PRS-600 questions

[foghat]

Hi all,

Am thinking about getting a PRS-600. I am currently using Stanza on my iphone for ebook reading.

I've got a couple of basic questions:

1. When reading a book, I presume it shows what page you are on, as well as total number of pages. However, does it also either tell you how many pages are left in the current chapter or show you that you are on page x of x for the chapter?

2. When viewing your library, is there any indicator that tells you if the book has been read or not? In Stanza, there is a little circle next to each book. The circle progressively fills in as you read. A half filled circle indicates you are half way through the book, a solid circle indicates the book is 100% read.

3. I might have a line on a used prs-600. this Registering/Authorizing of the device that needs to be done - what is this? Will I have any problem if the device is used and thus registered to someone else?

Think that is it for now.

Thanks.

[omk3]

Welcome to MR, Foghat.

1. Yes you can see what page you are on and the total number of pages. No to the rest of your question.

2. No, though I think that there is something like that on the prs-900

3. Ideally the person who is selling to you should deauthorize their reader before selling. Otherwise I think you may have to contact ADE? I'm not really sure how it works.

[grooks]

1. Current page and total page numbers will show. Any well made ebook should have a Table of Contents that shows what page each chapter starts. Simple math will tell you how many pages before the chapter ends.

2. The PRS-600 does not have this feature but people who leave ebooks on their Reader typically leave the ebook on the last page. If you are reading multiple books the Reader will remember the last page read for each book.

3. If the Reader was registered with Sony then you can either de-register through the Sony software or in some situations may have to call Sony directly to de-register.

[foghat]

thanks.

I figured I'd be able to view the toc and calculate how many pages are left in the chapter. Had to do this when I was using ereader on the iphone.

Stanza will tell you what page you are on in the current chapter simply by tapping the screen, which while maybe sounding superfluous, is actually quite a nice feature. Though the absence of this feature is certainly not a deal breaker.

The 'Read' indicator, again, is just nice to see - gives me a sense of accomplishment when viewing my library. But again, obviously not a deal breaker.

I have question regarding Collections:

I would use this for grouping books in a series. When I create a collection with the sony software and add books, how does the sorting within the collection work? Can I set it to custom sort where I pick the order? Or are you stuck with alphabetic?

[Ken401]

I have read other threads about sorting. One person used the Calibre software to give tags a numerical value along with a text description as a way to sort within catalogs. Not real sure how it worked, but it was a recent thread. Otherwise I think you are stuck with an alphabetic sort.

[foghat]

thanks for the info.

A few more questions as I research this.

1. I presume there are no issues with the 600 using meta data on epub files that were not bought via the Sony Store?

2. If I have books on both the internal memory and an external card, how do they display in the library? Do all the books display as one library or is there a seperate library for each memory device?

3. Can you adjust the margin size?

4. How bad do you find the glare? I've never used a non-touch screen e-ink device, so I don't have that to compare against. Especially if you use one of those book covers with the built in light - does this even work or is the glare too much?

Thanks a lot.

[Mike_73]

The library of the reader doesn't care about the storage location. So every book is shown in the library, no matter where it's stored.
Margin size cannot be adjusted within the reader. If you want to do so, you have to use an editor (or some program that can do this) on the pc.
Glare is a non issue for me. If I have glare, I slightly angle the reader so that it goes away. Ok, just read the last half of your sentence. Just adjust the light to an angle that it still lights the reader properly but doesn't give you glare. Depending on your light, this is a no brainer.

[omk3]

You can sort your collections by author, title, order or date. In calibre you can set the order using the "series" tag. I don't know what you do with the sony software, I don't use it to make collections.

You can't set margins on the reader, it depends on the ebook. Again, I think prs-900 has an option to remove margins for pdfs.

No problem with meta data as far as I can tell.

The lighted cover works great for me when it's dark. The reader is perfectly readable when it's bright. When the illumination is dim however, the glare and reflection are a bit of an annoyance (as is the low contrast), and the cover light is not strong enough to solve that. The problem goes away with changing the angle of the reader or ideally, illuminating more brightly.

[foghat]

Thanks for all the answers. Sounds like this is a pretty good little unit. Can't wait to see what the next couple of years bring.

[cgk]

What this authorizing business about? I am thinking of picking up a reader next week, does this mean I will not be able to use it until it is registered?

[omk3]

You need to authorize your reader to be able to read books with drm. Authorization is supposed to be a very easy procedure that takes no time at all. Even without authorizing, you can use your reader to read anything that has no drm.

[Mike_73]

If you go with free books you don't need authorization.

[cgk]

Great, I have thousands of classics and don't plan to buy any books.