Last night I learned about Calibre and I am amazed. It is basically iTunes but for ebooks. I have a large collection of ebooks that were in mobi format. When first opening up Calibre it asks what kind of device you would like it setup for. Obviously I chose the B&N NookColor option. After Calibre added my collection to my library, I then connected my nook. Highlighted all the books and then right clicked > Send to device. You get the option of sending it to internal storage or the SD card. It then asks if you would like to convert all the books to a compatible format for the device. I left it syncing over night, woke up and only 2 of 568 books did not convert properly. Now on my NC I have a huge library of books to choose from. The "Books" section within your "Library" does take some time to load though so I took some time and added the more prevalent books I want to read to "My Shelves" and now I have a good amount of quickly accessible reading material.
Edit: Screenshot:
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Don't degrade the good name of Calibre by comparing it to crappy iTunes.
rajendra82 said:
Don't degrade the good name of Calibre by comparing it to crappy iTunes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YEAH!!!!!! I hate iTunes.
I also hate it when people describe my espresso catering business as "it's like Starbucks, but better".
Cheers,
kev
Been using Calibre since I got my NC, and love it. I just wish it (or the NC) handled cover art a lot better. Calibre seems to create a jpg file in the same directory as the ebook for the cover, instead of using the on on page 1 of the ebook, most of the time. I get a lot of blank covers that do have cover art on page 1 on my NC.
I've tried to find solutions (save "epub as epub", and convert in Sigil -then in Calibre), but none have been successful.
Good call letting people know about Calibre though. It is very good.
Bimboy said:
Been using Calibre since I got my NC, and love it. I just wish it (or the NC) handled cover art a lot better. Calibre seems to create a jpg file in the same directory as the ebook for the cover, instead of using the on on page 1 of the ebook, most of the time. I get a lot of blank covers that do have cover art on page 1 on my NC.
I've tried to find solutions (save "epub as epub", and convert in Sigil -then in Calibre), but none have been successful.
Good call letting people know about Calibre though. It is very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I solved that problem by rooting and using another reader, specifically Aldiko, which IMHO is a much better app than the stock Nook reader.
Nice share, never heard of this before. Thanks!!!
Calibre is great not only for organizing my ebooks but also to convert them to ePub. I had a ton of PDFs and calibre converted them to ePub in under an hour. It also makes it easy to organize books by author on the nook because it automatically formats to (Last, First name).
I'd heard of Calibre before. Never thought to use it though as I've never really had a use for it til now.
Is this strictly PC side, or is there a reader/library app on the market as well?
If not, what reader/library app should I be using? I dont like the BN stock software at all, (clunky and slow mostly) so I want to avoid using it.
Can I use Calibre to resize my comics for my new NC but NOT change what format there in? I plan on using ACV to actually read them
ACV can fit the image to the screen, ypu don't need to resize them.
RSchmauk said:
ACV can fit the image to the screen, ypu don't need to resize them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I just drag and drop my comic files, as is into NC? Any suggestions of where to put them?
Bimboy said:
Been using Calibre since I got my NC, and love it. I just wish it (or the NC) handled cover art a lot better. Calibre seems to create a jpg file in the same directory as the ebook for the cover, instead of using the on on page 1 of the ebook, most of the time. I get a lot of blank covers that do have cover art on page 1 on my NC.
I've tried to find solutions (save "epub as epub", and convert in Sigil -then in Calibre), but none have been successful.
Good call letting people know about Calibre though. It is very good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow leday's post here step by step. It seems a little complicated the first time but it's really very simple and works every single time.
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110001
Actually it's much easier....
Using Calibre to get your covers to show up in your library is actually a very easy thing to do. Man that last post was way way to complicated. 90% of the time the following method works.
Load your book into Calibre.
Right click on the title and choose Edit metadata, then edit metadata individually.
Now the metadata page will open. You will see on the left side of the metadata page a empty box with no ISBN number.
Go to Barnes and Nobles website pull up the book and copy the ISBN number from the site to the ISBN box in Calibre.
Now click the Fetch Metadata.
A new box will open up and Calibre will search the correct metadata.
Normally it will within seconds it will find the title (usually only one will come up).
Make sure the all three text boxes in the bottom left are checked (Overwrite author..., download ..., and download cover art)
Hit ok it will fill in the missing data and download the correct (in 98% of the cases) cover art.
Now simply convert epub to epub.
The cover art should now correctly populate to your Nook Color when you move the modified book to your device.
I believe that the problem with cover art not showing correctly on the Nook Color might in fact be linked to missing or incorrect ISBN numbers. Regardless this whole process is mostly painless and quick so definitely easier then changing file names etc.
Hope that helps people.
Adan
I have been using calibre for covers titles and authors. Only question i had is how do you sent the books to your nook in an organized manner? For example when i move books over all the books get moved to the root of my SD card. I would like to have the books go to my files than ebooks folder but there is no option to set that...am i missing something?
I have been using calibre to fetch news feeds from blogs and websites that I read daily. When you choose a source it asks when you would like it downloaded , which I have set at 1 x per day, and then to delete anything older than 1 day.
Everything downloads fine and transfers over but it does not seem to be deleting anything old. Especially from the nook itself. I still have numerous old entries with no apparent way to get rid of them.
