how useful is this device?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dameuna

I haven't yet received my V3 so I can't talk from direct experience. But --- the main reason I am buying the V3 is because it appears that millions of readily available books in many formats can be loaded onto the V3 without any file conversion at all. This is in big contrast to many of the other readers on the market, like the Sony, which require you to do file conversions for standard formats like PDF. For example, you can download any of the 17,000 free books from Project Gutenberg move them to the V3 and start reading. I believe the same is true of the 500,000 ebooks in PDF format from www.worldlibrary.net and many, many other sources of non-DRM books. I am not familiar with using books that require DRM, so I can't comment on this.

I hate to say this, but I will, the 500/505 does support PDF. But because of the 6" screen, you'll find Letter sized PDF do not always display well enough to easily read. The V3 will have the same problem due to it's 6" screen. But we do have pdflrf to help with the problem. That's the only reason you may need to do conversion on PDF. Not because it won't display. But because it may not display well enough. And the tools for the Sony Reader work very well and are not that hard to use to convert content. I'm not saying you should not purchase a V3, but before you do, you should do so knowing what's what.

[|2eason]

The sony's pdf reader is rubbish at a software level, the devs here have said as much. All it would take to fix it is a simple change to the code, but you won't get that from sony. All you have is community hacks and workarounds and that's all you'll ever have with sony, because they just want to take your money and run.

Make no mistake, to anyone outside the US, the V3 is superior to the sony in almost every respect. Cosmetics is the only + the sony has.

[RWood]

Originally Posted by |2eason

The sony's pdf reader is rubbish at a software level, the devs here have said as much. All it would take to fix it is a simple change to the code, but you won't get that from sony. All you have is community hacks and workarounds and that's all you'll ever have with sony, because they just want to take your money and run.

Make no mistake, to anyone outside the US, the V3 is superior to the sony in almost every respect. Cosmetics is the only + the sony has.

Adobe (the creator of PDF) provided the PDF code for the Sony Reader. It works well if the PDF is created for the screen size. General physics dictates that if you compress an A4 or Letter sized PDF page to a 6" screen the original 10 point font will not be very readable.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I hate to say this, but I will. It is no easier to convert content to Mobipocket format then it is to convert content to LRF for the Sony 500/505.

That is of course true, but there is a lot more content available in Mobi format than Sony, hence less need to do any conversion. Especially true if you're interested in "current" fiction rather than out-of-copyright stuff.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by |2eason

The sony's pdf reader is rubbish at a software level, the devs here have said as much. All it would take to fix it is a simple change to the code, but you won't get that from sony.

Can you be more explicit, please? What "simple change" are you referring to?

As Wood has said, it is not Sony's fault that there's no good way to view a Letter/A4 PDF on a screen with only 1/6th the area of an A4 page - that's simple physics.

In what ways does the V3 displays PDFs better than the Sony does?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you be more explicit, please? What "simple change" are you referring to?

As Wood has said, it is not Sony's fault that there's no good way to view a Letter/A4 PDF on a screen with only 1/6th the area of an A4 page - that's simple physics.

In what ways does the V3 displays PDFs better than the Sony does?

Actually, there are lots of better ways to display PDF then the way it's done now. You could thicken the text, you could attempt to figure out headers, footers, page numbers, and other margin junk and zoom in past them, you could then the fonts somewhat, you could break a portrait zoomed page into pieces instead of all on one page and I bet there are other things that could be done that I have not thought of.

[HarryT]

Certainly there are - one has only to look at the iLiad's PDF viewer to see the "right way" to do it. I was just asking in which of these ways that it could be done better than the Sony the V3 does do it better.