Sony's London press conference - roundup

[Nate the great]

Very little _new_ news was announced in London Wednesday. The cat had been let out of bag on the European release of the Reader Pocket Edition and Reader Touch Edition by the leaked service manuals. The only really interesting news would have been the Reader Daily Edition, even though it was foreshadowed by yesterday's event in New York. Sadly, it isn't scheduled to happen any time soon.

The Touch Edition and the Pocket Edition are available for preorder from Play.com, WHSmiths, bol.com, (parts of) Sonystyle Europe, and Waterstone's. Bol.com has also opened a new ebookstore with over 100k titles (public domain in English, for the most part).

As we've reported elsewhere, yesterday Sony released version 3.0 of their Ebook Library. This latest version adds Mac support, as well as the ability to download the annotations from the Touch Edition.

One last interesting tidbit is that Sony UK has a list of libraries which support ebooks. The list can be found here.

[FizzyWater]

Wow.

I wish I could summarize as succinctly as you! People I work with cringe when they see emails from me because they're almost always loooooong.

And I'm happy to see the UK libraries will also be participating!

[bavardage]

So, the current cheapest is WHSmiths then. Hmm, no John Lewis (though I haven't seen any red 600s for preorder anyway, could they be doing the same red-exclusivity?)

[Tuna]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The only really interesting news would have been the Reader Daily Edition, even though it was foreshadowed by yesterday's event in New York. Sadly, it isn't scheduled to happen any time soon.

Is this the absence of information, or the information of absence? Have Sony made a statement of their intent with regards to the Daily Edition in the UK/Europe?

[AprilHare]

That list of libraries is extensive isn't it? Nine libraries, strike me pink!
(my sarcasm bone is getting a workout..)

[sony_fox]

I haven't checked all of them. But hte three I did look at, NONE of them actually offered ebooks. Yet. And there was no mention that they were going to, nor any search returns fro the phrase 'ebook'

I know Manchester Library is considering it,because I emailed them a while ago and asked. - yet they don't appear on the Sony list. I wonder where they did get that list from? They're all fairly small county library services, that I wounldn't expect to be leading the forefront of modern technology.

Will (when if it ever happens) UK library books only be on the 600? (or the Daily Edition? (what number will that have?)) or can you download them to a PC and transfer to the 505?

SO much left unclear.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by sony_fox

Will (when if it ever happens) UK library books only be on the 600? (or the Daily Edition? (what number will that have?)) or can you download them to a PC and transfer to the 505?

This is a standard capability of Adobe Digital Editions, so they will work on all your ADE devices. These are currently, Windows PC, Mac, or a selection of EInk devices including all Sony Readers except the PRS-500 (never released in the UK). On all current EInk devices (and probably even on the Sony Daily Edition) you need a Windows PC or Mac to download the DRMed (encrypted) ebook, which you can then copy to your Sony. It is exactly the same process as a commercial ebook you buy, except that the ebook expires after 2-3 weeks.

[dogsballs]

the south dublin county council library(on the list) allows people to join online
they are using the overdrive software

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by dogsballs

the south dublin county council library(on the list) allows people to join online
they are using the overdrive software

Do they accept foreigners?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by sony_fox

I wonder where they did get that list from?

Their list is from Overdrive who is providing the service to the libraries.

[zelda_pinwheel]

did anybody notice that at the top of the "Get free ebooks" page there is a giant link to feedbooks ?

[AndiR]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

did anybody notice that at the top of the "Get free ebooks" page there is a giant link to feedbooks ?

But what about MobileRead.com

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by AndiR

But what about MobileRead.com

you should write them and suggest it.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by sony_fox

I haven't checked all of them. But hte three I did look at, NONE of them actually offered ebooks. Yet. And there was no mention that they were going to, nor any search returns fro the phrase 'ebook'.

Luton Libraries have a small collection of PDF ebooks - they're looking to expand, but are going to stick with PDF for the moment.
An email they sent me said:

"The market leader at present is the Sony ereader, which supports PDF, and when the Kindle is launched in the UK this autumn it will also support PDF format. These are the two biggest sellers worldwide and this has influenced our choice of format.
We also wanted a format that would work for people with a visual impairment, as we work in partnership with Sight Concern, who help people who are blind or partially sighted to access services, so our ebooks are being promoted to their customers as an accessible library service.
We will be looking to develop the service in the future, and will add more formats if our budget allows, but PDF does seem to be working for us currently, with 25% of all downloads from the site currently being ebooks."

I did reply, with links to the information about PDFs and other formats on MR.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

We also wanted a format that would work for people with a visual impairment, as we work in partnership with Sight Concern, who help people who are blind or partially sighted to access services, so our ebooks are being promoted to their customers as an accessible library service.

They might want to know that the Sony readers support ePUB too, and that ePUB is way better than PDF for people with visual impairment, as it's easier for text-to-speech technologies and permits to use large fonts.