Sony Reader supports more e-book formats natively than we thought

Alexander Turcic · 04-18-2006, 05:29 AM

Keen readers may have noticed that Sony is slowly working on wrapping up its CONNECT e-book webstore. Although their site is still up and down like a yoyo here, our reader TaKir was able to make the following pleasant discovery through one of Sony's FAQ pages:

The Sony Reader will be in Sony's BBeB format; however, the Reader will support PDF, TXT, RTF, MP3 and JPG as native formats with no conversions needed. The Sony Reader software will also be able to convert Microsoft Word documents into RTF files to be read.

That's great news especially for Mac users who may or may not be able to use Sony's conversion tool to convert other e-book formats into the proprietary BBeB format.

According to the same FAQ, the Sony Reader is slated to be available in summer 2006 (and not in spring 2006 as previously mentioned).

Related: Adobe blogger on Sony's BBeB format, Sony's new e-book reader officially announced

marc59 · 04-18-2006, 09:21 AM

This is great news. As I will use the ebook reader mainly for PDFs, I see no reason anymore to buy the iRex. The extra's simply do not justify the iRex' high price.

Laurens · 04-18-2006, 10:39 AM

Do bear in mind that there's no support for reflowing text in PDFs, according to an Adobe blog. PDFs must be formatted for the Sony's dimensions. That said, most PDFs do not have the structural tags necessary for letting a viewer reflow its text in the first place.

CCDMan · 04-18-2006, 10:47 AM

VERY Cool! It does appear that Sony may be getting a clue about formats. Perhaps the new CEO is kicking some butt....

I suppose it should be no suprise that it will be delayed (maybe due to the format support?) - damn near everything new is delayed and compared to stuff like games, this is minor. I guess I will just order a half dozen or so paperbacks to tide me over.....

NatCh · 04-18-2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexander

The Sony Reader software will also be able to convert Microsoft Word documents into RTF files to be read.

Why wouldn't I just use MSWord to convert MSWord files to RTF?

The rest of it does sound promising, though.

Kosst Amojan · 04-18-2006, 12:06 PM

Summer! Damnit!

CCDMan · 04-18-2006, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Summer! Damnit!

No S**t! I wonder if any comany in tech history ever actually beat a projected release date? <g>

rmeister0 · 04-19-2006, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Why wouldn't I just use MSWord to convert MSWord files to RTF?

Beats me, considering that Microsoft's convertor is pretty good unless you file has really complicated formatting.

Do I hear Fall? Going, going...

frostedflake · 04-19-2006, 02:11 AM

If you download a Word document, you don't necessarily have Word to view or convert with. Does MS still have a free viewer?

NatCh · 04-19-2006, 12:00 PM

Okay, I'll admit that is a possible scenario, though I think it's pretty unlikely.

If Sony's converter is really easy to use, that might be another reason to use it, I suppose, but I'm still thinking it's going to mostly be one of those submarine screen door features: not much use, but doesn't really cost or otherwise hurt anything.

Beat their release date? These days I'd be impressed if a company just got within ICBM range of its release dates.

Gameboy70 · 04-19-2006, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostedflake

If you download a Word document, you don't necessarily have Word to view or convert with. Does MS still have a free viewer?

WordPad on Windows, TextEdit on OS X, or OpenOffice on just about anything would probably do the trick.

frostedflake · 04-19-2006, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gameboy70

WordPad on Windows, TextEdit on OS X, or OpenOffice on just about anything would probably do the trick.

Or the Sony Reader software? Sony can't not provide converters where needed. People demand or require an in-the-box solution or they will point to where it is lacking. People won't necessarily have Office or even OpenOffice, or even know about it. That reminds me that I need to try OpenOffice.

Also with a converter, you should not have convert files individually, and it may be done automatically thru transfer to the reader like ActiveSync on Pocket PC (Word to Pocket Word).

