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    Reading eBooks on the Creative Zen (video)

    By Nick Preece

    How to Convert ebook .html Files Into .jpegs for use on your Creative Zen, or equivalent media device. (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying, and Learn to Love the Ebook)

    Part 1: Acquiring the Technology.

    1. Step 1: Get an ebook .html file (legally of course) from the website of your choosing, perhaps, say, www.booksforabuck.com (shameless plug) [Editor's note: thanks, Nick. It's also possible to get many older books in HTML format completely free from Gutenberg.org.]
    2. Step 2: Use the following link (http://www.a-i-studio.com/rasterbook) and click on the Download tab. It will take you down to the download section of the web page. From there, click the download Rasterbook option and save it to the easily located folder of your choice.
    3. Step 3: Click on the Rasterbook Setup file you downloaded and simply click next through each of the options, accepting the license agreement. Decide and check off if you desire to have a shortcut in your start menu or your desktop, and your setup will be complete.
    4. Step 4: Go to your Start menu (Or your desktop shortcut, if you chose to install one) and click the Rasterbook.
    5. Step 5: When your Rasterbook is open, simply click File and then Open (Or just hit Ctrl + O) and select browse. Then simply select your ebook, select ok, then click Open.
    6. Step 6: Either click the large “Render Book” option near the top of the Rasterbook, or hit F9 to convert your .html file into .jpegs. The .jpegs are saved in your “My Documents” folder, in order, and sideways for proper viewing on most players. If your player is not a sideways viewer, you may have to rotate the pages to get them to fit properly in easy reading format.
    7. Step 7: This is not a necessary step, but to import multiple ebooks, you'll need to rename your converted ebook files to make sure that in converting your second ebook, you don't write over the first. Simply highlight all of the images and right click rename, and type in the name of the ebook. This will rename all of the files to the name of the e-book, and number them so that they will be loaded into your player in order.
    8. Step 8: Plug in your Creative Zen, or player of choice to your computer, and use the add media feature to send your ebook files over.

    [Editor's note: Nick found that the default screen size worked for his Creative Zen. Please see our article on using this same Rastorbook application on a not-so-smart cellphone for information on how to configure the screen size to match the requirements of your device.]


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