PRS-950 Reader Library instalation, mp3 player, and folder questions

grogthegreat · 12-28-2010, 02:31 AM

Hi,
I got a PRS-950 for Christmas and after reading the instructions, this forum, and playing with it, I am left with three questions for you guys.

First I can't install the Reader Library program. I connect the reader to my computer with the USB cable and I open the Settings window. I double click on the .exe to launch the installer. Before the install begins I get an error message saying that the program can't be installed in my operating system. I run Windows XP 64bit which can run 32bit programs just fine. Has anyone encountered this program and found a solution?

My second question deals with playing mp3 files. I manually copy paste the mp3 files to D:\database\media\audio after which I can select a song and play it in the reader but how do I play more than one song at a time? Can I get it to start playing the next song automatically so that I don't have to stop reading every 3 minutes?

My last question is about book organization. On my computer I have all my books organized into folders by Author>Series_Name>book.txt
Right now I can copy all of the books onto D:\database\media\books but the sony doesn't see the folders. I know that this is normal (if very very annoying) but how can I organize my hundreds of books? I know that I can create "Collections" but to create a collection and add the books for each author would take a very very long time. I also can't figure out how to create a collection within a collection for series. Getting my Sony to see folders would be perfect but there doesn't seem to way to do this that I have found.
Is there a better way? How do I organize my hundreds of books?

Edit: Okay I have a 4th question. How do I get the reader to use my pictures in the pictures folder as background images for the screensaver/sleep mode?
Thanks for all your help!

grogthegreat · 12-29-2010, 02:24 AM

I hate to bump my own thread like this but doesn't any one have an answer to any of these questions?

Fayth · 12-29-2010, 03:11 AM

If you use Calibre to transfer all your books from your computer to the reader, you can set it to put any books you add into a collection. As far as I know, the collection cannot be layered, as in you can't have a collection within a collection. However, calibre can make a collection with the author name, and you can set it to make the file name include the series number and then sort your collection by file name.

This seems to be the best way I found to work things out on my PRS 350.

Calibre is a free program for managing ebooks.

dreams · 12-29-2010, 05:27 AM

I still use my Sony 505 and the Sony Library Software without any problems. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

First, at the top of the Sony forum are sticky threads with information. The Sony Reader Info, Start-Up & Reset Guide sticky thread is a good start as it contains links to MobileRead's wiki.

The "Installing the Sony Reader software" link gives a link to download the Sony Reader Library Software from SonyStyle.com if you have trouble installing.

The original thread, with the collection of information given by various MobileRead members, can be found in the Sony forum here.

Second, I don't use my Reader to play mp3's, someone else may have a better idea about this.

Third, I use the Reader software and have never had any problems. I only keep about 200 books on my Reader and put them in collections I've made on the 505. My personal book folder system stays intact on my computer and is backed up to an external hard drive.

As Fayth mentioned, you can download calibre, a great program for managing book collections, and Kovid, the creator, frequents the forums here. We even have a dedicated Calibre forum. Also, a FAQ for calibre is available.

Fourth, I don't know about using the screen savers, but you might want to check out our Sony dev corner to see if anyone has any information about this yet.

I hope I was able to provide something that may be of help to you.

kartu · 12-29-2010, 07:27 AM

You can expect folder support to come to x50 models Jan-Feb 2011. (from PRS+ project)
http://code.google.com/p/prs-plus/

Other options are, not sure if Calibre covers it, automatically generating collections from folders.
http://sonyfmngr.sourceforge.net/

JakesFriend · 12-29-2010, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grogthegreat

Hi,
My second question deals with playing mp3 files. I manually copy paste the mp3 files to D:\database\media\audio after which I can select a song and play it in the reader but how do I play more than one song at a time? Can I get it to start playing the next song automatically so that I don't have to stop reading every 3 minutes?

The 950, unlike earlier Readers, puts music files into albums. Seems that there's no way to play music from more than one album automatically. It's a problem for me, too, because I usually have only one song per album on my reader. Sony didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I spoke to them, so good luck to all of us! (One work-around is to change the tags for songs so they all appear to be in the same album, but I find that to be a lot of work.)

SeaBookGuy · 12-29-2010, 01:24 PM

Essentially, you'd have to create an album called "Miscellaneous", an artist called "Various", and then tracks called "artist - track name".

Fayth gave a great suggestion - Calibre allows you to sort by author, so that all books by the same person come up, you can then bulk tag them with the author's (last) name. When you transfer them to your device, that tag will be a collection (it does not work the other way around as I learned; collections created on the reader are not recognized as tags by Calibre after an upload).

To insert your own screensaver(s), under "pictures" go to "select standby screen" and then go to the System Management application, to activate the "standby screen" to start appearing during sleep mode.

grogthegreat · 12-29-2010, 05:08 PM

Fayth: I have Calibre installed and I've been using it to change ebook formats but I didn't know that it can create collections on my ereader. Thanks for the hint!

