Keen readers may have noticed that Sony is slowly working (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=6300) on wrapping up its CONNECT (http://ebooks.connect.com/) e-book webstore. Although their site is still up and down like a yoyo here, our reader TaKir was able to make the following pleasant discovery (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6305) through one of Sony's FAQ pages:

The Sony Reader will be in Sony's BBeB format; however, the Reader will support PDF, TXT, RTF, MP3 and JPG as native formats with no conversions needed. The Sony Reader software will also be able to convert Microsoft Word documents into RTF files to be read.

That's great news especially for Mac users who may or may not be able to use Sony's conversion tool to convert other e-book formats into the proprietary BBeB format.

According to the same FAQ, the Sony Reader is slated to be available in summer 2006 (and not in spring 2006 as previously mentioned).

Related: Adobe blogger on Sony's BBeB format (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5846), Sony's new e-book reader officially announced (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5663)

This is great news. As I will use the ebook reader mainly for PDFs, I see no reason anymore to buy the iRex. The extra's simply do not justify the iRex' high price.

Do bear in mind that there's no support for reflowing text in PDFs, according to an Adobe blog. PDFs must be formatted for the Sony's dimensions. That said, most PDFs do not have the structural tags necessary for letting a viewer reflow its text in the first place.

VERY Cool! It does appear that Sony may be getting a clue about formats. Perhaps the new CEO is kicking some butt....

I suppose it should be no suprise that it will be delayed (maybe due to the format support?) - damn near everything new is delayed and compared to stuff like games, this is minor. I guess I will just order a half dozen or so paperbacks to tide me over.....

The Sony Reader software will also be able to convert Microsoft Word documents into RTF files to be read.

Why wouldn't I just use MSWord to convert MSWord files to RTF?

The rest of it does sound promising, though.

Summer! Damnit!

Summer! Damnit!

No S**t! I wonder if any comany in tech history ever actually beat a projected release date? <g>

Why wouldn't I just use MSWord to convert MSWord files to RTF?

Beats me, considering that Microsoft's convertor is pretty good unless you file has really complicated formatting.

Do I hear Fall? Going, going...

If you download a Word document, you don't necessarily have Word to view or convert with. Does MS still have a free viewer?

Okay, I'll admit that is a possible scenario, though I think it's pretty unlikely. :)

If Sony's converter is really easy to use, that might be another reason to use it, I suppose, but I'm still thinking it's going to mostly be one of those submarine screen door features: not much use, but doesn't really cost or otherwise hurt anything.

Beat their release date? These days I'd be impressed if a company just got within ICBM range of its release dates.

If you download a Word document, you don't necessarily have Word to view or convert with. Does MS still have a free viewer?WordPad on Windows, TextEdit on OS X, or OpenOffice on just about anything would probably do the trick.

WordPad on Windows, TextEdit on OS X, or OpenOffice on just about anything would probably do the trick.
Or the Sony Reader software? Sony can't not provide converters where needed. People demand or require an in-the-box solution or they will point to where it is lacking. People won't necessarily have Office or even OpenOffice, or even know about it. That reminds me that I need to try OpenOffice.

Also with a converter, you should not have convert files individually, and it may be done automatically thru transfer to the reader like ActiveSync on Pocket PC (Word to Pocket Word).

Whether it is a native files or converters (with respect to pdf), I hope there is not bad compatibility.

Okay, I'll admit that is a possible scenario, though I think it's pretty unlikely. :)
Personally, I never open downloaded Word files with MS Word, but I suppose some people do. So yes it may be an unlikely scenario, and the converter is probably more for your own files.

Sony can't not provide converters where needed.

Sure they can.

Convert .LIT files? Outta luck.

Convert .PDB files? No can do.

Mobipocket files? Tough luck.

Okay, how about Microsoft Excel?

...and the list goes on. I suspect this was more a "low hanging fruit" things easy to implement rather than something the managers said "we gotta have this!".

