Why buy from the sony ebookstore?

[AndiR]

Having just acquired a new PRS (I was very, very close to getting an Iliad) I was thinking about ebook purchasing options.

What value does a Sony formatted ebook purchased from their store have over say a .lit or .mobi formated book?

I know there are legality "issues" here but I am more interested in the formating / portability side of things?

With my previous PRS my family spend around 400 USD at the connect store but as I am just about to recieve a new unit I was interested to get some different opinions.

I am non US based and so this might influence the decision?

What do others think?

Thanks from a sunny Spain, AndiR

[Nate the great]

The only benefit of buying from the Sony store is that you don't have any conversion hassles.

But if your next reader isn't a PRS, then any money you've spent there is basically thrown away. Of course, this only matters if you like to reread the books.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by AndiR

What value does a Sony formatted ebook purchased from their store have over say a .lit or .mobi formated book?

1. You don't have to convert them.

2. You don't have to break the law to break the DRM, if that is illegal where you are.

BOb

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by AndiR

Having just acquired a new PRS (I was very, very close to getting an Iliad) I was thinking about ebook purchasing options.

What value does a Sony formatted ebook purchased from their store have over say a .lit or .mobi formated book?

I know there are legality "issues" here but I am more interested in the formating / portability side of things?

With my previous PRS my family spend around 400 USD at the connect store but as I am just about to recieve a new unit I was interested to get some different opinions.

I am non US based and so this might influence the decision?

What do others think?

Thanks from a sunny Spain, AndiR

Well... The number one reason not to buy from the Sony bookstore is that they don't want my money! If they can't be bothered to support my platform of choice, I can't be bothered to spend any $$ with them.

Instead, I purchase from Baen & Fictionwise and a variety of other publishers. I purchase only DRM-free books whenever possible. I buy the occasional .lit file because I know I can unlock it*. I've lost one batch of books to DRM that wasn't compatible with my next ebook hardware -- that'll NEVER happen again, because I WILL NOT have any more DRM-crippled books. Ever.

Of course, even if Sony fixed their little platform problem (perhaps by going with a Web-based store that supported actual *gasp* standards) they'd still face the problem that their prices are out of whack**. I expect to pay $6 or less for a newly released eBook (we're talking fiction here -- non-fiction may be quite different). Publishers who expect to get more are smoking funny-and-probably-illegal substances...

Xenophon

* Note that breaking this DRM is legal where I live (although telling others how to do the same is not -- go figure). Also, I do not upload, share, or otherwise "pirate" any of the books I have unlocked -- it's for future-proofing, NOT for more nefarious purposes.

** This problem may well lie more with publishers than with Sony, but still...

[AndiR]

I guess the true question is about future proofing purchases.

I really like the PRS, which is why I am buying a second one, but I am not so sure they will be around forever.

I do re-read books, as I buy principally management books to support the work I do as a facilitator & trainer. Whilst on the same account my family members buy fiction but not sci fi.

I guess eventually LRX books will be able to be stripped of their DRM (and I know this is potentially / probably illegal) but what I want to be able to do is to have books that I know I can read on a device and on my pc / mac in say 20 years time.

Decisions, decisions :-)

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by AndiR

I guess the true question is about future proofing purchases.

I really like the PRS, which is why I am buying a second one, but I am not so sure they will be around forever.

I do re-read books, as I buy principally management books to support the work I do as a facilitator & trainer. Whilst on the same account my family members buy fiction but not sci fi.

I guess eventually LRX books will be able to be stripped of their DRM (and I know this is potentially / probably illegal) but what I want to be able to do is to have books that I know I can read on a device and on my pc / mac in say 20 years time.

Decisions, decisions :-)

There is no way to predict what will be available 20 years from now However with the recent news of sony developing a wireless capable PRS-ish Device leads me to believe that Sony is commited to the long haul.

JJ

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Well... The number one reason not to buy from the Sony bookstore is that they don't want my money! If they can't be bothered to support my platform of choice, I can't be bothered to spend any $$ with them.

