Sony Takes Aim At Amazon's Kindle 273
MojoKid writes "Sony recently announced two new eBook readers and has set its sights on tapping into Amazon's Kindle market share. The Sony Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition will come out at the end of the month and will reportedly cost less or the
same as the older, more established Kindle. The Pocket Edition has a five-inch
display, comes in several colors ('including navy blue, rose and silver') and
fits, as one might expect, in a jacket pocket or a purse. It can store about 350
'standard eBooks' and can last about two weeks on a single charge, Sony claims.
The Touch Edition is a bit larger, with a six-inch display that, as you'd
expect, can be controlled via a touch interface."
new form of book burning (Score:5, Funny)
Re:new form of book burning (Score:5, Funny)
They'll just play an animation of a book burning as they erase them remotely.
it is not the hardware, it is the content (Score:5, Insightful)
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I just installed the Stanza app on my iPhone, and I can pull all the classics from Project Gutenberg for free. And when the new Star Wars novels come out, my wife downloads them on her Kindle app on her iPhone. Paid content and free content both accessible via free apps on the iPhone, and no $400 reader required.
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I've tried reading ebooks on my desktop, my netbook and my iphone. I haven't been able to do it yet. Backlit screens just suck ass for reading for any length of time.
I tried stanza.
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If you're the kind of gadget freak who is considering dropping $400 on an eReader, there is a decent chance you have an iPhone.
The iPhone has its faults, but one of the best aspects of the iPhone is that it replaces several other gadgets. It is one less thing to carry, charge, or worry about. It is also one less thing to purchase.
You're definitely going to carry a cell phone. Are you going to carry a Kindle?
I'm a cell phone tightwad (Score:2)
You're definitely going to carry a cell phone.
True, but I carry an el-cheapo Audiovox phone from Virgin Mobile and I only use about $6 per month worth of airtime because I only make calls that I can't make from a land line, such as arranging rides. Until smartphone service becomes nearly this affordable, I'll stick with a separate phone and PDA.
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Here's a man that doesn't have deep pockets, but does have big pockets with lots of stuff in them!
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...on the iPhone, and no $400 reader required.
I read ebooks on my netbook, no $400 reader required. I just had to buy the netbook; did you have to buy your phone first? And a netbook costs less than an iphone if you shop around. Netbooks have FAR larger screens than readers and readers even have larger screens than the little iphone so what's your point?
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no they aren't.
not when you consider the rather high monthly fees that go along with that just to make it function......
for two years.......
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Every smartphone comes with those fees. If you want to download ebooks to a device, you have to pay for internet access.
People are already paying a cell phone bill. So it isn't like they're adding a monthly fee they don't already have.
A Kindle is an additional $400 purchase, and an additional gadget to carry.
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If you want to download ebooks to a device, you have to pay for internet access.
Not really.
It takes a long time to read one book, so occasional visits to free Wi-Fi hotspots should keep you in as many books as you want. For that, the iPod Touch does far better than the iPhone, as you don't have any monthly fees.
But, the 32GB iPod Touch costs over $350 and has a very small screen. You can get a decent netbook with as much storage and a much larger screen for about the same size, and that would be far better for eBook reading.
iPhone w/ data plan vs. Aspire one w/ data plan (Score:2)
iPhones are $99 right now.
With a data plan. If you try to buy one without a data plan and without the GSM/UMTS radio, it's $214.99 plus tax [google.com].
What netbook costs less than that?
I was in a RadioShack store, and I seem to remember one of the wireless carriers selling an Acer Aspire one subnotebook PC with Windows XP for less than $100 with the purchase of a 2-year data plan for $60 per month.
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So you're saying it is fair to try and price the iPhone without the dataplan, but you should compare it to a netbook that is being subsidized with a data plan?
What is especially troubling is the iPhone data plan is $30 a month, and you're suggesting the netbook with the $60 a month data plan is cheaper.
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It is the hardware. Reading PDFs for technical books is not really practical on current eBook readers, because it takes a couple of seconds to refresh the screen.
