Japanese Books

sithkittie · 03-12-2008, 04:23 PM

I'll try to explain this thoroughly. I have the Sony PRS-505. Everything so far has worked fine (except that my books keep disappearing from my computer for no reason). I have books from Sony Libre, the Japanese reader, that are in BBeB format. I got them from the Libre software through the Sony sponsored site. I don't know if my logic would actually work in this case, but I figured that I should, logically, be able to import the BBeB book into the eBook Library software like any other book considering it's a Sony product, and the file names are very similar to the US version, except instead of "cbus" to start it, the name starts with "CBJP."

When I try to import it, all the software says is "error" with no number.

Like I said, I don't know that my logic should necessarily work with this, but I figured I'd give it a shot because I'd really like to read my Japanese books on my reader. I contacted Sony before, but the computer responding kept giving me irrelavent answers. I tried again yesterday, and worded my question more directly, but I'm not very optimistic. Does anybody have suggestions or know anything about this?

NatCh · 03-12-2008, 04:55 PM

Welcome to MobileRead, sithkittie!

I think you're running into one (or both) of two things.

The most obvious (to me, anyway) is language: unless you've changed the fonts over to support it, the PRS505 doesn't have the fonts to display books in Japanese, it only supports "western" glyphs. In practical terms that translates roughly to English, German, French and Spanish alphabets (I don't mean that to be a complete list, by any means, just a representative one).

The second thing you might be hitting is DRM. Since you mentioned that you got the books in question from the Librié site, they're probably DRM locked. That brings up two possible conflicts. One being that your PRS505 isn't registered on the Librié site (unless you pulled that off, somehow, of course), so it wouldn't be able to unlock the books. The second being that I seem to recall that the Librié books were time limited, and may have "expired." I don't know if that would be the case with the specific ones you have, but if it is, that could be bollixing you too.

I doubt any of that will help with your actual problem, but some of it may help you understand what's going on ... which may or may not lead to any solution.

sithkittie · 03-12-2008, 05:06 PM

Thanks for responding so quickly.

I know there might be issues with the Japanese font, but I figured I'd work on getting the computer software to recognize that there is a file in my computer first before I dealt with that. The books aren't time locked, at least the ones I have. And when I transfered other BBeB files with the Libre software they worked fine on my device, so the only thing I can think of is the stupid DRM is blocking the US device.

With the Libre site, you don't have to register a device. Actually transfering the files "onto" the device, the only option was to transfer it to a memory stick, which was how I did it. You only have to register the software and your computer.

I got a response from Sony, but pretty much all it said was that PS2 games bought in Japan don't work on a US bought PS2. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get them to tell me whether or not the PRS-505 has the same type of regional set up as DVDs and Playstations.

NatCh · 03-12-2008, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sithkittie

Thanks for responding so quickly.

No worries, just happenstance, really.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sithkittie

... the only thing I can think of is the stupid DRM is blocking the US device.

Stupid DRM is always a good candidate when things don't work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sithkittie

I got a response from Sony, but pretty much all it said was that PS2 games bought in Japan don't work on a US bought PS2. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get them to tell me whether or not the PRS-505 has the same type of regional set up as DVDs and Playstations.

PS2's? Guess they didn't actually read your message, eh?

I'd suspect that they're simply using a different DRM scheme, the "not registering a device" thing makes it sound very likely. The PRS50X DRM is tied to an account, but the devices and DRMed books have to be tied to the same account to work. It sounds like the Librié books are only tied to the account. That's interesting, since it sounds like you could "lend" your books to another Librié user pretty easily with that approach.

But I digress. The PRS505 is probably tying to unlock the Librié book with its registered account key, and not having any luck, since that's not what the book itself is locked with.

That's mostly guesswork, of course, but it holds together, at least.

sithkittie · 03-12-2008, 05:27 PM

That would probably be it -_-;; Maybe I should look more at the Librie software instead of the eBook Library, and maybe I can unlock something there.

And yeah, you probably could lend it really easily, heh, unless there is something that I missed having to register a device. The books I did manage to transfer with the Librie software didn't have DRM. 2AM is not a good time to try reading technical stuff in Japanese.

