PRS-T1 Using a reader in co-operative text processing (editors, translators, academics?)

Janie Jones · 01-09-2012, 02:53 AM

Hello everybody.

I wonder if people here could give me a hand and guide me into this e-reading thing. I’m waiting to get my first ever e-reader (Sony PRS-T1) quite soon, and probably I shouldn’t begin a thread before having the device. But I can’t wait…

I'm possibly an atypical user, since I don’t expect to read primarily published e-books. As an editor I work with texts that are not yet published. I think I’ll continue to read books in print, since I have access to very good libraries and because Finnish is such a small language, there aren’t that many digital titles anyway, yet.

My job involves too much paper, though. Now I’m trying to reduce the amount of paper, and I also wish to find new tools for my trade in e-reading.

I chose the device based on price and reviews on such aspects as ability with text-pdf’s, annotations, and also the access to Internet (Wikipedia, certain dictionaries). After ordering I realised that T1 doesn’t read files in rtf or doc. I guess converting to other formats will have to do it for me. I also know already that there exists a programme called Calibre, I actually already converted a doc-file into epub once.

I’d really appreciate some more or less general or specific comments. I guess at least writers, editors, translators, academics and other people who process texts co-operatively share some needs with me. I might be totally ignorant on some interesting aspects, so illuminate the to me, please!

Then to my questions.

Annotations and exporting them

This is probably the most important part. An average manuscript goes to and fro between me and other people processing the text at least twice or thrice. There are many comments on margins, proofreading marks etc. Ideal for me would be to take notes on a Word document, so my partners could either read them in Word/OOffice or print them and then do their own changes in the same file. I guess I’ll have to get along with pdf’s, unless I root the device? Any practical stuff I should know about notes?

Pro’s and con’s of rooting (and what is rooting anyway?)

I’ve browsed both this board and the Sony Dev Corner, but I’m not familiar with the vocabulary (nor am I too tech savvy). So should I study this rooting thing to really benefit from the device in my work? Any rooting-for-dummies links or information is appreciated!

Language

I’ll probably get an answer to this when the reader arrives, but is there a Scandinavian keyboard setting available?

vishcompany · 01-09-2012, 02:42 PM

Welcome to mobileread, Janie!

Rooting is a fairly simple process and it is described in our wiki page. You merely need to download the Minimal Root package, connect your reader and doube-click a file. Many people have done it, I never heard of a device yet, that was broken.

Reading your specific needs I can imagine, that you do the following:

Flash your reader first thing you do.
Install Android Market
Install Office suite pro (would be easiest through Android Market)
Get yourself a free dropbox account (a dropbox client is already on your reader, when rooted).

You can place your docs into the dropbox folder on your PC, they will by synced on your reader. Now on the reader, you can open the docs with Office Suite, edit it, safe and then sync again with dropbox.
If your collegues/clients also have access to the dropbox folder, they can access the updated file immediately. No emails involved, everybody in sync.

If you still want to send emails, you also can do this with the T1; there are some email programs, or you can do it through a webmail interface on the browser (gmail works great with the browser).

Getting Office Suite will cost you a small amount of money, but all the rest is free and partly already there, once you root. The big advantage is, that you can work in the actual documents directly and not just put remarks on a pdf. Additionly, getting these remarks off your reader and making them accessible to your colleagues is not that easy.

luvduchovny · 01-09-2012, 03:07 PM

The formats that will work on the PRS-T1 are epub, pdf, and txt files. (If you are not using fancy stuff in a regular doc file, you could probably just save it as a .txt and it will look just fine in the reader.

