Trek Books for Kindle

[Thrawn]

^ That last point won't happen again. They made an initial mistake of not checking to make sure publishers were legally allowed to sell the books they were publishing, but they have legal safeguards in place for that now. It was a one-time thing, a loophole in their contracts they hadn't thought of, that resulted in them remote-deleting a book that was being sold by a company that didn't have the rights to sell it. The company that did demanded they delete the book and they didn't have any way to say no. It seems they were as annoyed about it as their customers were.

And the costs are pretty low these days. I don't know about Germany, but Amazon.com has a promotion right now to get a $25 gift certificate when purchasing one of the Whispernet Kindles.

And if you're anything like me, there's another pro. I used to buy tons of books, so I'd have lots of options as to what to read next, and I wouldn't get around to reading a lot of them. Now, I don't buy a book until I actually start it, since it downloads instantly. I'd be willing to bet the thing has more than paid for itself in extraneous novels that I didn't end up buying, and I bought it when it was still $400.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

the possibility of Amazon to remote-delete books I've purchased (at least I've heard that this has happened in the past)

It has.

And the books in question were Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, which is the very height of irony.

Not only that, but Amazon has been known to permanently ban people from its site for fairly trivial reasons, such as asking for what they consider to be too many returns. When they do this, all of your Kindle content becomes inaccessible...

 

[sfroth]

Could you please point me to Star Trek Kindle book with serious formatting issues within the first chapter (as that is what is covered by the excerpt I can send to my Kindle for PC app I think)?

I've often read about the bad formating of the ST eBooks, but can't really imagine what it's all about, so it would be nice to see examples for the formating issues.

I don't have a Kindle, and can't say anything about the formatting issues on that device, but the time when formatting issues were at their absolute worst was around Losing the Peace and Full Circle, mid-2009, into late 2009 with Synthesis and Unworthy. In the versions I bought (I don't remember what format I was buying at that time) it was impossible to tell where section breaks were. I'd be 2-3 paragraphs into a new section before I realized that the scene had shifted. Synthesis shifted font sizes on me every chapter, but a complaint to the site where I bought it resolved that issue, so they may have gone back and fixed some of the problems with the books.

I highly recommend switching to ebooks. I've got an iPad and an iPhone now. I've got 3 books in progress at the moment, all with me wherever I go, and they sync my place when I want to switch between the smaller and the larger screens. I've got my full library of ebooks available online and ready to download whenever the desire strikes me. There's just no comparison between paper and ebooks anymore.

 

[Defcon]

I don't have a Kindle, and can't say anything about the formatting issues on that device, but the time when formatting issues were at their absolute worst was around Losing the Peace and Full Circle, mid-2009, into late 2009 with Synthesis and Unworthy. In the versions I bought (I don't remember what format I was buying at that time) it was impossible to tell where section breaks were. I'd be 2-3 paragraphs into a new section before I realized that the scene had shifted. Synthesis shifted font sizes on me every chapter, but a complaint to the site where I bought it resolved that issue, so they may have gone back and fixed some of the problems with the books.

While I wouldn't have to buy those as eBooks as I have them in the Dead Tree Format I've downloaded the excerpts of the books you mentioned. I see what you mean with the section breaks in some of them, but I don't really see a major problem with it.

I highly recommend switching to ebooks. I've got an iPad and an iPhone now. I've got 3 books in progress at the moment, all with me wherever I go, and they sync my place when I want to switch between the smaller and the larger screens. I've got my full library of ebooks available online and ready to download whenever the desire strikes me. There's just no comparison between paper and ebooks anymore.

I'm almost there. I think I will sleep a few more nights over it and decide over the weekend.

Again, thanks for the input everybody.

 

[JWolf]

Yeah, I'm under the impression most of the formatting issues are with older books, not new ones. I too own a Kindle (though I'm still a relatively new owner of one) and I have yet to see any issues either, but have never purchased old books for it, only new releases.

From my experience with a Sony Reader, the eBooks that have the most issues are actually the newer ones. It's the older ones that were pretty good.

 

[JWolf]

As for eBooks, if you go with say a Sony Reader or a nook, you won't have any of the issues of going with Amazon. If you learn how to strip DRM from B&N and Adept flavored ePub, you can easily make the corrections. I've been fixing all the broken eBooks and If I am not mistaken, the broken eBooks have come either during Destiny or just after.

I just took the unedited ePub of Watching the Clock and converted it to Mobipocket and it has some of the same issues as the ePub. So depending on how the Kindle version was made, it could well and truly be broken.

