Sony Reader Store goes 100% EPUB on Friday
By Thomas Ricker 
posted December 8th 2009 1:31AM
posted December 8th 2009 1:31AM
[Thanks, Ben]
posted December 8th 2009 1:31AM
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More textbooks, please. I recently found a textbook for Amazon's Kindle that only cost $20. The hard-cover version cost $100. I'd love to see more of that, especially now that Sony, as well as Amazon, are releasing e-book software for computers.
okay i have an sony ereader...i dont get it..should i be worried that its changing to epub format?
If you have a PRS-505 or newer there is no problem. OTOH if you have one of the original Sony Readers, the PRS-500, you'll either need to send it in (so Sony can replace the firmware) or trade it in.
That's great. I might actually buy more books from the Sony Reader store, just because, you know if I ever ditched my Sony Reader I can use them on some other device. Well, maybe not a Kindle, but a Nook.
Can't wait to pick up my PRS-505 after I get paid my bonus this week. $1 more than the Pocket at my Wal-Mart ($199) and it's got the nicer screen, memory card slots, multiple formats, and mp3 playback. Luckily, we got a ton of 'em in back in February and haven't sold any.
Smart move from Sony. ePub and Amazon's proprietary format are the two fomats that matter.
@pjhaas Amazon doesn't have one proprietary format, but two proprietary formats. They have a Mobipocket-based format, and the TOPAZ format, which allows for richer content.
ePUB is the future. Its the MP3 of ebook formats. It means you can read your purchased books on any open format eBook reader even outside of Sony's.
As a Kindle 2 owner I'm hoping Amazon will enlighten themselves on using an open format...
@Temple
It's even better than that.. mp3 is still wrapped up in patents that won't be gone for a while yet (there's been all kinds of lawsuits thrown around by patent trolls).. epub is fully open.
Sony is on right path by doing away with all its propriety formats. long live open source.
Great move, now I must figure out which of those Sony readers it's best for me. Let's do some research, see ya.
Just a shame we don't get this in the UK - we're landed with WH Smiths, Waterstones and Borders (who are in Administration at the moment).
Great news - and I'm not being sarcastic, it really is - but next they need to get some actual books into that store. I know there's a big number of books they have.. but the number of books they haven't, in my experience of checking a few things I read (not really obscure stuff - just fiction available in public library), is much, much higher.
Now that the open format is sorted (Amazon may be hanging on to their closed formats, but I suspect they'll have to abandon them eventually), book availability is the main remaining hurdle for me. Well, and it would be nice if the readers were a little better (=higher contrast and/or faster screen changes).
I'm really surprised that Sony's eReaders don't get more love. The Kindle gets all the press, but there is no way that I'd trade my 505 for a Kindle. The thing can open pretty much anything I throw at it, and -most importantly- I can quickly and easily checkout books from my library's website. This alone makes the device infinitely better than the Kindle in my opinion.
The switch to ePUB is just one more reason to love the Sony readers. Really bummed that they killed off the 505, though. Best of the bunch, in my opinion.
@snorkel
Me too!
Does anybody know if ePub books allow for nice formatting with proper margins and layouts? I have a few ePubs and BBeBs on my Reader Touch Edition and the ePubs look absolutely horrible in comparison.
Would not ditch my 505 for anything either. Except maybe the new Irex. As for epub I hope that Sony will now update their readers so we can have justified Epub. Being limited to clunky left-aligned text is ridiculous.
I'm assuming that those Android ePub readers would be able to use these as well? Take your web browser (Linux?, Android?, Mac?, Win? ... which browsers?) to their site, pay and download, put it on your Android device, and read-away?
@(Unverified)
Nope. You can't buy from a web browser, only the sony ebook library software (which sucks, btw). Even if you got the book, you wouldn't be able to open it in one the android epub readers because I doubt any use ADEPT (Adobe's epub DRM).
Yay for DRM.
Of course, if you strip the DRM...
Since every dPub device can have its own DRM scheme there's no guarantee that one device's DRM will be compatible with any other device's DRM. Has anyone actually tested compatibility between ePub systems?
@(Unverified)
I was submitting my comment about DRM at the same time you did. :)
What about DRM?
ePub format doesn't mean you can just copy the book around. It will still be DRM-protected, so you will read it on Sony approved devices. On the other hand, Sony allows up to 5 (or 6?) devices to use a purchased book on, including a PC, so you should generally be fine, even now.
I shipped my PRS 500 for the firmware upgrade last week... hope it comes back soon... although I have a PRS600 and have found I like the way the fonts in epub look better than the lrf Sony format anyway.
Anyone know if there is anyway to get these books on to my Kindle (original)?
@waterwagen
The only way is by breaking the DRM and then converting the files to Mobi.
This is all well and good, however, three ebooks i purchased from sony bookstore such as Afraid by Jack Kilborn, Vampire Mountain and Trials of Death by Darren Shan will not resize the print on the Sony Reader PRS-600. They also will not resize in Adobe Digital Editions either. So, if you cai't read it because the print won't resize lthey have a problem.somewhere. Tech support from the bookstore, sony, nor Adobe have been o any help.