My Nightmare With Sony’s eBook Library
Like a brick of lavender vomit
eBook Library is not just the clunkiest, ugliest, and worst ereader management software I’ve used, it’s the worst that I can imagine. eBook Library came bundled with my PRS-700; it’s Sony’s standard ereader software, and also the primary link to Sony’s eBook Store, which also sucks.
What follows is not for the weak of heart. It’s a tale of woe, and there is much gnashing of teeth. (And I’m a Reader fan.) But if you’d like to hear about a software catastrophe of historic proportions, come along.
Out of the box: The nightmare begins
From the start, eBook Library is bad. Often, “the user interface appears to freeze,” as an actual email from Sony Support reads. There’s no status bar for working jobs, it often just stops reacting to you while it does whatever it’s doing. Not good.
Granted, I am using Windows 7, and I had to troubleshoot the compatibility to get the program to even run. So maybe that’s one of my problems. However, Calibre and Adobe Digital Editions both work perfectly.
The eBook Store, where you actually buy books from Sony, looks like it was designed by somebody who’s heard descriptions of Apple’s iTunes Store, but never actually used it. Browsing is a chore, and the Categories are annoying to figure out. If you want to cash in on the 100 free classics they advertise, you have to go to a specific section to find the books that qualify. I accidentally got a non-classic copy of some Percy Shelley poems, and they charged me, so clearly their organizing system is beyond the ken of mere mortals.
Plus the whole interface is very, very ugly.
Actually buying books: I still get chills
The real trouble began when I actually bought books from the store. I bought 2, and got another 25 or so free classics. While I was syncing my Reader, trying to get these new books on it, the software froze and refused to cooperate. It wouldn’t talk to the Reader anymore, and wouldn’t even work without the Reader plugged in.
I contacted Sony Support, and they sent me a list of things to do. Eventually I had to wipe my Reader’s hard drive, reinstall its drivers, and uninstall and reinstall the Library software. Then, with another workaround to get the books I’d paid for, I managed to get the DRM content on my Reader.
I sent Sony Support another email, saying the program still wouldn’t work, and thanks, but I wouldn’t be using it anymore. They wrote back saying I should call in. I didn’t; it seemed like an awful lot of trouble just to be allowed to pay them more money for their books.
Essentially, what seems to happen is that Sony’s own DRM bogs down their own software to such an extent that it becomes unusable. Maybe I’m wrong about this, maybe it’s my Windows 7. I doubt it. In any case, there’s good news.
Calibre: Thank the merciful gods
Calibre is a free, open-source ereader manager that works on Linux and OSX, as well as Windows (and Windows 7). It works quickly, and very well. It talks to my Reader, and the SD card in it, and lets me edit the titles and authors of books I get, which I could never do in eBook Library. Sometimes the metadata in files gets confused, such as if you save a .txt file from Project Gutenberg as an .rtf, and your own name becomes the “Author”; it’s nice to be able to fix that (listening Sony? Probably not).
The downside is that Calibre only works, I believe, with non-DRM files, which means you can’t buy ebooks from most stores. I haven’t yet solved the problem of how to buy DRMed ebooks and load them on the Reader, so I’m just not buying DRMed ebooks. I guess it’s kind of a workaround. [UPDATE: You can also buy DRM PDFs from stores such as Fictionwise and A1 Books, and transfer them to your Reader with Adobe Digital Editions. Check this post for more on getting book for your Reader without using Sony eBook Library.]
Adobe Digital Editions: This is how you do DRM
I believe this is Windows-only, but [UPDATE: Adobe DE works with Macs, too, but it has to talk to Sony's eBook Library software before you can transfer DRM PDFs to your Reader, and eBook Library doesn't work on Macs.] Adobe DE handles PDF DRM like a dream, so I at least have the option to buy DRM PDFs. It also lets you check out PDF ebooks from certain public libraries, which is phenomenal. I haven’t had my Reader for long, but I’ve been able to find plenty of reading material at the Seattle Public Library’s online collection.
Or don’t use anything
You can also just drag and drop files onto your Reader or SD card (non-DRM, I believe), and the Reader will find them on its own.
The whole thing mystifies me, honestly. It’s as if Sony set out to make its Library software both useless and redundant, so that the easiest course of action is to simply not use it. The whole project reeks of half-assing, which is not a good smell. It feels overwhelmingly like Sony doesn’t care about their customers after they buy the Reader. Which is fine; all in all, I still think the Reader is worth the money on its own.
Soon, I hope, more publishers will sell more ebooks in more places without DRM. Until that happens, I’m going to the real elibrary, or, failing that, I’ll get the hard copy before I go back to Sony’s eBook Store.
