diff --git a/src/calibre/customize/builtins.py b/src/calibre/customize/builtins.py
index 562200c6e2..45a9bd29d1 100644
--- a/src/calibre/customize/builtins.py
+++ b/src/calibre/customize/builtins.py
@@ -197,6 +197,17 @@ class PDFMetadataReader(MetadataReaderPlugin):
             return get_quick_metadata(stream)
         return get_metadata(stream)
 
+class PMLMetadataReader(MetadataReaderPlugin):
+
+    name        = 'Read PML metadata'
+    file_types  = set(['pml', 'pmlz'])
+    description = _('Read metadata from %s files') % 'PML'
+    author      = 'John Schember'
+
+    def get_metadata(self, stream, ftype):
+        from calibre.ebooks.metadata.pml import get_metadata
+        return get_metadata(stream)
+
 class RARMetadataReader(MetadataReaderPlugin):
 
     name = 'Read RAR metadata'
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/pml.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/pml.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..57ca29172a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/pml.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+'''Read meta information from TXT files'''
+
+from __future__ import with_statement
+
+__license__   = 'GPL v3'
+__copyright__ = '2009, John Schember <john@nachtimwald.com>'
+
+import os
+import glob
+import re
+
+from calibre.ebooks.metadata import MetaInformation
+from calibre.ptempfile import TemporaryDirectory
+from calibre.utils.zipfile import ZipFile
+
+def get_metadata(stream, extract_cover=True):
+    """ Return metadata as a L{MetaInfo} object """
+    mi = MetaInformation(_('Unknown'), [_('Unknown')])
+    stream.seek(0)
+
+    pml = ''
+    if stream.name.endswith('.pmlz'):
+        with TemporaryDirectory('_unpmlz') as tdir:
+            zf = ZipFile(stream)
+            zf.extractall(tdir)
+
+            pmls = glob.glob(os.path.join(tdir, '*.pml'))
+            for p in pmls:
+                with open(p, 'r+b') as p_stream:
+                    pml += p_stream.read()
+    else:
+        pml = stream.read()
+
+    for comment in re.findall(r'(?mus)\\v.*?\\v', pml):
+        m = re.search(r'TITLE="(.*?)"', comment)
+        if m:
+            mi.title = m.group(1).strip().decode('cp1252', 'replace')
+        m = re.search(r'AUTHOR="(.*?)"', comment)
+        if m:
+            if mi.authors == [_('Unknown')]:
+                mi.authors = []
+            mi.authors.append(m.group(1).strip().decode('cp1252', 'replace'))
+        m = re.search(r'PUBLISHER="(.*?)"', comment)
+        if m:
+            mi.publisher = m.group(1).strip().decode('cp1252', 'replace')
+        m = re.search(r'COPYRIGHT="(.*?)"', comment)
+        if m:
+            mi.rights = m.group(1).strip().decode('cp1252', 'replace')
+        m = re.search(r'ISBN="(.*?)"', comment)
+        if m:
+            mi.isbn = m.group(1).strip().decode('cp1252', 'replace')
+
+    return mi
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/input.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/input.py
index f2d00742ba..2475e40c34 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/input.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/pml/input.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
             pclose = True
         else:
             pml_stream = pml_path
+            pml_stream.seek(0)
             
         if not hasattr(html_path, 'write'):
             html_stream = open(html_path, 'wb')
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ class PMLInput(InputFormatPlugin):
         else:
             html_stream = html_path
         
-        ienc = pml_stream.encoding if pml_stream.encoding else 'utf-8'
+        ienc = pml_stream.encoding if pml_stream.encoding else 'cp1252'
         if self.options.input_encoding:
             ienc = self.options.input_encoding