Whether it is a native files or converters (with respect to pdf), I hope there is not bad compatibility.

frostedflake · 04-19-2006, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

Okay, I'll admit that is a possible scenario, though I think it's pretty unlikely.

Personally, I never open downloaded Word files with MS Word, but I suppose some people do. So yes it may be an unlikely scenario, and the converter is probably more for your own files.

rmeister0 · 04-20-2006, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Sony can't not provide converters where needed.

Sure they can.

Convert .LIT files? Outta luck.

Convert .PDB files? No can do.

Mobipocket files? Tough luck.

Okay, how about Microsoft Excel?

...and the list goes on. I suspect this was more a "low hanging fruit" things easy to implement rather than something the managers said "we gotta have this!".

jerrywojo · 04-20-2006, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurens

Do bear in mind that there's no support for reflowing text in PDFs, according to an Adobe blog. PDFs must be formatted for the Sony's dimensions. That said, most PDFs do not have the structural tags necessary for letting a viewer reflow its text in the first place.

I've always had issues with the PDF flowing on my mobile devices,un-tagged pdfs,etc. Using repligo has a solution.

I'm eager to see how Sony handles this.

04-18-2006, 05:29 AM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Sony Reader supports more e-book formats natively than we thought Keen readers may have noticed that Sony is slowly working on wrapping up its CONNECT e-book webstore. Although their site is still up and down like a yoyo here, our reader TaKir was able to make the following pleasant discovery through one of Sony's FAQ pages: The Sony Reader will be in Sony's BBeB format; however, the Reader will support PDF, TXT, RTF, MP3 and JPG as native formats with no conversions needed. The Sony Reader software will also be able to convert Microsoft Word documents into RTF files to be read. That's great news especially for Mac users who may or may not be able to use Sony's conversion tool to convert other e-book formats into the proprietary BBeB format. According to the same FAQ, the Sony Reader is slated to be available in summer 2006 (and not in spring 2006 as previously mentioned). Related: Adobe blogger on Sony's BBeB format, Sony's new e-book reader officially announced

04-18-2006, 09:21 AM	#2
marc59 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2006 Device: none	This is great news. As I will use the ebook reader mainly for PDFs, I see no reason anymore to buy the iRex. The extra's simply do not justify the iRex' high price. Last edited by marc59; 04-18-2006 at 09:23 AM.

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04-18-2006, 10:39 AM	#3
Laurens Jah Blessed Posts: 1,295 Karma: 1373 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands Device: iPod Touch	Do bear in mind that there's no support for reflowing text in PDFs, according to an Adobe blog. PDFs must be formatted for the Sony's dimensions. That said, most PDFs do not have the structural tags necessary for letting a viewer reflow its text in the first place.

04-18-2006, 10:47 AM	#4
CCDMan *** Posts: 335 Karma: 5759 Join Date: Mar 2006 Device: ***	VERY Cool! It does appear that Sony may be getting a clue about formats. Perhaps the new CEO is kicking some butt.... I suppose it should be no suprise that it will be delayed (maybe due to the format support?) - damn near everything new is delayed and compared to stuff like games, this is minor. I guess I will just order a half dozen or so paperbacks to tide me over.....

04-18-2006, 12:06 PM	#6
Kosst Amojan Addict Posts: 207 Karma: 19597 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Northern Virginia Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	Summer! Damnit!

04-19-2006, 02:11 AM	#9
frostedflake Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2006	If you download a Word document, you don't necessarily have Word to view or convert with. Does MS still have a free viewer?

04-19-2006, 12:00 PM	#10
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Okay, I'll admit that is a possible scenario, though I think it's pretty unlikely. If Sony's converter is really easy to use, that might be another reason to use it, I suppose, but I'm still thinking it's going to mostly be one of those submarine screen door features: not much use, but doesn't really cost or otherwise hurt anything. Beat their release date? These days I'd be impressed if a company just got within ICBM range of its release dates.

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