Dreams: I read those stickies and I ran the .exe that you linked to but I still can't get the program to install. The error I'm getting is: "Reader Library by Sony requires that your computer is running Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP" IT must not like my windows XP 64bit.
If anyone has XP x64 and has gotten this to work, please let me know.

kartu: I had read about the PRS+ project but I didn't know that they were so close for x50 support. Thanks for the info. That link for the automatic collection generator seems perfect for now. I'm surprised that I hadn't come across it while looking for a solution. Thanks again!

JakesFriend: Thanks for explaining what the reader was doing. I don't normally listen to music as I read but I was confused when I went to play with it since it seemed useless for those that do like to listen while reading.

SeaBookGuy: Thanks for letting me know how to get some of my pics to be used for the standby screen. It appears that the limit is 99 pictures which means that I pics that I wanted to used are about 150 over the limit....

Bookworm_Girl · 12-29-2010, 05:23 PM

I just checked the OS specs on the software download page. It says Windows XP is 32-bit only. Vista and Windows 7 can be either 32 or 64. That must explain your error message.

I was not aware there was a pictures limit. I've never tried to load that many. Interesting to know.

SeaBookGuy · 12-29-2010, 05:26 PM

Groggy:

I have mp3 short stories, novellas and podcasts on my storage card in the device, for times when I don't necessarily feel like reading print material. I suppose I could see having some classical music loaded, but I cannot listen to lyrics and read at the same time!

Bookworm_Girl · 12-29-2010, 05:31 PM

I like the MP3 short story idea. Any suggestions on sources to find some?

I can't read and listen to music with lyrics at the same time either. I have to listen to classical music too. Or, I like to listen to movie soundtracks that are of a similar theme to the book I am reading.

SeaBookGuy · 12-29-2010, 05:36 PM

I like the series Selected Shorts, which I've ripped from library CD's, each story as a separate track. I also have James Joyce's Dubliners collection ripped from CD's (again, each story as a separate track), and four Edith Wharton stories (an mp3-format Overdrive borrowing).

Bookworm_Girl · 12-29-2010, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I like the series Selected Shorts, which I've ripped from library CD's, each story as a separate track. I also have James Joyce's Dubliners collection ripped from CD's (again, each story as a separate track), and four Edith Wharton stories (an mp3-format Overdrive borrowing).

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll have to check these out.

Fayth · 12-29-2010, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grogthegreat

Fayth: I have Calibre installed and I've been using it to change ebook formats but I didn't know that it can create collections on my ereader. Thanks for the hint!

No problem. You can choose specifically what you want Calibre to make as a collection by going to preferences, plugins, device interface plugins, then sony device interface.

I have it set to author, but you can have it set to series or tag as well. Maybe more, I just didn't need anything other than author.

patomonk · 12-29-2010, 10:07 PM

To set the screensavers put the pictures in the pictures folder through windows explorer then disconnect and open up your reader. Go to applications, pictures, then press options and select standby screen. Then just select all the ones that you want.

12-28-2010, 02:31 AM	#1
grogthegreat Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	Reader Library instalation, mp3 player, and folder questions Hi, I got a PRS-950 for Christmas and after reading the instructions, this forum, and playing with it, I am left with three questions for you guys. First I can't install the Reader Library program. I connect the reader to my computer with the USB cable and I open the Settings window. I double click on the .exe to launch the installer. Before the install begins I get an error message saying that the program can't be installed in my operating system. I run Windows XP 64bit which can run 32bit programs just fine. Has anyone encountered this program and found a solution? My second question deals with playing mp3 files. I manually copy paste the mp3 files to D:\database\media\audio after which I can select a song and play it in the reader but how do I play more than one song at a time? Can I get it to start playing the next song automatically so that I don't have to stop reading every 3 minutes? My last question is about book organization. On my computer I have all my books organized into folders by Author>Series_Name>book.txt Right now I can copy all of the books onto D:\database\media\books but the sony doesn't see the folders. I know that this is normal (if very very annoying) but how can I organize my hundreds of books? I know that I can create "Collections" but to create a collection and add the books for each author would take a very very long time. I also can't figure out how to create a collection within a collection for series. Getting my Sony to see folders would be perfect but there doesn't seem to way to do this that I have found. Is there a better way? How do I organize my hundreds of books? Edit: Okay I have a 4th question. How do I get the reader to use my pictures in the pictures folder as background images for the screensaver/sleep mode? Thanks for all your help! Last edited by grogthegreat; 12-28-2010 at 03:45 AM. Reason: 4th question

