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Originally Posted by gwynevans
While the rest of the post was good, I think this could do with putting onto context!
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Fair enough.
1. need to update firmware.
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So far, a one-off operation for those of us who had V1.0 Readers - new devices have the latest firmware. (Unless you're into flashing custom firmware & something goes wrong and you need to recover via the official flasher app.)
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Yep, a one-off, but still an issue. (And my firmware is an earlier number than anther version I've read about, though I'm not sure that means anything.)
As you observe, if I want to flash, say, to change the font to something I like better, or something uniform, I risk something going wrong. Which is why I haven't played around in that fashion, much as I'd like to.
2. to authorize the Sony to read Adobe Digital Editions.
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Again, a one-off operation. Once done, you can buy & transfer Adobe DRMmed books using a Mac without needing to go to Windows.
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In theory, that is correct. But in terms of what has actually happened to me, it isn't. I managed to get the Sony Bookstore authorization, and actually buy a DRMed book, download it to ADE, & transfer it to my 505. But for whatever odd reason, the victory was temporary. For some reason, the ADE reader program no longer considers my 505 authorized by Sony, & now I have to get back to the Sony Bookstore & do it all over again.
3. to use the Sony Bookstore
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True, but there are plenty of other sources & those of us from outside North America can't use the store even when we are running Windows, so it's not a show-stopper!
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The other sources aren't good enough. They usually don't have the books I want, and if they do, they don't have them in a nonDRMed format, or a DRMed format the 505 can read. Sony users who are outside North America are - for reasons I don't know - evidently in exactly the same situation as those of us in North America using Macs & the Sonys.
The difference is that those of us in NA can switch to the Kindle.
Plus, it seems that everyone I know who has a Windows machine has a problem with it that makes it difficult to get the Sony software installed & operating correctly. Which is one of the many reasons I own Macs. I can get the same result easier and more efficiently on a Mac.
From my perspective, the Kindle is superior to the 505 in two respects, aside from this compatibility issue.
The first is that the Kindle has the Whisperstuff. Reading a book today, I found that I wished to refer to Shakespeare's sonnets, and inside three minutes, I had them. Read the Kindle on the way to work today, and at lunch. Sync'd it after lunch. Going home, taking a couple of short rides involving waiting at bus stops, I read the same book on my iPhone, taking up where it had been sync'd. Very nice.
The second is that the Kindle, despite its larger size, is actually more comfortable to use. I didn't expect that at all. I think it's a combination of the material its made of, plus the better buttons, plus the color contrast between the Kindle and the screen. And I also think that the 505 might actually be too small - this could be a hand size issue.
I'm not an Amazon fan these days, after the things they've been doing in connection with ebooks. But Sony doesn't want me. So I have to choose between two less than desirable alternatives.
I find that I'm reading more on the Kindle than I did on the 505. That's the bottom line, y'know...
