1700 Books, 110 Collections, Reader craps

[eppythacher]

I got a Sony 500 with 1700 books in txt formant and 2 collections. Most of the books are on a 2 GB SD card. The loading processes was slow and painful. I had to load like 10 MBs at a time.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

Better idea would be to plunk down $10 and get most/all of these books in native lrf format from silkpagoda, imo.

The only problem I have with this (I did buy that disc) is that the titles are very cryptic and that makes it much harder to organize them the way I want to, which is to be able to view all the ebooks I have on my computer and decide which ones to move to the reader.

As to the original problem which started this thread, buy a 4GB memory stick and use that, since we're discussing a 505 which claims to be able to handle this capacity. That leaves 2GB for the actual library and collections plus 1.5 GB for the database file that the reader builds to catalog all of them, and you should be fine.

It'll take a long time for the reader to catalog them all, the first time you disconnect from the computer, but once you've done that, with the 4GB memory stick, you should be just fine and still have all your reference works.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

The only problem I have with this (I did buy that disc) is that the titles are very cryptic and that makes it much harder to organize them the way I want to, which is to be able to view all the ebooks I have on my computer and decide which ones to move to the reader.

The titles and authors show up perfectly (and as sortable fields) if you load them into the Connect/Library program. If you want to deal only with raw files, well, then you gotta take the bad with the good I guess.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

The titles and authors show up perfectly (and as sortable fields) if you load them into the Connect/Library program. If you want to deal only with raw files, well, then you gotta take the bad with the good I guess.

I wonder if they've changed the files since I bought the disk, then.

When I open the sonymax folder (the one with all the books in it) all that shows up for the titles is 02ocf.lrf and the like, no actual book titles showing up, no authors, nothing that is helpful at all.

Nothing like you're saying there should be -- certainly I can open each book and see the title/author there, but there's nothing that shows that information in the normal book listing screen.

The only way I can see the book titles or the authors is to go to the separate folders I made when I first got the disk and did the file renaming process I mentioned earlier.

Do they really show up on your computer? I don't want to buy another copy of that disk, but I may have to, if you're correct.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

I wonder if they've changed the files since I bought the disk, then.

When I open the sonymax folder (the one with all the books in it) all that shows up for the titles is 02ocf.lrf and the like, no actual book titles showing up, no authors, nothing that is helpful at all.

Nothing like you're saying there should be -- certainly I can open each book and see the title/author there, but there's nothing that shows that information in the normal book listing screen.

The only way I can see the book titles or the authors is to go to the separate folders I made when I first got the disk and did the file renaming process I mentioned earlier.

Do they really show up on your computer? I don't want to buy another copy of that disk, but I may have to, if you're correct.

Please read my post a bit more carefully. Your disk is fine. I repeat:

The titles and authors show up perfectly (and as sortable fields) if you load them into the Connect/Library program.

Not necessarily open them up individually, but adding them to your Library.

[gl7871]

After reading this thread, I can't help but putting my 2 cents in.
From the beginning, we're all have learned about those new gadget with their up and down the hard way. My experience telling me that every SINGLE items I've ever purchased (dvd camcorder, digital camera...etc), their softwares are poorly designed. I found most of readers here are quickly putting the CD that included by Sony and install it. It does not optimize for most computer and it WILL drag it down (with that 1.6 RAM lagged).
Let's keep it simple, organize the book in your Document folder. Connect the Reader (using Right click explorer or Go to MY COMPUTER) to see it, then transfer like a USB flash drive. I found it much more easier and simple to use. Those manufacture discs, unless you absolute in need of a driver, other than that, put it in the trash bin. I hope this will enlighten new way for common users.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

Please read my post a bit more carefully. Your disk is fine. I repeat:

The titles and authors show up perfectly (and as sortable fields) if you load them into the Connect/Library program.

Not necessarily open them up individually, but adding them to your Library.

Aaaah -- dawn breaks on marblehead! Thank you -- I was looking at the folder as it sits on my hard disk in the Connect/Library software, not necessarily adding them specifically to the library. I hadn't realized there would be a difference, but now I see that there is and I thank you for being persistent in your explanation.

So here's a feature request for the next upgrade of Connect/Library software -- in looking at a .lrf file in the explorer portion of the software (where you can look at all the files on your computer and decide which ones to drag to the library) the program reads all the appropriate data and displays it without our having to specifically load it into the library. It just seems like such a silly extra step to have to take, especially for many books which I'll remove from the library as soon as I know what they are if they're not in the genres I like reading.

