Love my Sony Pocket Edition Reader, hate the Sony ebook software

Earlier in September I purchased the new Sony Pocket Edition (PRS-300), which I gave a detailed review of here. The Reader itself is great. It sports a crisp display with plenty of contrast between the text and background. I love it! But the software Sony makes you download to buy their ebooks and load them onto your Reader is a totally different story.

Today I went to the Smashwords (aff link) ebookstore and bought an interesting looking short story for $0.99. Since Smashwords is awesome and lets you download your ebooks in whatever format you need, I downloaded my purchase in the lrf format for the Sony Reader. So far so good. I even managed to copy the ebook file into Sony’s ebook software’s library folder with little problems.

Then my troubles began.

I connected my Pocket Edition and within a few moments the software recognized it and I saw the device pop up on the menu. I tried to move my newly purchased short story to my device. Nothing. The status thingy kept going around and around, saying it was transferring, but the story stayed in some kind of digital limbo.

After waiting it out for several minutes with no progress, I noticed the fan on my Mac starting to get louder and louder. It appeared the Sony software was really getting my computer heated up. The fan usually comes on when I’m watching videos for an extended period of time.

Anyway, I closed the program down and disconnected my Reader. I restarted the program and repeated the same steps. This time Sony’s software froze up and I had to perform a ‘forced quit.’ This happened every subsequent time I tried to get my Reader connected to the software. It would recognize the device, but was unresponsive when I tried to open any of the folders.

Thank goodness for Calibre

Frustrated, I opened the ebook management software Calibre and once again plugged in my Reader. Much to my surprise Calibre didn’t even recognize the Pocket Edition – something I’ve never experienced in the past. I went to the website and downloaded the newest version. Success!

Calibre recognized the Pocket Edition right away. I copied the short story file into Calibre and then transferred it to my Reader. Everything went smoothly and now I can finally read a good short story!

Gave Sony another try

On a hunch I went back to the Sony software and browsed their ebookstore for another short story. I picked one that looked decent and also had a $0.99 price tag. I purchased it using my up-to-date credit card information and after I clicked ‘purchase’ I got a screen that said the store was currently unavailable.

By this time I’m pulling my hair out.

The second time worked, but I noticed that the short story I just purchased did not download and was not in my ebook library. Nowhere to be found. I had to basically go back to the ebookstore and go through the motions of buying the short story again. Only this time before I got to the payment screen the story downloaded and I was able to get it onto my Reader without any further problems.

Sony needs serious work on their ebook software

I love the Sony Pocket Edition, it has a great design, easy to use and is now open to the ePub format. The software Sony uses needs a lot of work. I hope they fix these problems in future upgrades or they will have problems competing with the Amazon Kindle.

Buying ebooks from their store, downloading the ebooks and then transferring them to my device should be a seamless process that only takes a few minutes at most. Apple has this down to a science with iTunes and their related devices.

It’s also kinda sad that I need to go to Calibre (third-party software) to do something that Sony’s own software should be able to do without any problems.

Okay, my rant for today is done. I wanted to share my experience so far. As I’ve maintained, the Pocket Edition itself is great. I love it and I read on it all the time. I’m still planning on taking pictures of it next to a mass market paperback so you can get an idea of how big the reading space is. Once I get around to that, I’ll be posting them right here on Brad’s Reader.

Does anyone else have experience with Sony’s ebook software? Share your experience, good or bad, in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Related Posts

• Sony releases new ebook software, compatible with Mac, leaves out PRS-500 support
• Review: The Sony Pocket Edition (PRS-300) Reader
• Resurrecting my Sony Reader PRS-500 with Calibre
• Unboxing pictures of a new Sony Pocket Edition Reader
• Sony unveils wireless eReader

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