07:15 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

While the world continues to wonder why most e-books still sell at Hardcover prices, the good folks over at Dear Author spent some time comparing the prices of various online e-book stores. Some of the interesting observations they made:

• Fictionwise Buywise doesn't make sense if you buy less than 27 e-books (@ $6.00 per book) a year.
• BooksOnBoard sells e-books at comparatively lower prices
• Simon & Schuster sells Simon & Schuster e-books at a 35 precent discount

Link: Price Comparison: Which E book Retailer Has the Best Prices

Related: Downloaded books cost how much?

07:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Once again, our weekly roundup of highlights from the past seven days of MobileRead:

E-books - News

• Exclusive interview with "Deathly Hallows" e-book pirates

E-books - Content

• New PDF to RTF conversion kit - easyConverter SDK 1.0

E-books - Reading Software

• Mobipocket Reader for GNU/Linux, Mac, all!

E-book Devices - iRex iLiad

• iRex looking for talented developers

E-book Devices - Sony Portable Reader

• New! Sony Reader firmware update #2 is available!
• Simple instructions for adding a clock and joystick page turns to the PRS-500

E-book Devices - Bookeen Cybook Gen3

• Video of Cybook Gen3 shows Vizplex in action

E-Book Uploads - Upload Help

• Listing of available Harvard Classics volumes

06:45 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Formats | Workshop

There's a new conversion utility on the block called easyConverter SDK 1.0, aimed at PDF to RTF conversions. It's in the form of an SDK, so you'll need to be a programmer to use it, but it is supposed to only take 3-15 lines of code. Not clear to me what languages are supported, but there is mention of Visual C#, COM (Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Windows scripting host), Visual Basic .NET.

According to PlanetPDF, it "maintains the contents of the converted PDF files when converted to Word compatible RTF files including font formatting preservation, multi-column pages conversion capability with text flow preserved for ease of editing.

In addition, the program offers List functionality and detects and automatically converts lists into Word. Fonts and formatting features are adjusted to ensure PDF page content fits on the RTF page."

It's probably expensive as they don't quote prices unless a specific request is made. As with any PDF conversion software, it needs to be tested to see how well it handles various types of document formatting. These converters are notorious for having trouble with many documents.

06:37 AM by Adam B. in More E-Book Readers | iRex

iRex has some new job offerings:

• Initial Purchaser
• Web Developer
• Application Development Engineer
• Electrical Engineer
• User Interface Designer
• Embedded Linux Application Engineer
• Embedded Linux Specialist
• Senior PC Application Programmer
• Server Application Engineer

Looks like most of these are directly related to iLiad development - it's good to see that they're expanding. Hopefully, they can get some really talented people working there, alleviate the load of the current developers, and start hammering out new features!

Link: Job offers

09:29 PM by Bob Russell in Sony Reader | Sony Reader Dev Corner

Have you been standing on the sidelines, slighly confused, while reading how people rave about Igorsk's Sony Reader PRS-500 universal flasher? Are you a risk taker ready to give it a try, but not sure what to do? Well, your time has come. I present this thread with the purpose of giving you a bit of basic guidance that should allow you to install a couple of hacks yourself!

PRELIMINARY COMMENTS
* While it seems to be a relatively successful and safe process, there are things that could go wrong. And despite the various "unbricking" procedures, there is always the possibility that you might brick your Reader and that it might not be recoverable. Even worse, there is no guarantee that Sony support will help you if you have caused the problem.

I am not qualified to give you a measure of the risks, so I will leave that for others to comment on. But I don't want anyone to misinterpret this post - just because I collected the instructions here for you, and just because it worked for me, doesn't mean it will work for everyone.

* I just completed the installation of the firmware and hacks. It seems to work, but I haven't tested it other than to take a quick look at it. If I waiting to write this article, it wouldn't happen. Had to be fresh in my mind. Hopefully, I haven't left out anything important.

* The hacks included in my instructions will allow you to add a clock to the bottom status bar, and will allow you to turn pages forward and backward with the joystick right/left. The clock can be turned off or set to either 12 or 24 hour mode from the main menu in the Reader. Choose Settings... About... and then pressing the 0 button to cycle through the various clock options.

* You will lose the ability to go forward and backward in history after installing this hack.

* Please keep a backup of the original applicationStart.xml file in case you want to restore the original file. Or you may be able to reflash the Sony update as well, but I don't even attempt to include any such "backout" solutions as I haven't tested them myself.

* Before starting, I first fully charged my reader and completed the official Sony 7/31/07 firmware update. Then I began to do the hack install using Igorsk's universal flasher. I used the one that was labeled "Version 1.2: support for firmware version 1.0.02.01300", even though my version was 1.0.03.071.170 after the most current 7/31/07 upgrade from Sony.

