New trend? digitize your books for $1USD each. - Page 4

rogue_librarian · 08-24-2011, 03:26 PM

Yes, because the PDF has the OCR'ed text as an additional layer on top of the image from where it can be exported.

blue_skies · 08-24-2011, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Yes, because the PDF has the OCR'ed text as an additional layer on top of the image from where it can be exported.

Oh good! So it does include text along with the image... that's what I was hoping. Otherwise I could just photograph or scan the pages myself.

murraypaul · 08-25-2011, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue_skies

Oh good! So it does include text along with the image... that's what I was hoping. Otherwise I could just photograph or scan the pages myself.

The value they are offering is taking the time to scan the pages for you. Once you have a good set of scans, doing automated OCR (which is all they will be doing, not manual proofreading) is not difficult or time consuming. You should be able to find a cheap copy of FineReader 7 or later which would do a very good job.

anamardoll · 08-26-2011, 01:13 PM

I've been cutting and scanning my books and I will try this. The scanning takes a tremendous amount of time -- even if you have a duplex/simplex scanner, you have to check each scan individually to make sure the scanner didn't smear the image. (A smeared image means the conversion software is out of luck for that page.)

A clean cut and scan, even if it was just an image PDF would be extremely valuable to me -- definitely worth $1-6. I'll send them a book soon and report back on the results. You know, to help the community and all.

HarryT · 08-26-2011, 01:15 PM

Please do. I'd be interested to know how good the results are.

anamardoll · 08-26-2011, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue_skies

Yes, but why does 1DollarScan say they scan the book, OCR the results, but then only send you a PDF? Does anyone think that would be any more useful in eventually converting it to Mobi or Epub than a non-OCRed PDF?

ePub would be nice in the case of books, but they also are offering scanning services for multiple document types. Maybe it was easier to just say PDFs for everything?

http://1dollarscan.com/pricing.php

They do pictures, even. I have no idea why you'd pay to have a picture turned into a PDF, but it's there if the customer wants it...

GlennD · 08-26-2011, 01:48 PM

I think Record Rescuers may be a closer comparison than MP3.com. You send Record Rescuers your vinyl record, they convert it to a CD. According to their site they've been around since 1997 (I believe this is true as I remember them from when I was looking for ways to convert my own vinyl years ago). Evidently no 'cease and desist' yet - maybe they're just too small for the record labels to worry about.

anamardoll · 08-28-2011, 10:56 AM

Alright, people, update. I ran through the site yesterday and placed an order for a 350 page book. The charge was $4 through Paypal.

This morning I received the "order confirmation" email telling me where to ship it (which was good because I couldn't find an address on the website).

I'm shipping the book Media Mail for $2.60. So we're up to $6.60 for the conversion, it takes about 2+ weeks for the conversion to happen, and there will still be a conversion on my end to get the book into ePub form. No free lunch, eh?

Here is the fine print on the email:

Dear [redacted],
Welcome to 1dollarscan.com (zLibro) and thank you for your order.

We will start scanning from September 1st 2011 in the order of package arrival.

And please allow us 2 weeks to scan your material since the arrival of your package.

We are ready to receive package as of now so please send them at your earliest convenience.

Your Order Summary and Number:
Order Number: [redacted]
E-Mail: [redacted]
Name: [redacted]
Street Address: [redacted]
City: [redacted]
State: [redacted]
Zip: [redacted]
Country: [redacted]

Total: $4
Books: 4 sets / $4

How to Send:
• All shipping and handling (including cost) to be the responsibility of Customer.
• We HIGHLY RECOMMEND to pay little extra to obtain a tracking number.
• On your envelop or box, please write your order number clearly so that we can identify.
• Make sure to print out this Order Confirmation email and include in your shipment.

1dollarscan.com (zLibro) address:
1dollarscan.com (zLibro, Inc.)
10 South Third St. 3rd Floor
San Jose, CA 95113
TEL: (650) 492-5111

Scope and Limitation of our Service (http://1dollarscan.com/terms.php):

i. General Limitations
- You must be at least 13 years old or older to receive the Services.
- Please be aware that some media (e.g., glossy photo-print paper) may not be able to be scanned despite of 1DollarScan’s best effort. Those documents that were not accepted will be returned to you.
- The original documents will NOT be returned after scanned unless specifically requested to be returned which will be subject to a return process fee of $5 per Unit. Return process fee and actual shipping cost to be borne by the customer..
- BOOKS WILL NOT BE RETURNED ONCE SCANNED REGARDLESS OF REQUEST TO RETURN.

