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Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

epub.to

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Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#41

Post by enriquto »

fastball wrote: post #39
enriquto wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would you convert an epub to pdf? On the contrary! Why would you ever keep an epub file around? If somehow an epub file finds its way into my computer, the first thing that I need to do is to convert it to pdf to be able to read it with a reasonable viewer (or print it!). After the convesion, I delete the epub file; I really dislike this format and the associated software.

Where are you downloading content as epubs that you can't get as PDF?

Fortunately, most stuff that I read is math-heavy thus unfeasible as an epub. Yet, there is the rare essay, interview or otherwise math-less text that comes in the annoying epub format that needs to be converted.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#42

Post by qwerty456127 »

I want ePub to FB2. Because FB2 books are rendered with better readable fonts on my PockerBook reader.

I have no problems using Calibre or PanDoc for this task though. Obviously the problem emerges when you want to do the job without installing anything.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#43

Post by amluto »

toyg wrote: post #33
amluto wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calibre is great, but IMO it’s the wrong approach for this particular conversion. Use KindleUnpack instead, which is close to lossless. https://github.com/kevinhendricks/KindleUnpack This is a fantastic way to read books published by Tor on multiple devices. Now if only Tor would sell the ePub files on their website. (Tor eBooks are not DRMed.)

KindleUnpack doesn't seem to handle DRM though.

Neither does Calibre’s converter. To convert an encrypted AZW3 to an unencrypted EPUB, one can presumably decrypt it first and convert it second.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#44

Post by eigenvalue »

I have found the best tools for this to be the free Kindle Previewer ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1003018... ) and Calibre. The Calibre editor is useful for cleaning up messed up EPUB files that don't work in the Kindle Previewer.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#45

Post by JadeNB »

hombre_fatal wrote: post #26
JadeNB wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although who knows why you'd want to go without Calibre when it's so multi-functional?

Most people HN would want it since we are power users who like desktop apps. But don’t rob yourself of trying to understand why everyone else doesn’t want to use desktop software to get a book on their Kindle. For example, my girlfriend is an avid ebook reader but couldn’t be less interested in it. “I can see why that could be useful but... no thanks.” We like the smell of our own farts too much sometimes. In this ca…

> But don’t rob yourself of trying to understand why everyone else doesn’t want to use desktop software to get a book on their Kindle.

Yes, that's a good point. I originally had "Why would you want to go without Calibre when it's so multi-functional?", but changed it to "Who knows why you'd want …" in an aim to sound less confrontational. I seem instead to have gone the other way!

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#46

Post by rualca »

harshreality wrote: post #38
enriquto wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would you convert an epub to pdf? On the contrary! Why would you ever keep an epub file around? If somehow an epub file finds its way into my computer, the first thing that I need to do is to convert it to pdf to be able to read it with a reasonable viewer (or print it!). After the convesion, I delete the epub file; I really dislike this format and the associated software.

If you print your ebooks for some reason rather than buy used copies, granted you have to convert to pdf for that. Why prefer an epub... They have flowed text, and ebook readers let you customize font and font size so that the book's text adapts to you rather than you adapting to a particular combination of publisher quirks and zoom necessary to fit in a particular device's or app's viewable size. They're generally s…

> Why prefer an epub...

Does epub support proper proper math notation typesetting?

Moreover, text in a webview doesn't flow as nice as vanilla TeX, and can look outright atrocious.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#47

Post by rualca »

Deathmax wrote: post #37
JulianMorrison wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PDFs retain their formatting better and are much more readily accessible across devices, except for the smallest screens.

> PDFs retain their formatting better Which is also its downside when formatting is not critical. I want to be able to change the font size and have the text reflow correctly. With PDFs you end up with broken layouts if you don't view it exactly as formatted.

>>I want to be able to change the font size and have the text reflow correctly. With PDFs you end up with broken layouts if you don't view it exactly as formatted.

Reflowable books also do a poor job reflowing content.

Case in point, the free AWS ebooks on kindle are a god-awful mess whenever they add code snippets, no matter how small.

Given the choice, a good fixed format layout beats a bad reflowable layout.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#48

Post by elyobo »

enriquto wrote: post #41
fastball wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you downloading content as epubs that you can't get as PDF?

Fortunately, most stuff that I read is math-heavy thus unfeasible as an epub. Yet, there is the rare essay, interview or otherwise math-less text that comes in the annoying epub format that needs to be converted.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I do a lot of reading on a kindle and convert whatever I need using Calibre, but PDFs, because of their fixed formatting, are a bit of a nightmare.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#49

Post by 13415 »

kemayo wrote: post #11
zigzaggy wrote: post #3

Can I use this to change my purchased kindle books into ebooks for all devices? I’m somewhat tech literate, but pretty ignorant about e-book file types.

You cannot -- Kindle ebooks are in a format called KFX (or AZW/mobi or AZW3, depending on when you got them), which this tool doesn't support as an input. If you wanted to do that, I'd just use Calibre, which has really comprehensive format conversion abilities: https://calibre-ebook.com Most Kindle ebooks have DRM as well, which I think is currently hard to remove -- there's a plugin for calibre that you could try.…

I'm an author on Amazon and wonder: Is this also true if I switch off DRM for my books on Amazon? Could someone clarify this? I publish all my books without DRM.

Re: Show HN: Epub.to – ePub to pdf, mobi, Kindle, and an API

#50

Post by fishywang »

13415 wrote: post #49
kemayo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot -- Kindle ebooks are in a format called KFX (or AZW/mobi or AZW3, depending on when you got them), which this tool doesn't support as an input. If you wanted to do that, I'd just use Calibre, which has really comprehensive format conversion abilities: https://calibre-ebook.com Most Kindle ebooks have DRM as well, which I think is currently hard to remove -- there's a plugin for calibre that you could try.…

I'm an author on Amazon and wonder: Is this also true if I switch off DRM for my books on Amazon? Could someone clarify this? I publish all my books without DRM.

So one thing I know is that for all the books by John Scalzi, their listings on Google Play Books have a note of:

    At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
(see https://play.google.com/store/books/details/John_Scalzi_Old_... for an example)

And indeed once you purchased his books you can download a DRM-free epub or pdf file of the book you purchased and use any tool you like to read it.

I don't see similar note on the listings of his books on Kindle store, so my _guess_ would be that Amazon is unwilling do fulfill this request from the author, but I could be wrong (I never owned any kindle device anyways).

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