I am contemplating buying a Hanlin eReader V3.
I am not at all nerdy or tech-savvy, but very much want an eReader for travel (the Sony eReader is not available in Australia and the iIliad is v pricey)
I don't care about PDFs etc etc - all I want to download is books.
So, if I buy one, how easy will it be to download books onto it from eg the Gutenberg project? or other sources of online eBooks?
Will I have to do some kind of complex file conversion which will be beyond me?
Jinke has said that they are negotiating with Mobipocket and hope to have a deal by the end of November - does anyone know exactly what this will mean?
thanks for your help

What this will mean is that the V3 will (if it works out) support Mobipocket's ebook format. Meaning you can purchase Mobipocket format ebooks with DRM to use on a V3. But from what I've gathered is that Mobipocket does not like to have their software on a device that already supports another DRM format. My gues sis that either Mobipocket won't see WOL as any sort of competition of Hanlin will need to remove WOL format from the V3. I cannot say for sure what is what. But, if you buy a V3 now, you aren't guaranteed to get an update to use Mobipocket books. Not many of the books in the ebook library will work with the V3. But if it does get Mobipocket on board, then you'll have access to a lot of formatted books from PG and other sources. So if you really want a V3, my suggestion is to wait and see what happens with Mobipocket. Also the Cybook Gen3 should probably be out in November as well which will be supporting Mobipocket format. And if you do want a Sony Reader 505 you could probably find someone on the forum in the US purchase one for you and ship it to you.

thanks Jon.
So what exactly can one do with the Hanlin V3 reader?
How does anyone put any ebooks onto it? (novels, history etc)
or is it just useful for loading PDFs etc etc onto it?
sorry if these questions sound totally ignorant - I'm a newbie in the world of Ebooks and am just seeking, as I have said, an eReader onto which I can load books and read while travelling.
I know I can get a Sony Ereader here in Australia from eBay..just can't work out how complicated it would be to get content onto it from non - Sony sites.
thanks for your help

The V3,, Sony, iLiad, Gen3 are all easy to get content onto once you have content to put on.

As for the Sony, you can purchase MS Reader format books and use lit2lrf to convert to LRF for the Sony once the DRM has been removed. Also, you can download form the hundreds of books here. It's not all that hard really with the tools we have available. Of course, there is also Book Designer you can use. But lit2lrf would be easier.

I don't know about the V3 firsthand. But as long as you have content in one of the supported formats, then you can load it and read away.

But one of the posts said that currently there is a battery problem on the V3.

If you want a 505, you can get one fairly easily. If you want a Gen3, you will have to wait. If you want a V3, I suggest waiting until we find out if it will be supporting Mobipocket.

thanks Jon. How easy is it to remove the DRM from the Sony? (eg could my local computer shop people do it?)
I want to get this sorted out fairly soon as I'm heading off for a two month trip in early December. Otherwise I would probably just wait for the Sony Ereader to be released here..

The 500/505 will read non-DRM books as well as DRM books. Books you make using Book Designer or via one of the converters from libprs500 will be readable not a problem. The books in the E-books section on MobileRead contain a lot of LRF format books that you can read and they do not have any DRM.

thanks again Jon.
So, is the following sequence the way to go?
Step 1 - acquire the latest Sony EReader
Step 2 - I can just download books in LRF format from mobileread? or do I need to install the lrf program first?
Step 3 - install lrf program and I can then download books from eg the Gutenberg project?
would I be able to download books from Mobipocket?

another small q re the Sony Ereader - can it be charged from a regular power point or does it need to be connected to a computer with the Sony software on it?
The Cybook gen3 site now says this product will be released end of October - this could work for me if it is accurate (assuming it's not set up as the sony product is to work only in in released countries, as no doubt it won't get to Australia - despite the v high take up rate of new gadgets here - for a few more months)

The 505 already support LRF format built into the firmware. No need to install anything to support it on the 505.