Why does everyone expect an industry to develop a business model around what they choose? I think that going in to a purchase like this, one should understand that if they buy a Kindle they wont be reading from the Sony Store and Vice Versa, I dont think one should be angry with the competition. (When you said platform of choice I thought you meant the reader not Computer I now realize you and I are in the same boat so to speak, But I have overcome this small inconvenience with bootcamp and VMware Fusion) Not matter how much I love my Mac I understand that to an extent it is a Windows World.

Originally Posted by Xenophon

I purchase only DRM-free books whenever possible. I buy the occasional .lit file because I know I can unlock it*. I've lost one batch of books to DRM that wasn't compatible with my next ebook hardware -- that'll NEVER happen again, because I WILL NOT have any more DRM-crippled books. Ever.

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Of course, even if Sony fixed their little platform problem (perhaps by going with a Web-based store that supported actual *gasp* standards) they'd still face the problem that their prices are out of whack**. I expect to pay $6 or less for a newly released eBook (we're talking fiction here -- non-fiction may be quite different). Publishers who expect to get more are smoking funny-and-probably-illegal substances...

Xenophon



** This problem may well lie more with publishers than with Sony, but still...

IF you are buying DRM free books you wouldnt be buying from Sony or Kindle stores, Plus those same DRM free books that you are getting probably can be converted to be used with just about any Device you own. There isnt one device to my knowledge that supports all formats, I dont believe that there is one publisher that releases books in all formats, With all devices we must pick and choose. I am not pro one device over another I believe it is up to the individual, As for the prices of books Sony had contacted the publisher a few times for me regarding price differences. Until there is a universal format DRM will be a fact of life. Even if you do have a substanial investment in one format and that company decides to fold, I would bet that you can still read them on your computer or keep the last device you purchased.

JJ

[Gideon]

A new version doesn't mean long haul, unfortunately. Sony sometimes hangs around a LONG time before deciding to give up. Their music store is a good example.

Or the Betamax. Or the minidisc. Or the UMD.

I've no doubt they are making money just off the Kindle aura effect, as well.

I love Sony as a hardware maker, but have absolutely no faith in them beyond the next day. The 505 is a nice device, but their idiocy in its store and such (and it's crappy interface) don't breed confidence. If they were serious they'd address these issues.

[Taylor514ce]

I buy from Sony when they have what I want at competitive prices. Which means I've purchased 4 books from them. I own those books, so if I ever move away from Sony, I will find a way to take them with me. I suspect smart people are already working on ways to make that happen.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

Why does everyone expect an industry to develop a business model around what they choose? I think that going in to a purchase like this, one should understand that if they buy a Kindle they wont be reading from the Sony Store and Vice Versa, I dont think one should be angry with the competition. (When you said platform of choice I thought you meant the reader not Computer I now realize you and I are in the same boat so to speak, But I have overcome this small inconvenience with bootcamp and VMware Fusion) Not matter how much I love my Mac I understand that to an extent it is a Windows World.

Actually, I don't "expect an industry to develop a business model around what (I) choose." Rather, I expect them to be able to understand a few basics:

• It's a "windows world" means: 95% windows if you count total numbers of boxes including cash registers and other embedded devices. 90% windows if you exclude those, but still consider the computers folks have at work. 85% windows if you consider computers people have (access to) at home. This last is arguably the number that actually matters for "who might buy books from the Sony store." (Consider these numbers as ballpark rather than as perfectly researched. But I've been on the inside of decisions like this at a variety of businesses. Believe me, the discussion usually stops at "no one uses Macs" and never even gets to the first actual number. You'd think no business person ever heard of concepts like market research and due diligence. But I digress.)
• They could easily have built a standards-based web-enabled store that works fine for all comers no matter what platform they use. And thus made their potential market 1.18x larger with no increase in cost, while looking like "good guys" to the folks they currently exclude.
• 1.18x larger market for less than 1.18x increase in costs means higher profits. Business 101.

These concepts appear too complicated for a large fraction of the business community to whom "standard" appears to mean "MS Windows." I can't say for sure about Sony and the Reader, because I wasn't behind the scenes there. But it doesn't pass the sniff test.

