Sony PRS-505/Sony Connect/Calibre

[thesweetone]

Hello!

I just purchased a 505 off eBay and am eagerly waiting for it to arrive in the mail. This is my first go round with an eBook device. I've wanted to purchase one for a while now and was hung up on which one to purchase. The 505 was on my short list. One of my husband's co-workers let me have the use of his 505 over the weekend and I was sold. (All I did with it was insert my SD card and read one of my PDF eBooks on it).

I love to read. The reason I've been wanting an eBook reader is I've started getting into reading electronic books in the last year or so, and have been reading them on my Mac book Pro. I'm tired of lugging that thing into bed, the couch, and with me when I travel, so I opted to get a reader.

I'm a real newbie at all of this and have been reading a lot on mobileread to try to get up to speed. There are some things that I don't understand and need clarification on.

So, the library management options open to me are Sony's ebook library and Calibre? I'm leaning towards Calibre, but wanted to hear from people who actually use it with their 505. If I go with Calibre, how does this work with the Sony Connect store? Also, assuming I go with Calibre, can someone walk me through what I need to do with the reader once I receive it, step-by-step once I take it out the box? I'm sorry, I'm not real good at figuring this kind of stuff out on my own.

Thanks!

[MerLock]

Someone else is probably more suited to answering your questions but I believe you'll only need to use the Sony ebook library if you want to purchase books through Sony. From what I've read, it seems like Calibre can do everything that the Sony ebook library allows you to do and possibly even do it better.

[thesweetone]

Thanks MerLock!

[Angst]

Sony ebook library is probably easier to use. Calibre has more advanced features that you will want after you've broken your reader in.

Just remember you do not have to buy books from the Sony store. It pays to shop at other ebook retailers as well. Most notably, FictionWise and BooksOnBoard. The prices can differ dramatically between ebook sellers.

Enjoy!

[thesweetone]

Thanks Angst!

[MerLock]

If you purchase books from stores other than Sony, you have to be careful about the format it's in. Just make sure to buy one that the Sony supports. To be on the safe side, get ePUB with Adobe Adept DRM if it has DRM protection. Many other format works as well but it may require stripping the DRM and converting it to another format that the Sony reader can use.

Feel free to ask any specific questions you may have and hopefully someone more knowledgeable will get back to you. For example, what would you like to read? Are you planning on buying your books online or do you already have books in PDF that you would want to read on your reader? Are you looking for the best way to organize and sort the books you already might have?

From reading the forums it seems like Calibre is good for organizing books as well as grabbing free content from the web such as online magazine/newspapers and reading it on your reader.

Give your new reader a swirl when it arrives and come back with any questions that pops up. Even without the reader in hand, you can always download the Sony ebook library and Calibre and give them a try. Good luck!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by MerLock

Someone else is probably more suited to answering your questions but I believe you'll only need to use the Sony ebook library if you want to purchase books through Sony. From what I've read, it seems like Calibre can do everything that the Sony ebook library allows you to do and possibly even do it better. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, Calibre won't be able to do anything with DRM'ed books, for example those purchased through the Sony store and most books purchased through legal means.

This is correct. I'm relatively new to this myself, but here's what I've learned.

You need the Sony Library Software to purchase books from the Sony Store. These books are in .lrx format from what I've seen. Sony says it is moving to secure/drm epub by the end of the year and we will be able to re-download the books we've purchased in that format. I presume there will be an update to the sony library software to accommodate this. Once you purchase books from Sony they will be transferred (automatically apparently) to your reader when it is connected.

I use the Sony Library software only for that use above. I use Calibre for everything else. It will also recognize and manage the .lrx books and will use the Sony Library App to display/read them.

One thing that gets a bit weird is that you will have different directories for your Calibre and your Sony books and libraries. You'll need to use the "Add Books" function of Calibre to add any downloaded or purchased or checked out of library books.

I also had to install Adobe Digital Additions in order to check out or purchase DRM EPUB books. When checking out books from the library the download will automatically (hopefully ) open the Adobe DE application and download the book (to, once again a different directory). You can drag and drop the books in the ADE Library software to your reader (which has to be Authorized) when you first plug it in.

Calibre will also "Add" and manage these DRM Epub books.

To purchase DRM epubs from other bookstores like Books On Board or Fictionwise, etc. the same thing should happen as with checking out books from the library -- when you purchase and then download the book it should open Adobe Digital Editions and download the the book, which can then be transferred (drag and drop) to your reader.


Hope this is not too boring and is useful.

[jj2me]

I believe if you load with the Sony software, it pre-formats the books for faster loading than if you loaded with Calibre.

[gwynevans]

For LRF/LRX books, that's true & an advantage to the Sony s/w, but it's not required for ePub format books, so becoming less of an issue.

Note that Calibre can manage secured Sony books once downloaded by the Sony software, it just can't display them itself or convert them.

[BlackVoid]

With Sony Connect, the formatting is done during transfer. If you use Calibre, formatting will done by the reader - starting to read and font size change will take 20-30 seconds.

Calibre is a conversion / ebook management tool mostly, but for conversion BookDesigner is much better in my opinion.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

With Sony Connect, the formatting is done during transfer. If you use Calibre, formatting will done by the reader - starting to read and font size change will take 20-30 seconds.

Calibre is a conversion / ebook management tool mostly, but for conversion BookDesigner is much better in my opinion.

Note--that only applies to LRF/LRX files. With ePubs, it doesn't matter what you use to load them with. Most ePubs will load almost instantaneously.

dordale

[neilmarr]

The Sony Library, I've found, has a lot of problems (not the least of which, though it won't affect you, Sweetone, is that Sony neglects to tell their non-US PRS buyers that they can't buy books from Sony Connect outside the the United States). Like you, I'm no technochamp, but I've found Calibre very easy to use. Never a hitch.

By the way, if you want some free novels to start the ball rolling, see my signature line below. Good luck. Neil

[thesweetone]

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses! I can't wait for my reader to get here!

[MerLock]

I'm thinking of installing calibre. Does anyone know if it would cause any problems if I used both calibre and the sony library to manage my books on the same computer?

[kennyc]

It's not a problem as long as you don't try to use them simultaneously.