Calibre ebook reader book format how to#
Calibre ebook reader book format license#

They also have the benefit of being able to license their format for use by others. Many vendors like to have and control their own formats so they are not dependent on outside companies. These newer devices needed formats that can provide these features.Īnother major reason is exclusivity. They can display large images, and handle advanced formatting. Those devices were very limited in what they could display. A great example of this is the old books people read back in the 90’s on their PDAs. Just like the transition from VHS to DVD and now to Blu-Ray, older formats which were created to solve the problems faced at that time are replaced with newer formats that better meet need of today.

Just why do so many different formats exist? Advances in technology? In fact, that’s a major reason. The Nook, the new reader from Barnes and Noble, can read EPUB, the same format as the Sony although there are now some catches with DRMed books. Conversely, the Kindle does not support the EPUB format, and the Sony line does not support the Mobipocket format. In the rest of this article I will focus on (1) the Kindle which supports the Mobipocket format, aka MOBI, and (2) the Sony Reader line (the PRS machines like the PRS-600), which supports the EPUB format. There is a very good chance that you will be able to take an e-book and convert it to a format your reader supports, at least if the book doesn’t use Digital Rights Management, anti-copying technology. Often you can download these e-books in a variety of formats, but you won’t always find them in the format your e-book reader supports. Also, you can shop for the best prices at a number of small independent e-book stores. Everything from public domain books to well known and less known authors. Many Web sites offer legal and often free books.

Calibre ebook reader book format how to#

If you are only buying from the store designed for your reader-for example, Amazon’s Kindle Store or Sony’s Reader Store-you don’t need to worry about any of this.īut there are a very good reasons why you should know about the major formats, what you reader supports and how to convert between formats. In e-books, the same confusion exists-the Tower of eBabel, as some call it. This mess is like the one in the music world where you might find such formats as WMA, MP3, and AAC. Unfortunately the two different brands don’t read the same kinds of e-books. Two of the most popular today are the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader line. – D.R.Į-book readers are becoming more and more common. The screenshot showing titles is from me-don’t blame John for any of the reading choices. Calibre is much improved, and I myself am in the middle of Calibre-izing my own collection. Welcome to TeleRead’s newest contributor, John Schember, a member of the team behind the wonderful Calibre program for managing e-book collections.