Anyone have any experience with this?
myv6mustang said:
I have been using calibre for covers titles and authors. Only question i had is how do you sent the books to your nook in an organized manner? For example when i move books over all the books get moved to the root of my SD card. I would like to have the books go to my files than ebooks folder but there is no option to set that...am i missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I right click the book in Calibre, I see a choice to send to main memory or send to storage card A.
Edit: Oh, you want to select the folder on the SD card. I see.......... good question.
Cheers,
kev
myv6mustang said:
I have been using calibre for covers titles and authors. Only question i had is how do you sent the books to your nook in an organized manner? For example when i move books over all the books get moved to the root of my SD card. I would like to have the books go to my files than ebooks folder but there is no option to set that...am i missing something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an option in Preferences to choose your folder path when sending to the device.
1. Open Preferences
2. Under Import/Export heading, choose "Sending books to devices"
3. Under "Save Template" enter "My Files/ebooks/" at the beginning. You can also change the folder structure there.
Hope that helps!
Now while I'm at it, does anyone know how to tell Calibre not to send over the JPG covers. The Nook Color doesn't need the cover art as a separate jpg the way the Nook did. Adding a .nomedia to my Books folder suppresses all of the eBooks in Library as well. I've been manually deleting all of the JPGs in my Books folder, but I'd prefer to skip that step if possible.
Hello to the community, first time poster.
Is there a way to use calibre without it moving and organizing the e-books in it's own system. I have my own folder-based classification method and I'd like to keep using it - if that's possible (kinda like the i-tunes method of mp3's organization).
In calibre instead of saving to device you click the arrow next to save to disk and choose save to disk in a single directory. If you nc is hooked up, you can choose any folder on your sd card. I don't mess with how it wants to save the files for its functionality, just make my own save folder...,or you single folder save on your pc hdd and simply drag and drop the files onto your nc.
Sent from my rooted nook color using XDA App
Related
Mobipocket Reader (Ebook Reader) free
The best free ebook reader for the Windows Mobile is hands down the Mobipocket reader. This free application is for Windows Mobile, Desktop Computers and various other handhelds. It features autoscrolling, like movie credits. It also allows you to make ebooks out of Word, HTML, PDF and many other document types. It has a direct connection to an ebook store. If you install a dictionary it will look up words from out of the books. If you install a book on your desktop, when you dock your handheld it automatically syncronizes your books to the handheld. Not only that but it allows you to annotate your books with bookmarks, highlighting, notes etc. The annotations also synchronize with your handheld. There are lots of books to choose from on the site, dictionaries, medical books, bibles etc. Plus you can build and sell your own with encryption using the free Creator app.
Main Site
www.mobipocket.com
Download Site
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/default.asp?Language=EN
Direct link to Windows Mobile cab
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/DownloadManualInstall.asp
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"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
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My Devices
Nino 300
Nino 312
Casio E-105
Casio E-125
Hitachi G-1000
Palm Treo 600
Audiovox PPC 6600
PPC 6700
Mogul PPC 6800
There's a software I will not use, hate spammers...
Check my device list
First, the download is free.
Second, most my use with the product is creating my own ebooks out of documents for reading purposes which is also free.
This is my first time posting to the site and I wanted my post to be professional and informative unlike a lot of other posts that dont have pics or good general information.
Sorry, I am not a spammer or affiliatied with Mobipocket in any way, but a power user who likes good info.
I don't like spammers either.
Before you bash check out the product.
My Devices
Nino 300
Nino 312
Casio E-105
Casio E-125
Hitachi G-1000
Palm Treo 600
Audiovox PPC 6600
PPC 6700
Mogul PPC 6800
just try Alreader...
i am wondering: how power user can name pdf reading useful on qvga lol.
I Agree 100% with drlebey.
I have tried many ebook readers and I always come back to mobipocket. It is BY FAR the best one I have come across.
Very nice! But actually I use FoxitReader and also works great. Doesn't have the sync capability tho.
How does it compare to uBook? New versions of uBook are not free but I think the old one worked pretty well.
nothin said:
just try Alreader...
i am wondering: how power user can name pdf reading useful on qvga lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As the original author stated..maybe you should TRY it before you complain about it....I keep an assortment of books on my storage card and mobireader does a great job of making them readable...keeps your spot so when you reopen it, you are right back where you started and up/down on the dpad to navigate.
nothin said:
just try Alreader...
i am wondering: how power user can name pdf reading useful on qvga lol?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you import the pdf it fits everything to screen. You can adjust the font size and it also brings in the pics, link etc. Plus, and this is a big plus, it autoscrolls the screen and you can adjust the scroll speed.
The Alreader program looks interesting, but is there an english version? If so, could you post a direct link to the site?
Reading PDF on QVGA is always pain in the a$$ due to the screen and PDF file format limitations. I use freeware Haali Reader that has these main features:
- Loads plain text and XML files.
- Cyrillic encodings support with autodetection.
- Last viewed position in file is saved on exit.
- ClearType support.
- Any font/size can be selected.
- Fullscreen and landscape mode.
- Colors can be adjusted.
- Text search.
- Dictionary support. Tapping a word opens a translation window.
