Before I settled on a dedicated eReader, I had read eBooks exclusively from my laptop.
It was fine when I was home at my computer, but my laptop wasn't always easy or convenient to take with me, even in different parts of the house. (Which is why I bought the Nook.)
The 21st century has brought us many technological wonders, especially in the media and its various presentations of written material.
As for computer displays, its various software, browsers, operating systems, etc. dictate how the material looks to the consumer and it isn't always consistent. This "feature" has prompted many clever solutions.
Formats, formats, formats ....
PDFs
PDFs (portable document formats) have been a solution for a long time.
Upsides:
* PDFs are totally consistent in displaying the format.
* Also, one of the positives it that many PDF readers are free - such as the Adobe Reader Xs - and the software can be easily downloaded.
Downsides:
* PDFs can be less flexible in resizing.
* The material is difficult or impossible to reorganize to the reader's desires.
The consistency, the universal availability of readers makes for the popular PDF format.
Speaking of free stuff ...
Major eBook retailers allow free download of their software to entice you to read and hopefully buy their wares.
Here are some examples big ones:
* Amazon - Kindle for PC
* Barnes & Noble - nook for PC
* Mobipocket - Mobipocker Reader
And this does not begin to cover the many ePub (electronic publication) formats that are out there - some eReaders for sale, some for free.
With all these different formats, a librarian would be handy to manage this new media.
So enter ....
Calibre
A friend had recommended Calibre - a free software reading system - which allows me to manage, convert, and load files onto my eReader of choice (NOOK). For its website and download information on Calibre - click here.
I've downloaded Calibre and used it many times for such tasks as ...
* Managing the PDFs and ePubs I've downloaded on my PC
* Converting various formats to ePub, PDF, or format of my choice, which it supports
* Using the Calibre eReader for easy viewing of various works
* Editing the metadata about the author(s), publisher(s), and related information of the works
* Side loading files to my Nook, while keeping the works on my PC
* Exercising the option to load eBooks I've purchased onto Calibre
The demo on the link explains it quite well: Demo
I am pleased at this solution, which allows me to read the books, articles, files of various formats and export them to Nook.
It's about choice.
And best of all ... it's free.
Question: Have you tried this? If so, what do you think?
Photo from: Calibre
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