Microsoft LIT, you will be missed
Posted on 14 April 2009, at 10:42 pm, by Jessica Fritsche
When I am loading up eBooks onto my iPhone, Microsoft LIT files are my favorite. For those of you new to the eBook scene, Microsoft LIT is the eBook format used for Microsoft Reader on the PC and Windows Mobile. There used to be a Microsoft eBook store that sold DRM-locked LIT books, just like eReader/Fictionwise/Amazon. You can still purchase LIT eBooks from online stores such as Powell’s or Diesel, but on the whole they are getting harder and harder to find.
I have a ton of non-DRM LIT files that I have converted from text (mostly Project Gutenberg classics) or downloaded from manybooks.net, and they just read so beautifully in Stanza. I never have any issues with weird spacing or line breaks that look fine on my computer but horrible on the phone, which I have run into with plain text files and other formats.
The more LIT files I load onto my iPhone, the more I have grown to love the way they look. I barely ever used MS Reader files when I was reading eBooks on my Pocket PC, and now I wish I had appreciated them when they were around. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m a little sad that LIT as an eBook format is being phased out.
I’m apparently not the only one; Mike Cane at The eBook Test seems to agree with me! eBooks formatted in LIT just feel more like actual BOOKS. Sometimes you’ll have a weird hyphen or spacing issue here and there, but overall I feel like LIT just renders things better. Tables, indented block quotes, pictures with text wrapping–they’re all rendered in a way that makes you feel more like you’re reading a traditional printed page.
I’ve heard that the Kindle isn’t always 100% perfect in handling formatting issues, which is one of the small things that makes me pause before purchasing one. I’ve also started experimenting with converting eBooks I have to Kindle format, just to see if I’ll run into any problems with my existing library. So far so good, but I don’t have a Kindle to test them on! I’ll be interested to see how they look going from LIT to the Kindle format.
Am I one of the few weirdos with a favorite eBook format? I just don’t want to give up the beautiful book-like experience I’ve been having with my LIT files in Stanza on the iPhone. I never thought a small eBook reader could have books that look so good. Anyone else concerned about keeping the formatting integrity of their library from format to format (for the non-DRM’ed books)?
via The eBook Test
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April 15th, 2009 at 4:40 am
I like .lit too, the ebooks are just so well formatted. Especially with the travel guides – you get pop-up maps, just like in the physical versions. And they convert quite nicely to other formats… .pdb and .mobi can't quite compare. One thing I won't miss is the DRM; having to activate an ebook online is overkill.
That sounded incredibly geeky…
April 15th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I remember reading ebooks in LIT format on my HP Jornada 545 when it first came out and I was on a trip, and the look and feel was wonderful. I'd been reading ebooks in text and MobiPocket format on everything from HP200LX to Newton to Palm to Psion over the years, but these were the best looking of the bunch.
I have used Powells to grab LIT books recently as they seem one of the few left and it is a great format. I convert old text stuff to it regularly to re-read the classics.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Oh – and on a related note, Powell's is having a sale, just go here (http://www.powells.com/twin/) and you will see that using the code #powellswin on your online order of $20 or more will net you 20% savings.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:27 am
How are you reading LIT files with Stanza Reader? I didn't know it did LIT. Maybe you should do another post with some screensnaps from the iPhone? HowTo:
http://www.on-a-mac.com/2008/07/12/iphone-scree...
April 15th, 2009 at 11:47 am
@Mike: Stanza does read non-DRM LIT files. All I do is open them up in Stanza Desktop Reader on my Mac, and then I use the sharing over Wi-Fi to transfer them to Stanza on my iPhone. I'll be happy to do a post with some screencaps.
Maybe just a big ol' Stanza review is in order…
April 15th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I definitely think a full review is in order…
-original message-
Subject: [geardiary] Re: Microsoft LIT, you will be missed
April 15th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Ah … so it is only non-DRM. That is a shame. I have a bunch of non-DRM stuff I've converted, but many of my books for MS Reader are protected. The joys of DRM once again bite us in the butt!
April 15th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I am now drowning in my own drool at the prospect of seeing a LIT file on a Stanza iPhone screensnap. OMG, just update the post with one for the time being. Save my life! Glug glug!
April 15th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
They can be liberated from DRM and then put back in unprotected LIT. Google is everyone's friend. If you pay for an eBook, you should be able to unshackle it for your own personal use is my opinion.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I agree…I actually do have a lot of “liberated” eBooks, I just didn't really know if I should mention that in my post.
Sadly it's my “liberated” books that really look the best. Some of the LIT files from Manybooks, I realized tonight, are pretty much straight from Gutenberg and don't really have chapters built in. They still look visually nice, but I do like the chapter divisions.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Well, like I said in my other comment, I realized that some of my free LIT books (like the screenshot I took) don't have chapter divisions, which makes the LITs look and feel even nicer in Stanza for me, because it “loads” the next chapter up and makes it feel like you really flipped the page and found the start of a new part.
I just took a screenshot of Ethan Frome, which I'm reading right now…the file looks good partly because the file is well formatted and partly because Stanza just plain renders it well. The newest version of Stanza handles paragraph spacing really well, which is really nice because I HATE it when the spacing runs together. I can't find a file that has any fancy tables or anything, so I can't see how they handle in the iPhone reader. I'm fairly certain they'd look grand in the desktop reader…maybe you should send me one, Mike.
I can't edit the post in order to add a screenshot, so I sent it to Judie!
April 16th, 2009 at 7:41 am
You *should* be able to, if it weren't for this crazy little thing called 'the law' … and since they made breaking DRM or removing DRM from protected files a crime, it is not something I approach with a casual attitude.
It makes it hard to be anti-piracy, all of this DRM stuff and the draconian laws and lawsuits that the IP holders have put in place – because it effectively punishes honest folks who just want to get 'fair use' from their purchases and does nothing to stop those who just don't care.
In short, yes I know how to crack LIT DRM just as I know how to crack iTunes DRM and get no-DVD cracks to avoid added wear on game discs, but since all of it is illegal I don't think it should be put up as a legit way to do things.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Well, that's part of the reason why I didn't really say anything about it in my post. I don't share the ones I have, I am just interested in fair use. So I don't really broadcast that I do it (though I guess I just did, heh).
I think that laws against fair use are stupid…I just spent a lot of money on eBooks in various DRM formats and I want to continue to be able to use them on my eBook reading devices even if the format is kind of dead (like LIT). I also spend money on tons of paper books, I support authors (hell, I'm trying to be one) and I hope that someday, if I'm published, I can offer DRM-free eBooks to my readers.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I agree – we all know that DRM doesn't work, that the laws were crafted by clueless folks driven by special interest groups representing anti-consumer interests, and that punishing paying customers in order to prevent theft is a lose-lose scenario.
Wil Wheaton just put out his new 'Sunken Treasure' in ebook form (PDF), and basically said 'hey, don't pirate it, ok'? He knows it will be spread around, but since it already surpassed the sales of the hardcover edition he's already winning. And by not resorting to DRM he wins fans.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Yeah, I loved it when Wil did that. He proved that it really can work. I think he also did other formats when people expressed an interest in them, which I thought was really cool.
April 17th, 2009 at 10:24 am
>>>You *should* be able to, if it weren't for this crazy little thing called 'the law' …
HAHAHAHA. Yeah, alcohol was nowhere to be found during Prohibition. *burp*