- Automatic hyphenation (russian language only).
- Table of contents and bookmarks
- Multiple columns support (1-4)
- PRC/PDB files support (plain text and XML only, HTML is not supported).
- Builtin ZIP archives support.
- Autoscroll (controlled from keyboard/buttons only, settings are in Options->Buttons).
why would that be spamming??
It doesn't read PDF files
Haali Reader is a very fast program with lots of options. It looks to be more promising the next version or 2 later. I say this because of the errors I encountered. It doesn't support as many file formats as Mobipocket and I did not like the desktop version very much. I will give it a chance on the mobile device and use it here and there to see if it grows on me.
sabestian said:
why would that be spamming??
It doesn't read PDF files
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can import many formats with the desktop program including PDFs and send them to your device. They read much better than acrobat reader does on the mobile device.
drlebey said:
You can import many formats with the desktop program including PDFs and send them to your device. They read much better than acrobat reader does on the mobile device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will try that! I think as far as integration goes (desktop & PPC) the mobireader is leader. I found something about english and AlReader here. It seems to be a very nice reader too.
thank you
thank you!
This looks interesting, thanks for the information. I'll check it later.
uBook 0.8o - last free
uBook 0.8o - the last (?) free version
I like this application for:
It reads from ZIP archives
It reads HTML
I hate this application for:
It doesn't have capability to manage files
It doesn't show png pictures
It doesn't have touch scrolling / It's not thumb friendly
New versions are not free - the last one but the most important
Bets regards
IGIdeus
drlebey said:
The best free ebook reader for the Windows Mobile is hands down the Mobipocket reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't like this e-reader because I don't know how to use it.
I don't know how to display e-books from my location.
There is only option to open e-book, but I must go to my directory every time.
There is no possibility to change location of library.
There is only option to show one of 3 known extensions or all files (also unknown formats for reader).
Best regards
IGIdeus
P.S. Is there any manual?
I think (I may be wrong) the spam reference was about mobipocket.com (I always get their crap in my inbox), NOT the originator of this thread.
Thanks for the info!
joemanb said:
I think (I may be wrong) the spam reference was about mobipocket.com (I always get their crap in my inbox), NOT the originator of this thread.
Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think they thought the original poster was spamming for mobipocket because he presented his post in a very professional manor with pics and a list of features...and he had a low post count.
I appreciate the fact he took the time to do so and since the program is free see no incentive for anyone to "spam" it.
Hi all!
This may have been asked before (actually I'm pretty sure, but combing through the last 5 pages of threads I'm having a hard time finding it), but my question is this: I've got a lot of ebooks in epub format (gotten from.... other places that I won't discuss here lol) that I am wanting to get loaded onto my Galaxy Tab 10.1 (16gb wi-fi only) that I just got last week. I have been looking into several programs that say that they will transfer from my desktop to the tablet (Calibre and Adobe Digital Editions in particular both state that they will work with the Tab). And both say I have to have an ebook reader app on the Tab.
I say all that to ask this: 1.) will both Adobe Digital Editions and Calibre do what they say well (or if someone has a better preference please let me know!) or do I need to look at using a different program to transfer my ebooks; 2.) will the default Google Books app work to read those epub formatted books or do I need to get a different ebook reader app (and which one should I get)?
Sorry for the horribly long post! Just wanted to state my question with the most background info that I could! Thanks a ton guys! You're the best forum in the world!
I use calibre to convert my eboooks to .mobi format to use with the kindle app on my tab. It works great, is open source and it will match the meta data of the cover art to the mobi file so the covet art actually shows up on my tab. A few pdf files i coverted did not turn out so good (spacing errors and such) but other than that i thimk it is a good program.
FillTheVoid said:
I use calibre to convert my eboooks to .mobi format to use with the kindle app on my tab. It works great, is open source and it will match the meta data of the cover art to the mobi file so the covet art actually shows up on my tab. A few pdf files i coverted did not turn out so good (spacing errors and such) but other than that i thimk it is a good program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok well what's the difference between .mobi and .epub formats? I haven't really found a good definitive answer to that (even on trusty wikipedia). Is one really better than another?
Honestly I really dont know. I do know that it is the format the kindle app uses and that is what I needed. Sorry I cant be more help with that.
Haha! Thanks for the info though. Really appreciate it!
I've tried several but find that Manotano Reader works best for me. Handles ADE DRMed files no problem. Just copy the files to a folder and Import them into MR.
Not inexpensive but so much of a time saver that I don't mind. I Copy the files to a Dropbox folder on my PC. DL them from the DropBox Folder to eBook folder on My ST. Import and done.
Jay Evans said:
I've tried several but find that Manotano Reader works best for me. Handles ADE DRMed files no problem. Just copy the files to a folder and Import them into MR.
Not inexpensive but so much of a time saver that I don't mind. I Copy the files to a Dropbox folder on my PC. DL them from the DropBox Folder to eBook folder on My ST. Import and done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok! I'll have to give that one a shot. Depending on the price that is haha! Thanks for the helpful info!
eBook reader is already included
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 already includes an ebook reader. It was a part of the Touchwiz update. It can read the epub and PDF formats. It is compatible with the Adobe DRM if you are borrowing books from your library or buying other copy protected books, so you can give it your Adobe ID username and password, and it should be able to read them.