12-29-2010, 05:27 AM	#4
dreams It's about the umbrella Posts: 25,112 Karma: 56250158 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony 505\| K Fire \| KK 3G+Wi-Fi \| iPhone 3Gs \|Vista 32-bit Hm Prem w/FF	I still use my Sony 505 and the Sony Library Software without any problems. I'll try to answer some of your questions. First, at the top of the Sony forum are sticky threads with information. The Sony Reader Info, Start-Up & Reset Guide sticky thread is a good start as it contains links to MobileRead's wiki. The "Installing the Sony Reader software" link gives a link to download the Sony Reader Library Software from SonyStyle.com if you have trouble installing. The original thread, with the collection of information given by various MobileRead members, can be found in the Sony forum here. Second, I don't use my Reader to play mp3's, someone else may have a better idea about this. Third, I use the Reader software and have never had any problems. I only keep about 200 books on my Reader and put them in collections I've made on the 505. My personal book folder system stays intact on my computer and is backed up to an external hard drive. As Fayth mentioned, you can download calibre, a great program for managing book collections, and Kovid, the creator, frequents the forums here. We even have a dedicated Calibre forum. Also, a FAQ for calibre is available. Fourth, I don't know about using the screen savers, but you might want to check out our Sony dev corner to see if anyone has any information about this yet. I hope I was able to provide something that may be of help to you. Last edited by dreams; 12-29-2010 at 05:30 AM.

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12-29-2010, 02:24 AM	#2
grogthegreat Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	I hate to bump my own thread like this but doesn't any one have an answer to any of these questions?

12-29-2010, 03:11 AM	#3
Fayth Zealot Posts: 134 Karma: 1337 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Sony PRS 350	If you use Calibre to transfer all your books from your computer to the reader, you can set it to put any books you add into a collection. As far as I know, the collection cannot be layered, as in you can't have a collection within a collection. However, calibre can make a collection with the author name, and you can set it to make the file name include the series number and then sort your collection by file name. This seems to be the best way I found to work things out on my PRS 350. Calibre is a free program for managing ebooks.

12-29-2010, 07:27 AM	#5
kartu PRS+ author Posts: 1,637 Karma: 2446233 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Sony PRS-300, 505, 600, 650, 950	You can expect folder support to come to x50 models Jan-Feb 2011. (from PRS+ project) http://code.google.com/p/prs-plus/ Other options are, not sure if Calibre covers it, automatically generating collections from folders. http://sonyfmngr.sourceforge.net/

12-29-2010, 01:24 PM	#7
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,015 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	Essentially, you'd have to create an album called "Miscellaneous", an artist called "Various", and then tracks called "artist - track name". Fayth gave a great suggestion - Calibre allows you to sort by author, so that all books by the same person come up, you can then bulk tag them with the author's (last) name. When you transfer them to your device, that tag will be a collection (it does not work the other way around as I learned; collections created on the reader are not recognized as tags by Calibre after an upload). To insert your own screensaver(s), under "pictures" go to "select standby screen" and then go to the System Management application, to activate the "standby screen" to start appearing during sleep mode.

12-29-2010, 05:08 PM	#8
grogthegreat Member Posts: 15 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	Fayth: I have Calibre installed and I've been using it to change ebook formats but I didn't know that it can create collections on my ereader. Thanks for the hint! Dreams: I read those stickies and I ran the .exe that you linked to but I still can't get the program to install. The error I'm getting is: "Reader Library by Sony requires that your computer is running Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP" IT must not like my windows XP 64bit. If anyone has XP x64 and has gotten this to work, please let me know. kartu: I had read about the PRS+ project but I didn't know that they were so close for x50 support. Thanks for the info. That link for the automatic collection generator seems perfect for now. I'm surprised that I hadn't come across it while looking for a solution. Thanks again! JakesFriend: Thanks for explaining what the reader was doing. I don't normally listen to music as I read but I was confused when I went to play with it since it seemed useless for those that do like to listen while reading. SeaBookGuy: Thanks for letting me know how to get some of my pics to be used for the standby screen. It appears that the limit is 99 pictures which means that I pics that I wanted to used are about 150 over the limit....

12-29-2010, 05:23 PM	#9
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	I just checked the OS specs on the software download page. It says Windows XP is 32-bit only. Vista and Windows 7 can be either 32 or 64. That must explain your error message. I was not aware there was a pictures limit. I've never tried to load that many. Interesting to know.

12-29-2010, 05:26 PM	#10
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,015 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	Groggy: I have mp3 short stories, novellas and podcasts on my storage card in the device, for times when I don't necessarily feel like reading print material. I suppose I could see having some classical music loaded, but I cannot listen to lyrics and read at the same time!

12-29-2010, 05:31 PM	#11
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	I like the MP3 short story idea. Any suggestions on sources to find some? I can't read and listen to music with lyrics at the same time either. I have to listen to classical music too. Or, I like to listen to movie soundtracks that are of a similar theme to the book I am reading.

12-29-2010, 05:36 PM	#12
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,015 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	I like the series Selected Shorts, which I've ripped from library CD's, each story as a separate track. I also have James Joyce's Dubliners collection ripped from CD's (again, each story as a separate track), and four Edith Wharton stories (an mp3-format Overdrive borrowing).

12-29-2010, 10:07 PM	#15
patomonk Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 400 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: U.S.A Device: PRS-950	To set the screensavers put the pictures in the pictures folder through windows explorer then disconnect and open up your reader. Go to applications, pictures, then press options and select standby screen. Then just select all the ones that you want.

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