Archive for the ‘ebooks’ Category
Ebook Blog
As I was fooling around with the conversions of ebooks from one format to another, it struck me that it would be quite easy to actually publish my own e-book, maybe best of the blog or something along those lines as a test. I could even have the images scaled down in the process to fit the Sony or the Kindle. And this brought me to another realization, in the future, books and manuals could be easily published, only as ebooks by the authors.
Yes, it’s true that to some extent this exists already with the PDF, but they’re a pain to read on a normal computer screen, and not easy to scale. I could see the day when much like iTunes, there would be website stores, or just free stores, where authors could self-publish without the expense of ink on paper publishing. In other words, after Blurb, there will be e-blurb.
Ebook Tips (PDF & TXT)
If you’re following the blog, you read a while back that I’m using the SONY PRS 505 for my reading fix.
One of the biggest issues with any ebook reader is the whole business of how to take a PDF file that has been formatted for letter size, or some obscure size, and get it formatted properly for your ereader.
Sony PRS 505 (continued)
(a few weeks later)
Just skip this post and go on to the other stuff if you’re sick of reading about this eReader. I put it down because I started with my first impressions, and it’s been a while now that I’ve had it. So I just wanted to do a conclusion.
In my first impressions, the main thing that bothered me was the poor SONY Client Software. That’s the program responsible for doing the syncing between the computer and the reader and managing your ebook library. If I had the time, I’d sit down and write a software report just on that aspect; but I don’t use it anymore. I found a program (freeware) called Calibre that can be used for managing your library as well as controlling the conversion process between say a text file and the LRF format which the SONY likes.
The Calibre software is great (and I’m definitely going make a donation soon to what seems to be one guy working on it). If like me you want control over the fonts, font-size, margins, indents, etc. and especially if you are mostly pulling free books from wherever you find them (as I am) it does it all. I have yet to buy a single book. So I don’t know, what does a paperback go for these days? Let’s say $10. So that’s $3000 worth of reading material so far.
Do I miss having Wiki on the thing? No. Or being able to download books while I’m jetting my way to Paris. No, though I do miss jetting my way to Paris.
Library Card
Got my NYC Library card today in the mail, and immediately went to their ebook section to see how that works and what they had. You check the books out electronically in Adobe DRM form. (You need to have Adobe software which is a free install) and you import it into Adobe Digital Editions which does it’s thing; and then you can import the book into the Sony ebook library. The book is set to lock-up after 21 days.
It’s just like the physical library. A finite number of copies are available, and when those are checked out, you can’t get them. You can put in a request to be notified when they become available (which means that someone’s electronic version has expired). The top best sellers are all checked out.
But I found my beloved Nero Wolfe books and quickly downloaded and installed two books of short stories with Nero and of course Archie. An interesting fact about the Wolfe series is that Rex Stout didn’t begin to write them until he was in his early 50s. Those sorts of things always give me hope.
Reading
You may have noticed that I haven’t posted any new pictures for a while. I have to admit, that since getting the Sony e-book, I have fallen into a state of literary gluttony. Which is to say, I have been reading instead of shooting. Everything from Stoker’s Dracula, to Nostromo by Joseph Conrad to Wodehouse. And when I haven’t been reading, or fulfilling orders (which I have to confess I’ve not been as prompt as usual) – I’ve been collecting more books than any sane person could read in a lifetime.
The last time this happened to me was when I had access to the stacks at University of Buffalo. As a college student, I could wander the stacks to my heart’s content, stumbling upon new books and sitting at a window near where it was always snowing – and reading like a fiend – only to look up when a pretty co-ed walked by. Sometimes even that didn’t wake me from the printed words.
Early on – when people used to ask for advice about photography – I would tell them not to study photography but to read great works of literature. I don’t think many would take me up on this advice – but I’ve always felt that your art is greatly influenced by your imagination, and your imagination, in order to stay healthy – needs to be constantly fed.
What happened here, was that I suddenly had access to this ever-expanding library that was filled with my favorite authors, and where one selection would lead (much like the web) to another book and that one ad finitum. I’ve been like a kid in a candy store.
eBook News (from the Times)
Sony has struck a deal to offer Google Books in ePub format. (Thanks for the article Markus).
I’m thrilled to see that. First off, the ePub format works great on the Sony 505 (with firmware update if you have an old one); and second that’s a huge number of books.
In fact, one of the books that I contributed 12 photographs to has been scanned by Google, so I could even put that on my reader. As is I have more than I could read in a lifetime. (A 5 GB SD card holds one hell of a lot of books).
