diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/fetch.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/fetch.py
index 9b8a42e482..87989a4d42 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/fetch.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/metadata/fetch.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from calibre import prints
 from calibre.utils.config import OptionParser
 from calibre.utils.logging import default_log
 from calibre.utils.titlecase import titlecase
+from calibre.utils.html2text import html2text
 from calibre.customize import Plugin
 from calibre.ebooks.metadata.covers import check_for_cover
 
@@ -79,6 +80,8 @@ class MetadataSource(Plugin): # {{{
                         mi.comments = None
                     if not c.get('tags', True):
                         mi.tags = []
+                    if c.get('textconvert', True) and mi.comments is not None:
+                        mi.comments = html2text(mi.comments)
 
         except Exception, e:
             self.exception = e
@@ -132,11 +135,17 @@ class MetadataSource(Plugin): # {{{
             setattr(w, '_'+x, cb)
             cb.setChecked(c.get(x, True))
             w._layout.addWidget(cb)
+        #textconvert for comments
+        cb = QCheckBox(_('Convert comments from %s to text')%(self.name))
+        setattr(w, '_textconvert', cb)
+        cb.setChecked(c.get('textconvert', False))
+        w._layout.addWidget(cb)
+        
         return w
 
     def save_settings(self, w):
         dl_settings = {}
-        for x in ('rating', 'tags', 'comments'):
+        for x in ('rating', 'tags', 'comments', 'textconvert'):
             dl_settings[x] = getattr(w, '_'+x).isChecked()
         c = self.config_store()
         c.set(self.name, dl_settings)
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/html2text.py b/src/calibre/utils/html2text.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b271def4bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/html2text.py
@@ -0,0 +1,451 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+"""html2text: Turn HTML into equivalent Markdown-structured text."""
+__version__ = "2.39"
+__author__ = "Aaron Swartz (me@aaronsw.com)"
+__copyright__ = "(C) 2004-2008 Aaron Swartz. GNU GPL 3."
+__contributors__ = ["Martin 'Joey' Schulze", "Ricardo Reyes", "Kevin Jay North"]
+
+# TODO:
+#   Support decoded entities with unifiable.
+
+if not hasattr(__builtins__, 'True'): True, False = 1, 0
+import re, sys, urllib, htmlentitydefs, codecs, StringIO, types
+import sgmllib
+import urlparse
+sgmllib.charref = re.compile('&#([xX]?[0-9a-fA-F]+)[^0-9a-fA-F]')
+
+try: from textwrap import wrap
+except: pass
+
+# Use Unicode characters instead of their ascii pseudo-replacements
+UNICODE_SNOB = 0
+
+# Put the links after each paragraph instead of at the end.
+LINKS_EACH_PARAGRAPH = 0
+
+# Wrap long lines at position. 0 for no wrapping. (Requires Python 2.3.)
+BODY_WIDTH = 0
+
+# Don't show internal links (href="#local-anchor") -- corresponding link targets
+# won't be visible in the plain text file anyway.
