Sony® Reader PRS-505 don't appears on Digital Edition for Mac OSX 10.5

[_jaja967_]

I now, Sony® Reader PRS-505 appears on Mac as mass storage card, but in the specifications for Digital Editions, it doesn't say any think about that is not support for mac, and I would like to know if the Sony® Reader PRS-505 doesn't appears on my mac because is not supported by Digital Editions on Mac or because I have a problem. If not , Is going to be a support for it on the immediate future.
Now that Digital Editions offer support for Windows I believe Adobe have to offer parity for Mac.

Thanks very much.

[BWolfe__ADOBE_]

On Sony's support site they only show drivers for Windows, and only Windows is listed in their system requirements. I'll double check with Engineering, but I'm pretty certain we're only supporting the PRS-505 on Windows.

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
Adobe

[_Sarah_Stetter_]

hi, I am a mac user, really excited about this product however, the sony site only supposrts mac. Again, I am having trouble finding free places to download ebooks, etc. maybe placing a forum for mac users and beginners to ebooks in general would be appreciated and conducive to productivity

[_Ian_M__Ross_]

Hi

You can use the Sony PRS-505 on a Mac. You will only be able to move things your self so you need to know where everything is kept.

You can transfer books, pictures and audio files.

These can be loaded either directly into the Reader or you can load them onto a SD or Sony PRO Duo card. Either way you have to do all the work.

If I can be of help let me know.

[_Kanna_Kunchala_]

Hi,

First of all, thanks a lot for these forums. I am Mac user who is used to getting this kind of information-sharing and service from the Apple Discussion Boards, and it is nice to see Adobe doing the same.

I have a specific question, and then the background: when I authorize a Sony Reader with Adobe DE, does it recognize a specific computer or a specific Adobe DE registration (ie, my email registration at Adobe)?

Background: I have a MAC and have been able to get content back-and-forth by using Calibre (so have avoided the PC-only Sony eLibrary). However, this has only been non-DRM content. I bought an Adobe-DRM book and have been able to view it on DE on my Mac, but would like to get it on my Reader.

I used a PC to update the firmware on my Sony Reader to 1.1 (for Adobe DRM viewing), but the Mac version of the DE does not recognize my Sony Reader as connected. According to the Adobe site, you need to download DE 1.5, the new Sony eLibrary 2.2, and also the Sony Reader firmware upgrade to get all the drivers necessary for DE to recognize the reader on a PC.

If I do the following, will it work?: I get on a PC and do the three steps above. Then I authorize the Sony Reader with the Adobe DE on that PC. Back on my mac, I know DE won't recognize my reader, because I won't have the right drivers. But if I can get content back and forth to the reader with Calibre, will the Sony Reader still be able to open DRM-content that was bought using the same EMAIL that I authorized that reader with on a PC?

As I am borrowing the PC, it won't work for me to authorize that computer, but if I am authorizing by my Adobe email account, then using Calibre after the first authorization gives me a nice workaround to use only my Mac and Sony Reader. Sorry for long explanation, but I thought better to write everything at once. Any help appreciated. Thanks.

[BWolfe__ADOBE_]

<<I have a specific question, and then the background: when I authorize a Sony Reader with Adobe DE, does it recognize a specific computer or a specific Adobe DE registration (ie, my email registration at Adobe)?>>

The ADE authorization creates a machine fingerprint that ties that authorization to your computer (and if you have a PRS-505 there's a unique fingerprint for that as well that counts as another authorization)

Beyond that I have no idea how to answer your question. Since we only officially support what Sony supports (ie, official support is only for Windows) there isn't really anything I can do. If it were my setup I'd just try it. Jim Lester might come along and have a better answer (he's one of the actual engineers who builds ADE... you guys have no idea how RARE it is for code-level engineers to hang out on forums! Be nice to him!!)

Regards,

Bentley Wolfe
Senior Support Engineer, Flash/Flash Player/Digital Editions
Adobe

[Guest]

Hmmm I thought I had answered this one already....

But with that kind introduction, I'll guess I'll repeat it anyway :)

Here's the story:

- The firmware update is a Windows only program. You will need to apply the firmware update in order to get the new goodies that Sony and we put in there: ePub support, reflowable PDF, and DRM portability.

- There is a driver that we use to talk to the Sony Reader to put the authentication information for the DRM on the Sony Reader. With this driver we are able to identify when Sony Readers are plugged in to the PC (and when they are disconnected), because of this on Windows, the Sony Readers will show up as Bookshelves in ADE, and you can authenticate your Sony Reader so that it will also display DRM content.

- The only Mac support for the 505 is that it does show up as a USB Mass Storage device, at the file system, and Sony has not made the driver that ADE uses for the Mac. Because of this, ADE on the Mac does not support the Sony Reader and the Reader will not show up in the ADE UI.

