Unimpressed with Sony Reader Store

[watervole]

 Sony just sent me a free book offer to publicise their reader store. So, I bought Una Mccormack's 'Never Ending Sacrifice' which I've been meaning to read for some time.

Colour me unimpressed:

First, I had to give them my credit card details, even though I was paying with a voucher.

Second, the book, which was supposed to be in EPUB  format, downloaded in some format I can't read (acsm)

Actually, it turns out that this is because the book has DRM - it's the first time I've bought (mainly because it was free) a book with DRM -the other books I've paid for were DRM-free.

The software that handles the DRM and downloads the real EPUB file is the bit that I'm missing.  Sony customer service tell me that installing their 'Reader for PC' will solve the problem, but 'Reader for PC' which was the software that came with my ebook is one of the most klutzy, cobbled-together pieces of garbage that I have ever used in my life.

I'm lazy.  I tend to stick with software that I have unless it really is unfit for purpose.

'Reader for PC' made me go away and donate money to Calibre - which is a much better programme.

I'm not reloading that piece of crap and then going through all the hassle of cleaning it off the computer again just to read one book.

I'm sure there must be an alternative solution.

Comments

[inamac]

I have a Sony e-reader (and use Calibre). I've not been sent this offer (they may not have my e-mail) but thanks for the warning!

[epistrophia]

I loathe the Sony Reader software too, but had to use it last week when I downloaded my first library book and Calibre couldn't deal. At least, it looked as though it was dealing, until I tried to open the reader (not the book, please note) - it couldn't start up at the front page. Tried and turned off and turned itself back on and tried and failed and... repeat repeat repeat. I couldn't stop it. It wore out the battery in a matter of hours.

So I opened the Reader software, stopped the automatic syncing, imported the book, told it I only wanted to sync a book in the category I created for that one book, ran the sync, and shut the software back down. And it works fine.

I have no idea if any other open source software will do the DRM thing, but that worked for me easily. (I do use the software occasionally anyway, to download notes I've made while reading, because Calibre can't manage those. But I would never use it as my ebook management software. Hate it hate it.)

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Go here (https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/), download the tools_v5.6.2.zip package, unpack and RTFM, and strip DRM to your heart's content.

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Yep - Alf's tools are so useful.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I've got to download it before I can DRM strip it. The problem lies somewhere in Adobe Digital Editions. The file I've got is supposed to be used by Adobe to download the actual book, but although I've registered with Adobe and reinstalled it, something still isn't working.

(But I'll be visiting Apprentice Alf once I have a proper download to convert)

[thebobby.livejournal.com]

Alf's tools are easy and they work for quite a wide range of ebooks (Kindle being the one of interest to me).