Quote:
|
Originally Posted by NatCh
Pretty solid indications are that the Sony Reader will read anything that the iLiad does without conversion, except HTML that is. So you can probably avoid the "fascist Sony format" entirely if you wish.
|
That was tongue-in-cheek, of course. I really do dislike electronics based on a proprietary format, though.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by NatCh
I think that the hacking attitude may vary from group to group and particularly depending on country, so US vs. Japan may make a difference there. Depends on how much is the corporation's edict, I suppose.
|
I think it's just an outgrowth of selling content instead of devices. If you make your money from licensing a platform to music, movie, game, or book publishers (or by being one, in the case of Sony), any unauthorized use of the platform possibly cuts into your revenue - even more so on subsidized hardware, like the game systems.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by NatCh
All of that together suggests to me that the Sony Reader is a good deal more open than we all first expected. I'm beginning to think (hope) that they actually learned something from the root-kit and Librie' debacles. (though it seems they could still use some lessons in use of the letter "o"  ) |
It certainly seems like they learned *something* from the Librie, but it's still not as open as the Jinke model will be.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by NatCh
What do you do for Sony, BTW? It sounds like they're keeping you as much in the dark as they are the world at large. Discounts are great, but I'd be pushing for information!  |
Sony is a huge company, with many different divisions. I'm in the Playstation group (Sony Computer Entertainment), and the reader is (I assume) being made by Sony Electronics (which is a separate company). I don't even know who I would talk to in order to figure out who works on that. :-P All the groups are pretty insular.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by NatCh
For me, I mostly just want to read books. I don't need to take notes, I don't particularly care about the file format (except for not wanting to be trapped, or have to spend huge quantities of time converting), and I don't need anything fancy. Frankly, I think the mp3 function is beyond my interest, unless they decided to support something like Audible.com, for instance. I just want to read, and reduce my library's taking over of my entire home. At any rate, it's not hurting anything.
|
Well, I'm in the same boat. I only want to read things, and I don't really care too much about format. However, HTML seems like the best tradeoff between size and precise format control - and Gutenburg ebooks are HTML, ConvertLit outputs HTML, etc, etc. So that would be the one format I'd prefer they support.
Other than that, I just feel more comfortable with a "generic" reader. It sort of makes the hardware just an appliance, a commodity rather than a "platform". Platforms are generally locked down, walled gardens where you play by the grace of the creator (you can read whatever you like, as long as you buy it through Connect). The difference between the early PC and Macs, I guess, or between the PC and gaming consoles. The platforms have their benefits, but I'd rather have a generic appliance.