I'm so confused ... Help?

[Little Old Lady]

Until I began reading the posts in this forum, I didn’t feel nearly as techno phobic and uninformed as I do now. However … I’m hoping some of you will take pity on me and (in simple, understandable, non-technical English) help me figure out how to make my new Sony Reader work for me … the way I want it to!

I was so excited when it arrived yesterday. It’s the perfect size, has a nice clear display, and wow, it came loaded with some stuff already. I even read the instructions (mostly) before trying to use my Reader. As a frequent borrower from my local library, I thought I’d figured out a way to reduce trips yet still get my “reading fix” when I want it.

I immediately downloaded 3 books in pdf format from my library. The warning from the library suggested downgrading my Acrobat version from 8.1 to 6 or 7, which I did. Apparently, the electronic reader that is built into the 8 series in incompatible with their ebooks. (By the way, this is the point where my eyes begin to glaze over and I no longer can comprehend much beyond “push this button”, “click on this icon”, etc.)

The books downloaded just fine and I can easily read them on my computer using Adobe Acrobat. The problem comes when I try to import them into the Sony Connect software that is used to transfer them to the Sony Reader. When I try to move them into the Connect library, I get a message saying the operation failed due to an error. No error message number, no more information. I DON’T want to read my library books on my PC or even on my laptop. Lugging either of them around just doesn’t work for me.

Rereading the instructions I discovered, the Reader can only handle PDF files that have NOTHING after the word Adobe listed in the security section of the document properties. All of my downloaded library books (which I have the use of for only 2 weeks) say Security Method: Adobe DRM. (Again, all of this is going in one ear and out the other … ah, to be young and have a brain again ::sigh:

Is there any SIMPLE way I can still get my borrowed ebooks into the Sony Reader? (Add-ons, work-arounds, utility programs?) I really love everything else about the Reader itself, but am just about ready to return it, and resign myself to trudging back and forth to the library.

Any and all suggestions would be welcome. (Remember keep it simple!) I feel so technically challenged! Help!!!
::

[igorsk]

The Reader does not support any DRM except Sony's BBeB (i.e. bought from ebooks.connect.com). I would recommend to forget about PDFs and try one of the other sources of DRM-free books (you can start with "E-Books" link at the top of the forum).

[MustardJeep]

Sony connect software.....

original :"Less said about that experiance the better."
What I meant: "Less said about <edit>my book/connect software experience's</edit> the better. "

The easy way to get things onto the reader is to put it on a SD memory card "same as most cameras, and palms use", and then put the card into the card port on the upper left edge of your reader.

Though I will admit the connect software works like a charm for books you buy from sony.

P.S. If the books are DRM'ed what igorsk said.

[JSWolf]

There is nothing wrong witht he Connect software. And it allows you to use collections. Also, using Connect it pre-fixes youtr books for you so they load faster and the font size changes happen without the Reader having to sort it out which is slow.

[RWood]

Even if you were able to transfer the PDFs to the Reader it is unlikely that you could read them once transfered because the Reader will render the full normal size page on one screen thus making the text too small to read.

[JSWolf]

The easiest solution is to convert the PDF to text. Book Designer will do that for DRM free PDF, but you'll lose any graphics and styles like italics or bold. But as long as you have the PDF, you can load it in and find where things need to be fixed and fix them like adding back in bold and italics. And if you really needed the graphics, you could screen grab them and cut/paste in a graphics editor to get the graphics to load into the BD document.

[Dr. Drib]

PDF is a problem that we would all like to see solved.

Basically, when you have a PDF-created file on your computer (DRM'd or not), what one sees is this [mostly] nicely formatted page, with graphics [or not], with different type styles [usually], and with a page that looks so nice on a computer screen.

Now: take any one of those beautiful pages that you admire and imagine it on a smaller screen. Therein lies "our" frustration when converting or reading a PDF-created file on the Reader.

When you add graphics, or two-columns to the mix, then it's easy to understand where further negative issues come into play about PDF on the Reader.

If you're having trouble actually loading a book on your desktop -- any book that the reader will accept - onto the Reader while the Reader is plugged into the USB port, then that's a different question - but very simple.

Please don't feel bad about not understanding some aspects of the Reader. Many of us have simply had the Reader longer than you....that may be the main difference.

Our Reader is perfect for Bbeb (it's resident format). Please look at the INDEX in the UPLOAD section [of Sony] here on MobileReade for a selection of over 600 titles absolutely free.

Also, I might that our Reader can load RTF files from Microsoft Word. Although it is somewhat disparaged here, I used it when I first bought my Reader, because I'm familiar with the RTF format. Although one can't embed links, in my opinion it's quite serviceable and easy to use and load onto the Reader.

Don

[slayda]

Originally Posted by igorsk

The Reader does not support any DRM except Sony's BBeB (i.e. bought from ebooks.connect.com). I would recommend to forget about PDFs and try one of the other sources of DRM-free books (you can start with "E-Books" link at the top of the forum).

As Igor says, if the book has DRM (but not Sony's BBeB DRM) then you should stay away from it. There are ways (legality is questionable depending on your country) to get around some DRM but that usually requires some level of computer expertise.

Sorry.

