MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - PRS-505 with large number of books?

RWood · 06-23-2008, 12:24 PM

The default fonts on the Sony are Dutch (Times), Swiss (Ariel), and Courier. If you want a font other than these you need to embed that font (or at least the glyphs used.) Since you indicated that you would be happy with the Ariel (or at least could live with Ariel) then there is no need to embed that font. What you need to do is to ensure that the conversion program -- either calibre or BookDesigner -- uses that font as the body text. (I favor a serif font for the body text and format all of my books that way.)

Once a font is set for a book at the time the file was created it cannot be changed. The base font size (i.e.: 11 point) is also set then. In LRF, DOC, and RTF files there are three (3) size options -- S, M, and L -- that the user may select while reading. The base font size is the "S" option. There are no meaningful size selections for PDF files. What you see is what you get.

As for keeping a large number of books available for reading, the Sony's indexing scheme is not the best. All titles available on a device are listed in one flat list. The situation is a bit better for collections. I felt that it was not enough better so I don't use it.

A better solution (IMHO) is as Bob mentioned above, to divide the collection and put pieces on SD cards or Memory Sticks. Since you can put a lot of books on a single card or stick, a lot of people use low capacity (read: cheap or inexpensive) cards and carry a bunch of them around. This way if the muse asks for SciFi they pluck out the SciFi card, plug it into the Reader, and select a book.

The Sony Reader (both models) will prepaginate the ebooks. When the file is loaded by the Sony eLibrary this is done on the PC using the processing power of the PC. When the file is loaded by calibre or directly to a Memory Stick or SD card outside the eLibrary software this is done by the somewhat slower processor inside the Reader. Depending upon how many files are involved this may take quite a while.

A note from the Sony folks imparted to Bob Russell and NatCh and passed on from their meetings: Insert and remove the SD cards and Memory Sticks while the unit is on. (Yes, I know this sounds counter to normal practice.) They say it is the best way for the unit to maintain integrity.

I hope all this helps.

06-23-2008, 12:24 PM	#11
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	The default fonts on the Sony are Dutch (Times), Swiss (Ariel), and Courier. If you want a font other than these you need to embed that font (or at least the glyphs used.) Since you indicated that you would be happy with the Ariel (or at least could live with Ariel) then there is no need to embed that font. What you need to do is to ensure that the conversion program -- either calibre or BookDesigner -- uses that font as the body text. (I favor a serif font for the body text and format all of my books that way.) Once a font is set for a book at the time the file was created it cannot be changed. The base font size (i.e.: 11 point) is also set then. In LRF, DOC, and RTF files there are three (3) size options -- S, M, and L -- that the user may select while reading. The base font size is the "S" option. There are no meaningful size selections for PDF files. What you see is what you get. As for keeping a large number of books available for reading, the Sony's indexing scheme is not the best. All titles available on a device are listed in one flat list. The situation is a bit better for collections. I felt that it was not enough better so I don't use it. A better solution (IMHO) is as Bob mentioned above, to divide the collection and put pieces on SD cards or Memory Sticks. Since you can put a lot of books on a single card or stick, a lot of people use low capacity (read: cheap or inexpensive) cards and carry a bunch of them around. This way if the muse asks for SciFi they pluck out the SciFi card, plug it into the Reader, and select a book. The Sony Reader (both models) will prepaginate the ebooks. When the file is loaded by the Sony eLibrary this is done on the PC using the processing power of the PC. When the file is loaded by calibre or directly to a Memory Stick or SD card outside the eLibrary software this is done by the somewhat slower processor inside the Reader. Depending upon how many files are involved this may take quite a while. A note from the Sony folks imparted to Bob Russell and NatCh and passed on from their meetings: Insert and remove the SD cards and Memory Sticks while the unit is on. (Yes, I know this sounds counter to normal practice.) They say it is the best way for the unit to maintain integrity. I hope all this helps.