+SKIP_INTERNAL_LINKS = True
+
+### Entity Nonsense ###
+
+def name2cp(k):
+    if k == 'apos': return ord("'")
+    if hasattr(htmlentitydefs, "name2codepoint"): # requires Python 2.3
+        return htmlentitydefs.name2codepoint[k]
+    else:
+        k = htmlentitydefs.entitydefs[k]
+        if k.startswith("&#") and k.endswith(";"): return int(k[2:-1]) # not in latin-1
+        return ord(codecs.latin_1_decode(k)[0])
+
+unifiable = {'rsquo':"'", 'lsquo':"'", 'rdquo':'"', 'ldquo':'"', 
+'copy':'(C)', 'mdash':'--', 'nbsp':' ', 'rarr':'->', 'larr':'<-', 'middot':'*',
+'ndash':'-', 'oelig':'oe', 'aelig':'ae',
+'agrave':'a', 'aacute':'a', 'acirc':'a', 'atilde':'a', 'auml':'a', 'aring':'a', 
+'egrave':'e', 'eacute':'e', 'ecirc':'e', 'euml':'e', 
+'igrave':'i', 'iacute':'i', 'icirc':'i', 'iuml':'i',
+'ograve':'o', 'oacute':'o', 'ocirc':'o', 'otilde':'o', 'ouml':'o', 
+'ugrave':'u', 'uacute':'u', 'ucirc':'u', 'uuml':'u'}
+
+unifiable_n = {}
+
+for k in unifiable.keys():
+    unifiable_n[name2cp(k)] = unifiable[k]
+
+def charref(name):
+    if name[0] in ['x','X']:
+        c = int(name[1:], 16)
+    else:
+        c = int(name)
+    
+    if not UNICODE_SNOB and c in unifiable_n.keys():
+        return unifiable_n[c]
+    else:
+        return unichr(c)
+
+def entityref(c):
+    if not UNICODE_SNOB and c in unifiable.keys():
+        return unifiable[c]
+    else:
+        try: name2cp(c)
+        except KeyError: return "&" + c
+        else: return unichr(name2cp(c))
+
+def replaceEntities(s):
+    s = s.group(1)
+    if s[0] == "#": 
+        return charref(s[1:])
+    else: return entityref(s)
+
+r_unescape = re.compile(r"&(#?[xX]?(?:[0-9a-fA-F]+|\w{1,8}));")
+def unescape(s):
+    return r_unescape.sub(replaceEntities, s)
+    
+def fixattrs(attrs):
+    # Fix bug in sgmllib.py
+    if not attrs: return attrs
+    newattrs = []
+    for attr in attrs:
+        newattrs.append((attr[0], unescape(attr[1])))
+    return newattrs
+
+### End Entity Nonsense ###
+
+def onlywhite(line):
+    """Return true if the line does only consist of whitespace characters."""
+    for c in line:
+        if c is not ' ' and c is not '  ':
+            return c is ' '
+    return line
+
+def optwrap(text):
+    """Wrap all paragraphs in the provided text."""
+    if not BODY_WIDTH:
+        return text
+    
+    assert wrap, "Requires Python 2.3."
+    result = ''
+    newlines = 0
+    for para in text.split("\n"):
+        if len(para) > 0:
+            if para[0] is not ' ' and para[0] is not '-' and para[0] is not '*':
+                for line in wrap(para, BODY_WIDTH):
+                    result += line + "\n"
+                result += "\n"
+                newlines = 2
+            else:
+                if not onlywhite(para):
+                    result += para + "\n"
+                    newlines = 1
+        else:
+            if newlines < 2:
+                result += "\n"
+                newlines += 1
+    return result
+
+def hn(tag):
+    if tag[0] == 'h' and len(tag) == 2:
+        try:
+            n = int(tag[1])
+            if n in range(1, 10): return n
+        except ValueError: return 0
+
+class _html2text(sgmllib.SGMLParser):
+    def __init__(self, out=None, baseurl=''):
+        sgmllib.SGMLParser.__init__(self)
+        
+        if out is None: self.out = self.outtextf
+        else: self.out = out
+        self.outtext = u''
+        self.quiet = 0
+        self.p_p = 0
+        self.outcount = 0
+        self.start = 1
+        self.space = 0
+        self.a = []
+        self.astack = []
+        self.acount = 0
+        self.list = []
+        self.blockquote = 0
+        self.pre = 0
+        self.startpre = 0
+        self.lastWasNL = 0
+        self.abbr_title = None # current abbreviation definition
+        self.abbr_data = None # last inner HTML (for abbr being defined)
+        self.abbr_list = {} # stack of abbreviations to write later
+        self.baseurl = baseurl
+    
+    def outtextf(self, s): 
+        self.outtext += s
+    
+    def close(self):
+        sgmllib.SGMLParser.close(self)
+        
+        self.pbr()
+        self.o('', 0, 'end')
+        
+        return self.outtext
+        
+    def handle_charref(self, c):
+        self.o(charref(c))
+
+    def handle_entityref(self, c):
+        self.o(entityref(c))
+            
+    def unknown_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
+        self.handle_tag(tag, attrs, 1)
+    
+    def unknown_endtag(self, tag):
+        self.handle_tag(tag, None, 0)
+        
+    def previousIndex(self, attrs):
+        """ returns the index of certain set of attributes (of a link) in the
