PRS-350 Sony PRS-350 - First e-reader for a grumpy geezer

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by delphin

Sure the Sony only needs to be registered once, but EVERY MAC or PC used needs to MATCH or you can't use it to buy books and transfer them to the Sony.

This is true whether you use Sony's software or Adobe's; you STILL HAVE TO REGISTER EACH AND EVER PC YOU WANT TO USE TO PURCHASE AND DOWNLOAD BOOKS, or else they will NOT WORK when transfered to the SONY.

This is a royal PITA if you are traveling and trying to use a friends PC or one at a library or data kiosk to purchase and load books.

Portable VirtualBox. After I gave away my laptop. I just made an XP virtual machine for handling Microsoft Reader, Adobe Digital Editions and Amazon Kindle. The virtual disk image gets backed up once a month while the books are un-DRM'ed and backed up directly after purchase/download.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Portable VirtualBox. After I gave away my laptop. I just made an XP virtual machine for handling Microsoft Reader, Adobe Digital Editions and Amazon Kindle. The virtual disk image gets backed up once a month while the books are un-DRM'ed and backed up directly after purchase/download.

I have a similar VM, but never thought of making it portable. I'll need to check out this VirtualBox thing....

[delphin]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Portable VirtualBox. After I gave away my laptop. I just made an XP virtual machine for handling Microsoft Reader, Adobe Digital Editions and Amazon Kindle. The virtual disk image gets backed up once a month while the books are un-DRM'ed and backed up directly after purchase/download.

I found it tricky to get XP to work in a portable environment, because of XP's draconian activation requirements. You would think that you could transfer an XP license from an old XP PC that you are no longer using to a Virtual Box virtual machine, but Microsoft doesn't support this. Even if you get XP properly 'activated', it may not work when you move the portable VM to another machine, because Virtual Box doesn't have an option to lock the CPU ID info to some simple type like a Pentium 4, but instead stupidly insists on passing the real CPU info through to the VM, which could trigger the hardware change detection built into XP when you try to use the VM on another machine with a different CPU type, and potentially deactivate your copy of XP.

I guess most folks get around this by either using a pirated VLK version of the MS XP install CD (because the VLK or Volume License Key versions of XP are less stringent about activation), or by hacking the standard version to disable the activation checks, but this is not something for the faint of heart, or anyone that doesn't like to deal with geeky software.

Another solution is to use a Portable Ubuntu install on a USB thumb drive.

This should be a picnic because Linux installs easily, has no stupid activation checks, and runs well on most hardware, but this is also quickly turns into a geeky nightmare, because there is no native version of Adobe ADE or the Sony Reader Library for Ubuntu.

I was able to get ADE working under Wine in Ubuntu by doing the following -

- Install Wine
- Install the MS Windows version of Adobe Acrobat under Wine in Ubuntu
- Install the MS Windows version of Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) under Wine
- Go through the standard registration for ADE on the Adobe website

After doing this ADE would run and I found that I could download DRM protected titles, but ADE did not recognize my PRS-650 so I could not use it to transfer titles to my reader.

I found that there are at least three ways to get around this -

- Tinker with the Wine settings using winecfg

- Find the downloaded books in the "~/Documents/My Digital Editions" folder and move them to the PRS-650 using drag and drop (direct drag and drop only works for DRM titles if your Sony has already been activated and registered)

- Load Calibre and under 'Add Books' surf to the 'My Digital Editions' folder and load them into Calibre, then use 'Send to Device' to send them to the Sony. (also only works after the Sony Reader has been registered in ADE)

Even if you don't strip the DRM, Calibre can still manage and transfer books to your Sony for you, it just can open them for viewing locally (use ADE for that), and you will have to find some way to get your Sony registered to your ADE account first for this to work.

If you do want to strip DRM, please note that ALL the 'Apprentice Alf' scripts and Calibre Pluggins will work under Linux, though for the first step of extracting your local ADE Key, you may have to install the Win32 versions of Python and PyCrypto under Wine.

To do this, after ADE is registered under Wine, you will need to load the Win32 versions of Python and PyCrypto libraries into Wine, then run the Python key extraction script from a 'wineconsole cmd' virtual C:\> prompt (this is easier if you copy the ineptkey script right into the wine C:\Python26 folder, then CD to that folder to run the script).

I'm sorry that both the XP under Virtual Box, and Ubuntu USB solutions, are such a pain to configure, because once you get all this configured, either solution will work really well.

[ilovejedd]

I've never had a problem with XP activation inside a virtual environment. I've used the same image on an Atom 330, Sempron 3200+, Celeron E3300, Pentium E5200, Pentium E6300, Core 2 Duo E7200, Core i3-530, Phenom II X6 1055T and Core i7-860 and not once have I been prompted to re-activate. That's with a TechNet (FPP) key, though.

