My first week with the 505

JeffElkins · 04-19-2008, 09:28 PM

I was unfortunate enough to be hospitalized for a surgical procedure that kept me in imprisoned Wednesday the 16th until today. I was fortunate enough to have several hours to convert a bunch of .mobi content to .lrf and have my Sony as a blessed companion during my durance vile!

The Good: This device is a pure pleasure to read! I don't watch much TV so the Sony was a real savior of my sanity. The battery life was superb, I dropped from four bars to three after hours and hours of reading from the 16th until about 5PM EST today. I bet my remaining three bars of battery would last until some time next week easily. The 505 was a hit with the staff too, I got loads of oohs and aahs and 'where can I get one,' from my caregivers.

The Bad: The Sony firmware just plain sucks. Now, I pretty much knew this going in (no folders, limited format support,etc) but even given these limitations, I'd just hate to try to manage more than the 35-40 Sony-format ebooks I have sitting on a 2GB SD card. I can and will live with it, since I can easily convert and manage ebooks with the godsend libprs500 package. Truly, If I was stuck with the Sony EConnect software I'd be wondering if I has wasted my $300 bucks! God Bless Kovidgoyal for this application!

I hope Sony steps up to the plate and hits a home run with a firmware update. At a minimum, folder and html support.

If not, I hope the openinkpot folks are able to deliver Sony-compatible firmware. I'd give my eyeteeth for an open Linux distro for this lovely hardware with a native implementation of FBReader. Of course I'm still on pain meds

MickeyC · 04-19-2008, 09:57 PM

Hi JeffElkins. Hope you're healing fast. I agree with you about all the good aspects of the Sony reader.

Have not tried any conversion protocols but sounds like you were successful with the Libprs500.

Ervserver · 04-19-2008, 10:39 PM

I don't use the Sony softeware nor do I convert much to lrf. I use bookdesigner and save everything to txt files. I'm very happy with that

astra · 04-21-2008, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ervserver

I don't use the Sony softeware nor do I convert much to lrf. I use bookdesigner and save everything to txt files. I'm very happy with that

But then you have no italics or bold...

Megatron-UK · 04-21-2008, 08:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astra

But then you have no italics or bold...

or table of contents,
or links,
or footnotes....

I've been using BookDesigner and when converting I save out to the Bookdesigner html0 format first, and then to LRF. That way if I ever get a different reader in the future I can fire up the html0 version and re-save in whatever form I want.

Oh, and yeah, Kovid's libprs500 suite is a godsend.

astra · 04-21-2008, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Megatron-UK

or table of contents,
or links,
or footnotes....

I've been using BookDesigner and when converting I save out to the Bookdesigner html0 format first, and then to LRF. That way if I ever get a different reader in the future I can fire up the html0 version and re-save in whatever form I want.

Ditto.

Quote:

Oh, and yeah, Kovid's libprs500 suite is a godsend

What do you use it for if you are using BD?

Megatron-UK · 04-21-2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astra

Ditto.

What do you use it for if you are using BD?

For automatic management of collections, attaching book icons, cleaning up metadata where needed and synchronising content to/from the device.

I attempted to use the Sony software but found it too cumbersome. I only use it for previewing LRF files.

Schmots · 04-21-2008, 11:57 AM

I too am on my first week with the 505 and love it. I use it on a mac exclusively and use the mac gui version of lib500 to convert and manage what books are on the device. My current frustration I am having is with the cost of ebooks. In a great many places I see them priced just as much as the physical copy sometimes even more. HarperCollins offers all of its books in ebook format now, but charges different amounts for different formats, sony usually being the most expensive format. Considering they have no inventory to move or space to hold it in, ebooks should cost considerably less than the physical counterpart.

04-19-2008, 09:28 PM	#1
JeffElkins Guru Posts: 780 Karma: 1416 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Kobo Clara 2E/HD, Kindle PW	My first week with the 505 I was unfortunate enough to be hospitalized for a surgical procedure that kept me in imprisoned Wednesday the 16th until today. I was fortunate enough to have several hours to convert a bunch of .mobi content to .lrf and have my Sony as a blessed companion during my durance vile! The Good: This device is a pure pleasure to read! I don't watch much TV so the Sony was a real savior of my sanity. The battery life was superb, I dropped from four bars to three after hours and hours of reading from the 16th until about 5PM EST today. I bet my remaining three bars of battery would last until some time next week easily. The 505 was a hit with the staff too, I got loads of oohs and aahs and 'where can I get one,' from my caregivers. The Bad: The Sony firmware just plain sucks. Now, I pretty much knew this going in (no folders, limited format support,etc) but even given these limitations, I'd just hate to try to manage more than the 35-40 Sony-format ebooks I have sitting on a 2GB SD card. I can and will live with it, since I can easily convert and manage ebooks with the godsend libprs500 package. Truly, If I was stuck with the Sony EConnect software I'd be wondering if I has wasted my $300 bucks! God Bless Kovidgoyal for this application! I hope Sony steps up to the plate and hits a home run with a firmware update. At a minimum, folder and html support. If not, I hope the openinkpot folks are able to deliver Sony-compatible firmware. I'd give my eyeteeth for an open Linux distro for this lovely hardware with a native implementation of FBReader. Of course I'm still on pain meds

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04-19-2008, 09:57 PM	#2
MickeyC Grand Sorcerer Posts: 16,732 Karma: 12185114 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Florida Device: iPhone 6 plus, Sony T1, iPad 3	Hi JeffElkins. Hope you're healing fast. I agree with you about all the good aspects of the Sony reader. Have not tried any conversion protocols but sounds like you were successful with the Libprs500.

04-19-2008, 10:39 PM	#3
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	I don't use the Sony softeware nor do I convert much to lrf. I use bookdesigner and save everything to txt files. I'm very happy with that

04-21-2008, 11:57 AM	#8
Schmots Connoisseur Posts: 79 Karma: 15 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: nook, prs-505, iphone	I too am on my first week with the 505 and love it. I use it on a mac exclusively and use the mac gui version of lib500 to convert and manage what books are on the device. My current frustration I am having is with the cost of ebooks. In a great many places I see them priced just as much as the physical copy sometimes even more. HarperCollins offers all of its books in ebook format now, but charges different amounts for different formats, sony usually being the most expensive format. Considering they have no inventory to move or space to hold it in, ebooks should cost considerably less than the physical counterpart.

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