It's fine for novels where you read from cover to cover, but if you need to flip back and forth, skim or scroll then two seconds is too much.
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Maybe they should join up with Amazon. That sounds right up their alley.
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That is, unless they have fixed their battery tech.
My thoughts exactly, first thing that came to my mind!!!
Not mine... I was thinking "How will Sony screw over there own customers this time?" Looks cool, but what nasty DRM lurks underneath?
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Although Sony doesn't officially support it, there is software out there that will let you make your own books in BBeB format.
Calibre (http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/) is one that comes to mind.
Beny
Good for Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
I was starting to get worried about their eBook commitment with outdated PRS-500/505 models. Don't need Whispernet and don't need a freaking dedicated keyboard on a eBook device. Just give me the text and native PDF support.
I'm a big fan of Amazon but Kindle just rubs me the wrong way. I'm considered to be their target demographic too - a left coast liberal yuppie who loves to read obscure novels by authors who committed suicide. But I never made my peace with the device.
Re:Good for Sony (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually in the first 5 of Kindle Top Sellers at this moment are Michelle Malkin's "Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies" and Glenn Beck's "Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against and Out-of-Control Government,...". There isn't a single liberal leaning rant anywhere in the top 30, but I also see Dick Morris and Mark R. Levin from the right. So your assumption about the target demographic might be a tad off.
Good luck with that... (Score:2)
Sony doesn't have Amazon's catalog and their software and net-fu are inferior.
The kindle will be buried either by either:
1- revolutionary advances in battery technology that'll make netbooks and tablets into book readers
2- Or by a company that has UI know-how, enough money and savvy to build a triple-A network and a willingness to lose money to gain a foothold on the market. (IE: Microsoft)
Re:Good luck with that... (Score:4, Funny)
2- Or by a company that has UI know-how, enough money and savvy to build a triple-A network and a willingness to lose money to gain a foothold on the market. (IE: Microsoft)
I'd find the white text on a blue background very off-putting.
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This very thought, the idea that the method of distribution could be gamed (much like the media) in an effort to guide/hijack public opinion, occurred to me as soon as I saw the article about Amazon deleting all the copies of "1984" from people's Kindles.
But my inherent cynicism (ironically/coincidentally, cynicism largely a product of my reading "1984") went a little further down the road with that idea.
Has anyone done comparisons of the actual text in the versions of a book on a Kindle with the text of pr
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Occam's razor applies here. The rankings prove that using a brazenly partisan cable TV show to direct sheeple to read yet more of the same partisan crap in book/ebook form is far more thought control than furtive tweaking of content could ever be.
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"plurality should not be posited without necessity."
I agree. But do those that have the means of doing such as I described in my post know that?
We have both the CIA and the NSA. Four branches of military that these days are pretty much redundant in many ways.
Hell, Warcraft and Starcraft from the same publisher.
Occam's Razor is an interesting principle, but unless your aware of it, and consider it, it is kind of moot.
Nice try. (Score:3, Insightful)
In common usage th
What I want (Score:5, Interesting)
Currently, I'm using my DS, and it's adequate. It can scroll text, html, and pdf. Good return on a $7 cartridge, since I already had a DS.
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He SAID he didn't want any extra features.
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You've pretty much described the Sony 505, although it's around $300 (although assumedly it will come down when the new 600 is released).
What you're paying for with the e-ink readers is the very-nice-screen, which looks like a printed page. If you're willing to suffer reading from an LCD screen, then check out the eBookwise reader [ebookwise.com], which is again pretty much exactly what you're describing. Although, very weird proprietary file formats.
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I literally don't leave home without it.
Love being able to keep up on my reading on my lunch break or any other downtime that comes along.
I have been tempted to switch to a Kindle, for it's syncing ability with my iPhone (for those times when I may have a few minutes and have left my eReader in my desk/car), but can't justify the added cost and presumably close
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I'm waiting for something with a reasonably decent screen, a decent flash drive, a few buttons. No subscription services, no wireless, no connectivity at all, no note taking or annotation features, no voice or recording... Just a thumbdrive hooked to a screen. That hardware should be WELL under $100. The extra features turn me off more than incentivize me. Currently, I'm using my DS, and it's adequate. It can scroll text, html, and pdf. Good return on a $7 cartridge, since I already had a DS.