+            self.a list
+ 
+            If the set of attributes is not found, returns None
+        """
+        if not attrs.has_key('href'): return None
+        
+        i = -1
+        for a in self.a:
+            i += 1
+            match = 0
+            
+            if a.has_key('href') and a['href'] == attrs['href']:
+                if a.has_key('title') or attrs.has_key('title'):
+                        if (a.has_key('title') and attrs.has_key('title') and
+                            a['title'] == attrs['title']):
+                            match = True
+                else:
+                    match = True
+
+            if match: return i
+
+    def handle_tag(self, tag, attrs, start):
+        attrs = fixattrs(attrs)
+    
+        if hn(tag):
+            self.p()
+            if start: self.o(hn(tag)*"#" + ' ')
+
+        if tag in ['p', 'div']: self.p()
+        
+        if tag == "br" and start: self.o("  \n")
+
+        if tag == "hr" and start:
+            self.p()
+            self.o("* * *")
+            self.p()
+
+        if tag in ["head", "style", 'script']: 
+            if start: self.quiet += 1
+            else: self.quiet -= 1
+
+        if tag in ["body"]:
+            self.quiet = 0 # sites like 9rules.com never close <head>
+        
+        if tag == "blockquote":
+            if start: 
+                self.p(); self.o('> ', 0, 1); self.start = 1
+                self.blockquote += 1
+            else:
+                self.blockquote -= 1
+                self.p()
+        
+        if tag in ['em', 'i', 'u']: self.o("_")
+        if tag in ['strong', 'b']: self.o("**")
+        if tag == "code" and not self.pre: self.o('`') #TODO: `` `this` ``
+        if tag == "abbr":
+            if start:
+                attrsD = {}
+                for (x, y) in attrs: attrsD[x] = y
+                attrs = attrsD
+                
+                self.abbr_title = None
+                self.abbr_data = ''
+                if attrs.has_key('title'):
+                    self.abbr_title = attrs['title']
+            else:
+                if self.abbr_title != None:
+                    self.abbr_list[self.abbr_data] = self.abbr_title
+                    self.abbr_title = None
+                self.abbr_data = ''
+        
+        if tag == "a":
+            if start:
+                attrsD = {}
+                for (x, y) in attrs: attrsD[x] = y
+                attrs = attrsD
+                if attrs.has_key('href') and not (SKIP_INTERNAL_LINKS and attrs['href'].startswith('#')): 
+                    self.astack.append(attrs)
+                    self.o("[")
+                else:
+                    self.astack.append(None)
+            else:
+                if self.astack:
+                    a = self.astack.pop()
+                    if a:
+                        i = self.previousIndex(a)
+                        if i is not None:
+                            a = self.a[i]
+                        else:
+                            self.acount += 1
+                            a['count'] = self.acount
+                            a['outcount'] = self.outcount
+                            self.a.append(a)
+                        self.o("][" + `a['count']` + "]")
+        
+        if tag == "img" and start:
+            attrsD = {}
+            for (x, y) in attrs: attrsD[x] = y
+            attrs = attrsD
+            if attrs.has_key('src'):
+                attrs['href'] = attrs['src']
+                alt = attrs.get('alt', '')
+                i = self.previousIndex(attrs)
+                if i is not None:
+                    attrs = self.a[i]
+                else:
+                    self.acount += 1
+                    attrs['count'] = self.acount
+                    attrs['outcount'] = self.outcount
+                    self.a.append(attrs)
+                self.o("![")
+                self.o(alt)
+                self.o("]["+`attrs['count']`+"]")
+        
+        if tag == 'dl' and start: self.p()
+        if tag == 'dt' and not start: self.pbr()
+        if tag == 'dd' and start: self.o('    ')
+        if tag == 'dd' and not start: self.pbr()
+        
+        if tag in ["ol", "ul"]:
+            if start:
+                self.list.append({'name':tag, 'num':0})
+            else:
+                if self.list: self.list.pop()
+            
+            self.p()
+        
+        if tag == 'li':
+            if start:
+                self.pbr()
+                if self.list: li = self.list[-1]
+                else: li = {'name':'ul', 'num':0}
+                self.o("  "*len(self.list)) #TODO: line up <ol><li>s > 9 correctly.