* I didn't lose any bookmarks or books, but I don't know if that's common or if I was just lucky.

* Hopefully this is now clear --> Proceed at your own risk!

THE BASIC IDEA
You will download Igorsk's zip file, unzip it onto an empty SD card, replace one XML file on it with DiabloNL's version, and then put the SD card in your Reader.

When you turn on the Reader it will start a utility with some menu items. You will choose a few of those items in proper order to do the reflash and reboot. If all goes well, you will have the new features installed!

REQUIREMENTS

* A Sony Reader, of course!
* An empty SD card 2gb or less
* An SD card reader
* An unzip utility
* A little courage

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
* Read the above comments, charge your battery and make sure you have the 7/31 version of the firmware installed on your Reader.

* Download Igorsk's Sony Reader PRS-500 universal flasher. It's the link in the first post of this thread, labeled "Version 1.2: support for firmware version 1.0.02.01300" at the time I'm writing this. Keep track of where the zip file is.

* Unzip this file to the top level of the SD card (which you should now have in your computer's SD card reader).

* Find \files\opt\sony\ebook\application\resources\applic ationStart.xml on the SD card and copy it to your computer as a backup copy. (It is Igorsk's original sample version that has the clock, but with the standard joystick operation.)

* Download diabloNL's replacement file: applicationStart.xml from here, and use it to replace (overwrite) Igorsk's sample \files\opt\sony\ebook\application\resources\applic ationStart.xml on the SD card. Be sure to follow the correct path, so the file is located properly.

Note: If you are using a hack that involves another file (e.g. main.xml), then be sure not to rename it. The idea of the hacks I've seen so far is to replace the existing version with a new version of the same file. If you rename the file you could end up with a situation like this. But even in this fairly extreme case, the Reader was recoverable.

* Follow Igorsk's usage instructions for using the Reader PRS-500 universal flasher (which are found in the README.TXT file in his download). Specifically:

-- Extract the zip onto a flash card, keeping the directory structure. It's best to use a card with not many files on it so that Reader can scan it quickly. N.B. readme.txt should be in the root of the card, not in any subdirectory!
<< You have already completed this step if you followed my instructions above.>>

-- Insert the card in Reader.
I would recommend that first you make sure that your Reader is fully charged and that it's got the Sony 7/31 firmware update installed. Return to the top level menu and turn the Reader off before you insert the SD card. I would also recommend that you have a backup of your books, bookmarks. At least remember in your head what books you want on the Reader and your place in them.
Edit: I should have said this explicitly... after the card is inserted, turn on the Reader!

-- Wait until the "Run Script" screen appears

-- Press 5. Wait for the success message (the process will take about one to
two minutes).

-- Press 6. Wait for the success message.

-- Press 9 to reboot (the Reader).

-- Extract the card. (It will return to the regular menu only after you take the card out.)

At this point, if you've followed these instructions all all went well, you have the clock and joystick page turn hacks now installed. Congratulations!

If it didn't work, or your Reader is bricked, I can't help you because I don't understand it well enough. You can certainly find lots of information about potential methods for unbricking a device or resetting it to the original factory firmware versions in the forums and the wiki, but hopefully that won't be necessary. If you have any problems, please indicate them here in order to save others from the same pain, and maybe even get a solution to your problem from someone more knowledgeable than me.

Note: Igorsk's utility is really much more powerful than just these two hacks. If you are technically inclined, be sure to pursue this further or add more hacks.

And finally... many thanks to all those who contributed so much to make this possible. Some obvious names are:
* Igorsk!
* Corwin (Shell scripts)
* Shade (Clock display)
* DiabloNL (Joystick XML modification)

I hope that this information has been helpful to someone. Enjoy!

Updated Information
A few more things to keep in mind:
* Unzip files to the root of the SD card. Don't have them under any additional directory levels.
* Have plenty of internal memory free in the Reader
* Ensure that the SD card is formatted as FAT, not FAT32 (4 gig cards will probably be FAT32 as 2gig is the max capacity for FAT formatted cards). <https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=85811&postcount=178>
* There is another version of the XML file here, which adds history navigation by holding down the volume controls for 5 secs. Regular pressing still controls volume up/down. This is the version I'm currently using with my Reader because I wanted all the new functionality without losing anything. The only thing I have to give up with this version is volume mute, which is the default behavior of holding down the volume buttons.

12:25 AM by bumper314 in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Hey Guys,

I have documented a way to take the Mobipocket Reader used in the iRex iLiad and run it on just about any Java capable platform.

Anyone who has been wanting to read their legally purchased (DRM'ed) Mobipocket formatted eBooks on an un-supported platform (GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, HP-UX, etc.) can now do so.

