tracknut

I just got my hx4700 recently, and thought it would be fun to try out this e-book thing, but can't find a quick tutorial on what I need to do. Maybe someone could write a quick summary for me.

- I downloaded the MS viewer, it looks like I need to do some sort of registration to get a certificate that will let me read a book. Okay... I'll need to do that.

- What book formats should I look for then? I've hit a couple sites, and they seem to give me about 10 or so formats I could select from. What should I be looking for here? Will the MS viewer read absolutely anything, or should I be looking specifically for PDF files or something?

- Given the viewer needs a certificate, I'm wondering what happens with free books. Clearly there isn't someone out there encoding them for me personally, with my certificate - are there some books that are free/open to the public, that could be read without registering the reader, and other books for which I pay money, and somehow get a personalized version of the book that can only be read by my specific reader?

Thanks for any help!
Dave

imported_Marc

Originally Posted by tracknut

- Given the viewer needs a certificate, I'm wondering what happens with free books. Clearly there isn't someone out there encoding them for me personally, with my certificate - are there some books that are free/open to the public, that could be read without registering the reader, and other books for which I pay money, and somehow get a personalized version of the book that can only be read by my specific reader?

Hi Dave,

There are other readers out there. One almost-free reader (the one I use) is called µbook. (Have a look at it at: http://www.gowerpoint.com/uBook_main.html) It reads a wide variety of formats, including ones often distributed free. You could also check out some of the free readers at: http://www.freewareppc.com/docs/docs_viewers.shtml

For free e-books, I always look in at Memoware: http://www.memoware.com/

Have fun.

Marc

Cheryl

MS Reader uses the .lit format of ebook.

You will need to activate MS Reader on your PPC before you can read any books on it. I can't remember, but you may have to have it installed on your PC as well.

I have only used MS Reader and overall really like it. The only complaint I have is that M$ support is quite unresponsive. I had a problem with not being able to activate the reader on my X50V because it said I had exceeded my maximum number of device activations. Then I was hosed because I couldn't activate my reader and all of my books are in .lit format. Very annoying.

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CyberSpaceCadet

I am very pleased with mobipocket reader, which is free at mobipocket.com. I also have Mobipocket web caompanion, which auto uploads my selection of newspapers into it (replacing yesterdays) each time I dock in the cradle. Choice is of only about 200 or so sources, but includes BBC, BBC sport, Guardian football, the Australian, and several PDA related media, to name but a few.
:approve:

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tracknut

I downloaded ubook, and a few freebie books, it seems pretty nice so far. I suppose I should pay for the current version at some point so it doesn't display the ads... are there any new features in that version, or just not the ads?

The thought of the automatic download of newspapers sounds pretty cool too - would the mobipocket companion download doc/txt files I could read with ubook, or do I need their reader as well?

For now, I've removed the MS reader... thanks for the help, folks!
Dave

sebring

I recommend avoiding MS Reader and the .lit format. I have a number of LEGAL .lit books that I can't read on my PPC because I did a hard reset and now I have exceeded my alloted activations and MS refuses to extend any additional activations. Besides, MS Reader seems to also have performance problems on VGA devices. Imagine that MS OS and MS Application won't work together.

JDTagish

MS Reader, once activated will read only .lit files. There are several other readers out there, but ONLY MS Reader will read .lit.

Mobipocket reader uses the .prc file format, and the eReader uses .pdb file formats.

I personally use GowerPoint's UBook, which can read pretty much every file format, including .prc, .pdb, .txt and html. It will NOT read .lit files tho. It will also not read ENCODED .pdb files, which would be purchased directly from the eReader website, and usually for more current books. It is also VGA compatible!

UBook was free for a long time, but they are now requesting a $12.00 payment. (The reader will work, but after a few days, you will be interrupted every few pages with a request to purchase/register the program. For me, it is well worth the $ for it, as I use it every single day!

Most free ebooks can be obtained in any of these formats, so it's really a matter of preference as to what ebook reader you wind up preferring.

Good Luck, and Happy Reading!

Originally Posted by tracknut

I just got my hx4700 recently, and thought it would be fun to try out this e-book thing, but can't find a quick tutorial on what I need to do. Maybe someone could write a quick summary for me. - I downloaded the MS viewer, it looks like I need to do some sort of registration to get a certificate that will let me read a book. Okay... I'll need to do that. - What book formats should I look for then? I've hit a couple sites, and they seem to give me about 10 or so formats I could select from. What should I be looking for here? Will the MS viewer read absolutely anything, or should I be looking specifically for PDF files or something? - Given the viewer needs a certificate, I'm wondering what happens with free books. Clearly there isn't someone out there encoding them for me personally, with my certificate - are there some books that are free/open to the public, that could be read without registering the reader, and other books for which I pay money, and somehow get a personalized version of the book that can only be read by my specific reader? Thanks for any help! Dave

uwaku

uBook & MS Reader are the best combo for PPC. You can hit sites such as memoware.com, manybooks.net, and many others. Just do a search for "free ebooks."

I use uBook to read all the .pdb's I had for my old Palm. Whenever possible, though, download .txt files. Pocket Word can read them, and there are several free programs that will convert .txt, .htm, and other formats to either .pdb or .lit. LIT files are the most restrictive, since it's fairly difficult to convert them to other formats and only Reader can view them.

Baen's website has free fantasy/sci-fi books, and several new authors (like Kelley Armstrong) post short stories & serials on their websites in various formats. Look around. I've found & downloaded over 3,500 ebooks from various sources.

psionandy

Originally Posted by uwaku

uBook & MS Reader are the best combo for PPC. You can hit sites such as memoware.com, manybooks.net, and many others. Just do a search for "free ebooks." .

Memoware is a fantastic source of 100% legal, 100% free ebooks. In just about every format you could want :approve:

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