PRS-505 PRS-505 issues

[Ansileran]

Hi everyone!

I've had my PRS-505 for some 6 years now and I figure it's about time I learn how to use it ^^.

Yesterday I tried adding books via Sony's Reader program to the SD card. It just froze... I'm talking about pdf without drm. My device was recognized by Sony's Reader and I managed to transfer the files like I usually do (copy pasting). Of course, I didn't get the collections this way...

Speaking of collections, any way to add them without Sony's Reader? Calibre? Text file ?

Any way to browse content by actual file name?

I have never upgraded the firmware... Maybe I should start there...

[BookCat]

Don't bother trying to upgrade the firmware: Sony no longer supports the 505.

To use Calibre: import the books (I do this individually) into Calibre, then convert them to lrf, as the 505 prefers this format. When setting the details for the conversion, you'll see a box, (under the title and author part,) named "tags", put into this the name of the collection you want this to go into.
After conversion, ensuring that your reader is connected to your usb port, click "send to device" and send the lrf of the book to your ereader.

The tag will automatically create a collection on your ereader.

The 505 doesn't read pdf very well and the conversion can be hit and miss. If you really must read pdf, then read this on your pc or get a tablet. Otherwise, download the books as epub and convert to lrf.

If you need more detailed info about using Calibre go over to the Calibre section, that's where the real experts are.

[Ansileran]

I'll try with Calibre then... I thought I needed to upgrade the firmware to be able to read some types of documents...

Those pdf aren't books but fanfictions, not sure I can get them in a text format though. Can Calibre handle collections of pdf?

Thanks!

[BookCat]

You really need to ask at the Calibre part of the forum. Calibre can convert pdf to lrf and makes a better job if there are no diagrams etc in the pdf, however the flow can be hit and miss. Sometimes you get strange breaks in the middle of a paragraph.
You don't need to convert to text first.
Go over to the Calibre section, my use of the software is very basic.

In the early days some people had firmware updates so that the 500 and 505 handled epubs better. But epubs convert very well with Calibre. You have to send your ereader to Sony to have this done, and I've got a feeling that they no longer provide this service.

An alternative to the above mentioned methods: instead of downloading the fan-fiction as pdf, why don't you copy and paste into Notepad, then, using a 505 template (easily created) copy and paste from Notepad into the template in Word, saving this as an rtf.

To create the template, set up a Word document of 9cm wide by 12.3cm long. Set the margins for about 1cm or less. Format first line indents for paragraphs. Under "properties" name this '505 template' (without the apostrophes) and save as a template.

When you need it, just look at the taskpane (if new versions of Word still have it) and you'll find it listed. Open it and paste your fanfiction into it. Select all, set the font at around 18pt, name the book in "properties" (otherwise the title won't appear in the ereader) and save as name of book or story. Always save as rtf, not doc or docx.

I really like doing it this way as it displays well on the 505. However, it WON'T display graphics. For that you'll need to use Calibre. See the Calibre experts.

Hope this wasn't too confusing!

[dhume01]

Just wanted to put in my two cents:
Ansileran, if you're able to read ePub files on your PRS-505, then you already have the most up to date version of the firmware. If not, you can download it here:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/p/model-...d#/downloadTab

Also, on using Calibre generated files (ePubs vs LRFs), in my experience I've found that the ePubs are very usable and the conversion functionality is great within Calibre. With LRFs however, Calibre stopped development on that functionality a while ago, and there are few LRFs created from Calibre that did not crash my 505 at some point or another. So I would strongly recommend that you convert to ePub (and update your firmware if you haven't already - the updated firmware also supports the reflowing of PDFs, which is of great utility).

[Ansileran]

Thanks a lot!

I think I already have the latest firmare though the version isn't the same. But it does reflow pdf, delete books and read ePub so...

I'll try converting / re-downloading my fanfictions then I guess...

[BookCat]

dhume, I'm using an old version of Calibre: 0.8.39, maybe this is why I get decent lrf conversions which don't crash my reader. I don't like unjustified right margins, which is one reason I don't like epubs. I prefer the ebooks to look like pbooks. Some epubs become very narrow central columns when used on medium to large font.

However, this is all down to personal preference.

[Ansileran]

Hi everyone!

