Which one should I buy iRex or SONY?

[NatCh]

A defect in the security of a MacroHard product that makes the security irrelevant? Who'd'a thunk it?

[UncleDuke]

its only been about 6 months since the us launch of the sony reader. why all the fuss over the pond. they had a lot of stuff before us.

to the average consumer, not anyone here, the sony is a paperweight without the sony bookstore. they are not going to seek their own books, just buy them. unless they have the rights for the books to sell in a country or union there is no reason to offer the reader for sale.

[wallcraft]

This appears to be a limitation (feature?) of associating the e-book with a single device. MobiPocket (for example) seems to have no problem selling e-books to everyone, presumably because they have worldwide rights to the book and/or no technical means of limiting sales (MobiPocket books are mulit-device and sold by multiple sites).

I am surprized that there is no technical work around to the USA only limitation. If your ISP is in the US, or just has a US domain associated with your PC, how does Sony discover that you are not physically in the US?

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

If your ISP is in the US, or just has a US domain associated with your PC, how does Sony discover that you are not physically in the US?

I don't think they give a flip about the IP or the domain, or where you physically are for that matter (we've had reports of the Reader being sold on U.S. military bases overseas, for instance). They apparently just go by the billing address on the credit card you try to pay them with. Kinda hard to spoof that.

[wallcraft]

Do pre-paid "gift" credit cards work? It appears that the name and address on the card can be changed by the recipient (which could be yourself).

[NatCh]

Yup. The pre-paid gift cards work just fine -- that's one of the work-arounds that folks have come up with.

I don't think they care about the addresses on those, just the gift card #.


My best guess here is that they're showing "due diligence" about not distributing books where they don't officially have distribution rights.

[wallcraft]

A Sony pre-paid gift card needs a US credit card in the loop, but a pre-paid VISA (say) gift card would not. Buy a VISA gift card with your UK (say) credit card, then register it to yourself with a US address.

[NatCh]

Hmmm. Just might work.

You can recharge those things, too, can't you?

[Azayzel]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

So far as I know, .lit is the only e-book DRM that has been broken - and this is done by side-stepping the DRM rather than actually breaking it (PDF may be another example, but there are levels of PDF security and I don't think the highest levels have been broken). This has not seemed to have prevented publishers from using the .lit format, and it has probably increased sales of .lit books. I'm sure that all the existing e-book DRM schemes could be broken, but perhaps only by a huge effort that may not be forthcoming for a relatively small market segment. Note that most "breaks" of DRM are of the .lit kind, i.e. some defect in the total system rather than the actual encryption.

You have a point, but what I was stating was that no matter how they try to secure something, it will be broken. That's the cool thing about software, once it's on your box you can do whatever you want to it to see how it works and how to make it bend to your will. I think the fundamental factor that pushes how quickly DRM is broken, or any security for that matter, is the number of people who are using it or are going to be affected by it; e.g., a cracker won't attack a little-known format if he/she cannot gain noteriety through the act, so hitting a more commonly used format equals quicker/greater fame.

LIT, PDB, PDF, RB, et al., have all been broken at some point. As to PDF's, why do you think Adobe keeps creating newer "updated" versions? To fix what security flaws that have been exploited, be it in DRM or software activation. It doesn't matter how the exploit is enacted, simply that it was enough to circumnavigate the security in the first place.

[Tulkas]

Quote from my personal email from Sony (Uk) dated 31st May, on eReader release date:

"Thank you for your email. At this time we do not have any release dates for the Ebook reader, however we have been informed that it should be coming towards the end of the year."

It appears we're not going to have to wait too long for it to hit this side of the pond. Now all I need is for them to do a deal with Amazon/Mobipocket and one will be joining my iLiad on the 'bookshelf'

[Bunter]

I've never seen physical version of Sony in action but as a new iLiad owner I can tell one thing: if the screen would be smaller than iLiad has, you could mostly read only sci-fi novels on it...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bunter

I've never seen physical version of Sony in action but as a new iLiad owner I can tell one thing: if the screen would be smaller than iLiad has, you could mostly read only sci-fi novels on it...

iLiad = $699
Sony - $299 ($60 with credit card offer)

And I wonder how I'm able to read my Mystery books when I'm only able to read sci-fi novels? Can you tell me is my Sony special since it allows me to read more then just sci-fi? Or have I found the easter egg to allow me to do this wondrous feat? Please tell me since I'm really only supposed to be reading sci-fi. Is it because the screen is smaller then the iLiad that I can read sci-fi and not nothing else? I never knew I was doing things all wrong. Would you mind helping me remove all the books that are not sci-fi so I do it right?

[HarryT]

Much as I prefer reading on the iLiad to the Sony, I too find that a slightly curious statement. The Reader is approximately the same page size as a paperback book; the iLiad is approximately the same page size as a hardback book. Why ever should the page size have any influence on the subject matter one reads on it?

[ElaHuguet]

Originally Posted by HarryT

...The Reader is approximately the same page size as a paperback book; the iLiad is approximately the same page size as a hardback book.

You've said this a couple of times, so I'm taking it up with you (hehe, sorry, but screen size was my main issue in iLiad vs. Reader): your comparison is off, by quite a bit, unless my paperbacks and hardbacks are a very weird size. Photo, to prove it, is attached.

The paperback in photo is: 17.9cm x 10.6cm, diagonal: 20.8cm (8.3")
iLiad screen is: 16.4cm x 12.2cm, diagonal: 20.3cm (8.1")
Hardback is: 23.4cm x 15.3cm, diagonal: 27.8cm (11.12")

The iLiad is a bit shorter and wider than a paperback, that's why I format with practically no top/bottom margins, and 1.4 side margins. The Sony Reader is a lot smaller, it's only the same size as a paperback if you include the case.

edit: I have quite a few paperbacks falling to bits, which was useful for this photo, heh.

[ZeBuddha]

Perhaps one of the reasons Sony is dragging it's feet with the Reader in Europe is the simple fact that most "new" techs take at least a year or two after appearing in the US before they become available around here - and I won't even bother comparing with Japan.

It happened with 3G phones. It happened with Blackberries (well, that type of "phone", I've never actually seen a blackberry here). It happened with digital photography. The only notable exceptions are when the tech is actually developed here (such as Philips & the CD back in the 80's).

Aside from that, of course, is the fact that with file-sharing being legal over here, there's much less of an incentive to use something such as the connect store. Thus, there's less of an incentive for Sony to bring out the Reader here.

On the other hand, the high book prices in Europe (compared to the US - and specially with the high euro/low dollar) should make it a rather lucrative market for selling ebooks... then again, that might be the very reason they're such sticklers about only US customers buying from the Connect store...


EDIT:

Oh, and as far as the Reader coming over to this side of the puddle, a quick email to Sony Spain resulted in a utter lack of knowledge, with only the faintest recognition that something such as the PRS500 even exists somewhere in the world. Ie. No plans for it coming to Spain, nor any knowledge of which countries it's available in, nor any info on warranty coverage, nor anything on whether it will become available anywhere in Europe at all. I think they might've not known what the PRS500 was and just tried to hide their ignorance altogether actually :P