I would guess that if you bought the T1 in a Scandinavian country that keyboard would be one of the defaults. When you first turn on the Reader it will ask what language you want to use.

phloxy · 01-09-2012, 04:51 PM

Janie, I am also an editor and would love to be able to read .doc files, especially those in the final stages of editing (read-through) or proofreading. I'm pretty computer savvy but have reservations about rooting my T1. I might try it at some point, though, if M$ Word could then be made available. My work doesn't have to be super portable, but taking a final read-through on the road would be much easier on a reader than with my laptop. I already own Word. But would this work for Mac?

soseono · 01-09-2012, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phloxy

Janie, I am also an editor and would love to be able to read .doc files, especially those in the final stages of editing (read-through) or proofreading. I'm pretty computer savvy but have reservations about rooting my T1. I might try it at some point, though, if M$ Word could then be made available. My work doesn't have to be super portable, but taking a final read-through on the road would be much easier on a reader than with my laptop. I already own Word. But would this work for Mac?

If you'll be mostly reading, you can convert the doc to rtf (Word) to epub (Calibre) and read it on the Reader without rooting. Calibre is freeware and available for all platforms (Win/Mac/Linux).

Janie Jones · 01-10-2012, 03:18 AM

Thanks, folks.

After reading the response I'm quite optimistic, considering both Calibre and rooting.

I reckon I'll come across new questions and observations when actually using the reader, so I'll probably be posting more in this thread.

phloxy · 01-10-2012, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soseono

If you'll be mostly reading, you can convert the doc to rtf (Word) to epub (Calibre) and read it on the Reader without rooting. Calibre is freeware and available for all platforms (Win/Mac/Linux).

I would still need access to the Track Changes functions and other editing tools available in Word, even on a read-through. I wonder whether it would be possible to mark up PDFs (another function I often have to perform)?

Janie Jones · 01-12-2012, 02:48 PM

The device arrived, and I'm quite happy with it. I haven't rooted it (yet), I want to learn basic things first. I've had one problem so far:

Dropbox doesn't let me log in.

I created a folder named E-books in my Dropbox and uploaded some pdf's there. When I try to log in (www.dropbox.com/m) with T1, the browser gets stuck. Is this typical? I hope it doesn't try to automatically copy everything in my Dropbox, 3+ gb (have mercy, I told you I'm not too tech savvy).

Other thing is lack of Scandinavian keyboard setting

There are e.g. Spanish and German equivalents, but not Scandinavian. I heard that even if you buy your device from here, it is the same. For me ä, å and ö are precious, can anyone tell me if they could be imported somehow.

01-09-2012, 02:53 AM	#1
Janie Jones Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Finland Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	Using a reader in co-operative text processing (editors, translators, academics?) Hello everybody. I wonder if people here could give me a hand and guide me into this e-reading thing. I’m waiting to get my first ever e-reader (Sony PRS-T1) quite soon, and probably I shouldn’t begin a thread before having the device. But I can’t wait… I'm possibly an atypical user, since I don’t expect to read primarily published e-books. As an editor I work with texts that are not yet published. I think I’ll continue to read books in print, since I have access to very good libraries and because Finnish is such a small language, there aren’t that many digital titles anyway, yet. My job involves too much paper, though. Now I’m trying to reduce the amount of paper, and I also wish to find new tools for my trade in e-reading. I chose the device based on price and reviews on such aspects as ability with text-pdf’s, annotations, and also the access to Internet (Wikipedia, certain dictionaries). After ordering I realised that T1 doesn’t read files in rtf or doc. I guess converting to other formats will have to do it for me. I also know already that there exists a programme called Calibre, I actually already converted a doc-file into epub once. I’d really appreciate some more or less general or specific comments. I guess at least writers, editors, translators, academics and other people who process texts co-operatively share some needs with me. I might be totally ignorant on some interesting aspects, so illuminate the to me, please! Then to my questions. Annotations and exporting them This is probably the most important part. An average manuscript goes to and fro between me and other people processing the text at least twice or thrice. There are many comments on margins, proofreading marks etc. Ideal for me would be to take notes on a Word document, so my partners could either read them in Word/OOffice or print them and then do their own changes in the same file. I guess I’ll have to get along with pdf’s, unless I root the device? Any practical stuff I should know about notes? Pro’s and con’s of rooting (and what is rooting anyway?) I’ve browsed both this board and the Sony Dev Corner, but I’m not familiar with the vocabulary (nor am I too tech savvy). So should I study this rooting thing to really benefit from the device in my work? Any rooting-for-dummies links or information is appreciated! Language I’ll probably get an answer to this when the reader arrives, but is there a Scandinavian keyboard setting available?