The good news is that the firmware on the Reader works well, and you can cut the software out of the loop with no downside. Even knowing about all the trouble with Sony’s eBook Store, I’d take a Reader over a Kindle without a second thought.
Me and my friends have no trouble using Sonys store or software with Vista 64 .Window 7 is your problem,it is still beta after all.
This replys seems to be from someone at Sony, since I have also a nightmare with the stupid software, best regards
answer to rc. Thats rubbish.
I have windows 7 on my laptop, vista on my main system and xp on my spare pc and it does exactly the same on each pc and operating system, just freezes and goes white takes 100% of the cpu until it decides it will work again. Very frustrating to try and use. Sony should pull there fingers out as they have a great idea and will lose it to others because they can’t be bothered to sort it out or pay for real programmers to write some descent software for them.
Your column should be named My nightmare with Windows 7.
Yeah, no doubt there are some compatibility issues, so stipulated.
However, I run a lot of programs on Windows 7, and this is the only one that’s ever had trouble.
Plus, Sony’s been lazy in addressing issues and known bugs (such as the “appears to freeze” issue), and their inability to release a Mac or Linux version 3 years after its debut is inexcusable.
I’m not saying that everybody will experience these issues to this extent, but I’m not ready to let Sony off the hook, either.
Let me ask you this: how do you like using eBook Library and eBook Store as compared to Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre?
Well, in Windows 7 build 7000, I never got Sony’s software to run, no matter what compatibility options I set. I was in x64, which probably made things worse.
I’m right now running it in a Parallels Desktop Windows XP 32-bit virtual machine rather than my Windows 7 boot camp, and it seems to run much nicer now.
It did however crash on me with 0% CPU usage as I tried buying with the $25 coupon for the first time. But when downloading it offers a status indicator on the Status page. So it’s not bad. Just not great. Like you, I intend to buy more EPUBs elsewhere. Part of me was thinking of starting a Canadian EPUB retailer, since I’m sick of buying eBooks in US dollars and I hate how none of the eBook stores offer downloadable excerpts like the Kindle store offers.
Also, for your RTF author bit, I’ve a feeling your RTF file has author metadata embedded in it, as it should have nothing to do with Sony. (How would it know to use *your* name?) Calibre’s nice, but it has problems too, sigh. Part of me thinks I’ll roll my own EPUBs the old fashioned way, with XHTML and CSS, and copy them on manually. :p
Louis-
Where do you buy ePubs at all? I haven’t gone hunting for places to buy them, but I’ve never come across a book I wanted to buy that was offered in ePub.
As for corrupted metadata, I have a feeling it might happen in Open Office, which is my word processor. If I open a book I get from Manybooks or somewhere, and then save it and load it onto my ereader, sometimes my name becomes the author name. Also, I’ve gotten files, including some books I’ve bought, with incorrect metadata. I’m not sure why Sony won’t allow you to change the metadata. One more symptom of them not considering the book yours, I guess.
I have the exact same problems with vista and XP. I have found Sony support to be unresponsive. Thank you for the tip for Adobe…I will check that out.
The inability to easily change metadata through the eBook Library interface is terrible. Shame on Sony.
However: You can use Notepad to open the XML file located in DATABASE>>>CACHE and, as long as you’re careful, make all the changes you need re: title and author.
I have had a Sony 505 for about 18 months. I had minimal problems with the software until they upgraded it last year. Yes, I am delighted that the font is now large enough that I can finally read my pdf books. However, I can no longer connect to their store.
I spent over an hour on the phone with their tech support. I had to uninstall, reinstall, uninstall, and finally reinstall the old version. Not to mention, all the other individual files that had to be deleted. It still will not work.
Now, I just use my Reader for pdf books that I purchase elsewhere and read everything else on my netbook.
As Nico stated, why should I go to all this trouble to give them money??
BTW, I run Windows XP, so the OS is not the problem.
Craig — Thanks for the Notepad tip, although that “as long as you’re careful” caveat gives me a little pause.
Elaine — Sony’s tech support gives me nightmares. I’m now using a 505, after some problems with the 700′s combo of touchscreen and e-ink. I’ve used it for almost six months now, and I think it’s a great piece of hardware (and still one of the cheapest ereaders out there), but the eBook Library software still stinks. I generally use the software in quick surgical strikes, to update the books in my “current reads” collection and for nothing else.
Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre are still my preferred methods of getting books on the machine. Both work much better than Sony’s brand name software, which I hope is a disgrace to somebody somewhere.
For ease of getting books on machine, BeBook is my favorite, but I hate the Mobipocket software too. Sony and Amazon, ruining it for everybody.
