Firmeware Update Conclusions

[Peto]

Well, after all we have written in roughly one day, I think we need a thread to gather some general conclusions. I'll add some myself from what I gathered reading, since I have not updated yet. You guys correct me if I'm wrong.

1.- Obvious, but should be said just in case: The firmware update is irreversible.
2.- The old hacks don't work. Will have to be adapted. Some already have.
3.- Reflow works normally fine, but not always and can lose editing. Reflow can work without installing DE.
4.- PDF treatment is not perfect, but is much better than it was. PDFs are now at least, readable in the worst case, which they weren't with the old firmware.
5.- Epub works fine.
6.- You can delete books from the Reader but not ad to it from the cards.
7.- Some speed increase has been commented on when opening books or going through the menus.
8.- 8 and 16 GB SDHCs don't seem to work well.
9.- Universal flasher is already available with the clock hack and the chance to add fonts.
10.- The FW Update gives the reader NO touch screen capabilities. Whatever you read about it.
11.- You can update the Sony library without updating firmware.
12.- Adobe DE is ONLY needed for reading DRMed PDF and EPUBs.

These from TANZAKU:

13.- "The display looks like it has more contrast!" Not a reasonable observation, but for some reason it does seem easier to read. Hmmmm . . . better font rendition? Is the "paper base" whiter with epub than with a PDF?
14.- Definite increase in battery life.
15.- Incredible decrease in file size? What was a 4mb PDF for a longish book is now 800k for the same text! I've now downloaded about 40 epub books from Feedbooks and all of them are about 20-25% the file size of the same book formatted as a PDF.
16.- Boot-up is faster. Navigation is faster. Waking up from sleep is really faster. Yay!
17.- The font size changes with epubs is excellent. (With only one slight glitch in the chapter titles of the Feedbooks epubs I've been reading -- at the Medium font size, the first line of the chapter titles seems to be flush right and sometimes cuts off some of the text.)

From Dr MOZE:
18.- Multiple page turns. If you hit the 'next page' button several times quickly, it will flip to the next page and then immediately to the final page.


Questions:

1.- Advantages for the average LRF user?

[Hadrien]

3) Fonts:

You can embed fonts directly in an ePub file.

[Peto]

Bonjour Adrien,

Do we know if epubs run faster than lrfs? What are the practical differences between the two formats of the same book?

[MickeyC]

Also you can now delete books directly from your reader rather than the Library.

Couple of questions for my eBook betters:

- Where can you find books in the ePub format? Are they listed as ePub or something else?
- Where can you find Adobe 1.5 DRM books? How are they listed?

Thanks

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Also you can now delete books directly from your reader rather than the Library.

Couple of questions for my eBook betters:

- Where can you find books in the ePub format? Are they listed as ePub or something else?
- Where can you find Adobe 1.5 DRM books? How are they listed?

Thanks

I can answer the first one. You can find Epub books at Feedbooks as well as for sale at BooksOnBoard.

[The Old Man]

Thanks for this thread.
Before I update:
The hack is gone so are the fonts on the 505 as they were before the hack?
Is the clock gone?
Can I update the PC Library software and not update the Reader?
How does Calibre work with the update?
Why to I want epub ability?

I have gotten used to the old Library, as flaky as it is, and am hesitant to upgrade.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Thanks for this thread.

Why to I want epub ability?

I have gotten used to the old Library, as flaky as it is, and am hesitant to upgrade.

ePub seems to be on its way to becoming a single standard format for ebooks to be released in. What this will mean is that publishers will no longer have to mess around with many different formats and so the task of releasing books in ebook format will be much easier for them. Thus it is to be hoped that more of them will release more books.

And if ePub catches on, it will be device-independent so that you can buy ePub books now to read on your Sony and then if a better device comes along from a different manufacturer and it also supports ePub format, you can simply transfer the books to the new device without having to buy them once again in a different format.

[Mr. Goodbar]

See my inline comments below.

Originally Posted by The Old Man

Thanks for this thread.
Before I update:
The hack is gone so are the fonts on the 505 as they were before the hack? Yes, the fonts are just like before you applied the hack

Is the clock gone?
Yes, the clock is gone
Can I update the PC Library software and not update the Reader?
Yes
How does Calibre work with the update?
Haven't tried this
Why to I want epub ability?
ePub seems to be emerging as a possible standard which extends the life of your reader and gives you more options for purchasing books than just the Sony ebook store.

I have gotten used to the old Library, as flaky as it is, and am hesitant to upgrade.

[The Old Man]

Thank you, Mr. Goodbar. I think I'll wait a while before I update.

[wallcraft]

In the (justified) excitement about ePub, the ability to read all the other Secure Adobe ebooks has been deemphasized. There are probably more Secure Adobe ebooks titles out there than any other multi-device format. Many library ebooks are also only available as Secure Adobe ebooks and these work on the PRS-505.

Don't forget, though, that Adobe's DRM has not been cracked. So Secure Adobe ebooks, including Secure Adobe ePub, are only readable with Adobe software.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by cassidym

- Where can you find books in the ePub format? Are they listed as ePub or something else?

There's plenty of books available at Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com

You can also turn RSS feeds into ePub, I use this feature every morning to get my daily dose of news. I'll do an official release of our Windows utility that can automatically sync these feeds with the 505 as soon as possible.

[Hadrien]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

In the (justified) excitement about ePub, the ability to read all the other Secure Adobe ebooks has been deemphasized. There are probably more Secure Adobe ebooks titles out there than any other multi-device format. Many library ebooks are also only available as Secure Adobe ebooks (can these be read on the PRS-505 now?).

Don't forget, though, that Adobe's DRM has not been cracked. So Secure Adobe ebooks, including Secure Adobe ePub, are only readable with Adobe software.

Yes you can read secure PDF files now. You're 100% correct, there's a massive amount of content available for this DRM. PDF reflow works fine, but I'm not really impressed by the results: no justification, messy line breaks and they divide some words between two lines.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Yes you can read secure PDF files now. You're 100% correct, there's a massive amount of content available for this DRM. PDF reflow works fine, but I'm not really impressed by the results: no justification, messy line breaks and they divide some words between two lines.

Who offers Adobe secure PDF eBooks now? Fictionwise?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Who offers Adobe secure PDF eBooks now? Fictionwise?

Practically everyone who offers ebooks in more than one Secure format includes Adobe - FictionWise and BooksOnBoard are two examples (and the latter offers Adobe ePub too). Some publishers also sell Secure Adobe from their own sites.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

Practically everyone who offers ebooks in more than one Secure format includes Adobe - FictionWise and BooksOnBoard are two examples (and the latter offers Adobe ePub too). Some publishers also sell Secure Adobe from their own sites.

On Fictionwise is that the Secure Adobe Reader 7.0 Format?