To CBZ, or not to CBZ: that is the question

[GlennD]

I use CBZ since it is simple and portable, and it'll be easy to do something else with it if I ever decide to. I tend to buy from Amazon, so my conversion process is based on that.

I just bring the kindle file into Calibre with some help from Alf, and convert it to an epub. Then I convert the epub into a CBZ. It's pretty simple to do manually but I just wrote a quick and dirty batch file that I can just drag the epub onto in Explorer, and it handles the conversion.

[Freeshadow]

it's slow yes, and I posted the maximum settings; as for GUIs I have no idea, never used any. for such things I prefer command line. and advzip is a command line tool. I have no idea what you actually used thenAs it works on any file with deflate compression streams, I used it on numerous kinds of them like game data files too. (think pak files in id software games) The game Torchlight has 1 deflate based data file (Don't have the name present atm - I'm typing here on my phone) advzip ran 2 days over it.
so much about "way too long"

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

I have no idea what you actually used then

I thought I made it clear that I was using zopfli/zopflipng. They were built from the zopfli source on GitHub.

When I tried the maximum compression command line with zopflipng, it took close to 4 days to compress a single 32MB png and managed to save 1679 bytes over the original command line compression. The original PNG converted from a Gigapixel Project image was 32,916,531 bytes, the first command line gave a 19,724,422 byte output file and the second command line gave a 19,722,743 byte output file.

zopflipng --iterations=15 big_png1.png png_ncomp.png

zopflipng --iterations=500 --filters=01234mepb --lossy_8bit --lossy_transparent big_png1.png png_maxcomp.png

[milo132]

All that's a cbz is an image zip file. It's fantastic if you are switching from paper. Neither search functionality nor index creation are available.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by milo132

All that's a cbz is an image zip file. It's fantastic if you are switching from paper. Neither search functionality nor index creation are available.

True, but you can store metadata in the ZIP comment, e.g.:

https://code.google.com/archive/p/comicbookinfo/

I use ComicTagger .

[ZodWallop]

Man, I've been reading digital comics years before I was reading digital books. I've only ever used CBZ or CBR. Never bothered with a table of contents either. For the most part, they are single issue comics, so a TOC would seem silly. Even in collected editions, I tend to read them much faster than a novel.

I also read comics on a tablet and use programs meant for digital comics (Perfect Viewer on Android, Cover on Windows). I don't add comics to calibre. There used to be a calibre like program for comics, ComicRack. But for me it was shaky at the best of times and is no longer developed. So I gave up metadata.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Man, I've been reading digital comics years before I was reading digital books. I've only ever used CBZ or CBR. Never bothered with a table of contents either. For the most part, they are single issue comics, so a TOC would seem silly. Even in collected editions, I tend to read them much faster than a novel.

I also read comics on a tablet and use programs meant for digital comics (Perfect Viewer on Android, Cover on Windows). I don't add comics to calibre. There used to be a calibre like program for comics, ComicRack. But for me it was shaky at the best of times and is no longer developed. So I gave up metadata.

There's valid reasons for wanting a ToC. For example, I picked up a couple of these on a recent Kindle sale, and since they're basically just collections of works by a single author and not limited to any specific comic line, it would've been handy to jump past random one-offs concerning heroes I'm not familiar with. Another example might be some of these Marvel Epic Collections in which adjacent comics were often packaged in; I don't feel the need to suffer through an issue of Power Pack while re-reading some X-Men classics.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

There's valid reasons for wanting a ToC.

First: You are right. Just because they are unimportant to me does not mean they serve no purpose to anybody.

I'm saying this because the rest is why they are unimportant to me

For example, I picked up a couple of these on a recent Kindle sale, and since they're basically just collections of works by a single author and not limited to any specific comic line, it would've been handy to jump past random one-offs concerning heroes I'm not familiar with.

I always followed writers/artists rather than characters. In fact I really dislike superhero comics.

The reason I picked up the book you linked to is because I like Alan Moore so much (and man, they will never stop making money off his stuff). So it doesn't matter to me if he is writing a Green Lantern story or a Superman story or what have you. The only reason I am reading about these characters is because they lucked into getting Alan Moore to write for them.

A book like that is a good candidate for a TOC. I just don't case about one. I'll likely read each story in one sitting anyway.

BTW: Have you seen the 2000 A.D. Alan Moore collections? The Complete Alan Moore Future Shocks. A Compilation of the short tales he wrote for 2000 A.D. He wrote a couple of other short series for them as well. D.R. and Quinch, Skizz and The Ballad of Halo Jones. Those are also available. Sensibly sold as DRM-free CBZ or PDF files.

Another example might be some of these Marvel Epic Collections in which adjacent comics were often packaged in; I don't feel the need to suffer through an issue of Power Pack while re-reading some X-Men classics.

Weren't those adjacent comics packed in because the story continues in them? (Another thing I didn't like about superhero comics.)