However you can work around this to get DRM content portability working.

First, on the same Windows machine that you upgraded your Sony Reader, install ADE and authorize it to your AdobeID.

Next, plug in your Sony Reader and then in ADE, select the Reader and choose "Authorize Device" from the Library menu (I'm doing this from memory, and I don't have a Sony Reader to test it on right now - so the wording may be off).

At this point you have a Sony Reader which is authorized to your AdobeID. For any eBooks you purchase on the Mac (with ADE 1.5 authorized to the same AdobeID), you will be able to copy the .pdf/.epub files to your Sony Reader, using the Finder, and then be able to view then on your Sony Reader.

I agree, its ugly, and its very un-Mac like.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Kanna_Kunchala_]

Thanks, Jim! Apologies first of all because I didn't know you answered this already about the Mac. I thought I did a pretty thorough review of the site, but clearly not enough.

I had already tried this and wanted actually to come back here to let everyone else know that this does work! I also wanted to find out how this worked and why, and found this other information on your site (same as what you wrote above):

"The first time you run Digital Editions, you are prompted to authorize the application by entering an Adobe ID. If you don't have an Adobe ID, you are provided with a link to get one. Then, when you purchase an item online or borrow one from a library with Digital Editions, the item is automatically "tied" to your Adobe ID, rather than your computer. This way, you are free to move your items to up to six computers and devices that have been authorized with Digital Editions."

You are great for putting in all this work and responding to questions. I am sure you have said ten thousand times that you don't support Mac software (and probably wonder why people like me still ask questions anyway), but this kind of service is going to keep me using the adobe format for ebooks. Thanks!

[Guest]

Kanna,
I'm glad it's working for you. BTW I think senility is setting in on me - I looked around on the other Mac related posts on this forums, and I hadn't given the detailed instructions out here yet, so it was good that you asked.

BTW I've only be asked about 1000 times on the forums (here and others) about our Mac support - the other 9,000 times have been from my wife - who I converted to being a Mac user, and has a 505 :)

[_Christian_A__Strømmen_]

Having some problems getting the reader to show up in Adobe Digital Edition under Windows XP in a VMWare machine. It shows up just fine as a drive in Explorer, but it doesn't come up in the Adobe app.

[Guest]

Christian,
If you haven't already, you will need to install the Sony Library software into your VM. The Sony Library software installs drivers that Digital Editions requires in order to recognize and communicate with the Sony Reader.

You can get the latest version of the Sony Library software from the Sony support site:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=PRS505
(Click on "Drivers & Software")

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_Kate_Exton_]

Hi,

I have been toying with the idea of getting a Sony reader but have been put off by the lack of Mac support.

Thank you Jim for your help and advice. With you being a Mac user (and more to the point your wife) I'm sure there will be a Mac 'workaround' for most problems.

Now if I can only get ADE to authorise!

[_Jayson_hahn_]

Sorry it's been a long day..

[_Anne_Hume_]

How do I transfer my old ADE files from my Mac to the Sony Reader? I've done what Jim Lester said and had my Sony Reader authorized to my Adobe ID using my ASUS notebook. But after I connect my reader to my Mac, I still can't get to transfer it. I very dumb about these things, but how do I transfer the files using the finder? With the ASUS, it is easy enough as the ADE recognizes my Reader and it is just a matter of dragging the files. Is the Mac ADE suppose to recognize the Reader also? Please help.

[_Anne_Hume_]

Just to say that I finally figured out how to transfer my ADE files from my Mac to the Sony PRS 505. It was so easy and fast as compared to transferring my ADE files from a Windows based computer wherein my reader went into a spinning refresh mode for a long, long time.

[_Adam_Thayer_]

I'd like to say that while I also discovered this work-around, it doesn't solve the authorization problem for borrowed content (say, from a public library system).

From what I can tell, ADE passes on a specific key for that borrowed copy only onto the Reader via the driver, or some other mechanism I am currently missing. Without that, you can't copy borrowed books over. Sure can copy over bought content though. Seems like bought content uses a single key tied to the account, while borrowed content uses a one-time key that is attached to a specific copy.

I'd sure love to see Sony do a bare-bones driver that would do just enough to enable ADE to authorize and copy content to the device on a Mac. I don't really miss Sony's Connect software, but I would sure like to be able to check out books from the library without having to boot up Windows every time.

[_dan_steinberg_]

I can concur that this Mac workaround does not actually work, for protected digital editions checked out from a public library website.

The Adobe staffer said that as a one time process, you can authroize the reader itself on a windows machine, by stating "Next, plug in your Sony Reader and then in ADE, select the Reader and choose "Authorize Device" from the Library menu"

I did not see this option, the only authorize command in the library menu was to authorize the computer, not the reader.