Do bear in mind that there's no support for reflowing text in PDFs, according to an Adobe blog. PDFs must be formatted for the Sony's dimensions. That said, most PDFs do not have the structural tags necessary for letting a viewer reflow its text in the first place.

I've always had issues with the PDF flowing on my mobile devices,un-tagged pdfs,etc. Using repligo has a solution.

I'm eager to see how Sony handles this.

Sure they can.

Convert .LIT files? Outta luck.

Convert .PDB files? No can do.

Mobipocket files? Tough luck.

Okay, how about Microsoft Excel?

...and the list goes on. I suspect this was more a "low hanging fruit" things easy to implement rather than something the managers said "we gotta have this!".
Good points and proves the point of why a single multiformat converter is needed. Maybe LIT is necessary and should be included. However with respect to ebook formats, its more of a competitive thing, while formats like Word are not. I say yes to Excel too. Hopefully it is possible for plug-in converters.

To my mind there needs to bee a single accepted primary distribution format. The MP3 player market became successful because there was a single format to get behind. Sure there are better formats out there but 1 format needs to stand up and be supported on all these devices.

I don't want to get books in 10 different formats and then convert them for my device. I want to know that I can buy and ebook online and assuming there is no DRM or that the DRM allows, read the book on pretty much any device. MP3 was that format for music. Where is it for books ?

Hi,

For books it is unlikely that there will be one format for intrinsic reasons. For music pre mp3 you had cd's and that was that since they crowded out tapes/records, and music is "bloated", even a mp3 song takes MB's of space, so you can use a binary formats easily, the method of compression is the issue.
For books, you have essentially text based books (pretty much any fiction book say), and those fit well in a relatively small text based format like txt, html, rtf, no need for pdf bloat, and books that have formulas, symbols, diagrams (non ascii/unicode stuff) that need a mix of text and pictures, so you use pdf, latex, djvu...
So what you need is ebook reader software that handles text based files and does all the nice things like fonts, colors, double page, navigation, that you want, and also handles some mixed format like pdf/djvu. We have to see how the Eink readers do this though without a color screen or higher resolution I am very skeptical of antyhing that is image based like pdf's and the like.

Liviu



To my mind there needs to bee a single accepted primary distribution format.

So what you need is ebook reader software that handles text based files and does all the nice things like fonts, colors, double page, navigation, that you want, and also handles some mixed format like pdf/djvu.


So, something like the OpenReader (http://www.openreader.org/index.php) model, then?


As for how e-ink might handle various content, since it's functionally just another display tech, it'll handle it just fine. Yes, it's greyscale at the moment, but e-ink has developed an early color version already. It's really slow, and the color level is pretty low at the moment, but they'll get there, I'm confident, just a matter of time. And with folks starting to actually use the B&W version, they'll have more capital to work with, and a growing market for the color version when it's ready.

Hi,

We have to see about OpenReader. The idea is great, but the implementation and the market will decide.
For myself, I see nothing wrong with plain text or at most html/rtf for most fiction books and uBook on pc/laptop/tablet, Fbreader on my Nokia 770 and whatever they use on Ebookwise 1150. Just offer me the text file at a decent price (4-6$ for anything older than 1 year, up to 10$ for new hc, up to 15$ for earcs 4-5 months or more prepublication like Baen does it) and I do not need a new format. The crucial thing is the ability to read the book on whatever device/platform I want, whether current or to come, and for this text/html files with possibly minimal conversion are ideal.
About the Eink readers, more than 400$ is just too much for me, so Iliad goes out. For Sony/Jinke, I will see, lack of backlight is a big minus since I do most of my reading at night, but if the display vows me I will buy one.

Liviu

So, something like the OpenReader (http://www.openreader.org/index.php) model, then?


As for how e-ink might handle various content, since it's functionally just another display tech, it'll handle it just fine. Yes, it's greyscale at the moment, but e-ink has developed an early color version already. It's really slow, and the color level is pretty low at the moment, but they'll get there, I'm confident, just a matter of time. And with folks starting to actually use the B&W version, they'll have more capital to work with, and a growing market for the color version when it's ready.