It is simply named "ebook" in the apps screen.
for transferring the books,
turn off the USB debugging under settings->Applications->Development
plug you tablet into your computer
browse to your tablet under your computer.
find the ebook folder on the tablet, put your ebook files in the ebook import folder
the path from my computer was "Computer\GT-P7510\Tablet\ebook\import"
After the files are copied, open the ebook app,
go to the menu and choose import to let the ebook reader app see the new books.
Barnes and Noble's Nook app supports .epub. Just drop your files into sdcard>Nook>MyDocuments and you're good to go. Not sure about DRM though.
For pdf's, I use ezPDF Reader. It's not free, but it's got some pretty nice features.
I use Aldiko, handles ePub and PDF which are my 2 main formats. I use Samba Filesharing for Android to create a network share, dump the files in and then use Aldiko's import folder feature to get them into it's library.
brandonyoung said:
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 already includes an ebook reader. It was a part of the Touchwiz update. It can read the epub and PDF formats. It is compatible with the Adobe DRM if you are borrowing books from your library or buying other copy protected books, so you can give it your Adobe ID username and password, and it should be able to read them.
It is simply named "ebook" in the apps screen.
for transferring the books,
turn off the USB debugging under settings->Applications->Development
plug you tablet into your computer
browse to your tablet under your computer.
find the ebook folder on the tablet, put your ebook files in the ebook import folder
the path from my computer was "Computer\GT-P7510\Tablet\ebook\import"
After the files are copied, open the ebook app,
go to the menu and choose import to let the ebook reader app see the new books.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's actually a pretty simple seeming way to transfer ebooks (all of mine are in epub (and for sure I'm not worried about DRM)) from my computer to the Tab. However, here's my sticky part. I HATE the look of the TouchWiz UI update. Loved the plain Jane Honeycomb that came with it (don't get me wrong, I think it added some very good features and needed updates), but the skin just makes it look silly to me. So my plan is to root and install a custom ROM of vanillia Ice Creme Sandwich when it comes out. That's why I'm looking for a third party (or Google) ebook reader.
I second the Nook App from B&N. Had a Nook color for about a year though and got used to the way the software works. Gave Nook to my wife and got the GT10.1. Just copy your epubs into the folder via varelawarfare's instructions and they'll turn up in your library. Haven't used the Kindle app much, but I prefer Nook over Aldiko, Google Books and the Samsung reader (but may just be because I'm used to it). I also use Overdrive reader as it is pretty good at seamlessly downloading DRM-ebooks (library for instance).
On my 8.9 the nook app seemed to be very sluggish, does it happen to everyone? I ended up using the book app that came with the tablet, its actually pretty good but some books it doesn't override the fonts thus doing weird stuff like keeping text black when I choose a dark background.
So it's really looking like the top picks for most people are either the Nook or Kindle readers or Akidio and Calibre for loading them onto the Tab? These are some great responses and suggestions from everyone! Super appreciative!
cardsharp234 said:
So it's really looking like the top picks for most people are either the Nook or Kindle readers or Akidio and Calibre for loading them onto the Tab? These are some great responses and suggestions from everyone! Super appreciative!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My take on this, since I spent a LOT of time looking for a good book / epub reader:
- Kindle: Need to convert to .MOBI format, no page-flip transitions
- eBook: Maximum number of files supported is 200, but does a good job otherwise
- Moon Reader+: Excellent reader, quirky but highly configurable, however cuts off last line of text for each page for some .epubs
- Aldiko Premium: Chokes when trying to load shelf, otherwise fine
- Mantano Reader: Very polished interface, developers listen to user feedback, handles PDF apart from .epub, no page-flip transitions
- EZ PDF Reader: Excellent for PDFs, but no .epub support
Bottom-line: I use Mantano
/would go for Moon Reader+ if Mantano were not available...
I tried several and Moonread it's my fav (never used Mantano, I'll check it out) since it offers alot of options and it allows to scroll smoothly between pages.
For loading books I use Calibre with "connect/share start content server" so it can be used wireless as a web store directly from the ereader or from the browser.
What I hate about all these ereaders is that none use the same folder for storing the epub files, some use /book, other /ebook or /ebooks
I'm using Aldiko for Epub and EZ PDF Reader for PDF. EZ PDF Reader is the only tool on Android with acceptable PDF quality (tried them all including Mantano, small text is unreadable).
Revils said:
For loading books I use Calibre with "connect/share start content server" so it can be used wireless as a web store directly from the ereader or from the browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So (if I'm reading this right) I can basically wirelessly update what new content I have on my computer to my Tab via wireless home network??? That beats having to use that freaking short cord that comes with my Tab. Heck... Thought just hit me. If I can remotely access my computer, wonder if (though that remote access and assuming of course that I'm in a wireless area) I could update my Tab content even when I'm away from the computer..... Interesting concept to me right there.
cardsharp234 said:
So (if I'm reading this right) I can basically wirelessly update what new content I have on my computer to my Tab via wireless home network??? That beats having to use that freaking short cord that comes with my Tab. Heck... Thought just hit me. If I can remotely access my computer, wonder if (though that remote access and assuming of course that I'm in a wireless area) I could update my Tab content even when I'm away from the computer..... Interesting concept to me right there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup! check on Calibre menu "preference-sharing over the net".