Instead of buying this crap, you could just buy a netbook for $299.
Free Wikipedia access (Score:2)
Good article in the new yorker... (Score:5, Informative)
There was a good article in the New Yorker which brings one up to date with the genesis and current state of the kindle, and e-books in general. The author orders one and then proceeds to write an article about his experience. He compares it to paper books, discusses amazons choice of a non free and closed format, and generally reviews it quite well. Having an ad blocker and hating all that is spamazon has kept me out of the loop with these new e-book readers so it was a nice intro to the current scene.
The article is available online at the following link: Kindle and the Future of Reading [newyorker.com]
Apple might want to get into ebooks (Score:5, Interesting)
and via iTunes. Music, movies.... books are just another story telling medium. And figuring digital distribution IS the future, why not?
Too bad about their break with Google over some stupid voice apps... because Google may have been a great partner (ie Google Books) for Apple to catch up to Amazon.
And the upgrade cycle would/is tremendous like the iPods were. Black/white small screen -> B/W big screen -> color screen -> flexible (?) screen -> ???
Right after the 1st generation Kindle, with it's fugly looks, probably would have been the best time to get in. Even now, it wouldn't be bad... the kindle isn't a computer, doesn't have speed, etc. All things Apple could one up for those people that want a book reader and something to browse with and that's it.
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They don't need to. They already provide a platform (iPod/iPhone) that is the marketplace for content. They don't need to compete for "eReaders" because there are already dozens of them available on the Apple store.
Apple is not allowing e-books on iphone/touch (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/08/05/app-store-rejections-tied-to-third-party-rights-infringements/ [tuaw.com]
Apple recently invited a great deal of criticism after it rejected Google's Google Voice application from App Store. At the same time, it pulled third party GV apps leaving their developers without recourse and forced to swallow refund costs that exceeded their initial per-sale earnings. Today Engadget notes Daring Fireball's story of a simple dictionary being censored. Now it looks as if Apple may be targeting the e-book section of App Store.
I only cut part of the article, feel free to read the rest, but Apple is up to something or maybe not. Considering you can "Kindle" on it through Amazon I am trying to work out why their stance has changed even for people with unquestionable rights to the material they publish
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I am trying to work out why their stance has changed even for people with unquestionable rights to the material they publish
No rights are unquestionable. Just ask (the estate of) George Harrison, who lost a million-dollar lawsuit for accidentally copying Ronald Mack's "He's So Fine" into Harrison's "My Sweet Lord".
No (Score:5, Interesting)
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That was a Tablet PC (Score:2)
Usually someone is holding one and walking fast like it's a clipboard.
The prop in TNG is probably supposed to represent the successor to the Tablet PC [wikipedia.org].
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THIS is why it is better than kindle (Score:5, Informative)
"The software also is compatible with both PCs and Apple computers and enable the user to read PDF, Word, BBeB and other text files on the Reader."
- that right there.
When I first made my paperback book available in paperback format in early 2007 Amazon offered to convert it (it was in PDF format) to their kindle format for me, I said sure, and almost immediately found out that the formatting didn't work out. I pulled it from the kindle store and asked if I could do the conversion on my own. They said sure, but their format was html. Because of the charts and imagery and the way the text was done in the book there wasn't any easy way of converting the 162 page PDF into essentially a big ass website. I opted to ignore the kindle and since then haven't suffered for it in anyway.
Now my books are available in PDF format and I'm converting many of the stories into RTF versions for mobile devices. The fact that Sony now has a reader that can view html formated ebooks as well as RTF, Word and PDF files means I soon will have another outlet for my products without me having to do any type of special conversion on my end, which for me means I get another revenue stream, a potentially larger client base and no additional time cost. Win Win.
Re:THIS is why it is better than kindle (Score:5, Informative)
Bottom line, you should be writing your books in some sort of open semantic mark-up format like EPUB, which was designed for this purpose.
