Attention Nook owners
Monday, November 5th, 2012And everybody awaiting “official” release of the anti-snitch book: Thanks to a helpful volunteer, I’ve just uploaded a Nook (epub) version of Rats! to the book’s site.
Would you Nook owners kindly download and take a look at it? Once you tell me it looks okay, we’ll be ready to go live!
Oh, and with a little help from another volunteer, the site now contains two HTML versions. One is “live” and lets you read the book online in a really nicely laid out web page. The other is a zip file you can download to host on your own site. The zip file contains a readme with instructions on making the files “live.”
I’ve also added links to free Kindle and Nook readers for phones, computers, and other devices for those who like ereader formats but don’t own the hardware.
November 5th, 2012
Does anyone know if kindle and nook use the same files? I’ve got a kindle coming to me like the week after next and I’ll get a copy either way but I was just wondering…
Looking forward to the snitch book after a recent experience :/
November 5th, 2012
winston — Definitely different files. In fact, though I don’t know the ins and outs, I believe the file structures (mobi and epub) are vastly different. Somebody with more geekitude than I could probably go into the gory details.
Cool you’re getting a Kindle. Not so cool apparently on that “recent experience.” You know where to find me if you want to tell me more …
November 5th, 2012
I just downloaded the PDF and emailed it to my Kindle. And… now I am looking at it on my Kindle… It looks great!
November 5th, 2012
Hey, Kent. I didn’t know you could do that. There’s a LOT I don’t know about ereaders.
How do the sidebars display, though? Anon Layout Guy ended up laying out the mobi very differently than the PDF because the whole “sidebars on the side” thing didn’t look good (at least not on the free Kindle reader I used). I think the HTML and PDF versions are the most attractive & would like to think the PDF would play well on the Kindle.
November 6th, 2012
Winston, Calibre is a free e-reader program and converts almost any format to any other. There are plugins available to remove DRM as well.
November 6th, 2012
Just finished reading it in pdf. Justified margins are a bit annoying in the sidebars, but not a big deal.
Lots of good information there.
I think you are very right, Claire. Some of us will have a very hard time not talking… especially not telling the goons exactly what we think of them. It would not be productive activity, of course, but it would be at least momentarily satisfying… Must resist the urge for THAT instant gratification, at least. :)
November 6th, 2012
I have not been on a real computer for a while, and am holding off reading your preparedness posts until I no longer need a magnifying glass to do so. That disclaimer in place, have you considered publishing those (and relevent commentaries), perhaps in a similar manner as this snitch book?
November 6th, 2012
I just checked the .epub version on Sigil 0.5.3 on Ubuntu 11.04. Looks good to me. (Sigil 0.6.0 is now available.)
November 6th, 2012
Thanks, Samuel Adams!
November 6th, 2012
Read it on Kindle for Mac. Worked fine.
November 6th, 2012
Thanks, Ken K! After the hiccups of last week, it’s good to get reports of things go
November 6th, 2012
Will get it for my Nook tonight after class!
November 6th, 2012
Btw, ebook is also the native format for iBooks, the ereader and library manager on the iPad, which has a slightly larger installed base than Nook :). I just downloaded the ebook to my iPad, and it seems to work fine (tho i haven’t read it yet). Suggest you add “iPad” or “iBooks” (not to be confused with iBook, the obsolete Mac laptop) to the link note, e.g. “Nook/iPad (ebook)”.
Of course, iBooks/iPad can also handle PDFs, which I tend to prefer, especially on my computer (rather than iPad). And yes, epub is a very different format than Kindle’s mobi. After reading about people’s Kindles being erased (losing all their purchased content) by Amazon—no warning, no appeal—I’m kinda leery of them. If I had any Kindle content, I’d make sure to back it up and remove the DRM with Calibre or some other tool. Unfortunately not simple (yet) but apparently doable.
November 6th, 2012
Philalethes — Well, thats a(nother) new one on me. If anyone wants to make an ebook/iPad file and I can get people to check it out for formatting, I’ll be happy to add it to the site. It does seem, though, as if we’ve now got formats virtually everybody can use. And since copying and distribution are welcome (or will be within a few days, once we’re sure we’ve got all the bugs worked out), people will be free to produce other formats ad infinitum — just as long as they don’t 1) change the text, 2) forget the attribution, or 3) try to make money off the thing.
