Ed in Wisconsin

melchioe · 11-04-2006, 10:44 PM

New to mobileread, but been reading ebooks since '99 with the Rocket eBook. Since then, either my wife or myself (or both) have had Rocket eBook Pro, Franklin eBookman, REB1200, Ebookwise 1150, Palm stuff, and now two Sony Readers.

I'm hopelessly addicted, with 2500 pulp-based titles, and 500 or so purchased e-titles (with hundreds more public-domain titles.

Howdy!

-e-

Bob Russell · 11-04-2006, 11:00 PM

Wow, this stuff is all old-hat for you! Glad you found us!

I'm sure you already know this, but just in case... be sure to set up the two Sony Readers on the same account so you can share the titles you buy (and your credits)!

I'm hoping that more families end up following your pattern and reading together with these e-ink devices.

melchioe · 11-05-2006, 12:07 AM

I figured that out, thankfully before I purchased anything using the second credit!

Now I'm trying to figure out if there is any way to download multiple titles at once (to the second device) without selecting them and clicking download one by one, and then dismissing that pop-up confirmation that I'd downloaded it... I've also experienced this need when the initial transfer upon purchase does not go through, and I need to manually download the titles to BOTH PCs.

Plus, finding the most recently purchased titles to manually download them will become pretty annoying when I have hundreds of titles - it's already a problem with only 40 titles.

Not optimistic about this, but I can deal with it.

I just hope the Connect Reader software interface gets a *little* less clunky soon.

Bob Russell · 11-05-2006, 12:43 AM

Hmm.. that's interesting. So are you saying that when you have two Readers, are you saying that the Library is not shared between the Readers?

With one Reader, you download to the library (and I also put it in a "PurchasedBooks" collection). Then you move it to the Reader.

I had assumed that if you have two Readers on the same account, then you just connect the second Reader and copy the book from the library again. Does the library look different each time you connect another Reader device?

slayda · 11-05-2006, 08:49 AM

Wonder if you could connect both readers at the same time since you probably have more than one USB port. It would make it easier to dump books to either or both readers.

If you can try this, melchioe, let us know the outcome. I'm thinking of buying a second reader.

melchioe · 11-05-2006, 05:52 PM

The library appears to be device dependant. The content in the library is fully offline, and does NOT automatically update with the online repository. THis is done at one of two times - initial purchase, and if the content is manually downloaded later on.

I probably wasn't clear enough. What we wanted, as we both travel for work quite a bit, is to manage the readers on TWO separate computers. This works fine for the most part - we've authorized my laptop, her laptop, and both readers under one email address. This counts for 4 of the six potential devices. We even got both of the $50 credits on the same account.

Where the problem lies is in downloading titles after purchase. Say I buy 6 titles that both myself and my wife want to read. I purchase them using my computer, and the purchase process downloads ALL of them to my PC. So far, so good.

Now, my wife wants to download them. She must go to the Account/View and Download all purchased eBooks in the Connect reader, click on a single title, and click download. It'd be nice to check them all and hit download. It'd even be nicer to do them one at a time if that darned "Download Completed - Your eBook has been successfully downloaded to our library" didn't pop up after every download completed.

It's also an issue if the Connect Reader crashes during the intial download (which it has for me a number of times) - then the titles need to be downloaded individually.

Slayda, you are exactly right, although you don't need multiple USB ports - as long as we are both in the same place, we can just connect the second reader to the PC that downloaded it. Then the only issue is synching up the two libraries later on. Just in case I need to hard reset the reader... Not that I;ve had to do that more than three times so far...

It works, but as with a bunch of parts of the Connect Reader interface, it's a bit clunky for my tastes. Sony says "Thank you for contacting Sony Connect! The current version of the software only allows one book to be downloaded at a time. I will pass your suggestion on so it can be considered. "

I'd also be happier if it let me sort in "date purchased" order.

Oh well, I'll wait for the next version and hope they fix that... In the meantime, don't let this discourage you from getting a second reader! It's a nice way to share.

NatCh · 11-05-2006, 06:10 PM

You should be able to xfer them from the Reader that has them onto the second computer too. That might help.

slayda · 11-05-2006, 08:54 PM

melchioe, part of what I wondered was if they could both be connected to the same computer at the same time so that you could transfer from one reader to the other via the connect software?

melchioe · 11-08-2006, 11:31 PM

Well, I finally got around to connecting them both to the same authorized PC (my wife and I are finally in the same place at the same time). It appears that only one Reader can connect to the PC at once. The first one that is plugged in is the recognized Reader.

I CAN connect both Readers to the PC, but only one at a time. Anything that was authorized on one of the PCs can be transferred to either of the Readers, and can co-exist on both readers at the same time.

If I download to Reader A from PC A, then connect Reader A to PC B, I can also copy books from Reader A to PC B without directly downloading the book to PC B. All devices mentioned here are authorized under the same Connect Reader account and e-mail address.

Oh, and if I connect both Readers at once, and it recognizes one of them, then I unplug the recognized one, the unrecognized one remains unrecognized until it is unplugged and then reconnected.