Here's a link to the hack:
http://www.saudette.net/projects/ind...et_Reader_Hack

Enjoy!
Steve

08:15 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

The wait is over for the next Sony firmware update for the PRS-500 Reader. The new version is available for download.

This update (dated 7/31/2007) will do the following:

Improvements over system software version 1.0.02.01300

* Resolves an issue where, under certain conditions, the battery meter may not correctly indicate the proper charge level
* Resolves an issue where the reader may not successfully return from sleep mode

Improvements over the original system software

* Longer Battery life during audio playback (NOTE: Actual battery life may vary based on usage pattern, product settings, battery and environmental conditions.)
* Faster transfer speeds when using 4GB or larger Memory Stick® media
* Improved handling of white bands on the audio playback screen
* Addresses security vulnerabilities
* Enhances system stability

The key issues addressed are the battery charge indicator fix and system stability (although I'm not sure that we've really seen any instability issues... this device has been pretty rock solid for most of us).

See the Sony download page for more instructions and details. The upgrade should take only a few minutes to complete.

If it operates like the previous upgrade, you will probably be prompted for it when you dock your Reader with the desktop Connect software.

01:56 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

Photographed pages of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" were flooding popular BitTorrent search engine sites days ahead of the book's official publication date. Although some of these photos were barely readable, it didn't stop DSB, an e-book pirates group, to type out (i.e. transcribe) the full thing in less than 48 hours after the initial leak and to release it in readable e-book formats. MobileRead had a chat with one of the leaders of DSB.

Hello DSB. How many people where involved in OCRing and proofreading the leaked photo images?

DSB originally had seven members who worked on releasing the first 10 chapters of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". After that, we sent an email asking people for help. I really don't know how many people helped in total, but about 100-150 volunteered. Of these, maybe 10-15 actually ended up helping.

What hardware and software did you use?

Just our day-to-day computers (i.e. nothing special) with an image reader software, and occasionally Adobe Photoshop to enhance/sharpen the leaked images. No OCR software was used, it was all rewritten. We tried for a while to use OCR, but it just wouldn't read the images.

Perhaps OCR will improve one day with the launch of Google's OCRopus project. Last year, the e-book of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was released in about 12 hours after the hardcover release. How long did it take you in total?

We started Monday morning and by Tuesday night we had our first 10 chapters done. We only worked for about 8-9 hours a day. After that, we received much more help and got the remaining 26 chapters plus epilogue done by Thursday morning and finally released it on Thursday afternoon.

And what was the original idea of scanning "Deathly Hallows"?

Well, we didn't scan it. We transcribed it. We all wanted to read it but hated those horrible pictures because they were killing our eyes. We decided that if each one of us takes a chapter from 1-10, we could all read the book in a nice format and only put in a little work. From there on we decided it wasn't right to keep this to ourselves. We wanted to keep the release within the group but realized we wouldn't be able to finish in time if we only had our 7 people.

Let's talk about the e-book scene. What attracted you to it?

See above.

We hear a lot about the 0-day and the movie scene. Is there a connection to the e-book scene? Is the e-book scene structured in similar ways (eg. with competiting release groups)?

Well, I'm not really part of any other group and this was our first and maybe only release. There was, however, competition. After our 10-chapter release, another group released chapters 11-21 soon after. A couple of hours after them we released the entire book.

Aren't you afraid of getting in trouble should publishers take aim - like RIAA and MPAA have done for the movie and record industries?

Sure we're afraid, but we think we've taken enough preventative measures as to not get caught.

Well, the person who shot the original photos included the EXIF-data of his camera along with its serial number. Do you think they will eventually track him down? Should he worry?

I don't think he should worry all that much; unless he registered his camera, there's no way - as far as I know - to track him down. Furthermore even if he did register his camera, he could have just "sold it", "broke it" or "lost it" years ago, and what proof would anyone have otherwise. Regardless though, if he did register his camera and if he is a librarian responsible for keeping the Harry Potter books secure then he may be in some trouble.

Where do you see e-books in 12 months from now?

I don't think they'll be much if any different than they are now.

What would you say to JK Rowling if you had the chance?

I would tell her, thank you for making a great book which has actually made so many people read. I'd also tell her that I'm disappointed in how the last two chapters ended and that I don't understand why she had to make this a children's book with a fairy-tale ending. Finally, I'd like to tell her that the leaks didn't kill her book sales at all, and that she - along with her publishers - shouldn't worry about piracy of the Harry Potter books; people will buy them regardless of whether or not they can read them for free. I know I did.

Disclaimer: We at MobileRead obviously don't support the distribution of pirated books. Despite the leak, as of today, Monday 30th July, "Deathly Hallows" remains at No. 1 on the best-seller lists of Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Related: Pirate Bay and the Torrent on Fire, Harry Potter 6 e-book already being pirated!