Discussion about
Just got one...
Got one of these as a present yesterday, and as someone who has to travel a lot, I'm pretty impressed.
But I'm a bit overwhelmed by it. Where to start? Any good sites for ebooks I should bookmark asap?
But I'm a bit overwhelmed by it. Where to start? Any good sites for ebooks I should bookmark asap?
Download Calibre and convert whatever ebooks you have into a compatible format.
Check out your local library's website. If you're in a big city there's a good chance they support adobe acrobat ebook loaning.
If you're interested in classics, check out the offerings from Google Books through your sony library software.
You can of course buy books from sony's site.
That's a good start.
Check out your local library's website. If you're in a big city there's a good chance they support adobe acrobat ebook loaning.
If you're interested in classics, check out the offerings from Google Books through your sony library software.
You can of course buy books from sony's site.
That's a good start.
I second the Calibre recommendation!
Calibre has a great "fetch news" feature where it will grab headlines and articles from various news sites and blogs, format them for the Reader (with table of contents support and everything) and automatically send them to your reader when you plug it in.
This is great for reading the news in the morning! I have Calibre scheduled to download the news in the early morning, then I just plug in my Reader for a minute or so so that it can sync and I automatically have the days news on hand. Its not quite as convenient as the Kindle's wireless delivery, but it's pretty close, and it's free!
Also, If you have eBooks in .mobi or .lit (MS Reader) formats (and many others) Calibre can convert them to epub so that you can read them on your Reader.
And if you want to read any classic literature check out www.gutenberg.org they have a massive collection of public domain eBooks, most of which are available in ePub format so you just need to copy them to your Reader.
Calibre has a great "fetch news" feature where it will grab headlines and articles from various news sites and blogs, format them for the Reader (with table of contents support and everything) and automatically send them to your reader when you plug it in.
This is great for reading the news in the morning! I have Calibre scheduled to download the news in the early morning, then I just plug in my Reader for a minute or so so that it can sync and I automatically have the days news on hand. Its not quite as convenient as the Kindle's wireless delivery, but it's pretty close, and it's free!
Also, If you have eBooks in .mobi or .lit (MS Reader) formats (and many others) Calibre can convert them to epub so that you can read them on your Reader.
And if you want to read any classic literature check out www.gutenberg.org they have a massive collection of public domain eBooks, most of which are available in ePub format so you just need to copy them to your Reader.
Thanks a load, I'm gonna be drowned in public-domain books for a while I reckon! In fairness, the Sony reader ships with 100 (pretty excellent) public domain books, so at least they've thought of that too.
Calibre sounds really good, I'm gonna throw it on now, instead of the provided software.
Calibre sounds really good, I'm gonna throw it on now, instead of the provided software.
Is anyone having issues with large PDFs displaying blank pages after around the 15th page or so? Do I need to run my PDFs through calibre to "fix" the compatibility or something? Any ideas? Protips? Thanks in advance!
Keep in mind that Sony has partnered with Google to provide 500,000 public-domain books for free on the Sony Reader. If you like the classics, this is the best way to go.
You can also check out Fictionwise.com. They've got a big selection of books, and even offer several magazine subscriptions. Not all of their books are compatible with the Sony Reader, but any of their multi-format books should work.
Also, the Sony Reader supports the new EPUB format, which is gaining significant traction in the eBook industry. I've even seen an eBook store from Borders in the UK, which is selling EPUB formatted books. It's a perfect format.
I wish the Kindle supported EPUB. Anyway, enjoy the Sony Reader. It's a fantastic product. Kinda makes me wish I hadn't gotten rid of mine.
You can also check out Fictionwise.com. They've got a big selection of books, and even offer several magazine subscriptions. Not all of their books are compatible with the Sony Reader, but any of their multi-format books should work.
Also, the Sony Reader supports the new EPUB format, which is gaining significant traction in the eBook industry. I've even seen an eBook store from Borders in the UK, which is selling EPUB formatted books. It's a perfect format.
I wish the Kindle supported EPUB. Anyway, enjoy the Sony Reader. It's a fantastic product. Kinda makes me wish I hadn't gotten rid of mine.
One extra feature of Calibre, it can go pull fresh content from various web sites via RSS and build an ePub from it, so you have the latests content on your Sony when you plug it in. I haven't actaully gotten it working yet, but I haven't tried very hard yet.
Calibre is an app that repays careful attention - once you get used to it, it's a powerful piece of kit.
I guess the only other piece of advice I have for a new user is that since the Sony takes a long time to reindex itself after yo add books, I find the best way is to gather up a lot of books and load them on the reader all at once - different behaviour from the kindle, which is a more spur-of-the moment experience.1,360 books on my PRS-505 so far, with lot sof space left, and the storage didn't even cost me anything - I had a 2Gb SD card lying around unused in my camera bag after I recently upgraded the camera to a fast 4Gb card.
Calibre is an app that repays careful attention - once you get used to it, it's a powerful piece of kit.
I guess the only other piece of advice I have for a new user is that since the Sony takes a long time to reindex itself after yo add books, I find the best way is to gather up a lot of books and load them on the reader all at once - different behaviour from the kindle, which is a more spur-of-the moment experience.1,360 books on my PRS-505 so far, with lot sof space left, and the storage didn't even cost me anything - I had a 2Gb SD card lying around unused in my camera bag after I recently upgraded the camera to a fast 4Gb card.
MobileRead forums have a ton of well-formatted books available for free. It's kept me busy for the last couple months.
www.mobileread.com/forums/index.php
www.mobileread.com/forums/index.php


