Quote:
Originally Posted by Alisa
So I don't have a Sony. What's the process for purchasing books and where is it falling apart? I'm just curious.
|
First, you have to download a dedicated program called Sony Library. This program may or may not play well with your computer or EBR (ebook reader device.) Then you have to download another program from Adobe, called ADE, which in some fashion interacts with Library to enable your EBR to use the DRM on the Sony ebooks. You have to "authorize" your EBR to interact with the Library & Sony Store. (This seems to involve making blood sacrifices to the gods, and turning over your firstborn to the Wicked Witch of the West.)
The only way you can use the Sony Store to buy books is through the Sony Library program. Any book you buy in the Store is stored in the Library program, using a primitive heirarchial structure. (I actually use Calibre to organize my ebooks library, on my computer and on my Sonys.)
So basically, Sony requires you to run two programs in order to even get into their store to buy books, and the programs are - in my experience - kind of dicey. (I have two Sony EBRs, and when I try to connect one of them, the Library program freezes. In the past, it has also messed up the EBR (my 505) to the point where I had to do things like reinstall firmware. The other EBR (my 300) connects & everything works 90 percent of the time.)
As for purchasing once you are in the Store, I haven't done it for months, so I can't give you a detailed explanation. I can only say that my experience quickly led me to the conclusion that I was only buying a book from the Store if I had no other option, and I generally have other options.
Finally, you have to go through this process of acquiring the ADE and Library programs for each and every computer you want to use to buy a book from the Sony Store. Whereas on Amazon, I can buy a book from any computer or ipad or iphone & send it directly to a Kindle, iphone or ipad.
(I am inclined to believe that part of my problem with Library and my 505 lies in the fact that I first authorized the 505 on a different computer, and now the Library program doesn't recognize the flavor of ADE authorization I have. Or something...)