Adobe Ebooks on Sony PRS-500 - doesnt import to Sony

[_AV8R_]

Hello,

Ive just purchased a Sony PRS-500 book reader that has adobe PDF compatibility.

After going to eBooks.com and buying a book, I can see the book fine on my
PC, but I cannot get it to import into the Sony CONNECT Reader which is
the method to load the book on to the PRS-500 device.

Ebooks points to this forum for support, and I hope Adobe doesnt point me back to eBooks. The Sony site just assumes PDF files work, and I got
wind of ebooks.com from a discount card that came with the Sony. So Im
assuming... that they should play nice together.

Anyone else out there using a Sony reader?

[_Lynne_Ditchburn_]

On a recent visit to New York I bought a Sony PRS-500 at a major Sony dealership. When I got back to the UK I found that Sony will not accept my Amex Card as I am outside the US and therefore I am unable to purchase books from their Connect Store!

I found ebooks.com and my wishes were answered, I could purchase books for my new toy as the site said books were available in Adobe and the PRS-500 said it would accept this format. I have been unable to download the two books I bought into the library and now I feel I've been cheated twice, not only unable to buy from Sony but the books I can buy I can't read. If anyone can help I would appreaciate it.

[Guest]

Per Sony's web site (click on the specification tab) the only "Secured" format that the Sony PRS-500 Reader supports is their own BBeB format (which you get from their Connect bookstore). While they do support unsecured PDF files, they do not support PDF files which are encrypted by the Adobe Ebook security handler, which are most likely the books you are getting from eBooks.com.

My wife who also has the Sony Reader gets around this by purchasing the MultiFormat books (one of the formats is unsecured PDF) from Fictionwise.com, when she can't find what she wants on the Sony Connect site.

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Andrew_Carkner_]

Jim,

If Sony is only supporting the BBeB format, the natural follow up is: Is there an application that allows a user to convert into the BBeB format?

Like Ms Ditchburn, I bought the PRS500 while on vacation in the US, but now that I'm back in Toronto, they refuse to allow me to buy books from them.

[Guest]

Andrew,

"Secured" BBeB is the only format with DRM that the Sony Reader PRS-500 reader supports, but it also supports, PDF,Text and RTF (as long as they do not have any DRM). I think the Sony Reader comes with a BBeB creator/convertor utility as part of their desktop software (it's how they handle Word Documents), and there may be other 3rd party utilities out there as well. However it is unlikely that any of those utitlities will be able convert from any source that is "secured" by DRM. So your best bet is to look for publishers/bookstores that have unsecured formats that you can convert from or use directly as an option. For instance if you like SciFi, take a look at Baen's Store or their free library (the RTF formatted texts will probably be your best bet).

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Colum_McCaffery_]

I'm in Ireland and bought a Sony eBook Reader on-line specifically to download in PDF journals to which I have a subscription. The problem is that the PDF pages transfer page for page to the Sony screen which is much smaller and the text is therefore illegible. The magnifier on the Sony is unable to make change to the necessary degree.

If anyone has the solution, I'd greatly appreciate their help.

[Guest]

Colum,

Depending upon the PDF you may want to try putting your Sony Reader in landscape mode. This will split the PDF into a top and bottom page and should greatly enhance the readiblity of most PDFs (or at least it did for my wife). However it may get a bit annoying, if the journals you are reading are in a multi column format, because you'll have to keep flipping between the top and the bottom

The problem is that for the 500 model the PDF text is not reflowable ( and in the larger sense the PDF format is supposed to be a fixed size, so viewing it on other than that size can cause problems for the viewer). So another alternative, permissions on the documents in question permitting, if you have a full copy of Acrobat is to export the text as RTF, and then import the RTF into the Sony Reader. You'll lose a lot of the formatting and all of the graphics, but the resulting text will be reflowable and will behave better on the Sony Reader

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Colum_McCaffery_]

Jim,
Many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.

What do you mean by a "full copy of acrobat"?

Regards
Colum

[Guest]

Colum,

You caught me spouting off internal shorthand, sorry. What I meant was Adobe Acrobat as opposed to Adobe Reader. Adobe Acrobat (through File->Save As...) allows you to export a PDF into any number of formats (such as Text, RTF and HTML among others) with varying degrees of success depending upon the PDF and the format chosen.

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Colum_McCaffery_]

Jim,
Thank you for your help.

