10-28-2008, 06:28 AM | #1 |
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ontario Canada
Device: iPod Touch and Sony Reader
|
Need help with book conversion
Good Morning Everyone,
Love this forum. I just got my Sony reader on the weekend and now am wanting to format some of my books for the reader. This is where the confusion begins for me. I have searched and read the forum and still come away shaking my head. I am not new to a computer nor am I a novice user but for some reason I am confused on what to do or even how I should do it. I understand the reader will read rtf and text as well as pdf and the sony format. Most of my books are in a prc format which I can easily convert to text. However I end up with a bit of a mess on some of my books and I would like to get them cleaned up some how. I have partial sentences that need to be joined together to make whole sentences. Not sure if that makes any sense or not. I used to read my books on a palm handheld and then more recently my iPod touch. But I now want to use my reader. So much easier on the eyes. For me it does not matter if I have them in the sony format. The most important thing is the formatting of the book. Can someone please help me. Ruby |
10-28-2008, 06:36 AM | #2 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
What format are you attempting to convert from?
|
Advert | |
|
10-28-2008, 06:39 AM | #3 |
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ontario Canada
Device: iPod Touch and Sony Reader
|
I have them converted right now to a text format. I also have a few pdf's as well converted over to text.
|
10-28-2008, 06:45 AM | #4 |
eBook Enthusiast
Posts: 85,544
Karma: 93383043
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
|
PDF conversion is always problematic because a PDF files contains no information about paragraph, lines, or even words, come to that. I'm afraid that really all you can do is to load the resulting file into an editor and clean it up by hand.
|
10-28-2008, 07:38 AM | #5 |
Reader
Posts: 11,504
Karma: 8720163
Join Date: May 2007
Location: South Wales, UK
Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G
|
Harry is correct, alas.
Some PDFs need a lot of editing. But you also mention mobi to text conversions: if it is merely the usual problem with hard carriage breaks at the end of every line (leading to line breaks in strange places) then inserting the text file into Word and running Stingo's macro can work really well. You can find it here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8793 Also people speak very highly of =X='s Book Creator tool: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28313 And on a Mac, I am told that you can use textmate. |
Advert | |
|
10-28-2008, 08:40 AM | #6 |
Addict
Posts: 334
Karma: 992487
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Device: 2 x Sony 505, iPad, Samsung 7 Tablet, ASUS Transformer, Nexus 7
|
If you have your ebooks in txt format, half the battle is over.
Like HarryT says, you can load the file into an editor and clean it up by hand. That's the way I usually do it now. It can take an hour or two or more, but I end up with a file that looks just the way I want it. Once I have the file in txt format I use a freebie program called "E-Book Tidy" to get rid of split lines, page numbers, blank lines, odd symbols and other annoyances. Then I use MS WORD and skim through the whole book to make any other corrections. When I've finished, I apply a font size of 16 to give a good reading size on the Sony, with larger sized fonts for title and chapter headings. Then I save it in RTF format. While there are various programs to convert files automatically for the Sony, they don't always do a perfect job. I prefer to do it by hand. It's slow and labour intensive, but I watch TV or listen to music while I do it. |
10-28-2008, 08:40 AM | #7 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 72,195
Karma: 308792702
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
I believe that Calibre will convert from prc (Mobipocket) to lrf pretty well. Certainly a lot better than going through a text format first.
|
10-28-2008, 10:18 AM | #8 | |
Enthusiast
Posts: 27
Karma: 70
Join Date: Jul 2008
Device: Sony PR505
|
Quote:
There is a good discussion on converting PDFs (and the problems they have on word wrapping) to other format including a link to tools, and options here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30263 You will see a post from me, including how I convert a PDF to a RFT with the correct word wrapping and easy to read styles. It takes me about 5 minutes a book, from start to finish, and the results are a lot better than PDFs, or having to edit by hand. Hope this helps Jaffa |
|
10-28-2008, 06:00 PM | #9 |
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ontario Canada
Device: iPod Touch and Sony Reader
|
Thank you all for your kind replies ..It gives me now something to work with ..Hopefully I can do it
|
10-28-2008, 06:02 PM | #10 |
Reader
Posts: 11,504
Karma: 8720163
Join Date: May 2007
Location: South Wales, UK
Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G
|
Good luck Pinksugar. Tell us how you get on.
|
10-29-2008, 05:41 AM | #11 |
Junior Member
Posts: 4
Karma: 10
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ontario Canada
Device: iPod Touch and Sony Reader
|
I ended up using =X='s Book Creator Tool and then also installed calibre and have managed to fix a few books up quite nicely.
Thank you all so much for the assistance. I was so lost in wondering what to do. I had tried so many things and could not figure any of it out. Have a wonderful day!! |
10-29-2008, 05:46 AM | #12 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
Posts: 75,917
Karma: 134368292
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Quote:
|
|
10-31-2008, 01:29 PM | #13 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 53
Karma: 138
Join Date: Oct 2008
Device: sony prs505
|
Ok instead of starting a new thread i might aswell use this one, with all the hassle of converting pdf's to the lrf format is best to just leave them as pdf's? i have yet got my ebook reader yet it is hopefully coming by tuesday but i would like to get some books ready to put on it. The books i want to put on it are computer books and so are quite large and i imagine it takes a long time to edit them so they make sense again after they have been converted.
Also does the prs505 resize pdf pages so that on page fits the screen? |
11-03-2008, 11:05 AM | #14 | |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 11,470
Karma: 13095790
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Grass Valley, CA
Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2 & Air 2, iPhone 7
|
Quote:
dale |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Book Conversion via Calibre Failed | dewdrops | Calibre | 4 | 08-27-2010 09:32 PM |
Scanned book conversion | jabberwock_11 | Calibre | 2 | 01-25-2010 03:37 AM |
4 book series PDB conversion, 1 book failing | fuzzycloud | Calibre | 2 | 10-13-2009 03:03 AM |
E-Book Conversion Tool | kgns | Kindle Formats | 5 | 11-28-2008 04:01 AM |
Vital Book Conversion | arvinder | Workshop | 3 | 12-10-2007 09:20 AM |