Few Questions about removing DRM from Topaz AZW1 ebooks and editing ebooks

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

I've read a few threads on Topaz:

http://stream-recorder.com/forum/rem...g-t5438p2.html

http://stream-recorder.com/forum/con...ighlight=topaz


- How do i know if my Topaz file has DRM removed?

I was able to load my AZW1 file into Calibre but when i double click it, WinZip pops up.

- If the underlying text in a Topaz file is OCR junk text, then will i notice this when I'm doing highlights or listening to Text-to-Speech?

- I don't have to be able to convert all my books to a more "neutral" format, but i'd like to in case i want to move to a different device in the future. Do i have to use a tool other than Calibre to convert Topaz files?

I'm willing to do some formatting of Topaz files, because one thing I'm learning is that none of these ebooks are exactly perfect--especially if they have bullets or some type of outline.

I'm worried that with Topaz I'm really just getting junk that looks pretty.

I'm starting to wonder if ebooks are just adding more work to an already busy way of life.

- Does Calibre allow me to do ebook formatting (any format) or do i need some other software? I do see i can convert an ebook into RTF if i want to. I think. The Calibre website says it can input RTF but its can't output RTF. But when i press the convert button, it says it can output RTF. I'd like to edit the ebook using one interface or app, but if it will receive and convert to RTF i guess i can do the rest of the work in MS Word.


Thanks!

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

When i asked whether i will notice the junk in highlights i'm wondering if I'll notice it in my clipped file text. that's what i meant.

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

At the link here

http://stream-recorder.com/forum/con...z-t5426p5.html

Post #43 says that Sigil is used to edit a ePub book. It doesn't say it is used for conversion otherwise.

So it looks like according to post #43 that only Calibre is used but Calibre is not working for me. Do i need to add a certain tool?

You can use Calibre to convert to ePub, Mobi and other files. RTF is not a good format for ebooks. Different text editors show RTF files in a different way.

Calibre can be used to remove line breaks,... but it is not an ebook editor like Sigil.

If you can convert your ebook with Calbire, then you can be sure that the result ebook doesn't have any DRM protection.

If you have problems with Calibre, you need to post the exact error that you get.

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

I don't know a whole lot about Calibre. But I'm struggling with the Topaz format right now.

So RTF isn't good. Well, my success at least with RTF and DOC files was that i was able to send them to AMZ via Kindle email and convert them almost perfectly. I had to tweak it a little. So i figured it'd be the similar with Calibre. Mostly I like Doc and RTF when I want to create a linkable TOC.

With my Topaz file, I'm not getting an error. It loads in to Calibre and then when i double click it to open it, Calibre usually opens a window so i can preview/view the book, but instead, it opens WinZip for this Topaz file. I could uninstall WinZip and see what happens.

Thus I've not been able to view the Topaz file in Calibre. I can convert AZW files just fine.

The only thing in the list at the link i provided in the last post that I don't have is I didn't install Python 2.6 (not 2.7 or later afaik).

Is this something i need to do to get the Topaz file to work?


Thanks!

Originally Posted by any ANONYMOUS forum user

So RTF isn't good. Well, my success at least with RTF and DOC files was that i was able to send them to AMZ via Kindle email and convert them almost perfectly. I had to tweak it a little. So i figured it'd be the similar with Calibre. Mostly I like Doc and RTF when I want to create a linkable TOC.

If you like the way it works, just use it.

Originally Posted by any ANONYMOUS forum user

With my Topaz file, I'm not getting an error. It loads in to Calibre and then when i double click it to open it, Calibre usually opens a window so i can preview/view the book, but instead, it opens WinZip for this Topaz file. I could uninstall WinZip and see what happens.

Thus I've not been able to view the Topaz file in Calibre. I can convert AZW files just fine.

AFAIK Calibre opens ebooks using the default Windows application for every format that is not supported by its ebook viewer. If you can add an ebook to Calibre and convert it, then just convert it to the MOBI format and use it on your Kindle. You don't need to use e-mails then; just connect your Kindle via USB and transfer your MOBI ebooks to Calibre.

I don't have any Topaz ebooks to try. May be your Topaz ebook is in the ZIP archive. Calibre can add zipped ebooks, but I don't really know whether it can open it with its ebook viewer or not.

p.s.
I didn't have any problem using Calibre for converting ePub, PDF and other ebooks to MOBI, and then transferring them to Kindle and Kindle DX via USB.

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

Thanks very much for the info. I'll try to download Python and see if that helps.

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

Ok, I did install Python 2.6.6. I don't know if that is what made it work or not.

What i didn't do was press the CONVERT button at the top to try to actually convert the book into a different format.

This AZW1 topaz file was different from the AZW files. The AZW files converted to MOBI as soon as they were imported.

I was able to convert the topaz file to PDF, ePUB, MOBI etc. I didn't see any junk in the file. It did have some linked footnotes/endnotes that will need to be fixed. The Links spread throughout the paragraph rather than being just the footnote.

It appears to me that not all Topaz files are just OCR junk.