Reader and OSX

[dkosburn]

Hi,

I purchased my Sony Reader from the SonyStyle at the Kansas City Plaza two weeks ago today. So far I'm loving it and have read 4 books and started on my 5th (thats when I can pry it out of my wife's hands). My dilemma is that while I do have an antiquated Windows XP machine that is barely sufficient for web browsing and Connect, my primary machine is a 15" G4 PowerBook running OSX 10.4.10.

I have installed libprs500, and am using it to transfer files converted with 'pdftohtml' and then 'html2lrf', but I can only copy one file at a time and the application exits (with no error codes) after each transfer. So to copy multiple books I have to keep reopening the application, and it then rescans my Reader every time.

My question is this: what is the most stable method of creating LRF and copying them to the Reader under OSX? I've been lurking around the forums since the day I brought my Reader home (I've coveted one since they were announced last year) but so far I'm not finding any clear-cut "This is the easiest method" answers.

Cheers,
- Dustin

[kovidgoyal]

Best wait for libprs500 v0.4.0, or use the commandline prs500 command that's part of libprs500
prs500 cp mybook.lrf prs500:/Data/media/books

[DaveNB]

(Note: Most of this info is scattered in several threads on the forum. This post is what I've gleaned from reading through the various OS X threads and what's worked for me. Please correct me if I've messed anything up or if I've omitted anything.)

For protected eBooks you've purchased from Sony, I'm afraid you'll have to keep using a Windows Machine as there is no Connect Store client for OS X (maybe one day, but I wouldn't hold my breath as it seems like Sony pretty much turns a blind eye to OS X/Mac's).

Go here http://labs.docudesk.com/

They offer a free Sony Reader eBook uploader that is working well for me. It's very basic (doesn't support collections) but will upload eBooks (lrf, txt, rtf, pdf) as well as pictures and music (mp3, aac) files.

http://labs.docudesk.com/latest-tech...-for-os-x.html

I use their DeskUNPDF application to convert PDF's to LRF and it seems to work well for most PDF's (not all PDF's will reflow properly for viewing on the Sony Reader though). It too is free (trial period for conversion to .doc, .txt and other editable formats expires as of 6/15 unless you purchase, but they've generously kept the .lrf conversion capabilities free).

http://labs.docudesk.com/latest-tech...-previews.html

I use PieLRF (OS X command binaries and a GUI now available) for converting .txt and HTML to .lrf format. You can find a thread about this command line utility on this forum here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10752

And for the GUI utility here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11696

Some folks have had luck with this general eBook managent application that happens to support the Sony Reader:
http://bookpac.com/software.php
More Info here:
http://www.bookpac.com/site/blog/bib...ves_the_sony_0
I haven't tried it yet myself.

libprs500 looks very promising, but still has some quirks. I think ultimately it'll be the most useful tool to convert from MANY different formats to .lrf and once the Mac GUI's bugs get ironed out, should be great for library management as well. It's the one application that's trying to be a one-stop, integrated conversion/library management tool on OS X (and Linux and Windows as well I think).

Sadly, we're still stuck with Sony's rather Connect software for their purchased eBooks. If you're on a newer Intel CPU Mac you have some options:

1) You can run Windows XP within OS X with Parellels (http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/mac/) or VMware (http://www.vmware.com/) and run Sony Connect in a virtual machine. Forum Discussion about doing this (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ight=crossover).

2) You can dual boot into Windows XP via Bootcamp (http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/) and install the Sony Connect software that way.

The downside to these 3 methods however is you have to give up a bunch of disk space for a full Windows install. But you will get the added flexibility of running Windows XP software at near native speeds if you need such capabilities.

3) You could even try CodeWeaver's Windows OS System call emulator (maps/translates Windows system calls to OS X system calls without installing Windows) called CrossOver (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/) to see if the Sony Connect can run that way. Sony Connect is not listed in their database of applications that have been tried on CrossOver (Anyone out there wanna try it out and tell the rest of us?).

Good Luck,

Dave

[NatCh]

Welcome to MobileRead, dkosburn!

Sounds to me like you need to head back to Kansas City and buy a second Reader for your wife.

(If you do, make sure you add it to your existing ConnStore account, rather than creating a new one for it, so that you can share ConnStore books between them.)

[dkosburn]

Thanks for all the information!

Unfortunate circumstances have actually put me back in KC for the coming week or so, my town was flooded out this past weekend so we have spotty electricity and no running water for about another week is the estimate. So once the water receded to the point we could get out we loaded up the kids and are staying with a couple of friends.

[HarryT]

Sorry to hear that. We've had horrendous floods in parts of the UK too - it was the wettest June on record. Hope things get sorted out for you soon.