PRS-650 dumb questions from a new owner of a PRS650

catharine · 07-15-2011, 08:21 AM

Hi All - this is my first post ever on this site. I got a phone call today from a Sony store to say that after their big order came in for PRS650 - there were some left after filling back orders from the last 7 months and I could purchase one if I wanted!!! I was so happy as I had written it off completely

Anyway - I am kind of confused as to how the whole e-book thing works - you can't download from other countries is that right? ( I am in Australia), they need to be a certain format? Are there libraries you can borrow them from? Are there sites where people share books like with movies and CD's? What are the good free sites? When there are over 30,000 'free' books listed - that is a lot of books! I don't actually have it yet but can't wait to get started. Thanks for your help and sorry if these sound like dumb questions..

ScalyFreak · 07-15-2011, 12:58 PM

This sticky thread has lots of links to book sources, both free and to purchase. As for libraries, that depends on the libraries where you live. Where I live they are a bit slow to pick up on the ebook thing, so their selection is small, but my library cards lets me borrow ebooks from them.

The books will need to be in a format the reader supports, but fortunately Sony readers support a lot of them. Personally I stick to ePub, since it's the most common one among publishers who aren't Amazon, and all the PRS-x50 readers can do ePub natively without any extra effort on my part.

Copy-right laws are different in different countries, so what is free in the US may not be free in Australia. If in doubt, you can ask here, we have lots of other Australians posting here, or google to find out before you download.

And welcome to MobileRead!

SeaBookGuy · 07-15-2011, 01:13 PM

Your local public library may have downloadable books available -- ask them.

Kiwimick · 07-15-2011, 02:21 PM

Hi welcome to Mobileread and congratulations on your new Sony you are going to love it

believe it or not you can also join the National Library of Singapore who have over 10,000 ebooks to look at. But you do need to register with your passport number.
Smashwords offer DRM free books that will allow you to download anywhere. A lot of these books are free.

Pinecone · 07-15-2011, 04:28 PM

There is also software that will convert formats.

Calibre is supported on this forum.

sabredog · 07-15-2011, 10:27 PM

You are going to come up against geographic restrictions quite a lot. This is where ebooks are not going to be available for purchase in Australia but the paperback or hard back version is.

The issue has improved a lot over the last 12 months, but still remains a real bugbear for Aussie ebook purchasers.

If you search on Mobileread for Geographic restrictions, there is a lot a info, plus ways to get around the issue.

Avwriter · 07-16-2011, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwimick

Hi welcome to Mobileread and congratulations on your new Sony you are going to love it

believe it or not you can also join the National Library of Singapore who have over 10,000 ebooks to look at. But you do need to register with your passport number.
Smashwords offer DRM free books that will allow you to download anywhere. A lot of these books are free.

The Singapore Library works great. Actually, you do not really have to use your passport number, even though it says so. You may use any number, or even group of letters when signing up.

fafaforza · 07-19-2011, 03:24 PM

Not sure how they restrict the eBook store by geographic location, but if it's purely by the IP address of your workstation, you could get around that with a VPN service which has points of presence in many countries. Then you could decide to be seen as coming from the US, etc, and it costs very little.

Hopefully this isn't against the rules of supporting piracy, or something, as after all, you're purchasing the book.

anamarg · 07-19-2011, 07:09 PM

Hi everyone! Please someone help...
I just got a new sony PRS-650, because it seemed to be the best one to read pdfs... I am really sad, because I put it to charge, on the computer usb, the red light comes on but there is no display at all! In the start guide it says that it could take around 5 minutes, but I have been waiting for more than an hour now. The red line is still on. Did this happen to anyone? or do you think it is broken?
Ana

JSWolf · 07-19-2011, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fafaforza

Not sure how they restrict the eBook store by geographic location, but if it's purely by the IP address of your workstation, you could get around that with a VPN service which has points of presence in many countries. Then you could decide to be seen as coming from the US, etc, and it costs very little.

Hopefully this isn't against the rules of supporting piracy, or something, as after all, you're purchasing the book.