If your computer can be reached over internet it can be done everywhere otherwise just when you are connected on the same wireless router
Revils said:
Yup! check on Calibre menu "preference-sharing over the net".
If your computer can be reached over internet it can be done everywhere otherwise just when you are connected on the same wireless router
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's freaking amazing that Calibre can do that! ...God bless that/those developer(s)!
So I've been having a blast obsessing over my NT. I find that I actually like the stock Home for reading & browsing books, pdfs & comic book archives. These are some quick observations:
Sideloading via USB to My Files... will use the "reserved for B&N" space.
Any compatible formats will show up in the Library, Home Screen & the Daily Shelf if they're side loaded via USB. But if they're transferred over a network, using ES File Explorer, they won't. You can still find them through search, or browsing through "my stuff" in Library. I'm wondering if there is a way to "refresh" the Library, so they know they're there, as is done when transferred via USB.
PDFs: Covers don't appear. Titles & Author will be displayed if the info is available. I used PDF-Xchange Viewer to edit Title & Author in unlocked PDFs. Cover art does NOT display, which doesn't make sense because they work with CBZ.
CBZs: Comic Book Archives that are ZIP work really well. I used a batch script that I found here: http://www.advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/diary.html?start=363 to convert all CBRs to CBZs. It's way quicker than manually converting. The first page will show up as cover art, which is really cool.
epub: Some, obviously, are better produced than others. If there is cover art, it'll show up. If not Title & Author will be displayed over the generic icon if it's available. I was able to edit (add) that information in FBreader (a super simple windows epub reader.) I wish there was just as simple way to add cover art.
gaaamer said:
Not only can you get good covers for your epubs, but I actually know the ideal resolution. And even covers that are embedded in the epub that are misaligned, crappy resolution, or generally garbage I've learned how to fix and perfect.
I WAS going to make a tutorial video showing how to do all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Omg nirv come back again xD
Thanks for your observations. Its good to know sideloading will go into the B&N space rather than the 1Gb of space. Now I know you are doing it for books etc - but can you tell us if sideloading mp3s and say a movie file will do the same and go into the reserved space? Please try it out and let us know.
Its a shame that the covers of PDFs dont show. Thats kind of a bummer. I don't even understand why that wouldn't just work by default. Is there somewhere official we can go to complain about that so they might fix it? I want to throw lots of pdfs on there and hope to see the covers!
PDFs are legit and supported files, so it wouldn't hurt to comment or suggest that the stock home support PDF covers.
The stock library or home page does not display videos as far as I can tell. The way that media, like pics, music and video work they show up join the Media Gallery, which sucks. But again those are supported file formats, so it's something worth commenting and makings suggestions about. Email their support at [email protected]
I second the notion that cbz work very well on the NT.
Though the lack of some features that actual dedicated comic reader apps offer is really evident when you're stuck with the stock viewer.
Double pages are often shrunken down onto one page, you can't automatically advance to the next comic, you can't create shelves within shelves so you can organize your comic series, etc.
It'll do in a pinch, but the stock reader will never replace stuff like comic reader mobi and perfect viewer. If only those would show up in the B&N app store and become "official."
reverenddak said:
epub: Some, obviously, are better produced than others. If there is cover art, it'll show up. If not Title & Author will be displayed over the generic icon if it's available. I was able to edit (add) that information in FBreader (a super simple windows epub reader.) I wish there was just as simple way to add cover art.
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Download calibre. It is a free program for windows (maybe mac too..dunno) that you can add/edit any information for the epub books and convert from/to most formats. I have a lot of mobi ebooks that I have converted to epub and added the cover art and it shows in the stock library. It also has a nifty search program that automatically searches for cover art from multiple sources.
Has anyone experiamented with pdfs > 50mb? I am mostly worried about RPG pdfs... hoping to not have to lug a ton of books to the gaming table...
reverenddak said:
Sideloading via USB to My Files... will use the "reserved for B&N" space.
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Could you or anyone please explain this in detail for a noob?
You're saying this uses the 11GB of B&N "reserved" *hijacked* RAM, not the 1GB left for the user?
When I plug my rooted NT into my computer, the MyNOOK drive is mounted, but it's only 1GB. (Also my SD card mounts). Copying to My Files reduces the 1GB. So there must be more to 'sideloading via USB' than this, so what am I missing? Or is it just certain files and formats go to the B&N space?
You can still find them through search, or browsing through "my stuff" in Library. I'm wondering if there is a way to "refresh" the Library, so they know they're there, as is done when transferred via USB.
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So far the closest I've found is clicking 'Edit' in the My Shelves section- a list will pop up with media on either internal or SD card and let you individually select each item to add. Would be a real PITA with a large number of files though.
Thanks for the conversion to CBZ script. I was batch-extracting my .CBR files, zipping them, then changing the extension to .cbz but the script is obviously much faster for large collections.
PrinceMorganti said:
Has anyone experiamented with pdfs > 50mb? I am mostly worried about RPG pdfs... hoping to not have to lug a ton of books to the gaming table...
