Epub coming to the Sony Store on 11 December

[hmgreen]

Well, I got up early, crossed my fingers and downloaded 3.1. First it gave me an installation error in Vista saying that I needed admin rights to complete the file copy (I am logged on as an admin). It rolled back the changes but left vers 2.5 partially deleted and non-functional (although the folder and icon was still there).

I rebooted, reinstalled 2.5 and found that now the Sony store will not let you in through vers 2.5, holding you at a message screen, unless you go online and download and install the 3.1 software (which up to that point I couldn't install (see above))! Catch 22.

I then said OK, let's try an uninstall from Control Panel. I started that and it warned me to de-authorize the computer from the Sony Store first before uninstalling (which of course I can't do because 2.5 won't let you INTO the Sony Store!) - Catch 22b.

Giving up I tried the installation of 3.1 again. Miracle of miracles - this time it went through!

What a comedy.

Now that it is up these are my impressions:
1. Reading .lrx version so the books still work but they must do an internal conversion first because after the initial selection the softwware freezes for as much as 2-3 or more minutes before bringing up the book (after which it is fine). The computer is also locked during this process unless you switch apps via alt-tab .

2. I downloaded an ePub version of one of my purchased books.
a. The software is not smart enough to replace the original .lrx version, so you wind up with 2 copies of the book - .lrx and ePub (which as you will see is a good thing).
b. Clicking on the ePub version is ALSO slow to respond but not as slow as .lrx. Certainly MUCH slower than vers. 2.5 was.
c. Side-by-side comparisons: the lrx version has nicer formatting (not THAT's a surprise) including page headers, etc. However overall most books take half as much space on the computer and the Reader as their .lrx counterparts (probably because of the lack of formatting). More books can fit on the device as a result, but the reading experience is less professional and "book-like".

3. As has been mentioned above a number of my books are not available. I am presuming this will improve over time and that they didn't have time to convert everything before launch since the new PRS-900 needs this release and that is the hard stop date for the launch. I also noticed that a few current novels that were offered as new releases this week before the conversion are no longer available (the new Laurell K. Hamilton novel is a case in point). This leads me to believe that my observation is correct because they would not enter into an agreement with a publisher on a new release and pull it within 3 days if it was a permanent removal.

So overall the user experience is pretty terrible (wonky installs, delays in getting books, SLOW response times, unpleasing formatting) but at least my Reader(s) (505 and 600) are not bricks, and my library is still accessible. Overall a grade of C-. (Pretty sad when a new rev of a product gets ANY kudos simply because it didn't destroy, delete, or render unusable your data and initial purchase - you'd think this was a Microsoft product).

Will I continue to buy Sony books? Probably but less frequently. Will I buy another Sony Reader in the future? Depends on if they fix all these issues. If I was in the market today these experiences would tilt me to a Kindle or a Nook.

Oh well......

[Wetdogeared]

A bit of a scare; Reader Library wouldn't open after updating to v3.1.

As Igorsk mentioned somewhere, since they have changed the executable from "eBook Library.exe" to "Reader Library.exe" I had to add a DEP exception for Windows Vista.

*edit*
My mouse scroll doesn't work in the Reader Library or Store anymore. Does anyone else have this unexpected change?

[dickon25]

OK, I'm now REALLY mad. I've just upgraded to the new software (which shows a remarkable resemblance to Adobe Digital Additions, by the way!) and can no longer access the US store. I can only get to WH Smith or Waterstones. So the credit I had left from my Sony giftcards is now lost, gone, stolen!!!!
Call me an old cynic, but it seems this whole re-branding was just Sony's way of enforcing their geographic restrictions......

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by dickon25

OK, I'm now REALLY mad. I've just upgraded to the new software (which shows a remarkable resemblance to Adobe Digital Additions, by the way!) and can no longer access the US store. I can only get to WH Smith or Waterstones. So the credit I had left from my Sony giftcards is now lost, gone, stolen!!!!
Call me an old cynic, but it seems this whole re-branding was just Sony's way of enforcing their geographic restrictions......

Did you select the US for your location when installing the new software?

[benham]

This doesn't sound like fun. HM do you have a 64 bit OS? Are we going to lose purchased books?

[dickon25]

Oh yes, but it just goes to endless accessing/no response mode. When I go to Edit/preferences and change the country, it accesses straight away.
I didn't want to upgrade at all, because I suspected this might happen, but the old software is completely barred.


