My husband wanted the Sony Portable Reader for Christmas, so I got him one, but we are Mac folks! (Yes, I should have checked before, but never thought about it in the hubbub of the holidays.) Is there a reasonable way for us to make this work, or do I simply return it and wait for new technologies? I have an Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro, but his iMac is the last one before the switch.

Thanks for any help! And if this has already been answered in the forum, I didn't find it.

Thanks!
shiny

If you have Parallels you might give it a try on the Intel Mac. (if not, try the 30 day free trial). I haven't gotten around to trying to install the software on my mac mini, but lots of other stuff has worked fine under Parallels.

Some down time the rest of the year :) so I'll see what happens when I try to install it.

You can simply load content directly onto a memory card, using a card reader on your Mac. If you mean "can I buy books from the Connect store with a Mac" the answer is "probably not", unless you can dual-boot Windows on your Mac.

From Alex's Sony Q&A thread here:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7273

Operating Systems and Browsers

Q) Will Sony provide software and support for customers using Macs or Linux?
A) Currently our application has been designed for Microsoft® Windows XP®. External media such as Memory Stick and SD cards provide content transfer functionality from non-Windows based PCs, but you will not have the ability to buy books or enjoy the benefits of managing your content and Reader through the application. We are aware of the desire of non XP customers to have support and are considering how and when we can support them.

"Currently" being the ambigous-but-hopeful word of interest.

If you want native Mac access to the Connect Bookstore, that could be a while. If you want to read content from elsewhere, then all you need is a cheap card reader and you're all set. Classic literature is freely available from sites like Gutenberg and manybooks.net. Books for purchase in open formats that work with the Reader are available from a few forward-looking publishers (e.g. Baen for sci-fi).

That said, as MadB and Harry noted, plenty of folks are using the Reader with Macs, and a few are using the Connect Bookstore by running XP on an Intel Mac. If you do a search on the forum you'll find several threads about this, or post a question.

Cheers,
Bob

If Vista outdates my PC to an unusable piece of plastic, I'm done with Microsoft. I'll go back to the Mac, at least it's still partly US made. There are many solutions for the Mac to go Connect. Look up other previous threads.

When I spoke to Sony support they said that they are working on a new free release of CONNECT software for January. I know that they said that VISTA support was there and they did acknowledge that Mac OSX was not currently supported. I have the impression that he said that Mac would be supported in the next release but as I do not have a Mac I did not pay as much attention to that line as I should have. Call Sony at 1-866-919-SONY (7669) and select #2 for ebooks. Ask the question directly. Sorry I wasn't listening better.

When I spoke to Sony support they said that they are working on a new free release of CONNECT software for January. I know that they said that VISTA support was there and they did acknowledge that Mac OSX was not currently supported. I have the impression that he said that Mac would be supported in the next release but as I do not have a Mac I did not pay as much attention to that line as I should have. Call Sony at 1-866-919-SONY (7669) and select #2 for ebooks. Ask the question directly. Sorry I wasn't listening better.
Good news RWood! ;)

I just loaded the Connect software on my Mac Mini using Parallels.

The software install and ran. I was able to authorize the computer and when I plugged in the reader it was recognized. When I clicked on the reader in the sidebar I saw all the books I had downloaded.

This doesn't help those with older Macs, but it is good new for those with the Intel Macs.

Off topic, it amazes me that XP boots almost instantly with my Mac/Parallels, but takes what feels like hours on my laptop :)

When I spoke to Sony support they said that they are working on a new free release of CONNECT software for January. I know that they said that VISTA support was there and they did acknowledge that Mac OSX was not currently supported. I have the impression that he said that Mac would be supported in the next release but as I do not have a Mac I did not pay as much attention to that line as I should have. Call Sony at 1-866-919-SONY (7669) and select #2 for ebooks. Ask the question directly. Sorry I wasn't listening better.I'd seen some other indications that they may be working on a Mac-friendly version of the Connect software, but I haven't seen enough to link it to an impending release or anything. :shrug:

Welcome news, indeed.

Thanks to all the quick responses! Now I have hope we can make this work! Of course, if I had all of you guys' expertise, it would already be 'connected'.

Happy New Year!
shiny

Is there a way to upload the files without using the Connect software? Like, for example, many mp3 players appear as storage devices when plugged in via USB. Is this how the reader works too? My main computer runs linux.

http://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net

You could also load the files (books, images, and music) to either an SD card or a Memory Stick and place that in the Reader.