most universal reader?

[jkendrick]

I use mostly Palm Reader pro for all the ebooks I obtain from PDM and MS Reader for ebooks in lit format.

Which of the reader offerings can handle both the Palm Reader format and lit format so I can use a common reader for all my ebooks? And if you need to convert one or the other to do this what conversion tool is recommended?

[onesix18]

I use uBook (www.gowerpoint.com) every chance I get. It is by far the best reader (fastest, clearest, simplest, most versatile). Try ConvertLit.

[jkendrick]

I use uBook

Will it handle PDM format?

[Talyn]

I use Palm Reader and uBook pretty much exclusively these days. I haven't touched a LIT book in ages it seems.

I really love the newest Palm Reader, it's quite fast and legible, and easy to use.

uBook is also great, and handles the most file formats.
jkendrick: I assume by PDM (Palm Digital Media) you are referring to PDB format ebooks? In that case, yes uBook will read them if they are PalmDoc books. However, uBook is not able to read the secure PDBs created with DropBook, which is typically how I create my PDBs. uBook also has the most comprehensive options set, but also a very unintuitive and often confusing interface to apply those options.

[Uh_Andy]

I've become a huge uBook fan. It seems to be the most universal - txt rtf pdb prc htm - and can read them from within zip archives. It's amazing to me how well it creates table of contents for text files on the fly etc.

I also like all the customization options - especially the ability to use any Windows font. Changing the colors is critical for me when reading in the dark - I feel like I'm staring in a flashlight with some other readers.

Like other people have said I use clit.exe to explode my .lit files in html. Sometimes I just zip up the resulting folder and throw it on the ppc as is - uBook reads it just fine. Sometimes I also use the Mobi publisher to create a prc file.

Here's a small batch file I used to convert a folder full of lit files to htm. Just drop multiple lit files on the batch file and a folder for each on will be created.


:Loop

IF %1=="" GOTO Continue

"C:\My Documents\My Library\DRM Encrypted\clit14" %1 %1-oebps\

SHIFT
GOTO Loop

:Continue

You'll need to edit the location of clit14 from "C:\My Documents\My Library\DRM Encrypted\clit14" to match where you put it on your machine.

Hope this isn't TMI :>

- Andy

P.S. - It occured to me that I should probably put one of those disclaimers on this info. Here's what Dan Jackson, the publisher of clit.exe says:

Is this legal?

As far as I am aware, if you use this utility only on eBooks which you have legitimately acquired or purchased, using a properly activated copy of Microsoft Reader, then it should be legal under the fair use provisions of copyright law (such as the Berne Convention). However, I am not a lawyer, and before making use of this program you should check up on applicable law in your native country.


- http://members.lycos.co.uk/hostintheshell/?#Legal

[Stephen Beesley]

Just another fan of uBook here!

One of the things I love about it is being able to save long word documents I might need to read as .rtf and then use uBook to read them. Soooooo much easier than trying to read them in Pocket Word or TextMaker. In fact I actually find it easier than reading them in Word on my Desktop :D

[Talyn]

My only real gripe with µBook is the lack of ClearType support -- I'm hoping it gets included in a future version. The "font smoothing" technique they use is readable, but rather on the blurry side.

Well, that and the horrible options interface, so I suppose that's two gripes :)

[Stephen Beesley]

My only real gripe with µBook is the lack of ClearType support -- I'm hoping it gets included in a future version. The "font smoothing" technique they use is readable, but rather on the blurry side.

Well, that and the horrible options interface, so I suppose that's two gripes :)

I have to agree with you about the options interface - a real pain. The other pain for me is the method for finding an opening a file. I wish it had more of a "library" approach. Maybe scanning your device for all readable files.

[keelinlee]

I use Mobipocket.
It can run on nearly any PDA/Smartphone and the list of supported hardware keeps growing.

I use it for eBooks and daily news of course, but I also convert my Office docs and it can open native text and html files.

And it seems to be important for some of you (not for me), it can use ClearType on PPC.

With the latest version, you can receive your news by email on your smartphone and you can browse the mobile website to download eBooks without syncing with a PC.

[Talyn]

The other pain for me is the method for finding an opening a file. I wish it had more of a "library" approach. Maybe scanning your device for all readable files.

Yeah, that too, though I was including that along with the Options UI, since it seems to be one in the same. I've asked about ClearType support but no answer from GowerPoint yet...

As for MobiPocket, I have it and have created a couple docs with the "Express Publication" feature. I'd like more formatting (chapters, etc.) -- perhaps Publisher can do that, I haven't tried yet. I'm not quite that fond of the whole MobiPocket experience yet, and I definitely hate that stupid "Web Companion" that pops up even though MobiPocket has an ActiveSync interface.