On my windows machine, my PRS-505 shows up in the Adobe digital editions software, and I verified that the copy of digital editions was registered to my adobe ID (email address). I can use the windows digital editions software to copy checked out titles to the PRS-505 no problem, they last the 3 weeks they are supposed to and open up fine on the 505.

On the Mac, I can download checked out titles from the library to the mac digital editions software, and read them on the Mac. They last the 3 weeks as expected.

I can also, using the mac's finder, copy the downloaded digital edition book to the reader, which shows up in the finder as a mass storage device. When I fire up the reader, the transferred titles are there.

HOWEVER, if I try to actually read the checked out title from the library (that I copied over from the Mac) I get a blank screen that says "not authorized". Going along with this, the title, in the library view on the PRS-505, does not show the little "day counter" that counts down how many days you have from your 21 day borrowing window.

So yes, you can use the Mac finder to manually copy a downloaded digital edition to the PRS-505, but its not actually authorizing that copied book to the reader, so you can actually READ it on the reader. That authorization process only seems to happen on a PC, when you use the digital editions software to do the copy instead of the Mac finder.

So I don't think there is an actual workaround, at least not for me.

[Guest]

Adam and Dan,
You are correct, loaned content (such as from Library) cannot be succesfully placed on the Reader from the Mac. For loaned content there is an additional piece of information that is transfered separately to Reader by Digital Editions. There is no workaround for this other than using Digital Edition on Windows.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_steve_gaskell_]

Will this workaround work for bought items? Just purchased a 505 for dads Christmas present. His birthday present earlier in the year was a mac so if i authorise the reader on windows will he then be able to transfer bought content via his mac?

[Guest]

Steve,
Yes (see message #6) in this thread.

--
Jim Lester
Adobe Systems

[_steve_gaskell_]

Cheers Jim, I'm off to find a PC so i can authorise the reader. Happy holidays.

Steve

[_flv_converter_]

FLV converter MAC appears on Mac as mass storage card, but in the specifications for Digital Editions, it doesn't say any think about that is not support for mac, and I would like to know if the Sony® Reader PRS-505 doesn't appears on my mac because is not supported by Digital Editions on Mac or because I have a problem.

[_Ian_Moreton-Thickett_]

Hi

I have done all the steps as described by Jim Lester to authorise my Reader on a PC with my Adobe ID and I still can't get the epub files to show on either Calibre or my Reader. These are older purchases and I haven't bought anything new just in case it's a waste of money.

Is there another step I'm missing out or have I done something wrong?

[jevylux]

I use the following configuration and it works :

I have a Mac with Adobe Digital Editions and Calibre installed. On that same MAC, i use Fusion from Vmware, running a VM with XP. On that XP i have installed the SONY PRS-505 Software and Adobe Digital Editions.

I only need the windows setup to get the SONY PRS-5005 recognized, or authorized with my Adobe ID.

For normal operations, I use the MAC. I buy my epub DRM books, download them with Adobe Digital Editions on the MAC, and put them on the Sony PRS-5050 using Calibre. It works fine, I can put the books either in the internal memory or in the SD card.

But now eveything get complicated:

I bought a Sony for my wife, and installed the same configuration on her MAc, including the XP under Fusion stuff.

She has her own Adobe ID.

When I want to read books from her account, or viceversa, the Sony has to be authorized for the respectif Adobe ID. It seems as if no 2 Adobe ID's could be authorized for one device.

So the question would be why usiong 2 different Adobe Id's ?

I remember havin read thta only 4 devices could be authorized with one Adobe ID ? Can someone confirm this ?

And i am not sure if the ADE on MAC and the ADE on Windows XP count for one or 2 installations.

If it were 2, together with the Sony, each installation would require 3 Adobe authorizations ? Correct ?

So the 2 installation woul need 6, which is more than 4 and the setup would not work?

Is this correct ? Is there any other solution to be able to read books in epub format from 2 accounts on the 2 machines ?

[Guest]

jevylux,

A Sony Reader can only be authorized to one AdobeID at the same time.  An OS user account (Mac/Windows) can only be authorized to one AdobeID at a time (although you can have multiple users on the same machine authorized to different AdobeIDs).

The authorization limit starts at 6 computers and 6 devices (Sony Readers count as devices, not computers).  What's different is that there is no way to manage your authorizations (ie deauthorize device or deauthorize all), instead your authorization limit will grow slightly over time to account for selling/breaking devices.

In your circumstances if you authorized everything to your AdobeID, then you would have 4 or 3 computer activations (depending upon if you authorized the second Windows VM on your wife's machine - if you just use it to authorize the Reader you only need one) and 2 device activations - well within your authorization limits.