For the whole review / experience so far, see this Sony 505 post.
You know, the Kindle v. Sony reminds me of the early web ISP business,. I would see all these people signing up for AOL (the KINDLE) and others just signing up for a run-of-the-mill ISP. Kindle is trying to be the AOL of eBooks. What that means exactly – I’m not sure. Well, maybe I am sure, but hope that you know what I mean.
Sony 505 Ebook (ongoing experience)
For those of you who’ve been reading this blog for a long time – you know that I rarely write equipment reviews. The reason is that I simply don’t trust passing on my judgement to others. I realize that in itself may be strange in an electronic opinionated world, but it’s the truth. However – every so often I come under the spell of one of these electronic gizmos and so it has happened again with the Sony PRS 505 (silver edition).
Yes, after many people tried to talk me out of it, I bought the thing at J&R for $268. Besides the machine, you get (until March 31) 100 free Sony Classics. Let me just start with this point. There are (at the time of this writing) about 2000 classics to choose from. The number of authors is somewhat limited, but they just happen to be some of the greatest writers in history.
Now I know, you can search around and find some of these for free, and then run them through software so that they look right on the reader, but these are properly formatted and all in one place. The SONY site – although it tries to mimic the iTunes Store – is just not as user friendly. I deduct many points for that. But after you get through a few strange user interface issues – well – here’s what I’ve downloaded so far:
Cat, Chinese Restaurant
I went down to J&R Music and picked up the Sony 505 reader (they had a very good price). I had the infrared camera with me, and the whole way down on the train I was bitching to myself that it had been a mistake to take the ir camera since you can’t get anything with it on the subway and I was seeing a couple of good shots; well maybe not that good but maybe they were.
But when I got out at Brooklyn Bridge station, I realized that it may have been a good thing to have the infrared camera with me – because there’s this park across from City Hall with gas-burning lights (supposed to make it look like the 1880’s I suppose). And lots of trimmed hedges and all that sort of rot.
So after picking up the ebook reader I spent a pretty long time in that neighborhood. Again, funny how one thing leads to another. I haven’t decided yet which shot to post from it, so I’ll sit on that for a while and put up this cat picture I took on the way back – on 86th street. Since I was shooting through a window, I wasn’t sure how the infrared would work – but it did it’s thing.
In Other News
I walked up to 86th and Lex (Best Buy) to get a second powered USB hub (we could have a contest to see who has the most USB PORTS*), and got there early so I walked over to the nearby Citibank branch to use the ATM machine. There was yellow police tape blocking the entrance and a sign in the door said, THE BANK IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
Of course the first thing that went through my head was, yikes – they really are going under. I chatted with a woman on crutches who was also there to get in. She also was a little spooked. But then two cops came out of the bank and she knew one of them and asked what was going on.
The bank was robbed, he said.
She turned to me and said, I guess there’s gonna be more of that these days.
Well, at least we knew what it was. I have to admit, I had never been close to a bank robbery before. Kind of exciting. I hung out for a while until Best Buy opened watching detectives going in and out of the bank. After a few minutes, a woman took the sign off the window, and then took another piece of paper and put up the exact same notice. The woman on crutches yelled through the door to her – That’s the same sign. It says the same thing.
But the sign was replaced. I don’t know. Maybe the first one had a word spelled wrong. I was sort of curious and tried to get closer, and now I could see that this one was done on Citibank Letterhead.
Kindle
Pre-Ebook Reader
UPDATE: I got to a Borders store today, and was able to compare the SONY 505 with their newest touchscreen reader. No doubt, the screen contrast is better on the 505. I stood with the demo 505 in my machine for at least 15 minutes, mostly reading. No problem. Nothing like reading on an LCD type screen. Yes, there is a tiny blackout as the page turns. I didn’t find that a big deal. I haven’t actually had a Kindle II in my hands, but frankly I don’t like the look of the thing and the extra keys at the bottom. So at this point, if I were to go for anything it would be the SONY 505. I’ve seen new ones a little bit cheaper on eBay, maybe $50 cheaper, but there may be some catch to that… I don’t think they include the 100 free books deal… Not sure about that yet, or even what those 100 free classics are. Need to look into that. I wasn’t that impressed by the touchscreen on the 700. So that’s where it stands now. Still looking into it.
I also downloaded the Mobi Book reader software to my desktop… I couldn’t read on my LCD screen for long without getting a feeling of buzzing in my eyes…
I’ve been thinking seriously about getting the Kindle II (in case you don’t know or care – it’s an ebook reader from Amazon.com).