ii. Paper Sheets
- The documents will NOT be accepted if staples, sticky notes (e.g., PostIt®) or any other removable objects are attached to media.
- All sheets must be unfolded.

iii. Business cards
- Only regular-size business cards (i.e., 2 inches x 3.5 inches) will be accepted.

iv. Books
- No more than 2.5 inches in thickness.
- No more than 11.7 inches in width.
- No MAGAZINES accepted.
- We don't scan the cover page. (This option will be available in Premium Service in the future)
- WILL NOT BE RETURNED ONCE SCANNED REGARDLESS OF REQUEST TO RETURN.

v. Photographs
- All photographs must be removed from a photo album or photo books.
- Some large size photographs may not be accepted.
vi. Greeting cards
- Any greeting cards with “frills” or “pop-ups” will NOT be accepted.

--------------------------------------------------------

Best Regards (please become a fan and like us on Facebook),

Frank William
support@1dollarscan.com
10 South Third St. 3rd Floor
San Jose, CA 95113

http://1dollarscan.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/1dolla...08034702617869
http://twitter.com/#!/1dollarscan
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Pinecone · 08-29-2011, 08:58 AM

Notice that books will NOT be returned. Thus they are truely content shifting. Send paper book, get scan back.

MrsJoseph · 08-29-2011, 01:56 PM

I have regular Canon MX882 all-in-one printer. It seems to also have OCR software. Would this software be sufficient for me to do a conversion myself?

HarryT · 08-29-2011, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I have regular Canon MX882 all-in-one printer. It seems to also have OCR software. Would this software be sufficient for me to do a conversion myself?

Sure. I've digitised a couple of books with the "Lite" version of FineReader I got with my "all in one" printer. It's a lot of work, though.

MrsJoseph · 08-30-2011, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sure. I've digitised a couple of books with the "Lite" version of FineReader I got with my "all in one" printer. It's a lot of work, though.

I just tried one page...and I see what you mean. It does pull the information but there are a TON of errors and spacing concerns. It's a backlisted book that just got converted into ebook format. I was annoyed that it's $7.99 (I own two copies) but it seems that the money might be worth not having to do the work.

I thought about using the company the OP spoke about...but my second copy is a rare version that I don't even read.

MrsJoseph · 08-30-2011, 12:18 PM

hmmm, I just found a site tutorial for creating ebooks: http://www.jedisaber.com/ebooks/Tutorial.asp

Maybe I don't want to do this... for some reason I thought that i could scan it then repair in in text and then convert it to epub...I didn't think I'd need to learn HTML & CSS...

murraypaul · 08-30-2011, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

hmmm, I just found a site tutorial for creating ebooks: http://www.jedisaber.com/ebooks/Tutorial.asp

Maybe I don't want to do this... for some reason I thought that i could scan it then repair in in text and then convert it to epub...I didn't think I'd need to learn HTML & CSS...

You don't.
Get it into any simple format, then use available tools (such as calibre) to convert it to ePub for you.

MrsJoseph · 08-30-2011, 12:51 PM

So, for chapters I just type it out and convert? Calibre will force a TOC?

08-26-2011, 01:13 PM	#49
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	I've been cutting and scanning my books and I will try this. The scanning takes a tremendous amount of time -- even if you have a duplex/simplex scanner, you have to check each scan individually to make sure the scanner didn't smear the image. (A smeared image means the conversion software is out of luck for that page.) A clean cut and scan, even if it was just an image PDF would be extremely valuable to me -- definitely worth $1-6. I'll send them a book soon and report back on the results. You know, to help the community and all. Last edited by anamardoll; 08-26-2011 at 01:22 PM.

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08-24-2011, 03:26 PM	#46
rogue_librarian Guru Posts: 973 Karma: 4269175 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Europe Device: Pocketbook Basic 613	Yes, because the PDF has the OCR'ed text as an additional layer on top of the image from where it can be exported.

08-26-2011, 01:15 PM	#50
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Please do. I'd be interested to know how good the results are.

08-26-2011, 01:48 PM	#52
GlennD Wizard Posts: 2,105 Karma: 17249026 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: The Pacific NW Device: sony PRS350, iPhone, iPad	I think Record Rescuers may be a closer comparison than MP3.com. You send Record Rescuers your vinyl record, they convert it to a CD. According to their site they've been around since 1997 (I believe this is true as I remember them from when I was looking for ways to convert my own vinyl years ago). Evidently no 'cease and desist' yet - maybe they're just too small for the record labels to worry about.

