Manybooks.net (http://www.manybooks.net) has a growing library of books from the Gutenberg archive formatted for the Sony Reader. If you browse through the collection, it's hit or miss on which books appear in "sony" format. A faster way is to use the site's Advanced search (google search) for the word "sony". For the prepopulated search, here's the link. (http://www.google.com/custom?q=sony&hl=en&lr=&oe=ISO-8859-1&client=pub-1990596807186558&cof=FORID:1%3BL:http://manybooks.net/resources/images/ICON2004.gif%3BLH:50%3BLW:221%3BLBGC:FFFFFF%3BGL:1 %3BLC:%230000ff%3BVLC:%23663399%3BGFNT:%230000ff%3 BGIMP:%230000ff%3BDIV:%23336699%3BS:http://manybooks.net%3B&domains=manybooks.net&sitesearch=manybooks.net&start=0&sa=N).

Update: All the books on Manybooks.net (http://www.manybooks.net) can be downloaded in Sony Reader format! (see Fireproof's note below).

Manybooks also has a cool page that shows how many books have been downloaded in the various formats. That page can be found here: http://manybooks.net/format_stats.php

Hey neilm2 -- every book on the site should be available in Sony format. Have you had trouble downloading some of them?

My mistake, Fireproof. That's very cool that they're all converted for the Reader. BTW, Manybooks is my favorite ebooks site!

One bug I am seeing is that some of the Sony books don't come with "title" and "author" information in the .lrf file. I end up editing the metadata of the downloaded books using editlrfmeta (http://editlrfmeta.peterknowles.com/).

I'm glad the Sony/LRF script isn't totally broken :) - had me worried for a bit!

I'm not sure why some files aren't displaying title or author info, but I'm glad to have the bug report. It may be that a few older files are lingering, so if you run into one please let me know so I can delete it (or fix the script), if you can.

I don't WANT a lot of free ebooks for my Reader. I want MORE NEW BOOKS! :sad:

Thanks for the info neilm2. I've just downloaded Hacker Crackdown. It's in .lrf (which is my first encounter with this type of format :))

tcv, baby steps. If the publishers see a demand for Sony Reader format books then we'd get new books soonest. The Sony Readers is not yet that quite known by others. Right now, I'm also trying to contact Fictionwise to see if they'd even consider the Sony format.

Thanks for the info neilm2. I've just downloaded Hacker Crackdown. It's in .lrf (which is my first encounter with this type of format :))

tcv, baby steps. If the publishers see a demand for Sony Reader format books then we'd get new books soonest. The Sony Readers is not yet that quite known by others. Right now, I'm also trying to contact Fictionwise to see if they'd even consider the Sony format.

Please do that. The more people that let them know they have a Sony Reader the better. They mention this on the Fictionwise yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fictionwise/message/3364

They say:

We have a Sony unit on order now. We don't know whether or not the
licenses allow us to support the device directly, or what software
support there is from Sony to convert content to the device. We'll find
out when we receive ours. I don't think they're shipping until later
this month. Fictionwise is committed to supporting any device that
achieves reasonable market penetration, as long as it is technically
feasible and not contractually or legally forbidden to do so. Given that
Sony is a major player in consumer electronics, we of course want to
support it if possible.

-Steve P.

I emailed them and let them know that there is no conversion software included with the Sony Reader itself. I mentioned that there was some conversion software on the Librie group, but I didn't know very much about it, myself. Plus I do not know if Sony would mind if Fictionwise would sell their multiformat books in the BBeB format.

If any Sony people read this, I would hope that they would let others sell at least non-DRM BBeB books.

Please do that. The more people that let them know they have a Sony Reader the better. They mention this on the Fictionwise yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fictionwise/message/3364

They say:

We have a Sony unit on order now. We don't know whether or not the
licenses allow us to support the device directly, or what software
support there is from Sony to convert content to the device. We'll find
out when we receive ours. I don't think they're shipping until later
this month. Fictionwise is committed to supporting any device that
achieves reasonable market penetration, as long as it is technically
feasible and not contractually or legally forbidden to do so. Given that
Sony is a major player in consumer electronics, we of course want to
support it if possible.