I've downloaded PDFRead GUI 1.7. It seems to be converting files successfully but I can't open the converted files via windows. Time to go back to Adobe and look at Acrobat!

By the way, the "landscape" tip was simple and very effective.

Thanks again

Colum

[_Colum_McCaffery_]

Jim,
Sorry to be getting right back to you but I've been checking Acrobat and there are quite a few applications in the "suite". Which Acrobat do you mean?
Regards
Colum

[Guest]

Colum

I'm pretty sure any of the flavors of Acrobat will convert to RTF. Acrobat Standard will be your lowest price option of the Acrobats (I'm sure there are probably less expensive 3rd party options, but I haven't tried any myself and can't offer any opinions). However before purchasing there is a downloable free trial of Acrobat Pro that you may want to try to see if the conversion will work the way you want it to on your PDFs.

Good luck

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Colum_McCaffery_]

Jim,
Thank you for your help.
Regards
Colum

[_Sanford_Jackson_]

I'm confused at all of this guys, I won a Sony PRS in a raffle and I just bought a book off of the ebook.com website, you guys make this seem all easy, but I'm just a teenager i don't really understand this lingo could you help me out, are you saying its possible to convert these files to download to the PRS? BTW, I found the downloaded file of the book on my computer they were in PDF format but all that turned up when I opened them was gobelty goop.

By the way I work on a mac.

thanks,

SJ

[Guest]

Sanford,

You're a bit out of luck for now. DRM - or Digital Rights Management makes it difficult to say what is compatible with what, however most of the places you buy books from will protect those books with some sort of DRM. Currently, the Sony Reader (both the 500 and 505 models) only supports DRM protected content that you get from their store - Sony Online Connect and does not support any DRM content (especially in PDF files) that you get from any place else, such as eBooks.com.

If it helps, think about this all as an early versions of the iPod - when you purchased songs from the iTunes Music Store they would only work on an iPod and not any other MP3 players. Any songs you purchased from other stores such as Rhapsody would work (maybe) on your computer, but you couldn't transfer them to you iPod. But any songs you made or ripped from a CD (and were not DRM protected) would work in all MP3 players. The eBook market is in a similar state with eBook Readers - Sony's Reader currently only supports purchased content coming from their store. Other readers support their own DRM format - and not all stores support formats that any Reader supports.

It's even worse for you since you are using a Mac. The Sony Reader is not supported on the Mac. The Sony Connect software is Windows only, the 500 model is just plain not recognized at all on the Mac, and I believe the 505 model will only show up as a mass storage device (I haven't played with one yet - so I'm not sure). So if you have the 505 model your best bet is going to be to get non DRM protected books (see my links in previous posts) and copy them directly

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Sanford_Jackson_]

thanks alot Jim, I sent an email to the ebook.com support team and they just emailed me back that they would reimburse me for the book. As for the book I bought, I found a free version of it on the web in PDF format and I was able to download it directly and copy it into my ereader via libprs500. so all is well, so far I have all the books I could need, once I need a new book I'll just search the web, and its bound to come up somewhere.

thanks,

Sanford.

[_Ron_Compton_]

Is there ANY ebook reader which will read the Reader DRM encrypted books? I'm not talking about a PDA or full computer. I mean a purpose designed ereader which uses eink, etc.

If not, it certainly seems more than time for Adobe to get with these manufacturers to make them work with the devices.

Come on Adobe, what's going on?

[Guest]

Ron,
There is no current eInk device which works with Adobe DRM. Getting devices to work with Digital Editions is something we are actively looking at. Back in June, Bill McCoy (our fearless leader) announced on his blog that we are working with Sony on getting the eReader line to support Adobe DRM (read the second to last paragraph). Unfortunately I can't really provide more information than that. (Mutual NDAs and normal reticence to talk about ongoing work since schedules are nice estimates and features change - plus management gets touchy if I upstage their announcements).

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Ron_Compton_]

Jim,

Did I purchasee a brick? It seems like it if I can't read Digital Editions Adobe documents.

What exactly did this mean:

"Mobile/device support is also coming, as evidenced by our announcement today that Sonywillll be incorporating Digital Editioncapabilitiess, including EPUB and Adobe DRM support, into the Sony Reader product line. "

I foolishly assumed that Sony's new device would, of course, have it. As you know, it doesn't. Not only that, apparently nobody else's eInk device will either. Now what?