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The problem is that the ebook readers don't like page formatted documents because they need to resize them to fit their screens and the font size selected. PDFs are crappy for this. I believe Amazon accepts other formats like doc and will convert them. If your book requires specific page formatting then it doesn't lend itself to most ebook readers.
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Color Display? (Score:2)
Do either the Kindle or Sony ebooks have color displays?
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Do either the Kindle or Sony ebooks have color displays?
Not yet. Color eInk is very new. The Kindle 3 (2011, probably) will probably have it.
I already have a Sony eBook reader. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's a Sony Clie SJ22.
Yes, I know it's like six years old.
Yes, I know it's only 320x320.
Don't care. It works better as an eBook reader than anything bigger could, because it's small enough I can take it anywhere.
Plus it plays Alchemy and Bejeweled and Collapse and Seven Seas, and holds all my names and addresses and magic numbers.
And I can use it as an IR remote to freak people out in bars by surreptitiously turning the TV off and on.
Do that on your Kindle.
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Re:I already have a Sony eBook reader. (Score:5, Insightful)
Try reading it outside in bright, direct sunlight (ie the beach).
Readers like these Sony ones and the Kindle are all about the e-ink displays, full stop. They are awesome, and the charge life is measured in weeks. LCDs are shit for reading books, honestly.
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Try reading it outside in bright, direct sunlight (ie the beach).
Works fine, it's got a transflective display like just about every color PDA since around 2000.
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Are you kidding? I've yet to see any kind of LCD screen stand up to direct sunlight. I read e-paper in direct sunlight all the time.
It's whole purpose for existing is to be able to be read in direct sunlight.
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I guess E-Ink should close up shop then, because they clearly have no product, right? You should pick up the phone and let them know your old Sony's display beats the pants off their e-ink nonsense. You should probably let Amazon know too. Sony sure will be relieved to know they can fall back on this old product! You've just saved them a bundle.
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It doesn't compare to a real printed page or e-ink. And I read outside all the time, like nearly every single day. "Non-optimal" doesn't cut it, sorry.
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You got a spare stylus? I lost the stylus for my Newt in a move.
Older, more established? (Score:5, Informative)
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trying to fight Amazon's PR ability is a losing battle, seriously, don't even bother.
Wake me up when it has a bigger screen (Score:2)
The SONY readers can show PDF files which is great, but those screens are too damned small. You might as well carry around a Netbook. The good news is Amazon have finally backed off their proprietary+DRM stupidity and allowed PDF on Kindles' too:
http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/amazon-kindle-dx-for-pdf-documents/8455/ [labnol.org]
Now they should go the next step and give you an oyster fork so you can pry out their BigBrotheresque Wireless connection which from the 1984 debacle we've seen has more cons than pros.
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The Sonys have a zoom feature that scales very well with most PDF files, letting you read them easily on the small screen. (Some scanned PDFs will not work, some will, anything thats not scanned will work every time).
Awesome news (Score:2)
Awesome news for us Kindle fans, we'll be seeing a price drop AND a Kindle Touch soon.
Sony? Who the hell cares about Sony?
Touch vs PRS 700 (Score:2)
Can anybody tell the difference between the touch edition and the PRS 700? As far as I can see its the exact same device (just cheaper).
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note-taking capability via handwriting
Ding ding ding, we have a winning feature, the note taking on the 700 is painful.
My understanding is that the glare was caused by the protective coating for the touchscreen (similar complaints were made about the kindle 2), and the 700 does have dictionary support, or at least, you can load a dictionary and then search it, properly designed dictionary support might be nicer.
All in all it sounds like a proper replacement for the 505, instead of the trade offs like the 700 ended up with. Wish I had the money
Cheap Chinese Clones (Score:2)
Ok, where are they?
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Ok, where are they?
Being held up in developed countries' customs until the patents expire.
1 "standard eBook" = 0.00000003125 LoC (Score:2)
(According to their about page [loc.gov])
Which means that the reader holds only 0.0000109375 LoC. ...just so you have a value that you can relate to something.