[davidspalding]

Mobi's Publisher is way cool. It's a great way of converting a .LIT's source files into a reasonably functional (and much faster, more usable) .PRC ebook.

Be warned though, I've encountered some source files that were seriously mangled. The publisher had apparently used a tool which wasn't 100% OEBPS compliant.

[Talyn]

Response from GowerPoint about ClearType and µBook: the answer was a definitive "no" but they do promise a major font overhaul before version 1.0 at least. That's a bit disappointing though: I think ClearType could at least be offered as an alternative to their font smoothing, as opposed to an outright replacement. µBook has a ton of options already, what's one more? 8O

[davidspalding]

On my PPC, ClearType is overrated. Hyperlinks, and anything other than White-on-black or black-on-white is horrible linking^H^H^H^H^H^H^H looking. Dare I post a screen shot? Don't make me do it....

[Talyn]

I have only ran across one or two websites where ClearType caused some downright nasty links. All the other websites I frequent on my Axim turn out great, and for ebook reading, ClearType has been fantastic. I've tried turning it on/off, and frankly, with ClearType off the experience is more... old-school Palm-ish -- ewwww! hehe

[davidspalding]

Okay, I'll take the bait.

http://www.chromejob.com/pda/mobipocket_grey_on_black_text_with_cleartype.gif

This is Mobipocket 4.7 with colors set to grey on black, Cleartype enabled (emphasis added later). White on black looks better, but the introduction of slight colors into the fonts makes it fuzzy and annoying after a while. Blue on black (link colors, which cannot be customized) are atrocious. And this ... well if you can read an ebook for an hour like this, you're DEDICATED! As I said, I think Cleartype (sub-pixel rendering) is overrated. Of course, on different hardware, YMMV.

That said, depending on your choice of font (I have about 1 MB of extra fonts on my PDA), the "jaggies" font display isn't so bad. Some like Lucida Linotype and Trebuchet and Comic Sans look much better than Frutiger at smaller sizes.
_______
[edit] screen shot shows Comic Sans font.

[Talyn]

Eww, yeah I can see where that wouldn't be overly pleasant. Here's one of PalmReader on my Axim with a similar color scheme (I only use this scheme at night, but I felt it best for purposes of comparison). This is with Frutiger Linotype 10pt, which I normally use.

http://talyn.wotshire.ws/img/palmreaderscreen10pt.jpg

This is Frutiger Linotype 9pt, which looks somewhat closer to the font size you have on yours.

http://talyn.wotshire.ws/img/palmreaderscreen9pt.jpg

[davidspalding]

sorry, i didn't mention my shot was showing comic sans. i usually use trebuchet (a true italic typeface, which most TTFs don't have), or MS Sans Serif.

your examples are muuuuuuuch nicer.

[Jolard]

Silly how you never think of these things. I never thought of changing Mobi's colors to white on black for reading at night! Excellent idea. Much easier on the eyes.

Oh, just for arguments sake, I just tried the white on black on mine, and the clear type looks fine

[/img]

[Talyn]

Interestingly, on my Axim, MobiPocket has a helluva time with ClearType unless I use a black/white scheme. Black text on white, or vice-versa. I tried a light grey text on black, and several other color schemes, and it looks like complete crap. But all the themes on PalmReader look great, go figure.

Oh, btw µBook (http://www.gowerpoint.com) is at version 0.8d now, as of Oct 7th. Mainly a bug-fix update.

[davidspalding]

Silly how you never think of these things. I never thought of changing Mobi's colors to white on black for reading at night! Excellent idea. Much easier on the eyes.

Oh, just for arguments sake, I just tried the white on black on mine, and the clear type looks fine

[/img]

um, ... i never said that white on black was the problem. try grey on black, or any color other than white.

as i understand the techno behind ClearType, it's using adjacent colored sub-pixels to make the font look a little more natural. ... resulting in funny colored halos, sometimes. on my PPC, resulting in a garbage look unless the font is white, as i illustrated. YMMV, and if it does, bully for you. ;)

[Talyn]

PalmReader has several theme types, that use text colors such as black, dark blue, white, brown, etc. and ClearType looks fantastic with all those colors. With Mobi however, I've only gotten good results with a black/white combo, though I'll admit to not being enough of a Mobi fan to actually take the time to play with it much.

[davidspalding]

i've used other colors in Mobi on black, to avoid disturbing my wife and baby lying next to me in bed, nursing. grey and that flat-mid-cyan on black work very nice. ymmv.