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

IF you are buying DRM free books you wouldnt be buying from Sony or Kindle stores, Plus those same DRM free books that you are getting probably can be converted to be used with just about any Device you own. There isnt one device to my knowledge that supports all formats, I dont believe that there is one publisher that releases books in all formats, With all devices we must pick and choose. I am not pro one device over another I believe it is up to the individual, As for the prices of books Sony had contacted the publisher a few times for me regarding price differences. Until there is a universal format DRM will be a fact of life. Even if you do have a substanial investment in one format and that company decides to fold, I would bet that you can still read them on your computer or keep the last device you purchased.

JJ

Not buying from Sony or Kindle due to DRM was kind of the point of that part of my rant. I buy from Baen and Fictionwise (and a few others) exactly because of their position on DRM (which would be "it's a pointless waste of time and an insult to our customers AND it would cost us more money and additional support calls... remind me again why DRM is a good idea?").

As to one publisher and all formats, hmmmm... Baen and Fictionwise come close. No pdf, but it's a lousy choice for readers that vary in size from one model to the next (unless, like feedbooks, you custom produce every pdf file to order). Otherwise, they support palm, mobi, ms-reader, rocket ebook format, sony reader format (and maybe some more that I haven't thought of). I don't think its possible to purchase a current model ebook reader that they don't support (although I admit that I may be wrong about that).

And the pricing issue is mostly the publishers. Fortunately, Baen IS the publisher of the bulk of Webscription's offerings, so they can and have set a reasonable price. And the multi-format offerings at Fictionwise are either older books (thus cheaper) or come from publishers or authors who are enlightened on the pricing front. Other publishers aren't there yet. Of course, other publishers also aren't seeing sale of bits matching their income from sale of hardcovers either. Makes you go "hmmmmm...."

I guess the overall point of this rant is that the Sony store has made itself a non-player for me (I'm certainly not spending the $100 or so it would take to run Windows on one of my Macs just to shop at the Sony store -- which would be my only use for it). And in the process they've lost the opportunity to compete for my ebook buying $$. By the way, I spend more on ebooks each year than I spent on buying the 2 PRS500s my family owns (back when they first came out and weren't discounted). Holy leaving money on the table, Batman!

I've heard from some of the Baen authors that they sold some of their shorter fiction to the Sony store with no DRM, and that Sony had no problem with that. Other than having to revise their contracts so that the authors could check the NO-DRM-DAMMIT box. Apparently it had never occurred to them that there might be authors, agents, and publishers who think that DRM is a BAD idea. Never mind that the two top success stories in fiction ebooks on the net (pre-Kindle, at least) are a publisher who refuses to use DRM and a store that reports that their DRM-free offerings outsell their DRM-crippled offerings more than 5-to-1. But knowing that would have required actual market research that catches the people who actually spend $$ on ebooks.


(Stepping calmly off the soapbox, hoping no one notices me wiping the foam away from my mouth...)
Xenophon

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

remind me again why DRM is a good idea?").Xenophon

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Those are the words that launched a thousand threads.

BOb

[JSWolf]

DRM is as good as reading a pBook in 100% darkness.

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

(Stepping calmly off the soapbox, hoping no one notices me wiping the foam away from my mouth...)
Xenophon

Ok Xenophon put the reader down and step away from the Mac no one needs to get hurt here.

Seriously though I agree I dont know how many times I have found a product that had no Mac support, And it wasnt easy to find a work around. I also think the Sony Store should go to a web based store so no matter where you are or what OS you use you can purchase content. So I will tread lightly with my opinions from now on. I dont want to push anyone over that edge again.

JJ

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by jerryleejr

Seriously though I agree I dont know how many times I have found a product that had no Mac support, And it wasnt easy to find a work around. I also think the Sony Store should go to a web based store so no matter where you are or what OS you use you can purchase content. So I will tread lightly with my opinions from now on. I dont want to push anyone over that edge again.
JJ

I do want to start learning to develop for my new Mac. That is the main reason I got it. Perhaps I will reverse engineer the Sony eBook software. If the server does the encryption it shouldn't be to hard.

BOb

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I do want to start learning to develop for my new Mac. That is the main reason I got it. Perhaps I will reverse engineer the Sony eBook software. If the server does the encryption it shouldn't be to hard.

BOb

Bob I just got the SDK for the IPHONE, I am hoping to develop and app that will find books by format, as well as Title, author, ISBN etc once found it will email the link to you. And if its not available it will keep looking and send an email once it is available.

JJ