If you like Sicence Fiction, try the Baen Free Library and I'd suggest the Rich Text Format (.rtf) which you can download and read on your Sony Reader. Or you can purchase their "for sell" books as well.

[Little Old Lady]

OK, I THINK I’m getting the picture. Now I just feel like an “enlightened electronically challenged” individual!

My mistake obviously, was in assuming I could simply download borrowed e-books from my library for 2 weeks and read them on the Sony Reader.

I really appreciate everyone’s advice and suggestions. I’ll definitely investigate them all!

Just for the “experience”, I will try converting the PDF to text (Could someone please provide me with a link to Book Designer?), and I’ll check my old Sony Mavica’s memory card to see if by chance it is compatible, but I suspect I’ll find myself making use of the other sources for free books.

While I love the classics and have been a voracious reader of anything and everything all my life, right now I’m pretty much into current fiction … drama, mystery, suspense, sci-fi as well as a bit of fantasy, so I’ll be eager to continue checking back here for new sources to explore.

Your patience and help is truly appreciated! … And, I guess I’ll keep my Reader, knowing that while my original plan was flawed, there ARE alternatives! Keep those suggestions coming everyone! You folks are terrific. Thanks!

[NatCh]

Okay, I'll take a stab at it.

You can think of "DRM" as a sort of electronic padlock. Companies put it on their books to keep honest people from "stealing" their books. (Dishonest folks just pick the lock and go on -- silly, huh?)

As with any lock you need a key to open it, and all the different "brands" of locks have their own unique keys. The first problem you're running into is that the Reader only has the 'key' for Sony's 'lock' and that 'key' can't open the Adobe lock.

There are, as was mentioned above, ways to 'pick' the lock, but it is legally questionable, and it's a good deal more involved than it sounds like you'd want to mess with.


The second thing you would run into, if you got past the lock, is that your Adobe files are most likely formatted to go with a Letter sized 'page,' and the Reader's screen is a bit less than half that size.

Because PDF format is designed specifically to preserve the way text/pictures/whatever is arranged on the page (the layout, if you will), when you put that page on a smaller screen, the text gets too small to read, while the layout is preserved beautifully. The problem is that PDF isn't a good choice for e-books, because an e-book needs to adjust the layout to fit the screen it's on, and PDF is designed specifically not to do that.

There are some utilities around here that can "cut" the PDF pages into two pieces (top & bottom) so that the text can be read on the Reader's display, but you'd have to pick that lock to even get to the point of being able to run the utilities on the file, and then there's the running the utilities themselves, which might likely be more than you'd want to mess with too (it's not really difficult, it's just got fair number of steps, is all ).

Unfortunately, the same 'lock' will most likely also prevent you from simply copying the text out of your PDF file into MSWord (or another word processor) and saving it as an RTF file (just another file format that the Reader can read without converting).


I hope that helps clarify what's going on, though I know it's not any help at all getting you to where you want to be.


I can suggest that you browse the e-book upload section here at MobileRead, the books there have been specifically formatted to work on the Reader without any fuss (just look for "Sony BBeB" in the "Format" column). It's all Public Domain stuff, so you don't have to worry about the legality of it at all (we work pretty hard to keep track of that), but there may be books that interest you there, depending on your interests, of course.

[Little Old Lady]

At this rate I may end up being enlightened AND educated! "Who would've thunk it?"

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Little Old Lady

At this rate I may end up being enlightened AND educated! "Who would've thunk it?"

Heh, I figure, once I stop being willing to learn, then I'm just taking up space. It may get tougher, but that doesn't mean that I'm excused.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Little Old Lady

While I love the classics and have been a voracious reader of anything and everything all my life, right now I’m pretty much into current fiction … drama, mystery, suspense, sci-fi as well as a bit of fantasy, so I’ll be eager to continue checking back here for new sources to explore.

The best single source for current fiction without DRM is probably fictionwise multiformat books. For the Sony Reader I assume the .LIT version is best, although it will need further conversion via LIT2LRF, HTML2LRF or Book Designer. However, the selection is limited because most publishers require DRM. If you are willing to break the DRM, then buy DRMed .LIT e-books (e.g. from FictionWise) and run ConvertLIT on them to get a DRM-free .LIT.

For science fiction Baen Books is a good choice, all are DRM-free and some are available free of charge.

[joblack]

For Adobe DRM´ed books that are still printable (check the security settings) you can use

PDF Factory Pro

for a printout in pdf (the program simultes a printer and saves it as a pdf .. of course all metadata will get lost, that means for instance the table of content linking is gone .. ).

Works fine with Adobe 6 ... later version could recognize it and stop the printing. This doesn´t work if the ebook drm doesn´t allow printing (some adobe library lending system works that way).

To convert legal owned adobe drm´ed pdf is still a problem. I´m searching for some time for a solution - but still nobody seems to care about the problem ...

[Cthulhu]

Little Old Lady:

Just to clarify: your public library allows you to download "locked" copies of current fiction?! That is awesome. Sounds like an amazing program, the only problem being that reading on a PC is difficult under the best conditions, and in order to allow for security, the library feels it must include DRM software.

Oh Brave New World! With such books in it!