Edit: sorry, this was in reply to AnemicOak. Crossed postings....

[kennyc]

Hmmm. I suspected that the geographic thing might be involved, but the move to epub is still very significant and the geo thing would have happened in any case until the dang publishers work it out.

Sorry.

[dickon25]

To be honest, I knew we were on borrowed time. When they started selling the Sony over here and the only store it was linked to was Waterstones, I knew it wouldn't be long. I'm just cross with myself for not using the credit in time. I'll also miss the freebies......... sigh.

[13xforever]

Originally Posted by hmgreen

Well, I got up early, crossed my fingers and downloaded 3.1. First it gave me an installation error in Vista saying that I needed admin rights to complete the file copy (I am logged on as an admin). It rolled back the changes but left vers 2.5 partially deleted and non-functional (although the folder and icon was still there).

You have to uninstall 2.5 version before installing 3.0+ (or else there's a plenty of nasty issues).

Originally Posted by hmgreen

a. The software is not smart enough to replace the original .lrx version, so you wind up with 2 copies of the book - .lrx and ePub (which as you will see is a good thing).

Which is good thing in general, because you can try and choose whether you want to upgrade your title or not (it's like a natural backup and backup is always a good thing).

Originally Posted by kennyc

Hmmm. I suspected that the geographic thing might be involved, but the move to epub is still very significant and the geo thing would have happened in any case until the dang publishers work it out.

Sorry.

I am far from US and only a few minutes ago have bought Cormac McCarthy's books (finally in ePub format) from US store, so there's no georestricions has been added, it should be configuration problem.

As a note, Sony's files use old ADEPT DRM which can be circumvented to help you correct your purchased titles the way you want (I personally hate generic covers by Tor/Bantam Spectra/Harper Collins/Ballantine).

PS: Especially those nasty green covers by Ballantine Books. Ugh...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

A bit of a scare; Reader Library wouldn't open after updating to v3.1.

As Igorsk mentioned somewhere, since they have changed the executable from "eBook Library.exe" to "Reader Library.exe" I had to add a DEP exception for Windows Vista.

*edit*
My mouse scroll doesn't work in the Reader Library or Store anymore. Does anyone else have this unexpected change?

Windows 7 and Windows XP did not need anything done to run the 3.1 version.

As for the mouse scroll, it doesn't work trying to scroll the wheel. But you can click the wheel and scroll that way.

[13xforever]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

My mouse scroll doesn't work in the Reader Library or Store anymore. Does anyone else have this unexpected change?

Yes, I noticed that too. Plus, you cannot use [ctrl]+[x]/[ctrl]+[c]/[ctrl]+[v] hotkeys, only [RMB]->select command from menu

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As for the mouse scroll, it doesn't work trying to scroll the wheel. But you can click the wheel and scroll that way.

Thanks, scrolling works this way. It'll take a bit of getting used to since this isn't my regular method.

Also of note, your newly downloaded ePubs are kept in a folder separate from your previously purchased lrx eBooks:

On Vista, the new folder is C:\Users\User Name\Documents\My Books\Reader Library

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

The only real curiosity this morning is that I went to check to see that I could still download the books I had previously bought and I see that roughly 20% are now listed as "Unavailable". So I did my search of their total titles as I've been doing the last couple of years and I see that they 14% fewer titles available at their new store than they did just last week. I assume that means they haven't converted all the titles to epub format yet so this may be a work in progress.

I did a search for all of the unavailable eBooks and found some that are listed as unavailable. I called Sony about the unavailable eBooks. The person on the phone did say the reason for this is because of different publishers. Some are just not available yet. He did say eventually all will be available, but could bit tell me when eventually will be.

[volwrath]

Fresh install of Reader Library 3.1 (no earlier versions have ever been installed) on Win7x64 and reader library absolutely fails to run

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

...Since there's no firmware upgrade, it displays badly on the 505: no full justification and no paragraph indents so with the ragged right edge and clean left edge and no blank lines between paragraphs, finding the end of a paragraph is left entirely to the imagination. That's the last book I buy from Sony until they and Adobe fix the firmware...

I re-downloaded the ePub version of the current book I am reading on my PRS-700. The paragraphs are indented and there is no longer a lot of wasted boarder space around the text. There was no extra space between paragraphs but the indent made it easy to pick them out and is very acceptable to me. I don't mind the ragged edge and the ePub page number is barely recognizable.