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Stock reader works great for RPG book PDFs. I've used files with sizes ranging from 1-2MB to upwards of 75MB (I've got all of DnD 3rd,3.5, and 4th ed and quite a bit of 2nd scanned and OCRed), and only very rarely notice lag, even when reading off of SD. Only real downside is the PDF cover problem that has existed since the NC. For me, it was enough of an annoyance that I started using Mantano Reader (the paid version) on my rooted NT until such time that it ever gets fixed, since it allows browsing by cover thumbnail.
PrinceMorganti said:
Has anyone experiamented with pdfs > 50mb? I am mostly worried about RPG pdfs... hoping to not have to lug a ton of books to the gaming table...
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Click to collapse
I've loaded a few 60MB+ pdf files that I use for work. Paging through them is reasonably fast. The stock viewer has really clumsy navigation and bookmark controls though.
I'd rather use QuickPDF, but it has an issue where all the options are trapped under the status bar
zaptoons said:
I've loaded a few 60MB+ pdf files that I use for work. Paging through them is reasonably fast. The stock viewer has really clumsy navigation and bookmark controls though.
I'd rather use QuickPDF, but it has an issue where all the options are trapped under the status bar
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I was reading on another post where someone turned off the status bar, accidently at first, but then liked it better that way.
Here it is:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19761265&highlight=status#post19761265
Nook native reader chokes on some PDFs
I got my NT to be a universal ebook reader. It works great for that with Calibre.
The native PDF reader is good for selecting text passages, but it will choke and hang on certain PDF's that don't appear to handle text flow correctly. I get a PDF subscription to Monitoring Times, and I've run into that problem. The reader will hang, and then suddenly present you with two sentences of selected text smushedtogetherwithoutspaceslikethis.
The NT comes with QuickOffice Lite and you can read PDF's with it. I decided to buy the Pro version--I needed to be able to edit Word/Excel docs, and the PDF reader on QO Pro is quite a bit smoother. It's worth $7 bucks (and I can't stand Angry Birds anyway...)
I haven't yet found an upper limit for PDF size--a lot of files I have are scanned computer manuals from bitsavers.org, but I regularly read PDF's of 50-60 megs or more on the device.
Otherwise, it's a great first tablet. I had whole folders of PDF's, .mobi, Plucker, .doc and plain text files that just went right in, at least after I used Calibre to convert them.
HMG10 said:
I was reading on another post where someone turned off the status bar, accidently at first, but then liked it better that way.
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Haha, yeah that was me. Unfortunately, this was specific only to GoLauncher. No way to turn it off in QuickPDF.
Fortunately, it doesn't matter; I got rid of the paid QuickOffice entirely. (I got it free from Amazon. I'm glad I didn't pay for it, because it sucked on the NT)
I've since found (thanks to someone here) that I prefer Mantano Reader Free. It's available straight from the market.
It has an awesome interface, it's own bookshelf, it generates/shows PDF covers, and it's blazing fast. It seems tablet aware; it only shows the status bar when you tap the bottom of the screen, and it's own menu is high enough not to get stuck behind it. I highly recommend it.
dmoisan said:
I got my NT to be a universal ebook reader. It works great for that with Calibre.
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2nd this. Calibre is amazing. I use the 'Fetch News' feature to gather content from various sources, and it creates a perfectly formatted mini-magazine out of them. I was surprised when I attached my NT; Calibre recognized it as a Nook Tablet, and automatically copied my news 'digests' to My Files.
reverenddak said:
So I've been having a blast obsessing over my NT. I find that I actually like the stock Home for reading & browsing books, pdfs & comic book archives. These are some quick observations:
Sideloading via USB to My Files... will use the "reserved for B&N" space.
Any compatible formats will show up in the Library, Home Screen & the Daily Shelf if they're side loaded via USB. But if they're transferred over a network, using ES File Explorer, they won't. You can still find them through search, or browsing through "my stuff" in Library. I'm wondering if there is a way to "refresh" the Library, so they know they're there, as is done when transferred via USB.
PDFs: Covers don't appear. Titles & Author will be displayed if the info is available. I used PDF-Xchange Viewer to edit Title & Author in unlocked PDFs. Cover art does NOT display, which doesn't make sense because they work with CBZ.
CBZs: Comic Book Archives that are ZIP work really well. I used a batch script that I found here: http://www.advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/diary.html?start=363 to convert all CBRs to CBZs. It's way quicker than manually converting. The first page will show up as cover art, which is really cool.
epub: Some, obviously, are better produced than others. If there is cover art, it'll show up. If not Title & Author will be displayed over the generic icon if it's available. I was able to edit (add) that information in FBreader (a super simple windows epub reader.) I wish there was just as simple way to add cover art.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you get the items you sideloaded into the reserved space via USB?
When I copy files from my computer to "/media/my files/Books" they go into the 1gig space.
Are you sure they are in the 12gig reserved space? In which directory do you see them with root explorer?
I have the same experience.
I did not root my NT coz I am scared (noob here), so I am just sideloading.
Most of the ebooks I downloaded actually go to my library which means it uses the 11 or 12gb that BN reserved for "their" content.
