Sony Ebook Reader (1 Viewer)

[chatter]

I use kindle as well but the PC version, there are a couple of sites that you can get e-books from for it - a lot of them are free downloads
this being one of them
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e-book system also saves all that weight that i used to carry around with me when away, but i still buy the occasional 'real' book

 

[Jim]

I have both. The Sony was first to the UK market and the product is good (apart from the touch screen which has a bit of reflection) But the Kindle has arrived and stolen the show. The Kindle is better designed, has a better screen and the whispernet which allows you to shop at the UK Amazon book store free (no internet charges) and anywhere in the World is superb. Also buying books at 70p is much better than the £7 which the Sony partners sell for, though I suspect those prices will come down because of the kindle competition. Go for the Kindle, when it arrives, don't try to peel that welcome note off the screen, that is the screen!

 

[bobandjanie]

Features... OK, the Kindle... what is the text to speech feature like? I used to love talking books so that could be interesting, does it work with headphones as well as the speakers. Does it cost to receive emails on it? JJ said it was slow but was it free? Many thanks, Jane

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[kkclassic]

Features... OK, the Kindle... what is the text to speech feature like? I used to love talking books so that could be interesting, does it work with headphones as well as the speakers. Does it cost to receive emails on it? JJ said it was slow but was it free? Many thanks, Jane

Hi

The text to speech function is basic it reads in a robotic voice either male or female and you can slow the voice down to make it more understandable. It is listed in the menu as experimental along with the web browser so maybe they are working on improving it.

Kevin and Tricia

 

[olley]

You can send emails to your kindle for free using "youremail"@free.kindle.com you can also send doc's to "youremail"@kindle.com and they will convert them to mobi format before sending them to your kindle, but they do charge for this.

Calibre is a superb piece of software, and its free! apart from its ability to convert most "e" formats to most others (non-DRM only), you can list all your books by loads of different fields making searching easy. It will also download covers and meta data for any books you may have aquired

Plug your ereader in and it shows what titles in your library are on it, and with a click you can send another on to it, and You can set it up to send you newspapers on a daily basis for free.

Olley

 

[dellwood33]

Orders a Kindle for Barbara today

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[Munchie]

Going to order one just before the end of the month so that it is waiting for me when we get home.
Have a couple of books on the pooter for emergency reading. Downloaded Calibre to try it out and it converted the file for Kindle. Impressive and very fast. :thumb:

 

[dellwood33]

I downloaded the calibre software too & have used it to convert a couple of PDF books. Still searching for books in the free libraries.
We paid £109 inc P&P for the reader

 

[movan]

Jim Only just seen this thread and funnily enough was speaking to Ray in Scotland about it only this morning.

Just to say, if you havn't got round to reading the Wilbur Smith novels yet due to lack of time to read everything .... you really should read The Burning Shore... it was to my mind the best of that sequence of novels. Don't know if Chrisboyo would agree.

Ray has given me something to save up for once I rebuild my house:Sad:

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[Jim]

Hi Joy, I have read all of the Courtneys in Africa, I think Burning Shore was the novel where Centaine gets shipwrecked Superb story. (they are all a blur as they follow on) The only disappointment for me in the Africa series was 'Rage' it was OK but very slow compared to the others as it was telling the story of apartheid and Mandela etc. I had only just read Mandella's AB so I think I was a bit impatient with it.

Looking forward to moving on to the Ballantyne novels, I hope they are as good as the Courtneys' but that won't be till next year as I'm just too busy:thumb:

 

[chrisboyo]

I have read and reread all of the Wilbers

I think the one that stays with me is The Sunbird as it was the first Wilber I read a long time ago, the other being Monsoon. This stays in the MH and gets picked up, opened and read from any point in the story as I know it so well and never tire of it

Just got into the books by Bryce Courtney
Try him ,This guy can write!!
He could be Wilber Smiths successor

Happy Reading
Chrisboyo

 

[sedge]

Have you read Bryce Courtney's The Persimmon Tree? - quite a departure from his normal genre! Beautiful story.

It wasn't available here a couple of years ago though - so my sis in Oz had read it and passed it on to her friend (also in Oz), who sent it me and I read it then sent it to her sis here! Dunno where that copy is by now.