08-28-2011, 10:56 AM	#53
anamardoll Chasing Butterflies Posts: 3,132 Karma: 5074169 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: American Southwest Device: Uses batteries.	Alright, people, update. I ran through the site yesterday and placed an order for a 350 page book. The charge was $4 through Paypal. This morning I received the "order confirmation" email telling me where to ship it (which was good because I couldn't find an address on the website). I'm shipping the book Media Mail for $2.60. So we're up to $6.60 for the conversion, it takes about 2+ weeks for the conversion to happen, and there will still be a conversion on my end to get the book into ePub form. No free lunch, eh? Here is the fine print on the email: Dear [redacted], Welcome to 1dollarscan.com (zLibro) and thank you for your order. We will start scanning from September 1st 2011 in the order of package arrival. And please allow us 2 weeks to scan your material since the arrival of your package. We are ready to receive package as of now so please send them at your earliest convenience. Your Order Summary and Number: Order Number: [redacted] E-Mail: [redacted] Name: [redacted] Street Address: [redacted] City: [redacted] State: [redacted] Zip: [redacted] Country: [redacted] Total: $4 Books: 4 sets / $4 How to Send: • All shipping and handling (including cost) to be the responsibility of Customer. • We HIGHLY RECOMMEND to pay little extra to obtain a tracking number. • On your envelop or box, please write your order number clearly so that we can identify. • Make sure to print out this Order Confirmation email and include in your shipment. 1dollarscan.com (zLibro) address: 1dollarscan.com (zLibro, Inc.) 10 South Third St. 3rd Floor San Jose, CA 95113 TEL: (650) 492-5111 Scope and Limitation of our Service (http://1dollarscan.com/terms.php): i. General Limitations - You must be at least 13 years old or older to receive the Services. - Please be aware that some media (e.g., glossy photo-print paper) may not be able to be scanned despite of 1DollarScan’s best effort. Those documents that were not accepted will be returned to you. - The original documents will NOT be returned after scanned unless specifically requested to be returned which will be subject to a return process fee of $5 per Unit. Return process fee and actual shipping cost to be borne by the customer.. - BOOKS WILL NOT BE RETURNED ONCE SCANNED REGARDLESS OF REQUEST TO RETURN. ii. Paper Sheets - The documents will NOT be accepted if staples, sticky notes (e.g., PostIt®) or any other removable objects are attached to media. - All sheets must be unfolded. iii. Business cards - Only regular-size business cards (i.e., 2 inches x 3.5 inches) will be accepted. iv. Books - No more than 2.5 inches in thickness. - No more than 11.7 inches in width. - No MAGAZINES accepted. - We don't scan the cover page. (This option will be available in Premium Service in the future) - WILL NOT BE RETURNED ONCE SCANNED REGARDLESS OF REQUEST TO RETURN. v. Photographs - All photographs must be removed from a photo album or photo books. - Some large size photographs may not be accepted. vi. Greeting cards - Any greeting cards with “frills” or “pop-ups” will NOT be accepted. -------------------------------------------------------- Best Regards (please become a fan and like us on Facebook), Frank William support@1dollarscan.com 10 South Third St. 3rd Floor San Jose, CA 95113 http://1dollarscan.com http://www.facebook.com/pages/1dolla...08034702617869 http://twitter.com/#!/1dollarscan ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

08-29-2011, 08:58 AM	#54
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	Notice that books will NOT be returned. Thus they are truely content shifting. Send paper book, get scan back.

08-29-2011, 01:56 PM	#55
MrsJoseph Loves Ellipsis... Posts: 1,554 Karma: 7899232 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Washington, DC Device: Kobo Wifi (broken), nook STR (returned), Kobo Touch, Sony T1	I have regular Canon MX882 all-in-one printer. It seems to also have OCR software. Would this software be sufficient for me to do a conversion myself?

08-30-2011, 12:18 PM	#58
MrsJoseph Loves Ellipsis... Posts: 1,554 Karma: 7899232 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Washington, DC Device: Kobo Wifi (broken), nook STR (returned), Kobo Touch, Sony T1	hmmm, I just found a site tutorial for creating ebooks: http://www.jedisaber.com/ebooks/Tutorial.asp Maybe I don't want to do this... for some reason I thought that i could scan it then repair in in text and then convert it to epub...I didn't think I'd need to learn HTML & CSS...

08-30-2011, 12:51 PM	#60
MrsJoseph Loves Ellipsis... Posts: 1,554 Karma: 7899232 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Washington, DC Device: Kobo Wifi (broken), nook STR (returned), Kobo Touch, Sony T1	So, for chapters I just type it out and convert? Calibre will force a TOC?

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