I’m running eBook Library 2.5.0009170 on a Motion Computing LS-800 tablet 1.12Ghz with 512M RAM running Windows 7 RC1. I’ve experienced no problems with it at all. The software mimics a PRS-700 on this tablet, in fact it’s almost like carrying around a $2000 PRS-700, albeit heavier.
Also having bought several Sony products, I have come to expect no suppport except occational software updates. But at the same time, everything still works.
This article sounds more like an issue with specific Windows 7 compatibilities, than eBook Library issues.
Hi Michael–
Thanks for stopping by. There are reports of people not having trouble with the EBL software. I think it’s kind of a situation where, if you’re lucky, you don’t have any issues, but if you do have an issue, it’ll be a big big issue.
My latest pet peeve is that EBL 3.0 does the Adobe DRM support inside the Sony program itself, instead of letting you use Adobe Digital Editions.
Out of the three book-management options for a Reader (Adobe Digital Editions, Sony eBook Library, and Calibre), Sony’s software is easily, easily the worst. So this isn’t just eBook Library on Windows 7 in a vacuum, this is a comparison of all three and Sony’s software comes up short.
Nico
I, too, am appalled at Sony’s ebook interface. I love the PRS550 I’m using, but each time I interact with either the library or the attendant software (I’m on Vista) I think to myself: Perhaps some lowly unpaid intern got this as his/her summer project cuz surely no one was actually paid for *knowledge* or *competence* or *customer-based interface skills* or …. well, you get the picture. Eventually, I persevere and come away with my books so I actually can use the reader, but I shake my head in annoyance during the entire session. This oft-repeated experience keeps me from recommending the Sony reader to other potential clients.
I have a prs505 and yeah, pretty much exactly as you said. the software is a total nightmare. and in my experience any which way to simply put stuff on the device to read is a heartbreaking affair. i’ve had to return the device because the experience has been so bad. it’s really not worth the money at this point. very sad to say because this technology has been out for some time now.
Carole and Otis–
Thanks for dropping by, and thanks for your input. I’ve found that Adobe Digital Editions works a lot better for getting ebooks and getting them on your Reader.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t work if you have a Mac. More on that here.
Did you ever get the honor of using the software that came with Sony’s MiniDisc’s? It is my belief that the people who designed that pile of trash did the eBook software.
With the launch of Windows 7 not that far off, my hope is that Sony will release an updated 3.x version that addresses it not even launching on 7 Pro x64 version. Considering how Sony has historically handled the software for these devices (MiniDisc and Reader specifically), I am not holding my breath.
All is not lost though! Here is how you get it working in Windows 7 right now:
Right click on the ebook Sony program icon and select the menu “Troubleshoot Compatibility”.
It will run few tests and ask you if the program run in previous version of windows, indicate Vista and it will open it.
When I selected the “Try with tested settings” (can’t remember what it said) it chose XP SP2 as the version. Hey it worked at least. I went back and reset the settings to Vista SP2 and it worked perfectly. Worth a shot to at least be able to use it.
Good luck, I love my reader, and am about to buy my wife a PRS-300.
Lyle
man, oh man, was the minidisc software obtuse, broken, and downright evil.
Thank you so much for your post regarding this. I was using the eReader Library and it worked find. Today it simply stopped. It won’t open, and I’ve spent more time trying to troubleshoot it and it is just beyond annoying. I’m working in windows XP on a netbook (Not that that part is relevant, I’m simply using it as a conduit for loading stuff onto my Sony PRS-300).
I’m going to check out the other Library manager you recommend, or go back to the drag and drop method and think of my reader as one giant USB drive and bypass the whole library component.
I have to say I love my reader — I’m just not impressed with the library component, or the Sony store (had a horrible time navigating).
Appreciate you sharing your experience with all of us!
Chris
Thank you all for saving me further nightmare. I was eager to get the Sony eBook Library to work, but have been unable to even get it to launch in Windows Vista. I will now give up.
I had the exact same experience. The slogan used to be “Oh…it’s a Sony” now “Oh no…it’s a Sony”
Same nightmare here. Bought the Sony Reader PRS 600 on a KLM duty free flight. Installed the software as instructed — and it refused to load. Uninstalled, re-installed, uninstalled, etc and kept facing the same problem: hard disk light flashing furiously, but software dead to the world. Sigh. I can’t return it, so I am stuck with it. But I certainly WON’T recommend it until they get someone fairly intelligent to design the interface software.