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[movan]

Chris, and Jenny, will order those books now. Thanks for the recommendations.... I always finish a book I start and hate it when they are rubbish, so it's good to buy the ones recommended...

 

[chrisboyo]

Hi Joy
A good Bryce Courtenay to staet you off is The Potato Factory
Leads on to Tommo and Hawk
Great stuff
Happy reading Daze
Chrisboyo

 

[Patrick]

download section for Ebooks

I bought Jan a Sony 505 a few weeks ago, After lots of research this was coming out the overall best of the bunch. With in the research I also found that Calibre Ebook Manager was lots better than the Sony one, it will re-format most of the formats out there in to your chosen format for your E-reader.

It was supposed to be one of her chrissy presents, but as we were going away that weekend and she loves to read as we drive i let her have it that day; she hasn't put it down yet.
I bought some of those disks of flea Bay then found they were just all the same books as you can down load free from the Project Gutenberg, boo hoo. There are about 2 dozen books she likes but the way she reads they won’t last long.

Jim, Maybe you should start a download section for Ebooks so everyone can swap????????

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[olley]

Hi Pat if its a "Free" ebook you only need to post where to get it ie. Gutenberg or Baen for example, if its a paid for book it will most likely be protected so it won't work on other ereaders, and if its a rip off then Jim could be done for illegal file sharing. oh:

Been thinking about just this idea for while now, the best I can think of is to post the name of the Author, and ask for emails from posters as to what books they have by that author. You then have the book emailed to you, Jim is out of the loop then.

Obviously the only reason for doing all this is if its a rip of, or you have removed the DRM yourself from one of your books using one of the scripts available on the net.

Olley

 

[sedge]

Joy - his usual genre is more Derring Doo, isn't it Chris? - cos my sister said there was an interview with him where he was asked about the 'Tree' and he said he'd had the story in his head for ages and besides - he thought everybody should write a love story before they die! But it isn't soppy Chris!

 

[Jim]

Hi Pat if its a "Free" ebook you only need to post where to get it ie. Gutenberg or Baen for example, if its a paid for book it will most likely be protected so it won't work on other ereaders, and if its a rip off then Jim could be done for illegal file sharing. oh:

Been thinking about just this idea for while now, the best I can think of is to post the name of the Author, and ask for emails from posters as to what books they have by that author. You then have the book emailed to you, Jim is out of the loop then.

Obviously the only reason for doing all this is if its a rip of, or you have removed the DRM yourself from one of your books using one of the scripts available on the net.

Olley

Hi Ian, you are right, the ripped books are easy to find. When using the Sony, Waterstones were charging hardback prices for their ebooks, sometimes more, that is taking the 'p' and people will refuse to pay and copy them. I must say that since I have owned the kindle I have not bothered looking for illegal stuff as the amazon prices are very reasonable, and I do not mind paying <£3 for a book and then have it delivered in the blink of an eye.

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[dewaltman]

e reafers

hi all bit of advise please can you using the calibre e book manager then buy off amazon ( i think they use mobo or somethimg} and convert the book to epub to use on a sony reader,also is it easy to do, thanks

 

[olley]

You can only buy Amazon ebooks with a Kindle account, you don't need a kindle but you do need their Kindle for PC or other platforms software. Calibre will not convert DRM protected books, and all Amazon books have DRM, not sure about their free ones.

Olley

 

[chrisboyo]

Sedge/Joy
Just started reading Tandia by Bryce Courtenay, the first few chapters putting the cast together and laying out the plot seem interesting

Happy reading Daze
Chrisboyo

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[olley]

I have not bothered looking for illegal stuff as the amazon prices are very reasonable, and I do not mind paying <£3 for a book and then have it delivered in the blink of an eye.

things could be changing Jim, the US publishers are trying to introduce "Agency" pricing, that is they tell the retailer what he HAS to sell the book for, or they refuse to allow them to sell their books.

At the moment Amazon don't sell Macmillian Ebooks for this reason as they want Amazon to charge around £10 per book.

This from Amazon:

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the "big six" publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

And here's an update

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Typical response from companies that I suppose have a large vested interest in actually producing paper books and maybe the bookshops as well.

Olley