As for just reporting an older CPU, part of the reason virtualization is fast is because some resources such as the CPU is mostly transparent to the virtualized OS. Emulation is much, much, much slower.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I've never had a problem with XP activation inside a virtual environment. I've used the same image on an Atom 330, Sempron 3200+, Celeron E3300, Pentium E5200, Pentium E6300, Core 2 Duo E7200, Core i3-530, Phenom II X6 1055T and Core i7-860 and not once have I been prompted to re-activate. That's with a TechNet (FPP) key, though.

As for just reporting an older CPU, part of the reason virtualization is fast is because some resources such as the CPU is mostly transparent to the virtualized OS. Emulation is much, much, much slower.

Most modern X86 CPUs are backward compatible at a hardware binary level, so it's not necessary to switch to emulated instructions, just lie to the VM by reporting some kind of simpler 'lowest common denominator' device like a pentium 4. Yes there are some subtle ways that this can cause issues, but in general it should work for nearly all XP 32 bit applications.

As far as the XP activation issues go . . .

Yes, with the Full Product version of XP you are technically entitled to move the license, but even with the full version, I tied this a few years back and couldn't get the web activation to work, even though I had Internet connectivity and Explorer was up and working in the VirtualBox VM. I was told that XP web activations had been discontinued for ALL versions, and that I would have to call for telephone activation.

It's possible that Microsoft has pulled their collective heads out of their posteriors, and fixed this after realizing that trying to kill off XP isn't promoting Win7, it's just driving people to Apple, Android, Linux and other more less restrictive, or more reliable and secure alternatives.

These alternatives now have more of the market than ever thanks these stupid Microsoft practices (like not letting you move a perfectly legal copy of XP from a dead PC's hard drive to another PC.)

Guess what Billy boy, when I ran into this, I didn't run out and buy a copy of Windows 7, I just downloaded Ubuntu, and had NO trouble getting Linux loaded on those same PCs, and they are now working about ten times more reliably than XP or Win7 ever did.

Microsoft does have a virtual machine XP environment, but they are doing everything they possible can to NOT promote it. This is right up there with the STUPIDEST thing they have ever done (and there have been some dillies). Best thing Microsoft could do if they want to have any hope whatsoever of saving the Windows OS would be to make a Virtual Machine based portable thumb drive XP environment freely available so folks could run it portably on any PC, that way they might not abandon Windows.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by delphin

It's possible that Microsoft has pulled their collective heads out of their posteriors, and fixed this after realizing that trying to kill off XP isn't promoting Win7, it's just driving people to Apple, Android, Linux and other more less restrictive, or more reliable and secure alternatives.

These alternatives now have more of the market than ever [...]

Guess what Billy boy, when I ran into this, I didn't run out and buy a copy of Windows 7, I just downloaded Ubuntu [...]
Best thing Microsoft could do if they want to have any hope whatsoever of saving the Windows OS[...]

Yeah, Linux and it's <%1 market share have Billy Boy and his >90% SHAKING! Whatever would he do without business advice from us here on the Interwebs!

Seriously, it's great to see the success of Linux and Android, and especially in portable devices and other embedded systems, it's nice that they, along with iOS, are eating into MS's overall market share (Windows is just below 90% overall, I think I saw somewhere) but "any hope of saving Windows?"....

Windows 7 poses one additional serious problem for Linux on the desktop: Unlike most previous versions of Windows, it's actually pretty good!

(For the record, two of my home machines dual boot Win7 and some flavor of Linux, my third one, that I use for work as dev in the Microsoft world runs XP. I tend to spend my leisure computing time in Win7 now and use Linux just occasionally for learning and hobbyist stuff.)

[delphin]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I've never had a problem with XP activation inside a virtual environment. I've used the same image on an Atom 330, Sempron 3200+, Celeron E3300, Pentium E5200, Pentium E6300, Core 2 Duo E7200, Core i3-530, Phenom II X6 1055T and Core i7-860 and not once have I been prompted to re-activate. That's with a TechNet (FPP) key, though.

As for just reporting an older CPU, part of the reason virtualization is fast is because some resources such as the CPU is mostly transparent to the virtualized OS. Emulation is much, much, much slower.

Most modern X86 CPUs are backward compatible, so it's not necessary to switch to emulated instructions, just lie to the VM by reporting some kind of simpler 'lowest common denominator' device like a pentium 4. Yes there are some subtle ways that this can cause issues, but in general it should work for nearly all XP 32 bit applications.

As far as the XP activation issues go . . .

Yes, with the Full Product version of XP you are technically entitled to move the license, but even with the full version, I tied this a few years back and couldn't get the web activation to work, even though I had Internet connectivity and Explorer was up and working in the VirtualBox VM. I was told that XP web activations had been discontinued for ALL versions, and that I would have to call for telephone activation.

