John Carl Villanueva21 July 2009, 3:05 PM
If you're hankering for a Kindle but can't get one, check out the Calibre software.
For those who don't think e-book readers are just a waste of money AND who use Linux, here's a software that you might want to read about. I know, that was a pretty restrictive pair of qualifiers, but read on if you're interested just the same.
Calibre is an open source program equipped with library management, format conversion, news feeds to e-book conversion, and e-book reader sync features. It will also allow you to view e-books of practically any format on your PC. Some of the jobs mentioned above can be run concurrently. As it is primarily an e-library program it provides cataloging, searching, sorting, and configuration capabilities.
E-book cataloging can be performed on collections that you've stored in your harddisk, reader, or memory card.
For those who associate e-books with PDF, think again. Readers (I'm referring to the handheld devices) usually support their own proprietary e-book formats. For example, Amazon's Kindle uses the AZW format, EPUB is used by BeBooks, and iPhones (yes, some people can actually read on a 3.5-inch or 89 mm screen) support PDBs. Calibre allow easy e-book sharing between certain devices by converting from one format to another.
Downloading news from certain sites to be viewed later on your devices can be performed through the Fetch News Action. You can either store the downloaded news content in your computer before syncing or, if your e-book reader is already attached, it will transfer the files automatically. In normal conditions, downloading news can be done by simply providing Calibre with the required URL (typically an RSS feed).
If you actually try Calibre, you'll most likely end up using its graphical user interface but power users can make use of the command line interface for added versatility and speed in executing commands.