Oh well, at least I can share the books on them!

-e-

NatCh · 11-09-2006, 01:37 AM

Glad you worked out a solution, melchioe!

yvanleterrible · 11-09-2006, 10:45 AM

Reading all of this is scarry! Having to associate or assign a computer to a reader is bad.

How are we going to promote readers to non computer associated people?

The reader has to go out there and be popular or it will die. There is not a big reading public as it is, do we really have to make it so complicated? We're geekier than most, the computer is like a pair of shoes to us, but most people out there consider it to be an expensive complicated toy that would have a better use in a library as a bookstand!

What are we to do?

Bob Russell · 11-09-2006, 10:56 AM

That's a good point Yvan. I think that the bookstore kiosks might be a nice short term solution -- if you can buy and load up ebooks on an SD card at Borders, it would reach the people that don't want to touch a computer. Don't know how hard that would be for Sony to implement, but it would be nice to see. (Even though to tech folks, it seems crazy to buy e-books at Borders, when one of the big benefits of e-books is being able to buy them anytime from home. But from the non-computer folks' standpoint, it could be a big deal to be able to get e-books at the store and not have to figure anything out.)

melchioe · 11-14-2006, 11:00 AM

Yvan, this is one more indication that the perfect ebook device has not yet been designed. Don't get me wrong, I like them all. My old Rocket and my REB1200 could get books without a PC - the Rocket through a modem, and the REB1200 through a modem or Ethernet. It just means that I'll be buying at least one more before I find the right one.

I wish I could take features from each of my readers and amalgamate them into one 'good' reader:
- great battery life (Sony)
- color (REB1200)
- great size (Sony)
- no PC needed (Rocket, REB1200)
- search feature (Palm, Rocket, REB1200, pretty much everything except the sony)
- good way to go directly to a specific page (Palm does it best, Sony HUGELY muffed this one, IMO)
- backlight (I know, I can carry a small light, but Sony dropped the ball here - even a dim glow would be nice... I know, it conflicts with 'great battery life' too, but I want EVERYTHING!

)

All that said, I'd be happy if Sony would have made it so I can change pages with my right hand. I love the idea that it's lefty-friendly, but what about us righties?

11-04-2006, 10:44 PM	#1
melchioe Addicted Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wisconsin Device: iPad, Nooks, PRS-505, Kindles, lots of old ones	Ed in Wisconsin New to mobileread, but been reading ebooks since '99 with the Rocket eBook. Since then, either my wife or myself (or both) have had Rocket eBook Pro, Franklin eBookman, REB1200, Ebookwise 1150, Palm stuff, and now two Sony Readers. I'm hopelessly addicted, with 2500 pulp-based titles, and 500 or so purchased e-titles (with hundreds more public-domain titles. Howdy! -e-

11-05-2006, 12:07 AM	#3
melchioe Addicted Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wisconsin Device: iPad, Nooks, PRS-505, Kindles, lots of old ones	thanks for the tip I figured that out, thankfully before I purchased anything using the second credit! Now I'm trying to figure out if there is any way to download multiple titles at once (to the second device) without selecting them and clicking download one by one, and then dismissing that pop-up confirmation that I'd downloaded it... I've also experienced this need when the initial transfer upon purchase does not go through, and I need to manually download the titles to BOTH PCs. Plus, finding the most recently purchased titles to manually download them will become pretty annoying when I have hundreds of titles - it's already a problem with only 40 titles. Not optimistic about this, but I can deal with it. I just hope the Connect Reader software interface gets a little less clunky soon.

11-05-2006, 05:52 PM	#6
melchioe Addicted Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wisconsin Device: iPad, Nooks, PRS-505, Kindles, lots of old ones	The library appears to be device dependant. The content in the library is fully offline, and does NOT automatically update with the online repository. THis is done at one of two times - initial purchase, and if the content is manually downloaded later on. I probably wasn't clear enough. What we wanted, as we both travel for work quite a bit, is to manage the readers on TWO separate computers. This works fine for the most part - we've authorized my laptop, her laptop, and both readers under one email address. This counts for 4 of the six potential devices. We even got both of the $50 credits on the same account. Where the problem lies is in downloading titles after purchase. Say I buy 6 titles that both myself and my wife want to read. I purchase them using my computer, and the purchase process downloads ALL of them to my PC. So far, so good. Now, my wife wants to download them. She must go to the Account/View and Download all purchased eBooks in the Connect reader, click on a single title, and click download. It'd be nice to check them all and hit download. It'd even be nicer to do them one at a time if that darned "Download Completed - Your eBook has been successfully downloaded to our library" didn't pop up after every download completed. It's also an issue if the Connect Reader crashes during the intial download (which it has for me a number of times) - then the titles need to be downloaded individually. Slayda, you are exactly right, although you don't need multiple USB ports - as long as we are both in the same place, we can just connect the second reader to the PC that downloaded it. Then the only issue is synching up the two libraries later on. Just in case I need to hard reset the reader... Not that I;ve had to do that more than three times so far... It works, but as with a bunch of parts of the Connect Reader interface, it's a bit clunky for my tastes. Sony says "Thank you for contacting Sony Connect! The current version of the software only allows one book to be downloaded at a time. I will pass your suggestion on so it can be considered. " I'd also be happier if it let me sort in "date purchased" order. Oh well, I'll wait for the next version and hope they fix that... In the meantime, don't let this discourage you from getting a second reader! It's a nice way to share. Last edited by melchioe; 11-05-2006 at 06:05 PM.