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics. I've been able to easily fix this in the ePub and I could easily convert to Mobipocket and read it on a Kindle no problem. But it's not so easy to fix the Mobipocket file. This is an example of a broken Star Trek eBook. Another broken thing is some of the section headers such as UTC... Not bolded while the UTC... section headers that have a line on top of them are in bold. This is yet another mistake by S&S.

IMHO, reading Watching the Clock without fixing it is going to give you a very poor reading experience.

 

[Thrawn]

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics.

Whoa.

I stand corrected. I didn't even notice that, but you're totally right.

Weird.

Blind Man's Bluff definitely has italics.

 

[JWolf]

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics.

Whoa.

I stand corrected. I didn't even notice that, but you're totally right.

Weird.

Blind Man's Bluff definitely has italics.

The missing italics is the second thing I noticed. The first thing I noticed was the inconsistent bold in section headers.

So everyone who has a Kindle and buys this will be getting a highly botched copy. This is why I much prefer a reader that handles ePub as I know enough XML/CSS to actually be able to fix S&S's mistakes. There's not yet been a Star Trek eBook this year that I've not been able to fix and I've had to fix all of this so far this year.

 

[sfroth]

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics. I've been able to easily fix this in the ePub and I could easily convert to Mobipocket and read it on a Kindle no problem. But it's not so easy to fix the Mobipocket file. This is an example of a broken Star Trek eBook. Another broken thing is some of the section headers such as UTC... Not bolded while the UTC... section headers that have a line on top of them are in bold. This is yet another mistake by S&S.

Yeah, the lack of italics is bugging me. Is that completely a style issue? Since you said it was an easy fix, I'm assuming that the correct xml is around the words that are supposed to be italicized, but the style is missing, yes? Also, how much work did it take to fix the unbolded section headers? In general, I just leave the books alone after I remove the DRM, but if it's an easy fix, I'd rather correct it.

 

[Defcon]

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics. I've been able to easily fix this in the ePub and I could easily convert to Mobipocket and read it on a Kindle no problem. But it's not so easy to fix the Mobipocket file. This is an example of a broken Star Trek eBook. Another broken thing is some of the section headers such as UTC... Not bolded while the UTC... section headers that have a line on top of them are in bold. This is yet another mistake by S&S.

IMHO, reading Watching the Clock without fixing it is going to give you a very poor reading experience.

I just downloaded the WTC excerpt, and maybe I'm falling farther into the I don't give a damn category than I thought, but I would see those as minor annoyances, and nothing that would make the book unreadable or a poor reading experience.

What's strange is that italics are there for the title page (the series titles are in italic).

 

[JWolf]

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics. I've been able to easily fix this in the ePub and I could easily convert to Mobipocket and read it on a Kindle no problem. But it's not so easy to fix the Mobipocket file. This is an example of a broken Star Trek eBook. Another broken thing is some of the section headers such as UTC... Not bolded while the UTC... section headers that have a line on top of them are in bold. This is yet another mistake by S&S.

Yeah, the lack of italics is bugging me. Is that completely a style issue? Since you said it was an easy fix, I'm assuming that the correct xml is around the words that are supposed to be italicized, but the style is missing, yes? Also, how much work did it take to fix the unbolded section headers? In general, I just leave the books alone after I remove the DRM, but if it's an easy fix, I'd rather correct it.

To fix the italics in the ePub, I had to add in the .italic entry to the CSS.

.italic {
  font-style: italic
}

Also, I had to fix the embedded fonts. I deleted Charis as it's not really used and replaced Galliard Roman with Galliard BT as the version S&S used has no bold italics and bold italics is used. I found the style used for section headers and put in font-weight: bold and that fixed it. But of course, you do have to also fix the OPF to remove the references to the deleted files and add in the references to the replaced fonts.

Oh and I also delete page-template.xpgt and all the references in the XML files.

 

[label]

This is why I much prefer a reader that handles ePub as I know enough XML/CSS to actually be able to fix S&S's mistakes..

With programs like Calibre - which also accepts CSS, plugins, etc and which are free and extremely easy to use, this is a pointless argument to try and use against the Kindle. I've got just as many ePub books as Amazon purchased books on my Kindle and there's been virtually no difference in difficulty in getting the books on there. Perhaps if it were more difficult or costly to put ePub books on the Kindle you might have a stronger case, but with technology being what it is, this just isn't much of a deterrent for almost anyone.

 

[JWolf]

I just downloaded the sample of Watching the Clock and it has some of the same major issues as the ePub version. The most major issue is NO italics. I've been able to easily fix this in the ePub and I could easily convert to Mobipocket and read it on a Kindle no problem. But it's not so easy to fix the Mobipocket file. This is an example of a broken Star Trek eBook. Another broken thing is some of the section headers such as UTC... Not bolded while the UTC... section headers that have a line on top of them are in bold. This is yet another mistake by S&S.