It's possible that Microsoft has pulled their collective heads out of their posteriors, and fixed this after realizing that trying to kill off XP isn't promoting Win7, it's just driving people to Apple, Android, Linux, and other less restrictive, or more reliable and secure alternatives.

These alternatives now have more of the market than ever thanks these stupid Microsoft practices (like not letting you move a perfectly legal copy of XP from a dead PC's hard drive to another PC.)

Guess what Billy boy, when I ran into this, I didn't run out and buy a copy of Windows 7, I just downloaded Ubuntu, and had NO trouble getting Linux loaded on those same PCs, and they are now working about ten times more reliably than XP or Win7 ever did.

Microsoft does have a virtual machine XP environment, but they are doing everything they possible can to NOT promote it. This is right up there with the STUPIDEST thing they have ever done (and there have been some dillies). Best thing Microsoft could do if they want to have any hope whatsoever of saving the Windows OS would be to make a Virtual Machine based portable thumb drive XP environment freely available so folks could run it portably on any PC, that way they might not abandon windows.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by delphin

I was told that XP web activations had been discontinued for ALL versions, and that I would have to call for telephone activation.

Who the heck told you that? From 2007 until now, the only time I've needed to resort to activation via telephone is when Microsoft's activation servers are down (usually for just a day or two) - and I tend to activate a copy of XP every couple of months (mostly virtual machines used for testing purposes). Vista was released in 2006, 7 in 2009.

As for moving copies of XP, OEM's pay a lot less for a Windows license. Besides, that's why there are different licensing levels. The OEM is cheaper because it's tied to the hardware. If you want something you can move from computer to computer, then buy the retail version.

Sure, you might say Apple sells OS X for much less than Microsoft charges for Windows but you have to remember Apple makes money from hardware sales. $150 for a Snow Leopard family pack might seem inexpensive but your entry-level Mac hardware is the Mac Mini for $700 or the iMac for $1,200. If you want something more powerful than either, you jump directly to the Mac Pro for $2,500.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by ApK

Yeah, Linux and it's <%1 market share have Billy Boy and his >90% SHAKING! Whatever would he do without business advice from us here on the Interwebs!

We'll see if you are still laughing next year.

As of 1st Quarter of 2011 Apple surpassed Microsoft in quarterly earnings and that should be telling them something.

Still, Microsoft made record profits last year, so they must be doing something right, though I will admit that I'll be damned if I can figure out what it is.

Win7 "pretty good", yep with only 5 times the CPU horsepower, ten times the memory, and more than 20 times the hard drive space, it can pretty much keep up with the features, responsiveness, and multimedia performance I was seeing in Windows 98 more than 10 years ago.

Of course the user interface is much less consistent, and the new Start-Bar layout totally sucks, but I guess you can't expect too much from a generation of programmers who are so lame that they actually think 'XML' is a significant software development.

Above, I mentioned Apple's success, which is all the more spectacular when you consider that the company was hovering on the edge of bankruptcy only a little over a decade ago.

This success was driven in large part by Apple's dominance in the portable devices area, and this trend is increasing, with the introduction of thousands of new applications for smart phones, tablets, and other portable devices.

As successful as Apple has been, they are loosing significant market share in the smart phone and tablet area to a strong new competitor, but that competitor is NOT MICROSOFT, it's to Google's Android OS.

Currently there are on the order of about 400,000 Apps available for Apple devices at the Apple Web Store, and roughly 300,000 for Android in Google's Android Market, but many analysts are predicting that by the end of 2011, Android may well surpass even Apple.

Which brings me back to Linux, and Ubuntu specifically.

Because both Ubuntu and Android are Linux based, the Ubuntu developers are working to allow Ubuntu to seamlessly run Android Apps on the Ubuntu desktop.

Don't underrate Linux. Microsoft made that mistake, and woke up to find that they had lost about a third of the Netbook market to Linux.

If Ubuntu can be given full access to the Android Market, just at a time when Android it is posed to mature into a real OS, it could become one of the largest, most vibrant, best supported, and actively developed, software bases on the planet, and Microsoft could easily wake up to find that they have lost not only the other two thirds of the Netbook market, but virtually all of the desktop, and corporate market as well.

Or maybe not . . .

Either way, between Apple, Google, and Ubuntu, if I were Microsoft I would be afraid, I would be VERY AFRAID.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by delphin

We'll see if you are still laughing next year.

...

If I were Microsoft I would be afraid, I would be VERY AFRAID.

Hey, you guys, next year is The Year Of Desktop Linux! Uh, guys? Hey, guys. Why are you laughing, you guys?

[delphin]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Hey, you guys, next year is The Year Of Desktop Linux! Uh, guys? Hey, guys. Why are you laughing, you guys?

Yes, Linux becoming a serious contender as a desktop OS has indeed been touted as 'right around the corner' for more than a decade.

