Perdido Street Station-Free at Sony

[ficbot]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

You're right, it's not wise to use both Sony Library and Calibre to transfer books to the reader.

The download should be stored in My Documents/My Books/Ebook Library. You can load it into Calibre the same way you load other books.

Thank you! That worked very well. Are there any tricks to finding other free offerings in the Sony store?

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Thank you! That worked very well. Are there any tricks to finding other free offerings in the Sony store?

Sorting books by price in interesting categories worked well for me, in the past

For speed, browse the store in your internet browser (hint: multiple tabs!) and then copy the title into the search tab on the eBook Library store section.

Sometimes you also get novels (but I've seen an essay too) in multiple parts (a couple of chapters per file). It's not as easy as with one file, but freebie is still a freebie...

[koland]

Originally Posted by curtw

Sorry, common usage where I come from (Great Lakes shipping) is Merriam-Webster's definition #2: "a pointed projecting front part." I've never considered it synonymous with "bow," because why bother to have another word that just means exactly the same thing?

It is ONE common usage (and that, the secondary definition, not the primary). That doesn't mean the other definitions are invalid or wrong, in any way.

It isn't completely synomymous with bow, as it is the forwardmost projecting part of the the bow. On a barge, it's the entire thing (it's all even in front). On other vessels, its just the pointed projecting part, as that is in front of the rest of the bow. And it is the same on an aircraft, although in less common use by non-aviators.

It is, essentially, the part of the vessel that cuts the water or air and makes a path for the rest. It's pretty common in shipping documents (especially patents, where precision of language is required), if not in the parlance of those working the docks.

[Journier]

Hey ficbot, Richard here. I just go to the Sony store main page. Sometimes they will have free offerings or $1.00 titles featured. Another thing I do is select categories. In that list they have a category with discounts and free deals.

[ficbot]

Thanks, Richard. I am still figuring out this whole Sony store thing. I loaded the file onto my Reader and it was one page long and had a picture of a lock on it

[kennyc]

ficbot, I'm still learning as well. So my question is, if I purchase a EPUB drm'd book can I only read it on the "authorized" reader? I'm thinking that is the case and if so then if I get a new reader in the the future, how do/can I read the book on it?

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

You're right, it's not wise to use both Sony Library and Calibre to transfer books to the reader.

Only if you try & use them both during the same 'connection' of the Reader - if you stick to either one, then eject and reconnect before using the other, you'll be fine.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by kennyc

ficbot, I'm still learning as well. So my question is, if I purchase a EPUB drm'd book can I only read it on the "authorized" reader? I'm thinking that is the case and if so then if I get a new reader in the the future, how do/can I read the book on it?

It's going to be authorised to either your Adobe account or your Sony account, both of which can have multiple devices registered to them, rather than being authorised to a specific account, so it'll just be a matter of registering your new device to your existing account.

[Treven]

Well, I downloaded it, now I just have to figure out when I can get to it. I'm about 1/4th of the way through Green Mars (Kim Stanley's Mars Trilogy); then I have Blue Mars to get through.
Maybe I can get to it in January or so.

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Thank you! That worked very well. Are there any tricks to finding other free offerings in the Sony store?

I click on Bargain Priced, then look at the books in the top row (those will all be free, but it's limited to 27 titles and may not include all of the free books).

You can also click on the category headings in the left, then sort by price (via the drop down in the upper left).

Enjoy!

[doreenjoy]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

Only if you try & use them both during the same 'connection' of the Reader - if you stick to either one, then eject and reconnect before using the other, you'll be fine.

There's a post in the Calibre forum from Kovid where he doesn't recommend using both.

[ficbot]

Wouldn't it automatically be 'authorized' to my Sony account if I had to log into that account in order to download it?

Also, the Sony library software seems to be auto-launching whenever I plug my reader in. Any suggestions to stop this behaviour? I checked the preferences and did not see a checkbox or option.

[kennyc]

I didn't see any way to stop it either. I prefer to use Calibre to do most of my management work, but of course have to use the Sony library to get books from the Sony store...

[superstitious]

FYI, same title also available for free at shortcovers.com in ePub. Just downloaded mine.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Wouldn't it automatically be 'authorized' to my Sony account if I had to log into that account in order to download it?

Should be (and certainly if it's an LRX format,) but I'm not sure if Sony or Adobe handle the DRM on ePubs from the Sony Store, as I guess it's theoretically possible that they could have delegated that to Adobe - I doubt it though.

Originally Posted by ficbot

Also, the Sony library software seems to be auto-launching whenever I plug my reader in. Any suggestions to stop this behaviour? I checked the preferences and did not see a checkbox or option.

That'll be handled by your operating system - See this thread for how to disable it.