I am not sure if this go to all other files but all the things I downloaded from the browser go to the MyFiles (Downloads) folder of the library, be it ebooks or apps. I haven't tried to download anything from the browser other than ebooks and apps at the moment.
I am using an mp3 download app from the market and the mp3s I downloaded from the app goes to the sd card...
You will load into My Files/Books. If it's on the main storage, this folder is in that 1G area. If you have a SD card, then it's on the SD card. SD card shows on your desktop as another drive.
Possible PDF Cover solution?
PDFs: Covers don't appear.
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I've been annoyed by this issue for a few months now, I think I might have made a little headway though.
I made a post on the nookdevelopers.zendest.com, where one user recommended dropping a PDF into an ePub since it's basically a Zip file. It took me awhile to learn the ePub format since it's a little more involved than just zipping the cover/pdf together.
My final product was a PDF w/ a cover, which showed up nicely on the Nook Tablet "Desktop"!! However now when I open the PDF (well, it's like an PDF/ePub hybrid now), it renders horribly, the page turns are slow, and if I navigate to any page past 80 or so it crashes. This blows my mind because the naked PDF works just fine in the reader app.
Here is a link the now unresponsive Zendesk post: Can't link yet
Here is the ePub/PDF & Cover I created: Can't link yet
Here is a link to the raw PDF: Can't link yet
(Until I can link, head over to the zendesk and search for 'pdf in epub with nook tablet', there are 2 different threads, the newest one has links to the PDF and ePub wrapped PDF I created)
I'm hoping this is a clue that will tip someone off to breaking this problem wide open.
Once the kinks are worked out, I can throw together an app to auto-wrap PDF's into ePubs. A complete bandaid to the problem, but since the Nook developers are asleep at the wheel, it's at least something.
Anyone know how to convert cbz files so that they can be read using some type of reader on the nook tablet? I downloaded a couple of Dr Seuss ebooks but I dont think the tablet will recognize them unless I convert them? I am trying to set this tablet up for my daughter for Christmas!
It's just zip archive with different format name. You can use Perfect Viewer to open them.
The stock reader reads .cbz files. (cbz=comic book zip file. A cbr is a comic book .rar file. Conversion is as simple as changing the extension to rar or zip, uncompressing, then recomposing in the opposite format.)
You can sideload plenty of apps that will read .cbz files. (I like ComicRack Free).
You can also use the stock library/reader. To use it, put your files on your SD card, say in a folder called Books or Comics.
In the NT's stock library, click on My Stuff/My Shelves. Create a new shelf, name it. Click edit, and you should see a list of all files on your NT that can be added to a shelf. Find the .cbz file(s) and check it, then save.
Now you should have a shelf showing your .cbz files in the stock library. When you click to open, the files will either open in the stock reader, or if you've installed third party reader apps, should give you a choice- you can set a preferred app as default.
Worked great!
Now, how do I narrate a book so that she can listen to me read the book when I am not around? I can do that right?
Also, is there any way of this tablet playing ebooks that are already narrated???
There are several Dr Seuss books that are apps on the market (take your pick, they're on the stock, Amazon, and Google markets) that are like narrated e-books, though these are apk files, not epub files.
randyreed1971 said:
Also, is there any way of this tablet playing ebooks that are already narrated???
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The entire sample book "The Elephant's Child" should be on your stock library shelf under Books. This type of ebook allows you to play back the story with prerecorded narration, or record your own. There should be many others for sale in the Nook Shop.
I don't think you can narrate your own books. I think you can only do that with ones you purchase from B&N. They prefer you spend money on their products, even if you already own a perfectly good version of the exact same product.
But I could be wrong about this.
succulent said:
It's just zip archive with different format name. You can use Perfect Viewer to open them.
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This is a great program, and if you have a rooted NT (or sideload it) you should try it for picture books and comics.
I'm uncertain whether the Read & Play feature can be used on non-BN bought books, but I wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't. The books need to be formatted a certain way, afaik? You can try moving the book to your /data/books folder, where it will be seen by the NT's ebook library application and seeing if Read & Record works on it. In any case the BN Read & Record feature works well and is pretty cute, and it's a good reason to buy kid's books from their store for sure.
Pretty sure you can play books that are *already* narrated some other way (although I too have only seen them packaged as .apks/programs already ready to go).
You can use this open source comic viewer - Jomic.
It has a convert function to convert CBZ files to PDF.
I use Calibre to send over books/magazines to Main Memory, and I noticed today that it is sending it to my user allowed 1gb portion. I thought until now that Calibre was just that awesome, and was sending onto the BN partition. But it is in fact sending to /media/My Files/Books (and /mnt/media/My Files/Books).
I have ES File Explorer and root, and also can get into /system if needed due to a mount /sys app. I want to be able to Cut / Paste the files from my Calibre directory (directories...).
What I'm wondering is 2 things.
First... Do I cut from /mnt/media, or just /media? What's the difference between the two?
Second... where do I put these files in order for them to be on the BN partition of 12gb, and have access to them from the library app?
/media/B&N Downloads/Books
/mnt/media/B&N Downloads/Books
/data/books
/data/media/B&N Downloads/Books
I THINK that /data/media/B&N Downloads is the directory I'm looking for, I just wanted to be sure and maybe help someone else out w/ the question/answer here...
