Sony closes USA and Canada ebook store

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by benham

I have downloaded all my Sony ebooks to the Sony desktop and the 505. There doesn't seem to be any way to transfer them to a thumb drive. I can download them to the tablet and transfer that way.

Do you use Calibre?

I import all my Sony Reader for PC books straight into Calibre, where they're cleaned, and then you can send them anywhere you like.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Alfy

On a side note, the Sony store was the only place where it was easy for someone without an American credit card to sign up to. I'm wondering if my account switching to Kobo is going to raise some red flags.

Alfy I have a number of Kobo accounts, each I base in a country other than Aus, and one in Aus.

I use the same credit card details for each account - and it's Aus.

No worries

[Phil_C]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Got my first Sony (505) in early 08. Now have a T1.

What's next; a Paperwhite, i.e., switch to Kindle or get a Kobo when my T1 bites the dust?

Grab a couple of T3's from Canada, like I did. (Try archambault.ca --- they are nice to deal with.) They should last for 5+ years. And I hope that batteries will still be available for my 350's.

Buy epubs everywhere. Buy Kindle books and convert with calibre + Alf.

No need to think about switching from Sony hardware for a long, long time.

[Hellmark]

That really sucks. I love my 505. Really, I'd still have just Sony readers if they released one with a lighted screen (I have my 505, wife was a 300, then last summer we got Nook STR Glowlights). Sony seems to just stop trying, then give up because they aren't doing so well. Well, no shit, if you don't try to compete, you'll have people eat your market share.

[Alfy]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Alfy I have a number of Kobo accounts, each I base in a country other than Aus, and one in Aus.

I use the same credit card details for each account - and it's Aus.

No worries

Yeah, I checked that yesterday, and it worked like a charm. This is great news!

On a side note, when I chose to download the book from Kobo, it opened my Sony reader software. I am assuming it's only because of the acms association, but still, it was weird.

[Lynx-lynx]

@alfy it's because you've set Sony Reader for PCas your preferred program to download all epubs.

I download all DRM and DRM free epubs irrespective of where I buy them from directly into Reader for PC (including Library books). Then I import them into Calibre and they're cleaned.

I don't use ADE at all.

PS don't forget to check out Kobo India - no publisher restrictions and very cheap.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Alfy I have a number of Kobo accounts, each I base in a country other than Aus, and one in Aus.

I use the same credit card details for each account - and it's Aus.

No worries

Same(ish). And they take Paypal.

[Lynx-lynx]

For those Sony users who haven't bought ebooks from Kobo before don't forget to look at the Kobo Discounts thread in the Freebies sub forum.

The Kobo Discounts thread usually sits at the top of the page.

Currently there's a 50% code and a couple of lesser codes operational. Please read the last 12 or so pages of the thread to get the hang of it and to understand about why discounts don't work on books with publisher restrictions.

[SoCalReader]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Small point: the Kobo light (Aura, Aura HD, Glo) is easily turned on and off. It's a hardware button. As for screen size, all the readers I've owned have had a 6" screen, which is comparable to the average mass-market paperback. My old Palm T2, now that was a postage-stamp screen...

Thanks As I say to my colleagues while they read those paper thingies, the advantage of e-readers is the ability to change font size. Aura HD looks promising, but SWMBO likes her Sony PRS-T2 because of the buttons - easier for single hand reading.

And one never crosses SWMBO.

(Another datum - Sony reader folks are cranky.)

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by SoCalReader

Thanks As I say to my colleagues while they read those paper thingies, the advantage of e-readers is the ability to change font size. Aura HD looks promising, but SWMBO likes her Sony PRS-T2 because of the buttons - easier for single hand reading.

Changing the font size is a huge advantage; I sometimes want to get a chapter or two in before bed, but my eyes are tired - bumping up the font size a notch or two helps a lot.

As for single-hand reading, in my experience that depends on how big your hands are and in which hand you hold the reader. If I held my Glo in my right hand, I could easily read one-handed, aside from the occasional need to go back a page; my thumb would naturally hover above the right edge.