01-09-2012, 02:42 PM	#2
vishcompany Addict Posts: 283 Karma: 138550 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Gen3(†); PB302(↓); PRS-350; T1; voyage	Welcome to mobileread, Janie! Rooting is a fairly simple process and it is described in our wiki page. You merely need to download the Minimal Root package, connect your reader and doube-click a file. Many people have done it, I never heard of a device yet, that was broken. Reading your specific needs I can imagine, that you do the following: Flash your reader first thing you do. Install Android Market Install Office suite pro (would be easiest through Android Market) Get yourself a free dropbox account (a dropbox client is already on your reader, when rooted). You can place your docs into the dropbox folder on your PC, they will by synced on your reader. Now on the reader, you can open the docs with Office Suite, edit it, safe and then sync again with dropbox. If your collegues/clients also have access to the dropbox folder, they can access the updated file immediately. No emails involved, everybody in sync. If you still want to send emails, you also can do this with the T1; there are some email programs, or you can do it through a webmail interface on the browser (gmail works great with the browser). Getting Office Suite will cost you a small amount of money, but all the rest is free and partly already there, once you root. The big advantage is, that you can work in the actual documents directly and not just put remarks on a pdf. Additionly, getting these remarks off your reader and making them accessible to your colleagues is not that easy.

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01-09-2012, 03:07 PM	#3
luvduchovny Zealot Posts: 145 Karma: 137186 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Sony Reader PRS-500, PRS-600, PRS-650, PRS-T1, PRS-T3	The formats that will work on the PRS-T1 are epub, pdf, and txt files. (If you are not using fancy stuff in a regular doc file, you could probably just save it as a .txt and it will look just fine in the reader. I would guess that if you bought the T1 in a Scandinavian country that keyboard would be one of the defaults. When you first turn on the Reader it will ask what language you want to use.

01-09-2012, 04:51 PM	#4
phloxy Always reading Posts: 95 Karma: 726400 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: San Joaquin Valley, CA, USA Device: Sony PRS-T1, Kindle 7	Janie, I am also an editor and would love to be able to read .doc files, especially those in the final stages of editing (read-through) or proofreading. I'm pretty computer savvy but have reservations about rooting my T1. I might try it at some point, though, if M$ Word could then be made available. My work doesn't have to be super portable, but taking a final read-through on the road would be much easier on a reader than with my laptop. I already own Word. But would this work for Mac?

01-10-2012, 03:18 AM	#6
Janie Jones Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Finland Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	Thanks, folks. After reading the response I'm quite optimistic, considering both Calibre and rooting. I reckon I'll come across new questions and observations when actually using the reader, so I'll probably be posting more in this thread.

01-12-2012, 02:48 PM	#8
Janie Jones Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Finland Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	The device arrived, and I'm quite happy with it. I haven't rooted it (yet), I want to learn basic things first. I've had one problem so far: Dropbox doesn't let me log in. I created a folder named E-books in my Dropbox and uploaded some pdf's there. When I try to log in (www.dropbox.com/m) with T1, the browser gets stuck. Is this typical? I hope it doesn't try to automatically copy everything in my Dropbox, 3+ gb (have mercy, I told you I'm not too tech savvy). Other thing is lack of Scandinavian keyboard setting There are e.g. Spanish and German equivalents, but not Scandinavian. I heard that even if you buy your device from here, it is the same. For me ä, å and ö are precious, can anyone tell me if they could be imported somehow.

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