$9.99 for an eBook? (Score:5, Informative)
What are they smoking? Paperbacks cost less than that, and I'd expect something with zero production cost to be an order of magnitude cheaper.
This is just begging for piracy.
Re:$9.99 for an eBook? (Score:5, Informative)
because they are releasing the ebooks at the same time as the hard back editions of new books, not a year later in paperback.
so it is significantly cheaper than the $25-40 price range of a hardback book.
there are also cheaper older books available as well.
and over 500,000 free classics.
and of course there's always calibre and torrent sites with LIT format books.
When I can lend a Kindle book to a Sony owner... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll consider getting another eBook device when they make it possible to lend an eBook the way I can lend a physical book.
I want to be able to lend Kindle books... commercial, protected, bestseller-type books... to a person with a Sony reader. I want to be able to replace my Sony reader three years down the road with whatever eBook reading device appeals to me and move all my books to the new device.
And I want to be able to make the transfers just as I can today with a physical book.
I have $300 worth of ebooks I purchased for my Rocket eBook. When I bought them I was assured that if I ever needed to replace the device, I could just give them the new serial number and re-download the books re-coded for the new device. Well, I my eBook device finally bit the dust. I now have $300 worth of eBooks that can be read only on a device that no longer exists, unless I buy a replacement device that doesn't exist, contact a customer service department that no longer exists, and re-download them from a server that no longer exists, operated by a company that no longer exists.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
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Technically, the company does exist. Nuvomedia, the maker of the Rocket, was purchased by Gemstar, who merged with TV Guide to become Gemstar TV Guide, who then merged with Macrovision Corp to become Macrovision Solutions Corp, and finally, just this past month, changed its name to Rovi Corp ( http://www.rovicorp.com/ [rovicorp.com] ).
Solar Panel (Score:5, Interesting)
Sony is the "open" reader (Score:5, Informative)
Or at least, it is compared to the Kindle. Sony will read PDF files and EPUB [idpf.org] files. (EPUB is an open standard; an EPUB file is really a zip file, containing a few XML documents that describe where everything is, and then either XHTML or DAISY/DTBook content).
It's VERY easy to copy content to the Sony readers (shows up like a USB hard drive, or copy content to an SD card and insert). There's no remote-kill like the Kindle.
If you're worried about finding DRM free content, check out Baen's Webscriptions [idpf.org] or Fictionwise [fictionwise.com] (look for the "multiformat" books; all DRM free).
Finally, if you REALLY don't want to go with Sony, there are lots of other good readers [mobileread.com] out there, some of which run Linux, and give you source for the software.
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I'm not sure why you linked to ipdf.org ... I think you meant http://www.webscription.net/ [webscription.net]
I definitely recommend them, and they have a few different DRM-free formats to choose from. (And no DRM'd formats at all.)
Oops. Copy and paste error. (Score:2)
Thanks for the fixed link. :P
some of which run Linux, (Score:3, Informative)
The Kindle runs on Linux. Just because a device runs on Linux doesn't mean it's DRM free.
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No argument on the Sony's PDF and EPUB support, however, just to clarify:
Copying content to the Kindle works exactly the same way. It shows up like a USB drive just like the Sony does.
You can read DRM-free Baen and Fictionwise content on Kindle as well. Essentially all of Fictionwise's multiformat books work on Kindle.
Really, DRM-free is the key here. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but with DRM-free books, it's not just a matter of "I own this collection of bytes and I can move it around as I choose."
Re:Sony is the "open" reader (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, how should they be able to delete something on a device that's not connected to the Internet in any way, not even indirectly?
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then simply get open source format epub books only.
problem solved.
Re:DRM (Score:5, Informative)
Unless they decided to dump the DRM, why would anyone on Slashdot want to buy these?
It looks like you don't follow Sony very well. Recently Sony has so many surprise moves towards open standards. I own a Walkman player and a Sony reader and I have nothing to complain. The Sony PRS-505 Reader I'm owning right now is nothing like the Kindle. It reads txt, *ePub* and PDF natively and even plays MP3 and AAC files, and it even has two memory slots -- one of which is SD-HC -- to put your e-books into the device, on-the-fly. There is a killer software that goes very well with that reader, that is Calibre. The program downloads XKCD, The Register and even Slashdot and puts all of them neatly to my reader every time I connect it to my computer. So just want to let you know that Sony products now, are much better than the popular choices such as the iPod and the Kindle.
