I need to replace the USB cord to transfer books to my Reader. I've searched the Sony site without success in finding one. Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas?

You don't need any special USB cables. Any standard USB cable will do. I'm using one that came with my MP3 player.

Yup, me too! Using the USB-to-USB_Mini that came with my PS3, no problemo. Save yourself some cash and pick up one from a friend or somewhere cheap & local.

Yeah, any USB-2-USB-Mini cable works.

But did you guys notice that the original Sony cable has a resistor? I accidently tried to attach my external 2.5" USB hdd to it, but it didn't work because it would limit the power from the USB port.

I use a retractable USB cable with 4 different tips kit I got at a local drug store for $15 USD. Works great and keeps itself much neater than the Sony cable.

You can also try CompUSA, Best Bu, Circuit City, and NewEgg

Digital Camera cables like HP's are identical.

The black object on my USB cable was not a resistor but more of a choke to limit the RF interference from and to the device.

Thanks! My camera cord does work. I never even thought of trying it. Duh!

The black object on my USB cable was not a resistor but more of a choke to limit the RF interference from and to the device.
I believe you, but then, why didn't my external 2.5" HDD work with the Sony cable (Windows not recognizing it and warning in tray tooltip), but it would work with any other of my USB cables?

That is interesting, TadW ... the only thing I can think of is perhaps the Sony cable isn't a fully compliant cable? I mean that perhaps the Reader doesn't require a fully compliant cable, but will work with one just fine. I'll have to check if my camera will work with the Sony cable, I already know the Reader works with the camera's cable.

That's really odd. :shrug:

The black object on my USB cable was not a resistor but more of a choke to limit the RF interference from and to the device.

On another device, I was told it consists of a loop in the cable with a magnetic surrounding one part of the loop. In fact I have another USB cable where you can see the loop & a plastic tiedown holding the magnet(??) in place on the cable. The Sony cable has the "knobben" all encased if they are the same. And as RWood says, it has to do with RF emissions. Don't personally have the expertise to understand how it may work or why. Possibly elliminates noise problems on the line.

It's not a magnet, but it is a ferrous lump of ... something ferrous, I suppose. It's usually kinda like a hard version of pot metal. :shrug:

My extremely tenuous grasp of the theory is that it works something like a very low value inductor, trapping the noise out of the cable -- but mine is a very, very tenuous grasp, indeed, it's been way too long. :shrug:

The short, practical version is that it reduces the RF noise on the line, which, of course, improves the signal to noise ratio.

Lol, two observations here from my experience:

1. When I mentioned earlier that I had used an existing USB-to-USB_mini cable to sync my Reader, it turns out that that cable is used by my PS3 to charge its wireless controller. After reading about the said lump in question, I went back and checked that cable; turns out that it has one too! I had no problem syncing with that cable and it appeared to charge, though I can't be sure as I had to charge it again about a week later (been doing a ton of fiddling with it and such).

2. A few years ago I purchased an external DVD/CD-writer for my TabletPC, I had picked up a Sony since it also could double as a portable CP/MP3 player (had a RioVolt prior to the whole iPod movement) and felt it could do double-duty. Waste of cash, as I never really used it due to my preference for daemon tools. Anyway... the Sony portable actually came with about 6 ferrite dohickies to snap onto the USB cable to "reduce interferrence."

So that being said, I think Sony is a firm believer that it's products are highly succeptible to some type of interferrance so it provides some type of magic bean to mitigate this issue. Perhaps an EE person with some experience in this phenomenon can enlighten us to the theory/reality of this head-scratcher? Thanks for listening!

Perhaps Sony doesn't believe in the quality of other's RF emissions. It will also cit down what the Sony emits so it can pass FCC muster.

Sony makes high end audio where purity of signal is at a premium.

It is a good habit to put the best of materials up front for customer satisfaction.

I just love opening a device's package and examining everything; wrapping, cabling, finish. In that way you can truly see the seriousness of a manufacturer.

Sony's got it! :)

Sony's got it! :) Agreed. They are among the best in that area.

Lol, two observations here from my experience:

...Anyway... the Sony portable actually came with about 6 ferrite dohickies to snap onto the USB cable to "reduce interferrence."

So that being said, I think Sony is a firm believer that it's products are highly succeptible to some type of interferrance so it provides some type of magic bean to mitigate this issue. Perhaps an EE person with some experience in this phenomenon can enlighten us to the theory/reality of this head-scratcher? Thanks for listening!

I salute your skepticism, but this is real engineering...honest!

Although it's not intuitive, passing a cable through a ferrite core (or looping it though the larger types) can eliminate audible interference (e.g. whines, clicks, pops) generated by a computer gizmo connected to an audio device, or near a radio receiver. It does this by removing the root cause of the problem, undesired radio frequency energy conducted down the cable.

Note that ferrites are generally installed to prevent the the cable from emitting or conducting interference to nearby or connected devices, not from receiveing it. They are frequently molded into connecting cables for computer gadgets, to meet government interference emission regulations (e.g. US FCC Part 15 requirements). Meeting these requirements reduces interference to radios, cordless telephones, etc.

They can also reduce or eliminate other weird effects of interference. For example, I had a relatively high power transmitter (60 watt amateur VHF radio) in my last car that would trigger the "tail-light out" warning lamp when it was keyed, despite careful tuning of the antenna. Snapping a ferrite core around the antenna cable at the antenna completely eliminated the problem.

Cheers,
Bob

Sweet! Bob, Thanks for taking the time to explain this, along with a real-world example. Good lesson for the day and a new neural pathway created to boot (let's see how long it sticks!).