-06-2009, 05:31 PM   #10
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In the PDF section here you can also find some tools to help you convert A4/Letter sized pdfs to something that is more easily read on a 505, in case your PDFs don't convert well to other formats.
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