IMHO, reading Watching the Clock without fixing it is going to give you a very poor reading experience.

I just downloaded the WTC excerpt, and maybe I'm falling farther into the I don't give a damn category than I thought, but I would see those as minor annoyances, and nothing that would make the book unreadable or a poor reading experience.

What's strange is that italics are there for the title page (the series titles are in italic).

Since S&S fee that it's OK to charge me $7.99 now for the eBook, I damn well want the italics. I paid good money for them.

This is why I much prefer a reader that handles ePub as I know enough XML/CSS to actually be able to fix S&S's mistakes..

With programs like Calibre - which also accepts CSS, plugins, etc and which are free and extremely easy to use, this is a pointless argument to try and use against the Kindle. I've got just as many ePub books as Amazon purchased books on my Kindle and there's been virtually no difference in difficulty in getting the books on there. Perhaps if it were more difficult or costly to put ePub books on the Kindle you might have a stronger case, but with technology being what it is, this just isn't much of a deterrent for almost anyone.

But if I didn't have a Sony Reader that handles ePub, I probably would not have figured the ins/outs of ePub. Doing so allows me to keep reading Star Trek eBooks. Because if I was unable to fix the botches that S&S does tot he Trek eBooks since the Destiny Trilogy, I'd have to forgo them.

The Kindle is akin to someone starting their computer experience with Windows and going "Command line? What's that?".

 

[LightningStorm]

IMHO, reading Watching the Clock without fixing it is going to give you a very poor reading experience.

I own Watching the Clock on my Kindle, and I see absolutely nothing about it that I would find even slightly annoying. In fact, compared with other books I've gotten, this one is actually much better than those because it actually has a TOC and easily accessible chapters AND an actual cover image. I don't see any problem with the bolding. And, while there are no sections that are italicized, I don't see how that would provide a better experience if they were. I actually hate when I'm reading a print book and encounter huge sections italicized, for what to me is no apparent reason (though I do know 'why' they did it, I just don't feel it was necessary in cases where it's done).

 

[JWolf]

IMHO, reading Watching the Clock without fixing it is going to give you a very poor reading experience.

I own Watching the Clock on my Kindle, and I see absolutely nothing about it that I would find even slightly annoying. In fact, compared with other books I've gotten, this one is actually much better than those because it actually has a TOC and easily accessible chapters AND an actual cover image. I don't see any problem with the bolding. And, while there are no sections that are italicized, I don't see how that would provide a better experience if they were. I actually hate when I'm reading a print book and encounter huge sections italicized, for what to me is no apparent reason (though I do know 'why' they did it, I just don't feel it was necessary in cases where it's done).

I did notice also that in a few cases (in the ePub) that the space between sections was done differently. So I fixed that up so all the space between sections is now the same. But I cannot say if the same issue exists in the Kindle version.

As for the bolding, look at some of the UTC only lines and you may see the missing bold.

The missing italics is a problem for me. I do prefer to have them then not. Besides, I paid good money for them and I want them.

 

[sfroth]

To fix the italics in the ePub, I had to add in the .italic entry to the CSS.

Thank you for the help, Jon.

 

[JWolf]

To fix the italics in the ePub, I had to add in the .italic entry to the CSS.

Thank you for the help, Jon.

Happy to help. Did it work when you converted to Mobipocket?

 

[sfroth]

To fix the italics in the ePub, I had to add in the .italic entry to the CSS.

Thank you for the help, Jon.

Happy to help. Did it work when you converted to Mobipocket?

I read ePub in iBooks, and haven't had the chance to edit the file yet anyway

 

[JWolf]

Thank you for the help, Jon.

Happy to help. Did it work when you converted to Mobipocket?

I read ePub in iBooks, and haven't had the chance to edit the file yet anyway

If you fix the embedded fonts, download Bluefire Reader and use that to read instead of iBooks as it will look so much better.

 

[sfroth]

If you fix the embedded fonts, download Bluefire Reader and use that to read instead of iBooks as it will look so much better.

Thanks for the recommendation. I stopped looking for a better reader shortly after iBooks came out for iPhone. What I want from an iPhone reader is everything that the old eReader app was, and I'm constantly frustrated by everything else. But iBooks is the next best that I've tried, including the now important feature of syncing between devices, since I read on both my iPhone and iPad. I can't find anything online about Bluefire doing that, which would be a deal breaker for me. But I'll try it out, because I hate iBooks assuming that I really want my ebook to look and act like a paper book, without any options for changing that.