But armed with this new knowledge, I'll be able to figure that out by loading the 10,000 files into the library and then deleting those I won't ever read.

Thanks again for your persistent explanation.

[DrMoze]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

Aaaah -- dawn breaks on marblehead!

That was a favorite saying of my 10th-grade math teacher back in the 70's! I grew up outside of Boston.

Originally Posted by dhbailey

So here's a feature request for the next upgrade of Connect/Library software -- in looking at a .lrf file in the explorer portion of the software (where you can look at all the files on your computer and decide which ones to drag to the library) the program reads all the appropriate data and displays it without our having to specifically load it into the library. It just seems like such a silly extra step to have to take, especially for many books which I'll remove from the library as soon as I know what they are if they're not in the genres I like reading.

Good idea. Will Sony do it? Probably not. But it is clearly possible and would be useful. Glad I could help.

[nairbv]

am I missunderstanding something in this thread?

isn't that blatant false advertising? I mean, ... how can they legally add an SD card reader that "supports two gig cards" if their software is incapable of handling 2 gb of books?

I was thinking that when I get a reader, I'd put 5gb of books on three SD cards and always have them with me. I sail (for weeks at a time)... and don't like to open my laptop at sea (it usually doesn't work so well because the harddrive shuts off at the top of every wave), and can't really read off an LCD anyways. I can't fire up my laptop every time I want to change books. If you can't store your books on SD cards.... that's absurd.

I really don't understand the problem from a technical perspective. It doesn't have to load every last book into memory just because it's in the SD card. If it does attempt to load every single book into memory, then someone obviously has their head very very far up their ass... am I wrong?

Why should an index of 2gb of books take 1.6gb? I mean, it's nice of them to index the author/title/etc for quick lookup, ... but ... where's the other 1.59gb go?

so... sony doesn't have a QA team or what? no one tried filling the thing with books and turning it on? I'd think that would be the first item on the test plan... wouldn't it?

Do any other ebook readers really have this problem? the hanlin, iliad, cybook, kindle, nuut? anyone know?

[wmrawls]

I had 2100 books on my reader. It was slow but it did handle them. I have since dropped it down to about 500 books on th reader and swap and go as I have the desire to change the books out. Using a 2 gig SD card and a 1 Gig Sony Stick.
I don't convert all of my books, many are strictly in text and they work fine.
Just my 2 cents worth. After 3 months I am still completely happy with my 505...but then I had been reading my e-books on an Axim X50V for the last couple of years so the 505 is a big step up.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by nairbv

isn't that blatant false advertising? I mean, ... how can they legally add an SD card reader that "supports two gig cards" if their software is incapable of handling 2 gb of books?

Of course we still don't know what kind of files were/are causing the OP's problem. Are they LRF/LRX files? Are they PDF's or something else? How were they generated? I don't know as I'm only up to 150 files on my Reader, but it seems to me that the type of file & how they were created could have a lot to do with how well the device handles them.

I like the idea of having thousands of books at my disposal, and it does sound like there are problems with having this many books on the device but without knowing more about the details of each problem it's hard to know if it's all the devices fault or not.

When folks are having these issues are they contacting Sony? The problems need to be brought to their attention if folks want them addressed. The more complaints/questions the more they'll know what an issue it is.

[GatorDeb]

Can you have Collections on the device or is it only on the memory card? How do you create Collections? Thanks!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Can you have Collections on the device or is it only on the memory card? How do you create Collections? Thanks!

Yes you can have collections on the device. Using the Sony software you click the little plus sign in the bottom left corner. That will create a blank collection you can then name & add books to, kinda like a playlist on an MP3 player.

It's not as good as having a foldered file system would be, but it does help with organization.

[GatorDeb]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Yes you can have collections on the device. Using the Sony software you click the little plus sign in the bottom left corner. That will create a blank collection you can then name & add books to, kinda like a playlist on an MP3 player.

It's not as good as having a foldered file system would be, but it does help with organization.

Oooohhhh THANKS!

Sadly I have to use the software but oh well.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by GatorDeb

Oooohhhh THANKS!

Sadly I have to use the software but oh well.

I think Kovid's software (libprs500) will do collections too, so you don't have to use Sony's program if you don't want to. Personally I don't really have any major problems with Sony's software.