-Steve P.

I emailed them and let them know that there is no conversion software included with the Sony Reader itself. I mentioned that there was some conversion software on the Librie group, but I didn't know very much about it, myself. Plus I do not know if Sony would mind if Fictionwise would sell their multiformat books in the BBeB format.

If any Sony people read this, I would hope that they would let others sell at least non-DRM BBeB books.

For what it is worth, I just bought one of these units for my wife. If Sony does not want it back, there needs to be more content than there is now. So, it would be a help if you would let us know if whether or not Sony is cooperative with you

And remember that, if you can, to donate to manybooks.net, they need the funds.

(Just consider how much time they save you by converting the books to Sony format. Much easier to read their files than to convert the Guttenburg files.)

And remember that, if you can, to donate to manybooks.net, they need the funds.

(Just consider how much time they save you by converting the books to Sony format. Much easier to read their files than to convert the Guttenburg files.)

After downloading a couple of books in Sony format, I thought it was the right thing to do, so I Paypaled a contribution. Maybe expecting too much, but a short 'thank you' note might garner additional contributions. I'm not comfortable sending money to an entity without at confirmation that the transfer was received.

The Sony converter on "Manybooks" seems to be a bit flaky. I've just tried to download "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare". I got a file of about the right size (2.4MB), but all it will show is a title page image - nothing else. Both the "Connect" software and Reader itself claim that the book has only 1 page.

I've reported the bug to "Manybooks".

Confirming what HarryT posted. I have the same file but decided to try it out... it just shows the cover.

For what it is worth, I just bought one of these units for my wife. If Sony does not want it back, there needs to be more content than there is now. So, it would be a help if you would let us know if whether or not Sony is cooperative with you

I would like to follow up with SONY. Any idea of how to do that?

@dbrenner00: Not sure what you are wanting from Sony? Do you want to let them know more content is important for you? Or that you want them to allow free BBeB books to be made available at Connect?

There should be both an email and a phone support number available. You'll want to reach the Sony Connect ebook store (not the sonystyle or music store folks).

But as far as content, I think Sony is building the available titles as fast as they can. They want it to expand just as much as you do. I've heard that even iTunes was limited in selection at first.

As far as being cooperative, Sony has been remarkable. Not only in terms of keeping a watch to see what early adopters like us are saying, but in trying very hard to make the product serve customer needs. Even so far as to allow SD cards and rtf files, which is a remarkable thing for Sony as you would have expected them to have restricted to SD cards and proprietary formats. Sony's focus on the customer rather than proprietary controls with the Reader is actually, in my opinion, one of the more important reasons for their success so far.

Sony's focus on the customer rather than proprietary controls with the Reader is actually, in my opinion, one of the more important reasons for their success so far.
I agree. The Reader follows in Sony's tradition of aesthetically-designed and well-built gadgets. However, the Reader also breaks away from Sony's traditionally closed and proprietary nature in many ways-- particularly in allowing SD cards, natively reading rtf and plain text, and using an embedded linux. The Reader line still has many areas of potential improvement, but in terms of hardware I think it's already on par with the iPod in terms of all around excellence, particularly for a first attempt. The CONNECT software needs a lot of work though... hopefully software updates will fix that.

In contrast with the early iPod, I feel that Sony is ahead. The early problems with the iPod (now mostly swept under the rug) were massive. Someone I know very well had to "reset" her iPod several times and was on the phone with support for hours at a time. The early iPod software trashed her hard disk and deleted most of her prior mp3 collection that was on the computer.

Sor their prior music players (yes, I even had a minidisk player) they provided software to convert what you already had (mp3s) to their native format. As for the use of SD cards, even their cameras still take only Memory Sticks (thus why I have a few around the house.)

However, the Reader also breaks away from Sony's traditionally closed and proprietary nature in many ways

Sony do seem to have been moving that way recently - eg several recent Sony digital cameras will take CF memory cards in addition to memory sticks.