November 6th, 2012
No, I meant that the ebook version you already have is good for iPad as well as Nook; you don’t need to make another ebook for the iPad.
Also the title of this post could read “Attention Nook & iPad Owners”, since it’s good for both.
November 6th, 2012
Oh, sorry. I thought our epub was a different thing than an ebook.
I hate Learning Experiences …
November 6th, 2012
The PDF sidebars look just perfectly fine and un-noteworthy on my Kindle. I would not have even considered there might be an issue with them had you not mentioned it, and even scrutinizing them once you mentioned it, they look perfect.
The whole thing displays exactly like the PDF displays on my computer.
November 6th, 2012
I breezed through a little bit of the online version and it’s great so far! Excellent work as always Claire! As for that “recent experience” I made mention of it when I replied to your previous e-mail. Just yet another instance of friends selling out friends for favor…
Woody, thanks for the heads up on Calibre, that should really come in handy
November 6th, 2012
Well, turns out I was wrong, partly anyway.. “Ebook” is the generic term for all types of “electronic books”, while “epub” is one specific format, as is “mobi”. Never having studied up on it, I had the two terms confused, and read “epub” on the book’s site as “ebook”. In fact, Apple’s iBooks has its own proprietary format, “.ibook”, which however is based on the free/open EPUB format, which iBooks can also read, as can nearly every other reader except Kindle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats
(Check EPUB and iBook (Apple) in particular. Note: “ibook” is the format, iBooks is the reader/library app.)
So anyway, you still don’t need to make a separate version for iPad; the epub version will work in iBooks on any “iDevice” (including iPhone & iPod Touch), as well as many other reader devices. I would still suggest that you somehow make note on the epub download link that it works for Apple’s devices as well; probably by adding “iBooks” since it runs on all three of them (and as a market they’re at least an order of magnitude larger than the Nook). I don’t have an iPhone or Touch, so can’t check how the book would look there; I guess the cover would be pretty small, but the rest of the book would simply be reflowed to fit.
November 6th, 2012
“I would still suggest that you somehow make note on the epub download link that it works for Apple’s devices as well; probably by adding “iBooks” since it runs on all three of them (and as a market they’re at least an order of magnitude larger than the Nook).”
Whew. Glad we got that straightened out. And I will happily take you up on that suggestion.
November 6th, 2012
I’m really glad to hear that the PDF is looking good on “devices,” ’cause I think the PDF and HTML are the prettiest versions.
Glad to hear the book is useful, too. Just one thing: Everybody’s got to quit giving me all the credit. Yes, I put it together and wrote most of the words. But this was a collaborative project and I’d be thanking dozens of people except that so many of them said, “DON’T USE MY NAME!”
November 6th, 2012
Just a note, the iPad can open all four formats. Only the kindle format requires a non-preloaded app (the kindle app, obviously). Unless one truly displays better than another, labeling a format for iPad might be misleading.
November 6th, 2012
I opened all versions in all ipad apps (as many combinations I could think of anyway) with no problems. I don’t care for the appearance of the inline blurbs in the kindle format, nor the left/right offset in the PDF, but that’s nitpicking.
November 6th, 2012
Thanks for doing all that work, ILTim. :-)
Definitely all those sidebars and bulleted lists presented layout challenges. And more *&^^%%! Learning Experiences.
November 6th, 2012
“Unless one truly displays better than another, labeling a format for iPad might be misleading.”
Indeed; another reason to label the epub format as for iBooks, rather than a specific Apple device. Of course, iPad can also read the PDF, but for that matter so can Nook and Kindle. But the PDF probably doesn’t work so well on the smaller devices (unless iBooks can reflow a PDF? which I doubt). I just figure that many iDevice users—probably no less ignorant than I was before I looked it up—might look at the list, see that the epub version is for the Nook, and figure they’re left with no choice but the PDF or downloading the Kindle app with all that entails.
Seems to me the iPhone (or other smartphone) would be a good place to have this book (in easily readable format), for quick reference in possible times of need.
(I too didn’t care for the left/right offset in the PDF; but I suppose it would be a plus if someone wanted to print the book and bind it.)
November 7th, 2012
“(unless iBooks can reflow a PDF? which I doubt)”
Nope, I had to try it out of curiosity. OTOH, the formatting and page:text size leaves it pretty readable anyway. I didn’t catch your iBooks vs iPad distinction before – and I agree with you now that I see it.