11-08-2006, 11:31 PM	#9
melchioe Addicted Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wisconsin Device: iPad, Nooks, PRS-505, Kindles, lots of old ones	connecting two Sony Readers to the same PC Well, I finally got around to connecting them both to the same authorized PC (my wife and I are finally in the same place at the same time). It appears that only one Reader can connect to the PC at once. The first one that is plugged in is the recognized Reader. I CAN connect both Readers to the PC, but only one at a time. Anything that was authorized on one of the PCs can be transferred to either of the Readers, and can co-exist on both readers at the same time. If I download to Reader A from PC A, then connect Reader A to PC B, I can also copy books from Reader A to PC B without directly downloading the book to PC B. All devices mentioned here are authorized under the same Connect Reader account and e-mail address. Oh, and if I connect both Readers at once, and it recognizes one of them, then I unplug the recognized one, the unrecognized one remains unrecognized until it is unplugged and then reconnected. Oh well, at least I can share the books on them! -e- Last edited by melchioe; 11-08-2006 at 11:38 PM.

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11-04-2006, 11:00 PM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Wow, this stuff is all old-hat for you! Glad you found us! I'm sure you already know this, but just in case... be sure to set up the two Sony Readers on the same account so you can share the titles you buy (and your credits)! I'm hoping that more families end up following your pattern and reading together with these e-ink devices.

11-05-2006, 12:43 AM	#4
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Hmm.. that's interesting. So are you saying that when you have two Readers, are you saying that the Library is not shared between the Readers? With one Reader, you download to the library (and I also put it in a "PurchasedBooks" collection). Then you move it to the Reader. I had assumed that if you have two Readers on the same account, then you just connect the second Reader and copy the book from the library again. Does the library look different each time you connect another Reader device?

11-05-2006, 08:49 AM	#5
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	Wonder if you could connect both readers at the same time since you probably have more than one USB port. It would make it easier to dump books to either or both readers. If you can try this, melchioe, let us know the outcome. I'm thinking of buying a second reader.

11-05-2006, 06:10 PM	#7
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	You should be able to xfer them from the Reader that has them onto the second computer too. That might help.

11-05-2006, 08:54 PM	#8
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	melchioe, part of what I wondered was if they could both be connected to the same computer at the same time so that you could transfer from one reader to the other via the connect software?

11-09-2006, 01:37 AM	#10
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Glad you worked out a solution, melchioe!

11-09-2006, 10:45 AM	#11
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	Reading all of this is scarry! Having to associate or assign a computer to a reader is bad. How are we going to promote readers to non computer associated people? The reader has to go out there and be popular or it will die. There is not a big reading public as it is, do we really have to make it so complicated? We're geekier than most, the computer is like a pair of shoes to us, but most people out there consider it to be an expensive complicated toy that would have a better use in a library as a bookstand! What are we to do?

11-09-2006, 10:56 AM	#12
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	That's a good point Yvan. I think that the bookstore kiosks might be a nice short term solution -- if you can buy and load up ebooks on an SD card at Borders, it would reach the people that don't want to touch a computer. Don't know how hard that would be for Sony to implement, but it would be nice to see. (Even though to tech folks, it seems crazy to buy e-books at Borders, when one of the big benefits of e-books is being able to buy them anytime from home. But from the non-computer folks' standpoint, it could be a big deal to be able to get e-books at the store and not have to figure anything out.)

11-14-2006, 11:00 AM	#13
melchioe Addicted Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Wisconsin Device: iPad, Nooks, PRS-505, Kindles, lots of old ones	Yvan, this is one more indication that the perfect ebook device has not yet been designed. Don't get me wrong, I like them all. My old Rocket and my REB1200 could get books without a PC - the Rocket through a modem, and the REB1200 through a modem or Ethernet. It just means that I'll be buying at least one more before I find the right one. I wish I could take features from each of my readers and amalgamate them into one 'good' reader: - great battery life (Sony) - color (REB1200) - great size (Sony) - no PC needed (Rocket, REB1200) - search feature (Palm, Rocket, REB1200, pretty much everything except the sony) - good way to go directly to a specific page (Palm does it best, Sony HUGELY muffed this one, IMO) - backlight (I know, I can carry a small light, but Sony dropped the ball here - even a dim glow would be nice... I know, it conflicts with 'great battery life' too, but I want EVERYTHING! ) All that said, I'd be happy if Sony would have made it so I can change pages with my right hand. I love the idea that it's lefty-friendly, but what about us righties?