Iphone application from Sony ??

[lukasfikr]

2 scottjl - you forgot Sony Betamax ...

[scottjl]

Originally Posted by lukasfikr

2 scottjl - you forgot Sony Betamax ...

lol.

[lukasfikr]

By my opinion the biggest problem of Sony is this company do not want to share/licence their sometimes better products - i.e. Betamax x VHS, ATRAC x MP3, MiniDisc x CD-R/-RW, MemoryStick x CompactFlash ....

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

@Crowl, I would assume you are kidding, as Apple iDevices are way more open than Sony.... Yes Sony finally went to ePub, but ADE is hardly the standard DRM. Amazon, B&N, eReader, Fixtionwisem iBooks all use other DRM schemes. IBooks is ePub format (I have never bought an iBook, but from what I have seen they are ePub) and reads any non DRM ePub book. Apple allows all their competiors in the eBook world to have reading apps on all the mobile iDevices. They are the ONLY eBook company that does. Last time I checked you can't read a Kindle book on a PRS 300, play a Xbox game on a PS3, or a NDS game on a PS Portable.....

As far as ADE not being the standard drm for epub, that is a highly disingenuous claim to make because the simple fact of the matter is that before B&N and then Apple decided to be annoying, it was the only drm being used with epub.

As far as allowing all their competitors in the ebooks world, try telling that to the dozens of online bookstores who were happily selling to the entire non-kindle market until that fragmentation happened or try telling it to the people with extensive collections of books in epub format that would be useless as far as an ipad was concerned and before somebody suggests it, removing the drm is not be a realistic option for some people.

The B&N situation is not quite so bad as they seem willing to work with adobe so devices can support both versions of drm, but apple's decision to go with a drm system that can only be read on their hardware and to have no support at all for the established standard drm is a horrible decision for both consumers and the ebook market as a whole that already suffers enough from multiple formats, drm and geographical restrictions without needlessly adding more problems.

[nick101]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Sony would never release an app for another format, they are not predominantly an ebook seller (only NA even has a Sony store, everywhere else just has local partnerships) and are simply using what was the industy-standard combination of epub and adobe drm until the likes of B&N and Apple decided to be idiots and fragment the opposition to Kindle in an effort to lock people into buying from them.

True. Sony is a hardware company, and that's still their business.

They also have a long and fairly unsuccessful history of trying to use proprietary formats to lock people into their hardware. My favourite was tehir pathetic attempt to protect CDs by screwing up your PC when you tried to play music on it.

[EowynCarter]

Sony is stuck in a "buy our hardware" and we try to lock you in our books biz model.

lock in ?
Peaple having a sony reader can get from any store that sells epub with no drm, or adept. That is, the vast majority of existing stores

Sony had an habit of making proprietary stuff, but they have mostly drooped it. At least they came to their scene, other didn't.

[Bremen Cole]

@Crowl

While I could waste endless minutes bringing up the facts, it's really not worth the effort. Instead, I suggest you channel your obvious hostility, and join me in NOT buying any iBooks. I do not buy iBooks for 2 simple reasons 1) They are often higher priced than Kobo or Amazon. 2) There is not a method to remove the DRM yet.

I always smirk at ANY DRM scheme. Because the reality of it is, the company pays another company (With ADE it's Adobe) for something that consumers just remove anyway. Or, drive consumers to another eBook outlet. If Sony wants to pay Adobe to limit their sales, fine. Interesting that both Adobe and Sony are way down in profits, and considered fading companies by many.....

[nick101]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

lock in ?
Peaple having a sony reader can get from any store that sells epub with no drm, or adept. That is, the vast majority of existing stores

Sony had an habit of making proprietary stuff, but they have mostly drooped it. At least they came to their scene, other didn't.

Yes, if you have a Reader you can buy books elsewhere. That's not the lockin. The lockin is that, having bought and paid for the books, you can't read them anywhere except on the Sony Reader.

If I buy a Kindle book for a Kindle, I can read it using the Kindle app on my iPad, PC, mac or whatever. B&N and others are on the same path.

Sony? Read it on your Sony device or don't read it.

That's a definition of lockin.

Of course, Sony is rubbish at doing software, so even if they did come out with an iPad app, we'd probably be in a world of pain

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by nick101

Yes, if you have a Reader you can buy books elsewhere. That's not the lockin. The lockin is that, having bought and paid for the books, you can't read them anywhere except on the Sony Reader.