I've tried figuring this out as well. I tried moving ebooks to the actual directory where NookBooks download to (data/media/B&N Dowloads/Books), and they aren't detected.
The only directory I've tried that works is under system/media/books. Unfortunately, there is only 600MB available here.
I moved a folder into /system/media/books and after stopping and restarting the Library app, the books within the folder did show up in the Library.
However after long-pressing the book, i noted Delete was not an option from the library.
Not a huge deal... if i want to delete them I can simply mount /system as rw, open ES File Explorer, and delete them.
Can anyone confirm that the /system/ location is actually on the B&N 12gb partition?
edit: this doesn't really resolve my secondary objective, of getting Magazines to show up in the Magazine tab of the Library (there is no /system/media/magazines!)
Do you get issues with the cover picture showing on the nook? I use Calibre to put in the cover pic and metadata before I manually transfer them over (thanks for the tip that Calibre could actually do it for me!) but what really pisses me off about the nook is that it is totally random in terms of covers showing up. I cant suss it out? Ive tried different sizes, resolutions etc and still its hit and miss as to what shows and what doesnt. I would just like to know what conditions make a cover show up and what doesnt? Sorry, I know this isn't an answer to your questions but just thought i'd ask =)
As far as epub books... if the cover doesn't show up after you transfer it, in calibre, convert the book from epub to epub. I think theres something wrong in the initial tag file, like 'Cover' instead of 'cover'. You could try to fix the file (.mpf i think) manually, but I've had no trouble so far converting epub to epub, which does fix the issue.
As for magazines in .pdf format... the nook will not show covers for .pdfs, not sue why, and if i try to convert it to epub the resulting file is only 2 pages long.
So... my reccomendation there is to name all your magazines w/ an author of like Magazine, or manually copy the .pdfs into the Magazines folder at like mnt/media/magazines or somethin. It shows up in the MyNook drive when you connect it. At that point... at least all your coverless files are in one row on the nook...
(I sort by author, and show just book covers. I name all my epub series w/ 'Series Name VII: Book Name', that way the series displays in order.)
Hope this helps.
Oh... one last thing... a lot of my books... the cover is just a little too large for the area on my nooks bookshelf, which ends up cutting off the bottom 10% or so of the cover, until i click on the book. Then as it's opening, it shows me the full cover. If anyone has any fixes for that, fill me in!
AugustusBot is correct regarding epub files. Nook is very specific how the cover image is name and meta-tag. It must be "cover.jpg" or "cover.jpeg". Any other file name used by some publishers or epub authors simply won't work. I think Calibre simply renames the files and updates meta-tag. I fixed my epub files using Sigil.
Thanks for the help guys! After I add the covers and metadata, I then save the file - which Calibre processes by saving the folder by author then title and the book with the cover and the book itself. But I am assuming that converting it from epub to epub is not the same as I have been doing, which is just saving it. I'll definitely give it a shot. I didn't realise everything had to be so case specific etc. I just presumed that once Calibre saved it - it formatted the cover and labelled it in the proper way since the name from the original source file of the covers are always random and varied.
It sucks that pdfs don't have the cover shown. I kinda like pdfs to remain in that format but why B&N cannot put the cover to display is beyond me. They cant even use a small font to get the entire file name to show on the cover which is how I label my pdfs.
My second gripe is that the way the books are displayed on the home screen - there is no real alignment because they dont make the thumbnails the same size so some book covers are wider than others etc. I hate seeing some books a pixel or two higher or to the left/right compared to others.
I thought the Color gave the B&N devs time to practice their skills so that the Tablet would be better but to me it seems there is still work to be done.
I had tried using Sigil last week to fix an epub book but found it complicated to use. I'm sure i was just not doing it right even though for editing epubs it seems to be the best there is.
Glad to be of help.
As for your 'home screen' problems... I don't use the BN launcher, i use Go Launcher EX. One of the 4 quick buttons at the bottom of the launcher, I've replaced w/ the Library app... and that app gives you numerous options for how to display your books.
I have seen one small problem there, as I mentioned above, where my book covers are a little ... off... imagine a picture frame of 8x10, and you fit an 8.5x11 page into it, you lose a bit of the edges. This occurs for probably... 1/3 of my books displayed in the Library. Not sure why. When i click on that book, as it opens it shows me the full cover.
I'd love a fix for that and a method of displaying PDF covers.
So i've discovered something about the cover distortion.
I had a cover (Book1) that looked good, and its dimensions were 329x500.
I had another cover (Book2) that distorted, and its dimensions were 283x500.
I manually resized the image for Book2 on my computer to be 329x500. When I reloaded that book onto my Nook and killed/reopened Library, the cover displayed correctly.
What's going on is that Library displays in a certain Width x Height. If an image is below that Width, it scales it up to that width, but maintains the aspect ratio of the image. This causes the Height of the image to be larger than the Height that Library displays, and therefore the bottom portion gets cut off.
I would love for someone with a book purchased from BN store to either A. find the cover jpg on their nook and tell me the dimensions, or B. load that book into Calibre and tell me the dimensions.