However, I'm more used to holding books (electronic or otherwise) in my left hand, and my hands are large enough that I can hold the Glo with all five fingers around the lower half (thumb on left edge, pinky supporting bottom edge, remaining fingertips around right edge), in which position I can tap the right edge of the screen with the tip of my middle finger to advance a page. Alternately, if I shift my grip so that the bottom left corner of the device rests in the center of my palm, with my pinky supporting the bottom edge and the other three fingers supporting the back, I can use my thumb to swipe left or right and thus page forward or back that way. (It actually ends up being more of a diagonal up/left or down/right swipe, but the Glo doesn't mind.) That's a bit looser grip than I prefer, though; it's as if the reader is a canvas and I'm using my hand as an easel - if I tilt my hand too much, the reader just falls right out. Regardless, if I switch from reading to interacting with menus, I always shift to a firm grip and do that two-handed, just because I need the extra control that gives me.

Of course, different people are different; that's just my personal experience. All of those options are better than what I had with my first Kobo, which was a Wi-fi model that used a directional pad in the bottom right corner. That was no more one-hand friendly than is your average gaming controller...for the same reasons.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by Phil_C

Grab a couple of T3's from Canada, like I did. (Try archambault.ca --- they are nice to deal with.) They should last for 5+ years. And I hope that batteries will still be available for my 350's.

Buy epubs everywhere. Buy Kindle books and convert with calibre + Alf.

No need to think about switching from Sony hardware for a long, long time.

Aren't Kindle books DRM protected?

[taming]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Short form: As near as I can tell, the no-download-button books are in EPUB 3.0 format, there's no reason Kobo couldn't give a download button for them, but at present the only way to get at them is with a Kobo app or device.

At least some of the books are designed to work only on tablets, not on eink devices. Some seem to be to be fairly graphics intensive books, often for kids. They were added to Kobo in this format by the publisher.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Aren't Kindle books DRM protected?

Import the Kindle book/s into Calibre, clean them and convert to whichever format suits.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by taming

At least some of the books are designed to work only on tablets, not on eink devices. Some seem to be to be fairly graphics intensive books, often for kids. They were added to Kobo in this format by the publisher.

And some - even many - are not. My go-to example is Hachette's Orbit imprint, which is now published in EPUB 3.0 format rather than EPUB 2.0 format. It has nothing to do with the content, which is still basic fiction with the occasional illustration - they just started using a different formatting process which spits out EPUB 3.0 books that degrade gracefully for EPUB 2.0 readers. (For instance, instead of depending entirely on the XHTML table of contents that EPUB 3.0 requires and uses, they also include the NCX file that EPUB 3.0 permits specifically because EPUB 2.0 requires it.)

In other words, while it is true that some EPUB 3.0 books require features that EPUB 2.0 readers do not support, it is also true that anything that can be published as an EPUB 2.0 book can also be published in the EPUB 3.0 format. The way it displays won't change, but it'll comply with the newer version of the spec.

I was discussing this a couple of weeks ago with an author who also produces ebooks for other people as a sideline, and he confirmed that he publishes his own ebooks in EPUB 3.0 format, but there's a piece of software he uses that also vets them under the EPUB 2.0 standard. Before he releases those ebooks, he makes sure they work in both modes. Most relevantly to this discussion, he has not directed Kobo to flag his books as "tablet-only," and yet at least one of them is in Kobo's "no download button" purgatory.

But then, that's why I linked to the full thread and only provided a brief summary in this one. I figured that anyone interested in more detail would, y'know, look over there for it.

[benham]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Make sure you download version 2.01 and not 3.0. There is going to be a new drm soon that older ereaders can't use. 2.01 is on the same download page as 3.0.

Oops, I downloaded 3.0. I'll uninstall it and download 2.01. I also will install Calibre. I have a little bit of familiarity with it, but not much.