You can just download LRF books from MobileRead if that what you want to read. There are a lot of good books here. You can purchase books from Baen and convert them using lit2lrf or Book Designer. You can purchase books from the Sony Connect Store. You can purchase MS Reader books and remove the DRM and convert to LRF using lit2lrf or Book Designer. You can download books from PG and convert using Book Designer or txt2lrf or html2lrf.

The 505 can be charged from a regular power point. But the AC adaptor does not come with the 505. But you can save some money by purchasing an AC adaptor for the PSP are it will work on the 505.

My guess on the Gen3 is that it won't be out until sometime in November due to the firmware issues and the late date in October already.

I'm not sure whether you will be able to buy Sony Connect books from australia...it might be that they only accept US credit cards...

Jon,

I cannot find the post with "battery problem on the V3". As far as I understand in is a standard and replaceable Nokia BL5.

I just hope this is no FUD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%2C_uncertainty_and_doubt) against HanLin V3

__
iBat

Jon,

I cannot find the post with "battery problem on the V3". As far as I understand in is a standard and replaceable Nokia BL5.

I just hope this is no FUD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%2C_uncertainty_and_doubt) against HanLin V3

__
iBat
The following was posted on October 08, 2007

By Unfortunately, I will not be able to provide service support to the US.
I do not have the moral right to sell you a device without servesnyh support. This is not correct.

For example, I now have problems with the quality of li-ion batrey Nokia BL5 (www.lbook.com.ua). If I sold you the device, it was not able to quickly replace the battery. This is a violation of your rights.

The following was posted on October 08, 2007
By Unfortunately, I will not be able to provide service support to the US.
I do not have the moral right to sell you a device without servesnyh support. This is not correct.

For example, I now have problems with the quality of li-ion batrey Nokia BL5 (www.lbook.com.ua). If I sold you the device, it was not able to quickly replace the battery. This is a violation of your rights.



I assume he is referring to the flaming Nokia batteries issue as mentioned here (http://batteryreplacement.nokia.com/batteryreplacement/en/) back in August. Given how litigious American people can be, I'm not surprised that LVD would chose to take this stance - better safe than sorry.

thanks all who replied to my queries. It seems to be true that you can only access Sony connect with a US credit card from within the US. Why the rest of the world should not be able to acquire the eReader online and use it is a mystery to me.
I suspect I'd need a level of geekness that's beyond me to do file conversion etc etc, plus having a Sony eReader outside the States means no technical support if it's a dud (small chance, but still it's not an el cheapo product). I'll pin my hopes on the Cybook coming out soon and hope it is made available to more than just Europe.

thanks all who replied to my queries. It seems to be true that you can only access Sony connect with a US credit card from within the US. Why the rest of the world should not be able to acquire the eReader online and use it is a mystery to me.
I suspect I'd need a level of geekness that's beyond me to do file conversion etc etc, plus having a Sony eReader outside the States means no technical support if it's a dud (small chance, but still it's not an el cheapo product). I'll pin my hopes on the Cybook coming out soon and hope it is made available to more than just Europe.
I hate to say this, but I will. It is no easier to convert content to Mobipocket format then it is to convert content to LRF for the Sony 500/505. That said, you could find people on the forum to purchase credit on the Sony Connect Store for you to use to purchase ebooks. And if you look at one of the threads in the forum, you'll see that early spring 2008, Sony will be debuting the reader at a book fair in the UK. And to be honest, converting content is not difficult. I've done lots of content conversion. Yes, some takes more work to deal with, but the vast majority is not hard to deal with. The major difference between the Cybook and the Sony is that you will have access to more pre-made for purchase content then the Sony. But sometimes you will find the price of Mobipocket format books to be more expensive then the same book at the Sony Connect Store.

I am contemplating buying a Hanlin eReader V3.
So, if I buy one, how easy will it be to download books onto it from eg the Gutenberg project? or other sources of online eBooks?
Will I have to do some kind of complex file conversion which will be beyond me?


