Tech From an E-booker’s Viewpoint

 It seems that converting text to be readable on your e-reading device is just about a fact of life.  Personally, I hate having to do it since it takes away from precious reading time.  Sometimes it just doesn’t seem worth it when I see hardcover books in Walgreens for only five bucks.  I think the hardest part of converting is learning how to use software to get the best results in the least amount of steps.  That’s why I hold on to my copy of Rocket Writer.  Some of you may remember this program that came with the original Rocket E-book.  It was dropped when later models were introduced.  It is still a useful program and it works on Windows XP.  The main attraction is that it can import files and render them in unencrypted .rb format.  Then I can just read the book using µBook. µBook is available for several versions of Windows CE and now for the Palm OS.  I really like µBook for reading.  There really is no learning curve for using Rocket writer and if you are already familiar with it, you can convert and go in almost no time at all.  The software will convert HTML, HTM, and Txt files.  You can enter the Author’s name, Category, and of course the title.  Essentially, you’ll end up with a book catalog.  The software allows you to search for your loaded books, view by Author and my favorite, by category.  The best part is that if you already have it, it is free.  In fact many user groups have it posted in their file sections or you can ask in the forum and someone will almost always send it to you.  Or better yet, you can get it from here.  Another thing I like about the software is that it can also import URLs.  If you want it will attempt to follow all links.  My basic use of this feature is to gather up directions for free craft projects.  I used to try to book mark these sites, but sites come and go and sometimes there is no permanent link to a particular project.  Once I have the URL downloaded and converted I can either put it on my e-book device or I look at it on my Rocket reader for Windows.  This is also a free program that you can read unencrypted Rocket editions on your PC.  I am sure there are other ways that people use this program.  So before you uninstall or get rid of your old software, think again.