Ron Compton

[Guest]

Ron,

Unfortunately I can't give you any satisfying answers. Bill's announcement meant what it said - at some point in the future there will be a Sony Reader released that will be able to display ePub files and PDFs that use Adobe DRM. This hasn't happened yet, although we are working on it. Sony has not publicly released any information (that I'm aware of) on their plans for this device and if there will be any backward support for older devices. When Sony does release that information, I'll post it here.

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Al_Spada_]

Jim,
I received the Sony Reader ( 505 ) as a gift and I think it a great little device - does what it's supposed to do -- easy to read and very long battery life. My main issue is, like others have noted above, the limitations imposed by the DRM, preventing broader access to content. Within several days after I got the Reader, Amazon's making an amazing amount of noise in the press about their new device. Its been on "Google's" front page for days. They are obviously not motivated to have customers get content from sources other than Amazon. I think this is clearly an opportunity for Sony ( and other readers) to be highly motivated ( since they aren't "book stores" per se - like Amazon )to make their devices compatible with Digital additions. It will set a standard format more quickly, while Amazon will spend money and improve visibility. I'm sure that none of this is lost on Sony et al. Hopefully, these recent events will catalyze the process!
Al

[_bproteus_]

I just e-mailed Sony's comments making a similar argument Al, I have to say that Amazon's Kindle, while interesting, has some serious limitations (privacy, language, compatibility with eDOCs, independent use i.e. independent of Amazon, price, screen size, style those are my issues personally) I also don't like the fact that the old ebooks I bought from Amazon no longer work, this happened a few months before Amazon turned out to have financial reasons for the ebook format change. I'm seriously only buying things I can't get elsewhere from Amazon.

This isn't to say other e-readers don't have their own issues. Sony's most notably would be DRM issues (though more flexible than Amazon, restrictive nonetheless) Battery-life isn't the most efficient, language limits, no newspaper service! Price (still relatively expensive) and finally, reliability in terms of longevity (can you say MD player?)

Amazon might have an edge in terms of access to customer feedback, while it's too obvious to maybe notice, people tend to leave very insightful comments in those reviews they leave for products.

My conclusion, I'm sticking with Sony until a major change happens. It's funny Newsweek's cover this week is about books going digital (Amazon's CEO hold a Kindle). The writers might be undermining the fact that customers still want to be in control of what they pay for. The hype will soon taper off, reality will set in and both Amazon and Sony will have to realize that in the end, customers do hold the final word (pun intended).

[_Patricia_Hodjat_]

I am thinking of getting a Sony 500 or 505, but I am worried about what books I can get for it and how long they will last. I had a RCA 1100 and when they stopped production they closed their book store. The RCA will not work with my computer so I can't get any new books for it.
I Had a HP PDA which supported Micro soft Reader so I have alot of Micro soft Reader books on my computer, but when I updated to a new computer and tried to sync my PDA to the reader, the PDA rejected my account and locked me out of the reader. I asked HP for help, and they said sorry we don't offer support for that model any more. I am a devoted reader. I like the "just released books" as well as re reading my old favorite ones.
I travel so the weight restrictions on airplane luggage also has to be considered when packing books.
I love having a digital e.-book reader, but I am getting tired of having to buy the same books over and over. I have tried to find out if the Sony reader will support the Micro soft Reader format. I get most of my books from Fictionwise. I have a few multi-format,a few mobile-pocket,and a few adobe, but most of my books are secured Micro soft because of my old PDA. Will the Sony accept the books I have already bought?

[Guest]

Patricia

The answer is unfortunately not. Neither the Sony Reader 500 or 505 will read DRM protected or unencrypted version of the .lit (Microsoft Reader) format (or Mobipocket for that matter). While there are plenty of conversions tools available that will convert from .lit to HTML or PDF, they will only work on on non-secured .lit files. This vendor lock-in that results from the fragmented DRM schemes is the sort of thing that drives all of us consumers mad, but unfortunately there is no immediate solution other than to choose vendors who offer non DRM secured like you have already done with the Multiformat books from Fictionwise.com.

Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Stuart_Forsyth_]

Jim,
Wish I had found this site earlier. My wife gave me a PRS-505 for Xmas and I've spent the past several hours trying to figure out why e-books downloaded from my local library (viewable on my desktop with Adobe Digital Editions software) wouldn't transfer to my Sony library for download.
Anything you folks at Adobe can do to speed the "openness" process with the differing software formats would be greatly appreciated. (And thanks for this forum - bookmarked now so I can stay abreast of what's going on.)
Stu Forsyth