# Microsoft assimilates the Literature world **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-assimilates-the-literature-world/71264 "2001-07-04T23:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-assimilates-the-literature-world/71264/1 "2001-07-04T23:36:36Z")
I recently became acquainted with a nice source of free classic literature, I was really happy to see the catalog until I discovered that these files are all in .lit format, which is apparently an eBook reader format proprietary to Microsoft OS. Does anyone know of a Mac reader for eBook format .lit files? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-assimilates-the-literature-world/71264/2 "2001-07-05T01:35:29Z")
Find another source. The Gutenberg Project has literature in plain text. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-assimilates-the-literature-world/71264/3 "2001-07-05T02:00:43Z")
I’ve been using the Gutenberg etext files for quite a while, but I’ve never been quite satisfied with the ASCII text format. The best I can do is throw em in a word processor, which isn’t exactly reader-friendly. eBook formats are supposed to be easier to work with, so I was hoping for some convenient reader to work with these files.