I haven't yet received my V3 so I can't talk from direct experience. But --- the main reason I am buying the V3 is because it appears that millions of readily available books in many formats can be loaded onto the V3 without any file conversion at all. This is in big contrast to many of the other readers on the market, like the Sony, which require you to do file conversions for standard formats like PDF. For example, you can download any of the 17,000 free books from Project Gutenberg, move them to the V3 and start reading. I believe the same is true of the 500,000 ebooks in PDF format from www.worldlibrary.net and many, many other sources of non-DRM books. I am not familiar with using books that require DRM, so I can't comment on this.

I haven't yet received my V3 so I can't talk from direct experience. But --- the main reason I am buying the V3 is because it appears that millions of readily available books in many formats can be loaded onto the V3 without any file conversion at all. This is in big contrast to many of the other readers on the market, like the Sony, which require you to do file conversions for standard formats like PDF. For example, you can download any of the 17,000 free books from Project Gutenberg move them to the V3 and start reading. I believe the same is true of the 500,000 ebooks in PDF format from www.worldlibrary.net and many, many other sources of non-DRM books. I am not familiar with using books that require DRM, so I can't comment on this.
I hate to say this, but I will, the 500/505 does support PDF. But because of the 6" screen, you'll find Letter sized PDF do not always display well enough to easily read. The V3 will have the same problem due to it's 6" screen. But we do have pdflrf to help with the problem. That's the only reason you may need to do conversion on PDF. Not because it won't display. But because it may not display well enough. And the tools for the Sony Reader work very well and are not that hard to use to convert content. I'm not saying you should not purchase a V3, but before you do, you should do so knowing what's what.

The sony's pdf reader is rubbish at a software level, the devs here have said as much. All it would take to fix it is a simple change to the code, but you won't get that from sony. All you have is community hacks and workarounds and that's all you'll ever have with sony, because they just want to take your money and run.

Make no mistake, to anyone outside the US, the V3 is superior to the sony in almost every respect. Cosmetics is the only + the sony has.

The sony's pdf reader is rubbish at a software level, the devs here have said as much. All it would take to fix it is a simple change to the code, but you won't get that from sony. All you have is community hacks and workarounds and that's all you'll ever have with sony, because they just want to take your money and run.

Make no mistake, to anyone outside the US, the V3 is superior to the sony in almost every respect. Cosmetics is the only + the sony has.
Adobe (the creator of PDF) provided the PDF code for the Sony Reader. It works well if the PDF is created for the screen size. General physics dictates that if you compress an A4 or Letter sized PDF page to a 6" screen the original 10 point font will not be very readable.

I hate to say this, but I will. It is no easier to convert content to Mobipocket format then it is to convert content to LRF for the Sony 500/505.

That is of course true, but there is a lot more content available in Mobi format than Sony, hence less need to do any conversion. Especially true if you're interested in "current" fiction rather than out-of-copyright stuff.

The sony's pdf reader is rubbish at a software level, the devs here have said as much. All it would take to fix it is a simple change to the code, but you won't get that from sony.

Can you be more explicit, please? What "simple change" are you referring to?

As Wood has said, it is not Sony's fault that there's no good way to view a Letter/A4 PDF on a screen with only 1/6th the area of an A4 page - that's simple physics.

In what ways does the V3 displays PDFs better than the Sony does?

Can you be more explicit, please? What "simple change" are you referring to?

As Wood has said, it is not Sony's fault that there's no good way to view a Letter/A4 PDF on a screen with only 1/6th the area of an A4 page - that's simple physics.

In what ways does the V3 displays PDFs better than the Sony does?
Actually, there are lots of better ways to display PDF then the way it's done now. You could thicken the text, you could attempt to figure out headers, footers, page numbers, and other margin junk and zoom in past them, you could then the fonts somewhat, you could break a portrait zoomed page into pieces instead of all on one page and I bet there are other things that could be done that I have not thought of.

Certainly there are - one has only to look at the iLiad's PDF viewer to see the "right way" to do it. I was just asking in which of these ways that it could be done better than the Sony the V3 does do it better.