Lovely lovely device..

But I'm sorry the connect software just sucks with a passion. (Is that plane enough..) I was chatting to Bob.R earlier about RSS support. I'm no IT newbie but I can't even figure out how to add an RSS stream.

I must admit I've only been playing for a few minutes.. But C'mon Sony.. You create sexy device and then expect us to settle for software like this...

pffffffffffffffttt I'm off to play some more.

Umm, you cannot add your own RSS feed, unless Sony adds it. That's not a bug, it's a feature :)

But take a look at Content subforum, there are at least 3 intermediate solutions listed there.

CONNECT software is still c..p though. It "dies" while you're trying to open or delete some files. It takes too much vertical space, so people couldn't see whole page on their screen. I'm sure there are more reasons. But for the first release it's OK :)

I have only been playing for about 30 mins now - I just had high expectations I guess. I also got bitten by 'Sony Connect' when I bought one of the HD Walkmans.

Sony have never written good PC application software. Sonicstage is just as bad. I just wish they would give us the tools (ie decent memory card support and as many tech specs as possible)

It is making me cry. I have to restart it virtually everytime I delete an imported file or even the files that it came with. It's particularly frustrating considering that you have to use this darn thing to make BBeB books. I am going to try the Libre printer.

The Connect software does not make BBeB books. It just indexes the files put into it and stores the info in the cache.xml file.

You may want to try reinstalling the software, Jane, it doesn't crash on me like that, and it shouldn't do it to you either. Something's not right there. :(

I thought that when you "imported" a file, it converted it to BBeB format? No? I'll go ahead and try to reinstall. I wish that it had the option to automatically sync with the Reader. I keep forgetting to "import" and then to drag over to the reader. I am really trying to use this. Really, I am. :)

I thought that when you "imported" a file, it converted it to BBeB format? No?Definitely "No." :smile:

For a test, drag an RTF file that you've put in the library onto a memory card installed in the Reader, then pull the card and look at the contents -- mine all show as RTF's when I do this. :beam:

I'll go ahead and try to reinstall. I wish that it had the option to automatically sync with the Reader. I keep forgetting to "import" and then to drag over to the reader. I am really trying to use this. Really, I am. :)This is just one of the many wished for options for the Connect Software, I'm hoping that they'll have an updated version with more features pretty soon.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I'd want it to automagically put everything I import into the library onto my Reader. But then I like the collections feature a lot. :smile:

I wish that it had the option to automatically sync with the Reader. I keep forgetting to "import" and then to drag over to the reader.

You don't need it to import books first. You can drug them directly to the Reader.

The first thing I did with the software was to try importing an RTF file to the library, the software crashed. I was hoping it would be a bit more "iTunes" like. It really is bad software.

Companies like Sony should follow the Web 2.0 examples that define computing today and release general accessible APIs to their Webstore. What do you think how fast people would come up with improved versions of the Connect Software... take Amazon's S3 service as an example.

Maybe I'm missing something in what you're describing but I haven't had any problem at all.

Admittedly the only thing I'm bothing to put on my Reader is .rtf and .txt files. and that has been simple and fast.

I just got to the directory containing the files on my hard drive. then Drag them to the Sony Reader entry in the left column. That's it. I'm not even sure what the Import function is supposed to do so I havent bothered with it. The Reader handels rtf and txt just fine so I'm happy with it.

BTW moving a PDF to it is the same process. Drag and drop on the Sony Reader entry in the left column.

I haven't had any problems either, except when I tried to import a Librie file from ManyBooks, it gave an error but kept my file locked so I had to close the Connect program to delete it. (Haven't tried putting one on the SD card directly yet.)

At any rate, it's not full of bells and whistles, but it's been pretty solid for me so far at the basics. I just have to remember a few things to not mess myself up:
* When you drag it's a copy, not a move
* Everything has to either go on the SD card, or to the library first
* If you delete a book in the library, it is deleted from the collections also, but not the reader
* You can't do hierarchies (at least I don't think so). That's my biggest issue, especially with the library which sort of feels like a dumping ground.

My plan is to basically treat the reader as useful for managing onboard content for the Reader, but to handle my to-be-larger library of Sony book files independently on my computer.

I'll keep them under a SonyReaderBooks directory with main subdirectories for Bought, CameWith, OtherAcquired, ReFormatted, and then other layers for things like subjects or authors or unread,etc.