Except that you can.
You can read it on devices that support the Adobe ePub DRM, which includes a PC application and an iPhone one, for example.

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

lock in ?
Peaple having a sony reader can get from any store that sells epub with no drm, or adept. That is, the vast majority of existing stores

Sony had an habit of making proprietary stuff, but they have mostly drooped it. At least they came to their scene, other didn't.

Sony has not come to their senses, and it is killing them. They have lost money three years in a row, and they are taking major losses this year. It is true that the Sony readers are NOW more open than Kindle, but it's too little and too late.....

I really wish that Sony would get it's act together. We didn't have the word back then, but back in the day I was a Sony "fanboy". I have never had a brand loyalty except for Sony. There was a time when every TV, music player, VCR, car audio, game machine..... etc.... I bought had to be Sony. I would have worn Sony shoes if they made them... lol..... They were innovative in function and design. The Play Station 1 blew away Nintendo, and within 2 years Sony took the gaming industry from them. But they spent their time trying to come up with hard goods "Sony only" media, when the shift was beginning to digital. They stopped being innovative.

Could they turn it around.... maybe..... but really I think it's too late. We have a generation where the Sony brand does not mean anything special, and rightly so.

Edit: And in all likelihood in another 10 years Apple will be the same way. Leadership changes, companies get comfortable and take their success for granted, and the next aggressive and innovative company takes over.... Way back it was G.E.

[nick101]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Except that you can.
You can read it on devices that support the Adobe ePub DRM, which includes a PC application and an iPhone one, for example.

Can you do this with lrf format files?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by nick101

Can you do this with lrf format files?

That isn't what they sell now.
Why complain about a behaviour that they have already corrected?

[EowynCarter]

Yes Sony finally went to ePub, but ADE is hardly the standard DRM.

On this side of the Atlantic, it definitively is.

Originally Posted by murraypaul

That isn't what they sell now.
Why complain about a behaviour that they have already corrected?

Exactly.
That was the reason I chose bookeen back there. That and the fact the sony wasn't available then.
Now i can buy a book on the sony store, and read it with my opus. Without de-drm.
Buying book from amazon ? hacking to get the PID, de-drm, convert, fix the badly converted ePub.

Kindle, well, locks to kindle apps. You blame sony because they have locked stuff. Amazon is still locking stuff. Apple too. If the locking in from sony bugs you, i'm surprised the one from apple or amazon don't.

The Play Station 1 blew away Nintendo, and within 2 years Sony took the gaming industry from them. But they spent their time trying to come up with hard goods "Sony only" media, when the shift was beginning to digital. They stopped being innovative.

The wii, and the Nds uses proprietary plugs. Worse, ds lite and dsi don't have the same connectors. Ps3 uses standard usb and hdmi plugs. Nah, sony is way more open than Nintendo there.

[Bremen Cole]

WowynCarter said "The wii, and the Nds uses proprietary plugs. Worse, ds lite and dsi don't have the same connectors. Ps3 uses standard usb and hdmi plugs. Nah, sony is way more open than Nintendo there."

lol... you seem to keep missing my point.... The point is Sony is a DYING company. Nintendo has came back and MS Xbox is growing and beating Sony at the ONLY thing they had left, console gaming....

They are not innovative, and worse they are only average at copying others. Their TV, Audio is a mere shadow at what it was. In music and video (where I have some expertise) their Vegas and Acid software is also dying..... USB ports on a PS3 are not going to change that.....

On a side note.... I enjoyed my NDS for portable gaming, but sold it because now I enjoy the iPad so much more...... The PSP has never in all these years really caught on in the market....

[EowynCarter]

Amazon, B&N, eReader, Fixtionwisem iBooks all use other DRM schemes.

So what ? I have enough shops available to bother with shops not respecting the standard. What's more, US only shops

The iPad can not read books from the French eBook shops... It have apps for every proprietary crap, but not the standard....

They are the ONLY eBook company that does.

Apple ? eBook company ? Did i missed something ? Do apple sells e-readers ?

Yeah, I had a bad experance with a sony mp3. That's the reason i don't touch iPod/ iPhone / iPad Having to use a software to put stuff on your pmp / tablet / whatever ??? ouch ! Lesson learned. UMS and noting else.

LRF was the reason i dismissed sony. But now, I would have no problem buying a sony e-reader, if I needed a second one. On that point, yeah, their change came too late. Amazon's too. By the time they decided to lift the us only crap a little...