PRS-300 Just got my PRS-300!

[Pripyat]

Thank u very much for the advice everyone!

[RonF]

Originally Posted by King Windom

I have also been considering the firmware hack but am concerned about it. Can you still access Sony's book site to purchase through their software? Thanks Dan

Up until now I have only been using Calibre. So I installed Sony Reader Library, hooked up the reader and it recognized it along with ALL of the installed books. It also showed the screenshots that I took with the new firmware I then proceeded to go to the estore. I found a free book, put it in cart and tried to "purchase" I needed to create an account first, and then it found the "unauthorized" device and asked me to activate. I activated it, and then "bought" the free book. It was downloaded to my library on the computer, I then dragged it onto the reader, disconnected and then started to read it.

So, short answer is, yep, it works fine with the software

Originally Posted by xtine

If it's not too much trouble, maybe you could start another thread with step-by-step instructions? I've been wanting to try this hack too but keep chickening out because I'm afraid of bricking my Reader

Not comfortable with creating a new thread, but I will post the steps I took to do it. Will have some time a little later to do it. I fully understand your worry about bricking. They also have another set of firmware to get a "bricked" unit to a usable state to reinstall the firmware. Also the author?? of this firmware is a member and regular poster here and is very helpfull.

[xtine]

Thanks, RonF, hopefully I may find the courage to hack my Reader

[RonF]

Originally Posted by xtine

Thanks, RonF, hopefully I may find the courage to hack my Reader

OK, I posted exactly what I did here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=72

I felt I hijacked this thread enough, my apologies.

Back ot - I love the 300 more every day and am very glad I purchased it. I think I may have loved the 505 as much if i would have gotten into ebook reading a little earlier

[justanut]

No worries about hijacking mate

Same here, I almost bought a 505, but decided that I didn't really need the memory slots, the bigger size nor the possible death of firmware updates for it.

Updated my initial post to include some of the considerations that had me caught between the 300 and 600 too

[King Windom]

RonF Thank You for trying the Sony software with the hack. That was a concern of mine before trying to flash my reader.

I just posted the same question under the firmware thread before I read your answer here. Thanks for the step by step on how to flash, I will probably try it. Dan

[xtine]

Thanks for the tutorial, RonF

[justanut]

I just successfully flashed mine. <3 the clock and page turn buttons. Was worried about losing 7 & 8 buttons until I realised I can get em back anytime by hitting 0 first before keying in the page number I wanted if i ever wanted to do page jumps

Just make sure you have the correct firmware (latest as of now) mentioned in Ron's other post before flashing!

Do it Xtine

[xtine]

@justanut I'm thisclose to flashing mine Did you use the same software as RonF?

Just to be clear, in case I do brick my Reader, there's a workaround to get it back up again, right?

UPDATE: Flashed my 300! So happy with 7/8 page turn functions!

[Pripyat]

Another question. I seen a few threads about the customizations. Is there any chance to put a different menu language,custom icons etc to my PRS-300?

[jerryprism]

Long to=ime ROcketebooker, just go tmy 300 for Xmas, never looked back. Great device but one question : is there a hack to put the date and time on the screen? I could go for that. Thanks, Gerald

[grooks]

Originally Posted by Pripyat

Another question. I seen a few threads about the customizations. Is there any chance to put a different menu language,custom icons etc to my PRS-300?

You can change the menu language currently. The standard choices are English, French, German and Dutch (i think). The hack that is available changes Dutch to Russian. There is a way to put other languages on there but you may need to search a little as I have no experience with this.

As to the custom icons, the hack that was previously done for the 505 has custom icons but that will not work for the 300 or 600. The 300 hack does not have custom icons (as far as I know).

Originally Posted by jerryprism

Long to=ime ROcketebooker, just go tmy 300 for Xmas, never looked back. Great device but one question : is there a hack to put the date and time on the screen? I could go for that. Thanks, Gerald

The current hack will only put the time in the lower right corner of the screen. Search for russification and you will find a few threads talking about this hack.

[justanut]

Originally Posted by xtine

@justanut I'm thisclose to flashing mine Did you use the same software as RonF?

Just to be clear, in case I do brick my Reader, there's a workaround to get it back up again, right?

UPDATE: Flashed my 300! So happy with 7/8 page turn functions!

Welcome to the dark side xtine!

Don't see why any other 300 users would fail so long as they ensure they have the correct firmware at least.. The 300 is the closest to 505 after all.

[barefoot14]

OK, I confess, I'm a newbie. I got my first reader for Christmas, the PRS-300. Prior to its arrival, I downloaded Sony Reader software, got some free classics from Gutenberg and bought a couple of books from the Sony store. Everything went fine, they uploaded perfectly to my new reader. Then everything went wrong. I was given a Sony gift card, used it to buy a book, downloaded the book into the Reader software, then went to transfer it to the Reader. Only one page transferred. Software wouldn't open. I have uninstalled and reinstalled every aspect of the software along with other tips given to me by support at Sony. Nothing works. Click on the icon, nothing. However my system (Windows 7 32-bit) shows that the program is "open". So I gave up on Sony support and downloaded Calibre and Adobe Digital Editions. Why didn't I do that in the first place? Ya live ya learn. At any rate, I have just learned from this group how I don't need to get the DRM protection removed in order to transfer a purchased book from Calibre to my Reader. I tried to transfer it from ADE into Calibre and could not figure out how to do that, drag and drop did not work. I admit I'm a bit shaky about connecting my reader and downloading the purchased books from Calibre for the first time, not knowing what that pesky Sony Reader software is up to...I read somewhere I shouldn't uninstall it due to the driver or something? All help and hand-holding at this point will be greatly appreciated, and if there is a way to decode the DRM from ADE to Calibre, tell me how! And I will be sure to tell everyone to avoid the Sony Reader software, it is a beast!

[Pripyat]

Grooks: Thank u!

I dont understand the Sony... Why they cant make a firmware which shows the time on the corner at the bottom of the screen? It comes realy helpful...