Sync with eBook readers

Cubytus
Hi all,

There's currently a pilot project from the university's library: they are lending Sony eBook readers to know about their reader's concerns. This device have have annotating features and a stylus, and most of them allow the use of external memory cards

Most articles we put in Zotero are in PDF format, as are many electronic book editions.

Simply put, would it be possible to add a syncing feature, where all, or a subset of PDFs would be exported to an eBook reader, for reading and annotating without needing a full-fledged computer, or printing hundreds of pages?
  • cgranade
    I second this request! It may be worth working with other projects on this, though--- for instance, Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) already has a lot of format conversion and library management logic for e-book readers, so exposing Zotero as a Calibre plug-in may work as a way to get this idea going quickly.
  • noksagt
    A few other threads on this subject already (as you may know):

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/9772/export-of-files-to-external-readers/
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/13756/zotero-kindle-workflow/
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/14326/send-attachments-to-feature-would-be-helpful/
  • Cubytus
    Since Calibre's ergonomics are what they are, I would rather see Zotero use Calibre's engine, but not its interface.
  • iscott
    I find it easy to access my Zotero PDF fileson my iPad by syncing them to my dropbox account. I just set my Zotero folder to be a custom folder in my dropbox folder. I don't know whether ereaders like the kindle can download from dropbox, but for those of us who read PDFs on a tablet device this isn't as much of an issue. What's more of a problem is accessing or adding my library records and notes. So maybe what is needed is a more comprehensive web access system. After all, with the new nook colour we are seeing ereaders move toward full web connectivity, and I don't think we will see many more reading devices without a built-in browser.
  • Cubytus
    Very interesting, indeed. However, considering Zotero's naming system, I don't know how you can find your files, even when synced to DropBox.

    But I'd rather see a sync plugin that would allow annotating the PDF, since summarizing info is a large part of the researcher job, and a client that would allow OFFLINE annotating. A network is many times not available, especially on wifi-only devices such as the iPad, the iPod Touch, etc.
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