One of the problems, is that the Open Source software movement can be it's own worst enemy.

Though I use Linux every day, and know that it can be made to work quite nicely as a desktop OS, it won't really be ready for prime time as long as Linux developers -

1. Arrogantly assume that doing things differently than Windows is automatically doing them better, even when it's NOT.

2. Believe that having FIFTY mediocre ways of doing something is better than having ONE good way.

3. Invest man-years writing code, and then refuse to spend 10 minutes writing documentation so someone can actually use it.

4. Embrace trendy, convoluted standards that add needless layers of complexity without solving any significant problems, while not bothering to standardize even the most basic features of Linux between different Linux distributions (like the the file system folder hierarchy - should that executable go in usr/bin usr/sbin usr/share/bin?).

5. Assert that some of the STUPIDER Features of -NIX style OS's are sacred cows that can never change, and refuse to discuss it, but then one day suddenly DO change them to something EQUALLY STUPID (because we never dared discuss it.)

6. Prefer to argue ad nauseam about the definition of the word "free", instead of writing code, till the entire discussion becomes totally "free" of meaning, and the project becomes "free" of any value.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by delphin

Either way, between Apple, Google, and Ubuntu, if I were Microsoft I would be afraid, I would be VERY AFRAID.

Nonsense!!

[mrmls]

Originally Posted by delphin

Sure the Sony only needs to be registered once, but EVERY MAC or PC used needs to also be REGISTERED TO MATCH or you can't use it to buy books and transfer them to the Sony.

This is true whether you use Sony's software or Adobe's; you STILL HAVE TO REGISTER EACH AND EVER PC YOU WANT TO USE TO PURCHASE AND DOWNLOAD BOOKS, or else they will NOT WORK when transfered to the SONY.

This is a royal PITA if you are traveling and trying to use a friends PC, or one at a library or data kiosk, to purchase and load books.

True, once you have already purchased and downloaded books using a properly registered PC, you could then use ANY PC to move these already purchased books onto the device via drag and drop or Calibre, so for example you can carry backup copies of your books on a memory stick and use anyone's PC to move them to your reader, but since the Sony will hold hundreds of books, and rarely crashes so that books must be reloaded, this is not going to be useful very often.

I am not writing about shopping on Sony stores. But there are many other stores where one can buy Adobe DRM epubs.
In one of them I bought a DRMed epub using GNU/Linux computer without any "proper" software and I was able to download that epub and transfer that book without any problems. Maybe for other shops there are other and more restricted policies, I haven't tried all world's stores. But at least for 1 in this world it worked.

Just to be extra clear: I did activate my reader using a Windows machine once and only once.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by mrmls

I am not writing about shopping on Sony stores. But there are many other stores where one can buy Adobe DRM epubs.
In one of them I bought a DRMed epub using GNU/Linux computer without any "proper" software and I was able to download that epub and transfer that book without any problems. Maybe for other shops there are other and more restricted policies, I haven't tried all world's stores. But at least for 1 in this world it worked.

Just to be extra clear: I did activate my reader using a Windows machine once and only once.

Normally when you download a book from one of these sites, you only get a link to a .ascm file which you then need to drag and drop into Adobe Digital Editions to complete the download.

If the site let you directly download an EPUB book file I suspect that it was because -

a) You used a registered copy of ADE to do the download in Linux (which, does work, with minor issues as I said in my previous post)

b) The site did not require DRM on that particular title, or just doesn't use DRM at all ([If you like SF, Bean books is an example of a publisher with great titles with no DRM)

c) If the book DID have DRM, and you were able to download it directly without using ADE, then it was because you had previously set up an account with that site, and had downloaded previously using ADE or the Sony Library, so the site was able to register and store your Adobe Key. Without access to this key, it would be impossible for a site to send you a properly DRM encrypted book that would decode and read on your SONY.

[hermes]

I've pretty much given up on having any semblance of anonymity (too much jumping through hoops and technical stuff), now just a little bit of privacy will do. So, I am wondering, can one register rather sloppily with Adobe Digital Editions - say forgetting that your surname isn't 'Wong' and that you don't live in Salt Lake City? Or is the identity info one used to purchase a DRM book somehow matched to registering the software, so once you are in, you can't escape this 1984 nightmare?

I am appalled at all the problems I read here about using a Sony reader. If it wasn't for the super small size I would take mine back. While I understand the legitimate need to prevent copyright infringement, all these restrictions are having a significant dampening of my joi de'vivre on ebook reading. Imagine, you buy a book and you are told 'no, you can't read it on the john, you can only read it in the dining room (unless you tell us about it first),' 'no, you can't lend the book to a friend', 'Yes, you've paid for it but you can't sell it in a garage sale' etc. And worst of all (if this is truly the case, I don't know)... 'We want to know the identity of whoever is reading our books.'