So what I'm saying is that it's obviously not fancy, but importing and moving books around seems to work fine for me, for BBeB, txt, rtf. (I also have not used many pdfs or Word files). And keeping my library in my own file system seems to be a reasonable way to handle the book files in mass.

Yeah, Connect really sucks. I tried adding an RSS feed just for a laugh, but all I get is "this feed is no longer available".

Wait till you see them :)

Yeah, Connect really sucks. I tried adding an RSS feed just for a laugh, but all I get is "this feed is no longer available".


I have the same trouble. Is anyone getting the RSS feeds to work, or did Sony open up the Connect store before it was completed?

Hi, been lurking for a while.

Just to say I have the same problem with the RSS. It says they're not available.

It also took 5 goes to get the software to register my reader.

If my experence with sonicstage and connect audio are anything to go on, don't expect an improvement any time soon.

Got the Reader yesterday, loaded up and down several MSWord, pdf, jpg and other files, no problem (well, that's not true... changed the font on word documents to 24picas, changed the margins to .3" and made the pdf. So far so good.)
What I am completely puzled by... I want to publish books this way. I would like to buy (=spend money, =be a customer of Sony) a Sony BBeB program to make Table of Contents active books... their pre-loaded ones have active TOC, but Adobe can't provide this and the MSWord active TOC won't transfer. I called Sony (yes I can hear you all chuckling) and they have no idea what was used to create their own product ("We send e-mail, get info-ma-sha. Bye bye.")... anyone out there have any idea what program we can BUY to make good BBeB content?

I'd like to simply be able to convert rtf files formatted for Sony already, and add a TOC.

There's BBeB info going out to some beta developers, I believe. That's a good start, and hopefully the info and tools will trickle down the the rest of us. Also the old Librie BBeB tools have been said to work with the Reader. Beyond that I'm looking for answers also.

You know, I'm grateful for the Reader hardware - I enjoy it more than I can say.

But in terms of software and support, historically, Sony = absolutely clueless. Really, it's almost frightening. I also would be more than glad to pay $$ for software that created great full-functioning e-books viewable on the Reader. Did all of this catch Sony by surprise? After the Reader appeared, that people would actually want to have a large selection of books available to purchase and would enjoy purchasing them via sophisticated. functional competitive software? People would actually want to create their own content that included illustrations and that could be in other languages than Western ones! It reminds me so much of the SonicStage fiasco (-remember the MiniDisc?). Great hardware. Horrible, horrible restricted, ill-functioning software. Laughable support.
Marketing .. say what?

And the ironic thing is there is a great deal of money to be made in content and content creation tools. Folks can discuss Apple and Amazon.com from here to eternity but you've got to admit they know how to market and they make a *whole lot* of interesting stuff easily available. Sony grudgingly doles out scraps of information to developers. The developers that hang around here at Mobileread are absolutely incredible - I am in awe of them, truly. I can't express that enough.

But does it have to be this hard to do some of the simple things folks are asking about? Sony is not some new kid on the block startup! Where are their development folks?
Connect is functional I guess but it could be so much better. At the very least we could all receive teaser form e-mails that said "We're working hard to correct problems, and make your book-buying experience the best in the business! We're busy adding 10's of thousands of fascinating titles for you to buy! We're forming Sony Reader clubs and creating online forums and RSS feeds... Look for the Reader on Oprah..." Sigh. Ok, ok, I'll be patient - just on a rant today I guess.

I do enjoy reading on this thing and off to go do the same after a walk....

I have the same trouble. Is anyone getting the RSS feeds to work, or did Sony open up the Connect store before it was completed?
When I got my reader a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't connect to the RSS section of CONNECT - after some clueless suggestions from Sony support to reset my reader, they admitted they were having server troubles. Why couldn't they have had a message to that effect on the CONNECT homepage? Would have saved me, and Sony, wasted time.
It did start working for me, at which point I learned how poorly the feeds get formatted for the reader - practically useless.

Well, here's a SURPRISE!
If you create a Word doc with an active TOC, make sure the pica size if 22 or 24 (and very narrow margins, about .3") then make a PDF, then import that file... Sony Connect keeps the active TOC!!!! Of course, it ruins the look of the TOC (haven't figured that out yet) but the chapter links are active!