Also, you probably need a credit card/bank card registered to a US address.

vulcan_girl · 07-20-2011, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamarg

Hi everyone! Please someone help...
I just got a new sony PRS-650, because it seemed to be the best one to read pdfs... I am really sad, because I put it to charge, on the computer usb, the red light comes on but there is no display at all! In the start guide it says that it could take around 5 minutes, but I have been waiting for more than an hour now. The red line is still on. Did this happen to anyone? or do you think it is broken?
Ana

When charging via USB, the words "Charging Battery" or "Charging Complete" should appear. Make sure your computer is turned on and not in sleep or hibernate mode.

SeaBookGuy · 07-20-2011, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamarg

Hi everyone! Please someone help...
I just got a new sony PRS-650, because it seemed to be the best one to read pdfs... I am really sad, because I put it to charge, on the computer usb, the red light comes on but there is no display at all! In the start guide it says that it could take around 5 minutes, but I have been waiting for more than an hour now. The red line is still on. Did this happen to anyone? or do you think it is broken?
Ana

Via USB, the red light means the unit is charging; there is no display. If you charge via AC (mains) charger, you can turn the unit on as usual; in addition to the red light, there'll be a "battery charging" icon on the lower right (I believe).

amward · 07-20-2011, 01:27 AM

You won't have too much trouble getting ebooks in Australia. There is a current thread on this issue in General Discussions, worth your while taking a look. You will find people here are incredibly helpful and generous with information. And welcome to MR.

Pinecone · 07-20-2011, 09:37 AM

For the Sony store, you need a US address and credit card for an account. Once you set up the account, you can buy from anywhere. A few months ago, I purchased books while in Bishkek, Kyrgystan.

Laine · 07-21-2011, 08:28 PM

I have found buying ebooks here in Australia can be very complex.

A book can be available at one site and not at another.

Try Kobo, Read Without Paper and ebooks.com.

Also a book will often become available in Australia months after it debuts in the U.S. And, of course, there's no publicity to tell you. So you just have to keep checking now and then.

Read Without Paper will allow you to sort by release date so if you check your favourite categories every month you could then try elsewhere as well.

Smashwords sell books to everywhere but quality varies. Baen Webscriptions do SFF. Harlequin do Romance. As do Regency Reads.

The 2 big U.S. stores Kindle and B&N are no good as K have a different format and B&N won't sell overseas.

The English stores won't sell to Australia.

Books on Board and Diesel have a limited range to Australia - a lot of new releases aren't available or are released later.

Look forward to reading on your new toy but also some frustration.

07-15-2011, 08:21 AM	#1
catharine Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 68 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: sony PRS650	dumb questions from a new owner of a PRS650 Hi All - this is my first post ever on this site. I got a phone call today from a Sony store to say that after their big order came in for PRS650 - there were some left after filling back orders from the last 7 months and I could purchase one if I wanted!!! I was so happy as I had written it off completely Anyway - I am kind of confused as to how the whole e-book thing works - you can't download from other countries is that right? ( I am in Australia), they need to be a certain format? Are there libraries you can borrow them from? Are there sites where people share books like with movies and CD's? What are the good free sites? When there are over 30,000 'free' books listed - that is a lot of books! I don't actually have it yet but can't wait to get started. Thanks for your help and sorry if these sound like dumb questions..

07-15-2011, 02:21 PM	#4
Kiwimick Addict Posts: 211 Karma: 37308 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: London UK Device: Sony PRS650	Hi welcome to Mobileread and congratulations on your new Sony you are going to love it believe it or not you can also join the National Library of Singapore who have over 10,000 ebooks to look at. But you do need to register with your passport number. Smashwords offer DRM free books that will allow you to download anywhere. A lot of these books are free. Last edited by Kiwimick; 07-15-2011 at 02:21 PM. Reason: Spelling