I really appreciate it. I at least have another way to look at it, even though I doubt it'll work

NatCh · 03-12-2008, 05:36 PM

Glad to be that much help, at least.

igorsk · 03-12-2008, 06:48 PM

Librie's DRM is not compatible with Reader's DRM. And even if you were able somehow to unwrap the LRX and get an unencrypted LRF, you'd still need Japanese fonts to read it. Defaults fonts on the Reader include only Western character set.

sithkittie · 03-13-2008, 01:03 AM

Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm working on figuring that bit out right now. Thanks ^_^ I figured I'd go step by step.

03-12-2008, 04:23 PM	#1
sithkittie Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: PRS-505	Japanese Books I'll try to explain this thoroughly. I have the Sony PRS-505. Everything so far has worked fine (except that my books keep disappearing from my computer for no reason). I have books from Sony Libre, the Japanese reader, that are in BBeB format. I got them from the Libre software through the Sony sponsored site. I don't know if my logic would actually work in this case, but I figured that I should, logically, be able to import the BBeB book into the eBook Library software like any other book considering it's a Sony product, and the file names are very similar to the US version, except instead of "cbus" to start it, the name starts with "CBJP." When I try to import it, all the software says is "error" with no number. Like I said, I don't know that my logic should necessarily work with this, but I figured I'd give it a shot because I'd really like to read my Japanese books on my reader. I contacted Sony before, but the computer responding kept giving me irrelavent answers. I tried again yesterday, and worded my question more directly, but I'm not very optimistic. Does anybody have suggestions or know anything about this?

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03-12-2008, 04:55 PM	#2
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Welcome to MobileRead, sithkittie! I think you're running into one (or both) of two things. The most obvious (to me, anyway) is language: unless you've changed the fonts over to support it, the PRS505 doesn't have the fonts to display books in Japanese, it only supports "western" glyphs. In practical terms that translates roughly to English, German, French and Spanish alphabets (I don't mean that to be a complete list, by any means, just a representative one). The second thing you might be hitting is DRM. Since you mentioned that you got the books in question from the Librié site, they're probably DRM locked. That brings up two possible conflicts. One being that your PRS505 isn't registered on the Librié site (unless you pulled that off, somehow, of course), so it wouldn't be able to unlock the books. The second being that I seem to recall that the Librié books were time limited, and may have "expired." I don't know if that would be the case with the specific ones you have, but if it is, that could be bollixing you too. I doubt any of that will help with your actual problem, but some of it may help you understand what's going on ... which may or may not lead to any solution.

03-12-2008, 05:06 PM	#3
sithkittie Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: PRS-505	Thanks for responding so quickly. I know there might be issues with the Japanese font, but I figured I'd work on getting the computer software to recognize that there is a file in my computer first before I dealt with that. The books aren't time locked, at least the ones I have. And when I transfered other BBeB files with the Libre software they worked fine on my device, so the only thing I can think of is the stupid DRM is blocking the US device. With the Libre site, you don't have to register a device. Actually transfering the files "onto" the device, the only option was to transfer it to a memory stick, which was how I did it. You only have to register the software and your computer. I got a response from Sony, but pretty much all it said was that PS2 games bought in Japan don't work on a US bought PS2. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get them to tell me whether or not the PRS-505 has the same type of regional set up as DVDs and Playstations.

03-12-2008, 05:27 PM	#5
sithkittie Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: PRS-505	That would probably be it -_-;; Maybe I should look more at the Librie software instead of the eBook Library, and maybe I can unlock something there. And yeah, you probably could lend it really easily, heh, unless there is something that I missed having to register a device. The books I did manage to transfer with the Librie software didn't have DRM. 2AM is not a good time to try reading technical stuff in Japanese. I really appreciate it. I at least have another way to look at it, even though I doubt it'll work

03-12-2008, 05:36 PM	#6
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Glad to be that much help, at least.

03-12-2008, 06:48 PM	#7
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	Librie's DRM is not compatible with Reader's DRM. And even if you were able somehow to unwrap the LRX and get an unencrypted LRF, you'd still need Japanese fonts to read it. Defaults fonts on the Reader include only Western character set.

03-13-2008, 01:03 AM	#8
sithkittie Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: PRS-505	Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm working on figuring that bit out right now. Thanks ^_^ I figured I'd go step by step.

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