A NY Times article this morning reports that by the end of the year, Sony will drop its proprietary software for the Sony Readers and move to the much more consumer-friendly ePub format, the standard to which all publishers are pushing ebooks. This would allow Sony Reader owners to buy titles from any etailer that sells ePub, giving them greater flexibility in cost comparison.
The article also states that later this year Sony will introduce a new Reader that will be able to wirelessly down books in the same fashion as Amazon’s Kindle.
August 13, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Ugh, I’m so torn on whether to replace my current 1st gen Sony with a Kindle. Now I will have to wait for this new Sony to come out. Of course with wireless capability, it will probably have to be larger and likely still won’t be compatible with Mac… But other than those two (really big) cons, the Sony is otherwise ahead of Kindle for me.
August 13, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I hear you, Kendra. I don’t even know what format to buy anymore. I used to get everything in Mobi. Then I started going eReader because I figured if I ever switched to reading on an iPod Touch, that’d be the best format. Now it seems ePub will probably have the most longevity, but that’s not compatible with the Palm I read on currently. I can understand why readers get so frustrated.
August 16, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Some of us already have the option of buying titles from any etailer that sells ePub… or PDF. I have a Sony 505, and I very rarely buy from the Sony store. I’d say 95+% of my ebooks are PDF or ePub. In fact, I’d probably buy more Dorchester books if I could find them somewhere other than the Sony store.
As for downloading ebooks wirelessly, after reading about the Amazon Orwell fiasco, I’m glad my current Sony reader does not have wireless capability.
August 17, 2009 at 8:41 am
Hi Sandy,
Dorcheter books are currently available at Sony, Amazon in Kindle editions, and at B&N.
It sounds as though the ePub and PDF books you’re currently downloading are not protected by DRM, enabling them to be read on any device. Dorchester books do come with DRM to help prevent piracy, but it also is a little more limiting in their availability.
August 18, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Hi Leah,
I can read DRM protected PDF and ePUB ebooks on my current Sony reader (the PRS-505 model).
Sony updated their firmware last year to make it compatible with Adobe Digital Editions, allowing you to load and read DRM protected ePUB and PDF files on the Sony reader.
Below is a link to Sony’s 2008 press release on the firmware update:
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/consumer/computer_peripheral/e_book/release/36245.html
Sony’s support of DRM protected PDF and ePUB was one of the reasons I selected it over the Kindle. It allows me to purchase ebooks from etailers such as Books on Board and Fictionwise. And sometimes directly from publishers such as Harlequin.