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07-15-2011, 12:58 PM	#2
ScalyFreak Sith Wannabe Posts: 2,034 Karma: 8017430 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: I'm not sure... it's kind of dark. Device: Galaxy Note 4, Kobo Aura H2O, Kindle Fire HD, Aluratek Libre	This sticky thread has lots of links to book sources, both free and to purchase. As for libraries, that depends on the libraries where you live. Where I live they are a bit slow to pick up on the ebook thing, so their selection is small, but my library cards lets me borrow ebooks from them. The books will need to be in a format the reader supports, but fortunately Sony readers support a lot of them. Personally I stick to ePub, since it's the most common one among publishers who aren't Amazon, and all the PRS-x50 readers can do ePub natively without any extra effort on my part. Copy-right laws are different in different countries, so what is free in the US may not be free in Australia. If in doubt, you can ask here, we have lots of other Australians posting here, or google to find out before you download. And welcome to MobileRead!

07-15-2011, 01:13 PM	#3
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	Your local public library may have downloadable books available -- ask them.

07-15-2011, 04:28 PM	#5
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	There is also software that will convert formats. Calibre is supported on this forum.

07-15-2011, 10:27 PM	#6
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	You are going to come up against geographic restrictions quite a lot. This is where ebooks are not going to be available for purchase in Australia but the paperback or hard back version is. The issue has improved a lot over the last 12 months, but still remains a real bugbear for Aussie ebook purchasers. If you search on Mobileread for Geographic restrictions, there is a lot a info, plus ways to get around the issue.

07-19-2011, 03:24 PM	#8
fafaforza Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 26780 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Brooklyn, NY Device: Aura ONE	Not sure how they restrict the eBook store by geographic location, but if it's purely by the IP address of your workstation, you could get around that with a VPN service which has points of presence in many countries. Then you could decide to be seen as coming from the US, etc, and it costs very little. Hopefully this isn't against the rules of supporting piracy, or something, as after all, you're purchasing the book.

07-19-2011, 07:09 PM	#9
anamarg Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: sony PRS-650	Hi everyone! Please someone help... I just got a new sony PRS-650, because it seemed to be the best one to read pdfs... I am really sad, because I put it to charge, on the computer usb, the red light comes on but there is no display at all! In the start guide it says that it could take around 5 minutes, but I have been waiting for more than an hour now. The red line is still on. Did this happen to anyone? or do you think it is broken? Ana

07-20-2011, 01:27 AM	#13
amward Wizard Posts: 1,299 Karma: 2081110 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: SW Australia Device: Eco Eclipse, Sony PRS 350 (pink), Ipod Touch, Kindle Touch	You won't have too much trouble getting ebooks in Australia. There is a current thread on this issue in General Discussions, worth your while taking a look. You will find people here are incredibly helpful and generous with information. And welcome to MR.

07-20-2011, 09:37 AM	#14
Pinecone Guru Posts: 902 Karma: 1660722 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Maryland Device: PRS-650, PRS-600, PRS-350	For the Sony store, you need a US address and credit card for an account. Once you set up the account, you can buy from anywhere. A few months ago, I purchased books while in Bishkek, Kyrgystan.

07-21-2011, 08:28 PM	#15
Laine Addict Posts: 341 Karma: 1162396 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cabramatta, Sydney, Australia Device: Aura H2O, Voyage	I have found buying ebooks here in Australia can be very complex. A book can be available at one site and not at another. Try Kobo, Read Without Paper and ebooks.com. Also a book will often become available in Australia months after it debuts in the U.S. And, of course, there's no publicity to tell you. So you just have to keep checking now and then. Read Without Paper will allow you to sort by release date so if you check your favourite categories every month you could then try elsewhere as well. Smashwords sell books to everywhere but quality varies. Baen Webscriptions do SFF. Harlequin do Romance. As do Regency Reads. The 2 big U.S. stores Kindle and B&N are no good as K have a different format and B&N won't sell overseas. The English stores won't sell to Australia. Books on Board and Diesel have a limited range to Australia - a lot of new releases aren't available or are released later. Look forward to reading on your new toy but also some frustration.

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