A ton of Newbie questions - Sony Reader

[astrodad]

I fly quite a bit and it's never a problem. In fact, I've never even been asked to turn it off during the takeoff and landing. Though that might be because I have it stashed in side my hollowed out book case.

[NatCh]

Fly at least twice a month with mine, and no problems so far.

[JSWolf]

My 505 has been on a plane once with no issue. My previous 500 has been on a plane once. My wife's 500 has been on a plane twice.

[MerLock]

Thank you very much for the quick replies! Wonderful community.

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by jplumey

I fly quite a bit and it's never a problem. In fact, I've never even been asked to turn it off during the takeoff and landing. Though that might be because I have it stashed in side my hollowed out book case.

Errr... you *were* told to turn it off when they made the announcement that passengers are to turn off all electronic devices. Just because no one noticed that the reader is an electronic device and spoke to you personally doesn't mean that you weren't included in the general instructions.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Errr... you *were* told to turn it off when they made the announcement that passengers are to turn off all electronic devices. Just because no one noticed that the reader is an electronic device and spoke to you personally doesn't mean that you weren't included in the general instructions.

Except sliding the "on/off" switch on the Sony doesn't change anything other than blanking the screen. So, technically it really is in the same state.

Although to avoid any problems in a plane which is a federal offense I generally slide the switch/blank the screen... and slid the thing into the seat back pocket. This is the one advantage to having a pbook when on a plane.

BOb

[RSaunders]

Originally Posted by MerLock

Another question from a newb. I'm assuming it's safe to put the Sony Reader through an x-ray screener at the airport? Not too familiar with E-ink technology but guessing since this device is aimed at travelers I'm guessing it should safe. But thought I'd ask anyways.=)

Mine has been Xrayed 100 times, no problem. I have had it pulled out of my bag 4-5 times. They ask "Is this a laptop? You're supposed to take laptops out of your bag." I can't imagine how TSA thinks a laptop computer got into that tiny form factor. They seem to think anything with a circuit board the scanner can recognize is a laptop. Frankly, I've given up thinking about it. I take it out and put it with my shoes in the bin without my laptop. This let's them see the big circuit board more clearly. They haven't mentioned it since.

[RSaunders]

Originally Posted by simonp

Is this a hard and fast forum rule?

Most sources of "illegal" digital books (read: p2p networks), could also be assumed to have substantial "legal" digital books as well.

One can't point out sources of legal books if there's a chance these sources might also have illegal books?

I included Silk Pagoda in the list of sources. At one time, they sold some Doc Savage ebooks which were the subject of a copyright dispute. I completely ignored the dispute. The forum monitors can't expect folks to know all the copyright timelines in all the countries of the world.

Thus:

a) Some warez site of books pirated from the Sony Store = not something you should put on the forum.
b) Some ebook site that might have a book or two that's got a questionable provenience = OK
c) Software tool for removing DRM = gray area as it depends on the country you're in.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Errr... you *were* told to turn it off when they made the announcement that passengers are to turn off all electronic devices. Just because no one noticed that the reader is an electronic device and spoke to you personally doesn't mean that you weren't included in the general instructions.

Technically, these things aren't really off when they're "off." Even when the screens are blank the processor is still running, so it's not really any more "off" when it's off than it is when it's on.

And if you followed that, you deserve a cookie!

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by NatCh

And if you followed that, you deserve a cookie!

Make mine chocolate, please, NatCh. I'll be in The Lounge. Is there milk to go with?

[spooky69]

You can also download huge illegal book packs in torrents in any area of knowledge.

[Guesser]

Originally Posted by jcornel7

1. I have a library of hundreds of technical Ebooks, however they are all pdf or chm. Is there some way to batch convert them?

Personally, I've had the most success with PDFLRF - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13135

When doing your conversion it's best to crop out any headers, footers, and page numbers. Unfortunately, that basically has to be done manually. PDFLRF allows you to set some global cropping for this that you can preview, or you can do it beforehand in Adobe Acrobat Professional (which costs money). And then you'll also usually want to allow it to automatically trim any extra whitespace around the edges. For most technical ebooks, you'll want to output it in landscape mode and tweak the thickness to best effect (again, you can preview this). Generally in these forums, people seem to write off PDF viewing in portrait mode.. but there are rare cases where it basically seems okay, at least for my eyes.

If you've got Adobe Acrobat Professional, then I suppose there are cases where it'd be in your interest to let it clean up any rough edges or background gray (so that the conversion software can do a better job of automatic cropping). I think further manual effort beyond that is not worthwhile unless it's something you can share with others (try to be satisfied with it being imperfect - it's okay).

[AndiR]

With my PRS 500 I have passed through more than 300 X ray machines in the last year and a half and with no problems.

I lost it in fact, last week travelling between two terminals in Madrid

Oh well, that's an opportunity to buy a new iliad or something similar

Regards from Spain, AndiR

[kacir]

Originally Posted by MerLock

Another question from a newb. I'm assuming it's safe to put the Sony Reader through an x-ray screener at the airport? Not too familiar with E-ink technology but guessing since this device is aimed at travelers I'm guessing it should safe. But thought I'd ask anyways.=)

My reader went through the scanner at the airport (as the carry-on baggage) more than 12 times.
They do not use X-ray. It does not damage film in the camera. I am talking about normal film, not the super-sensitive stuff.