I haven't checked Calibre's capabilities yet but in the meanwhile, I thought I would give the rtf a shot. While I had a lot of fun creating the template (and an app to fill it automatically), the result on the reader was somewhat disappointing. Apparently, the PRS-505 automatically reflows the text to suit its needs when the file is an rtf one. So all the formatting I had done went out of the window. The text was still readable, but the reader fitted two pages into one...

Did I miss something in the rtf creation or is there no point in formatting an rtf file at all?

Thanks!

[Ansileran]

I used Calibre for the first time today, guess it's okay and I'm just not used to it. It was very helpful though as it allowed me to find out how to create and manage collections without it: I just had to edit a couple of xml files (media.xml on the device and cache.xml on the sd card)

Collections do not work that well however as you have to put all related files either on the sd card or on the internal folder, otherwise the reader considers that there are two separate collections with the same name... Even using Calibre ^^

I don't know if this will be helpful to anyone, maybe I'm the only one who download files from a computer on which I can't install software (company computer) and want them edited and sorted immediately ^^

[BookCat]

On the 505 collections have always split into those books on the internal memory and those on the SD card, and you have to create a separate collection for each. Lets say you have a collection called Romance; you'll need to create one Romance for the internal memory and another for the SD card. It was ever thus.

I'm not sure what you're doing wrong with the rtf, but if Calibre is doing the job for you, then you seem to have solved the issue.

[Elfwreck]

RTF support on the 505 is limited; it won't do fancy formatting. I've used it for a lot of fanfic, because most of that doesn't need special formatting.

I like to set the RTF to a serif font and 15-17pt size; some prefer larger starting size. The 505 reads the text much smaller than expected.

It'll honor indents and some tabs, and spaces between paragraphs; I always remove widow/orphan control because the screen is small enough that I'd rather deal with a single word hanging at the top of the page than losing a whole line of text (or worse, 3 lines + space before them because it doesn't like to leave one line on either page.)

I set the title & author in the RTF metadata and that works great; I usually use the fandom as a prefix for the title because I never got the hang of Calibre to tag collections.

[Ansileran]

I got the title and all the metadata allright, it's just that I spent some time creating a (nice) template on my computer, setting the page size, the margins, the police size... but the reader completely ignores the page size. It reflows the text, probably according to the font size.

I guess that, if you want a proper display, you have to figure out which font size (on an A5? page) displays the number of character you want per line on the reader screen... If you set the page (on the computer) to the reader screen size (12.3 x 9 cm) the reader somehow gets the font size better (10pts was big enough for me to read on the "small" setting) but it displays about as many characters on screen as there would be on an A5 sheet with this size...

Am I making any sense?

[BookCat]

Don't use the A5 setting, use a custom size, at the size of your 505's screen (see those I gave above). RTF will NOT display images or tables, just text.

I do all the formatting in the "page setup" under file (I use an old version of Word) and set the margin for 1cm. This is the same dialogue box in which I set the size of the document.

When you're looking at your template, make sure you have it zoomed to 150%. This makes it look more like the size of your reader.

I always justify the text, but indent the margins. This is personal preference - I don't like jagged right margins.

As Elfwreck has pointed out, the font looks much larger on pc than it does on the reader. I set the font at 18pt. You then have the option of making it smaller or larger with the reader's zoom feature. BTW I set the font size by selecting all the text (Edit - Select All) then changing to 18pt. Word has a tendency to always change to its normal size (12 or whatever you've set this as).

If Calibre is simpler and easier for you, use that. It's just that I know Word (the version I have) well, and have no problems using it. If you're not as familiar with it, Calibre might be simpler.

[Ansileran]

No, I really don't like using Calibre, it's adding a layer between me and my reader so if I can skip it, I do. And I like knowing exactly what I do... Besides, I can't use it at work...

I tried using a custom setting exactly as you said. It... worked but I don't see the point. Why bother with page settings if the reader is going to resize everything anyway?

I also noticed some differences. Apparently I get a better size display than you do. Size 10 is perfectly readable for me... The firmware I use is a different one as the US one, they probably made a "custom" French version as usual, so the settings might be different.

Anyway, thanks for the help!

[Jillypoos]

I have a different problem in that I have just put in a Lexar mem stick exactly the same as was in the reader before and Calibre is not seeing it and I cannot upload books to it. Do I need to do anything to it... configure it or sommat?