+                if li['name'] == "ul": self.o("* ")
+                elif li['name'] == "ol":
+                    li['num'] += 1
+                    self.o(`li['num']`+". ")
+                self.start = 1
+            else:
+                self.pbr()
+        
+        if tag in ["table", "tr"] and start: self.p()
+        if tag == 'td': self.pbr()
+        
+        if tag == "pre":
+            if start:
+                self.startpre = 1
+                self.pre = 1
+            else:
+                self.pre = 0
+            self.p()
+            
+    def pbr(self):
+        if self.p_p == 0: self.p_p = 1
+
+    def p(self): self.p_p = 2
+    
+    def o(self, data, puredata=0, force=0):
+        if self.abbr_data is not None: self.abbr_data += data
+        
+        if not self.quiet: 
+            if puredata and not self.pre:
+                data = re.sub('\s+', ' ', data)
+                if data and data[0] == ' ':
+                    self.space = 1
+                    data = data[1:]
+            if not data and not force: return
+            
+            if self.startpre:
+                #self.out(" :") #TODO: not output when already one there
+                self.startpre = 0
+            
+            bq = (">" * self.blockquote)
+            if not (force and data and data[0] == ">") and self.blockquote: bq += " "
+            
+            if self.pre:
+                bq += "    "
+                data = data.replace("\n", "\n"+bq)
+            
+            if self.start:
+                self.space = 0
+                self.p_p = 0
+                self.start = 0
+
+            if force == 'end':
+                # It's the end.
+                self.p_p = 0
+                self.out("\n")
+                self.space = 0
+
+
+            if self.p_p:
+                self.out(('\n'+bq)*self.p_p)
+                self.space = 0
+                
+            if self.space:
+                if not self.lastWasNL: self.out(' ')
+                self.space = 0
+
+            if self.a and ((self.p_p == 2 and LINKS_EACH_PARAGRAPH) or force == "end"):
+                if force == "end": self.out("\n")
+
+                newa = []
+                for link in self.a:
+                    if self.outcount > link['outcount']:
+                        self.out("   ["+`link['count']`+"]: " + urlparse.urljoin(self.baseurl, link['href'])) 
+                        if link.has_key('title'): self.out(" ("+link['title']+")")
+                        self.out("\n")
+                    else:
+                        newa.append(link)
+
+                if self.a != newa: self.out("\n") # Don't need an extra line when nothing was done.
+
+                self.a = newa
+            
+            if self.abbr_list and force == "end":
+                for abbr, definition in self.abbr_list.items():
+                    self.out("  *[" + abbr + "]: " + definition + "\n")
+
+            self.p_p = 0
+            self.out(data)
+            self.lastWasNL = data and data[-1] == '\n'
+            self.outcount += 1
+
+    def handle_data(self, data):
+        if r'\/script>' in data: self.quiet -= 1
+        self.o(data, 1)
+    
+    def unknown_decl(self, data): pass
+
+def wrapwrite(text): sys.stdout.write(text.encode('utf8'))
+
+def html2text_file(html, out=wrapwrite, baseurl=''):
+    h = _html2text(out, baseurl)
+    h.feed(html)
+    h.feed("")
+    return h.close()
+
+def html2text(html, baseurl=''):
+    return optwrap(html2text_file(html, None, baseurl))
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    baseurl = ''
+    if sys.argv[1:]:
+        arg = sys.argv[1]
+        if arg.startswith('http://') or arg.startswith('https://'):
+            baseurl = arg
+            j = urllib.urlopen(baseurl)
+            try:
+                from feedparser import _getCharacterEncoding as enc
+            except ImportError:
+                   enc = lambda x, y: ('utf-8', 1)
+            text = j.read()
+            encoding = enc(j.headers, text)[0]
+            if encoding == 'us-ascii': encoding = 'utf-8'
+            data = text.decode(encoding)
+
+        else:
+            encoding = 'utf8'
+            if len(sys.argv) > 2:
+                encoding = sys.argv[2]
+            data = open(arg, 'r').read().decode(encoding)
+    else:
+        data = sys.stdin.read().decode('utf8')
+    wrapwrite(html2text(data, baseurl))
+