After dawdling for months I've taken the plunge and bought a Sony reader PRS-505. Quite impressed though I still don't think it reads as well as a book. Always have been an avid reader and this should come in useful.

Slightly taken aback about the restrictions in buying from the US, after all I have bought books from the states, even CDs and DVDs so what's the real difference?

Any hints on how to buy from the Sony store appreciated though!

Ian

Hi Ian and welcome to MobileRead. When I first got my Sony, I felt it didn't read as well as a pBook but have since changed my mind.

There are members here who can get you Sony Gift cards which will enable you to buy from Sony US

Hello JTW. I'm fairly new here as well, so let me add my welcome.

I spent several months trying to decide whether to buy a PRS-505. What put me off was the difficulty of actually finding the books I wanted to buy.

I know that Sony has partnered with Waterstones, who say they have many thousands of ebooks in stock. But I found it impossible to search for them on the Watersone's site. Even if you filter your search to ebooks only, when you search for a specific title, author or subject, you still see all the editions (hardback, paperback, audio and others) mixed together.

There are no doubt many other sources of books for the Sony reader, but I wasn't able to find any that stocked the titles I might have wanted. I ended up getting a Kindle instead. Although it's a bit of a hassle having to buy books from the US, at least the Kindle store does have an enormous selection, all fully searchable and browsable.

Sorry, I didn't mean to put you off your PRS-505. No doubt you'll find a good supply in due course. It's just that I didn't have the patience.

Hello from Wales, Ian.
In the UK you are directed to Waterstone's who have a limited range of comparatively expensive books.
For the last couple of years I have ignored it.Insead, I go to the Sony Store in the USA. I never loaded the UK software. Instead I downloaded it from the Sony site. You need to tick the box claiming to live in the USA. Then you skip the page asking for your credit card details (They only accept US credit cards).
A number of forum members will sell you Sony electonic gift vouchers. And you can access all the Sony freebies.

Another option (whichever software you have) is to buy books in other formats and learn to convert them.

Hi JTW!

You can also buy ebooks from WH Smith and Books on Board. Like Patricia, I've never loaded the UK Sony Software and use the US software instead.

Enjoy your 505!

Thanks for the replies.
Like Mike l i found the Waterstones site impossible to use, it didn't actually ahve the book I wanted either.

I originally downloaded the reader and installed it but must have said that i was UK based, whatever, I uninstalled it and wasn't asked any questions about my location, still says not authorised for the bookstore so i guess it must leave either a registry entry or other file as a record of previous installation. Anyone know what the problem is?

Ian

Ian,

Can you try loading the software on a different computer? That would tell you whether it stores the info in something like a Registry entry.

It's possible that it uses your IP address to determine your country, in which case it would be difficult to circumvent. But that's only a guess.

Thanks Mike, sorted I think, it's the store registration where you have to state your country and it worked. Now I just need some vouchers!

Glad got that sorted, Ian.

As far as the voucher are concerned, I don't know how Sony works, but with Amazon you would register as a different customer (different from the one to whom the reader is registered). The new customer can them buy a voucher and send it to the original one (if you see what I mean).

Send "PilotBob" or "Leaping Gnome" a PM. Either will be happy to buy vouchers for you in exchange for payment by PayPal.