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In neither case is DRM a factor, as, aside from a couple of initial test cases, I never bought or buy DRM'd versions for either my PRS-500 or my Kindle on principle. It's bad enough to buy my books a second time to get an ebook, I'm not going to buy them all over again every time technology changes.
If Calibre actually works, the Sony may be viable, however the Sony "Connect" software is the most unstable piece of crap I've ever had the misfortune of using.
While the Sony *does* view pdf's natively, it scale
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not all pdf's are scaled to the screen.
if it's created for the sony screen size it works perfectly, and iirc there is a wat to make a pdf that does not have hard page breaks and line breaks but will actually reflow when opened in the sony reader.
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adobe reader for the palm converts pdf's into that format, but few pdf's are built that way. That's probably what I would have done if their utility was more general purpose (it generates palm document files specifically). pdf's are still a proprietary format, albeit relatively open and commonplace. epub is most likely the right answer; I'm downloading all my ebooks in that format as well as the proprietary ones for the time when I have something that can read them.
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initdeep wrote:
I agree that PDFs are terrific on the Sony Reader as long as they are sized for the screen. When it comes for formatting my e-books, I prefer to take care of it myself (setting page size and margins, and having it set the page breaks via styles) rat
Re:DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, Sony can tend to be very open, as long as the BMG part of Sony doesn't find out about the move.
You see, Sony suffers from a certain dissonance: part of their company manufactures electronics, people want to buy things that are open and don't impose undue restrictions on them, they prefer gadgets they can do what they want with, that allow them to take their media and use it however they like.
The other part of Sony is one of the largest recording companies, a member of the RIAA.
The other half of Sony doesn't want you to be able to do anything with your media at all, except play it once, and then pay them every time you want a copy on a new device of yours. DRM is a must and non-negotiable as far as people with that type of thinking are concerned.
There would be a lot of benefit to consumers, and probably to Sony, if the two parts of Sony would just split and become separate companies...
In the mean time, it's anyone's guess what they'll do as far as DRM for eBooks; politically speaking, I don't see how Sony Music Entertainment could ever be happy with Sony encouraging DRM-free content, even if it's not music...
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For those of you that already have the Kindle, the Calibre application works extremely nice with it. While it is ugly as sin, it is a very nice book manager and it works with both of our K2s just fine. I see it as a rudimentary iTunes for ebooks.
Re:DRM (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe it's time for you to leap into the past. Sony's readers have supported non-DRM media for quite a while. While the stuff in their store may contain DRM, there's nothing stopping you from loading all of the non-DRM files you can get your hands on. You can even import them into Sony's software for easy addition to your various book collections.
The fact that it is capable of accessing DRM-restricted media doesn't make the device inherently evil. There's nothing forcing you to make use of that function. You don't even need to load Sony's software if you're that bent by DRM of if you're worried that Sony will pull an Amazon and remove unauthorized files from your device. Just plug in a USB cable and the device mounts as a removable drive. Drag-n-drop your non-DRM media. Or use a memory stick or SD card. The reader never needs to be "exposed" to the internet or Sony's proprietary software.
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However, if you want an e-reader that doesn't require a computer, buy a Kindle.
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Re:Yeah, right (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously? Insightful??
Read the specs - I've owned both the 505 and the 700. Both have both internal memory, memory sticks, and plain SD cards. It takes open format books and really does last the 2 weeks it says.
Sure, Sony aren't always knights in shining armour - but their ebook readers are absolutely fantastic, they let me carry around a whole library, in non-DRM format, to read by the pool, on the tube.
This is a GOOD product
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amd it recently had 500,000 epub books added to it's library from Google.
All of which are available for the grand total of nothing.
that's right, free.
there was even a /. article on it.
but why let facts get in the way of the slashtard mentality.
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