Thanks to a comment on this posting, discovered that I could actually dump my PDFs into the device, and access it! All I wanted in the first place is to get my documents into the device and read while curled up on a sofa. The interace software is a real blood nightmare. Thanks to all those who commented on this issue. Peace.
these comments amaze me. I have had an eBook for 18 months and have never had a problem. I dowload books and pdf files and its been great. never slow. never crashes. I love it
I am glad to see that it is not just me. I am running the eBook Library software on a Vista machine and I can only rarely connect to the store. I’ve gone through support without getting any help. They told me to deactivate security software and my firewall but I get the same result. The weird thing is that some days it will connect just fine, but even on thise days I often get booted right in the middle of browsing.
i don’t think it’s a problem with windows 7. i have had so many problems myself with ebook library that i’m actually on here. now it won’t even launch. it’s not a disaster it sony’s crap interface for software, sony should stick to what it knows best, electronics, stay away from softwares.
It’s not Windows 7 that’s the problem because I have Windows Vista and the Ebook Library will not work. It just wouldn’t let me open it after awhile. And the people from Sony are no help at all. I contacted customer support and those people act like they have no clue. I love my Reader but the ebook library sucks majorly.
I’ve been disgusted with the Sony eBook library since I bought my PRS505 – almost two years ago. It hasn’t run on Windows 2000 (work), XP (home), Vista (home upgrade), and it still doesn’t work on Windows 7.
Interface is horrible. It’s REALLY bad if you have more than fifty books in your library. In order to add or remove even ONE BOOK from my eReader, I actually have to put aside nearly an hour of time to allow for the software to catch up.
Downloading Calibre right now. Fed up with this – ‘specially since Sony sent out a huge announcement about their software upgrade that happened last week! I updated.. and, yeah, I’m giving up on you, Sony! Hire some experienced software developers!
After the Sony 3.1 downgrade, I am no longer able to read any of the books in my library. After over 20 hour on the phone and chat, their clueless tech support was not able to resovle my problems. The reader worked good but slow prior to their upgrade. One of the techs did finally admit to me that this problem is not uncommon. Sony’s answer to me about no longer being able to read the books is “we are sorry, would you like to purchase the books again, in the new format”.
Wow, these are some serious horror stories. It amazes me that Sony is still so clueless in the software arena. And I like the Reader itself more than any other ereader I’ve used.
Before the recent upgrade, I would have said that my 505 was my best travel companion overseas for two years. If you haven’t upgraded to most recent software, I would wait a bit. Their help desk was useless (time consuming).
Have just spent c9 hours over 4 sessions trying to sort out software. It seems version 3.1 is not working properly with windows 7. I have now lost all my books and cannot activate existing PRS505 on netbook. I have two of these units but it’s less expensive and less trouble to give up and buy a Kindle.
OMG Sony Reader Support is horrible. The only thing they seem to have down is how to type “thank you for your patience, we are checking on your issue…….” After an hour chat session I was informed that my level of problem requires a different reader support Team! WTF. The moron Sandraa_ took an hour to understnad a basic issue I explained in 10 different ways. It must be a volunteer not a paid “analyst”. My 8 year old could do better!
It’s not an OS issue. It’s a Sony issue. Kindle here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, the worst part to me is that people like Jennie will go flocking to the Kindle; not that I blame her at all—it’s completely understandable.
But the Kindle’s complete refusal to support library ebooks will hamstring library ebook growth for the rest of us. Blerg.
Downgrading to ebook library 3.1
If you haven’t installed the “3.1 upgrade” yet, make sure you go to your Sony ebook library directory. (On my Win7 computer it’s E:\Libraries\Documents\My Books\eBook Library). Save the eBook Library directory to a safe location, making a note of this storage location.
After 3.1 fails to run, reinstall the original version of ebook library, run it, and click on Import Files.
Now goto your saved copy of eBook Library, open it and highlight all files (.lrx, pdf, epub, etc.) and click Open.
If you can’t find your eBook Library directory do a search for *.lrx
The results will show you the directory where you can find it.
It sounds to me like the switch to ePub support might be the big culprit here. The problem is that I’m not sure the 3.0 version will be able to read ePub books.
So, for new users without libraries of Sony-proprietary ebooks (and without 3.0 on their system), 3.1 should be OK, more or less.
For old users, updating to 3.1 doesn’t seem to be worth the risk. See if you can get ePubs from Sony onto your Reader, and if so, consider opting out of the update until a more stable release comes along.
There’s a new Sony Reader Forum that was started exclusively by Sony reader owners. They have seen it all. Most of them owns multiple Sony readers. You can find the forum here: http://sonyreader.proboards.com/
I have had a big problem with the PRS-600 1st I could not open the Reader Library and still can’t. Adobe Digital Editions works OK. I managed to load two books OK.
I use the security lock and the battery went compleatly flat and now I can’t charge the e-book because the lock is on and there is not enough power in the battery to switch off the lock. when I plug it into the computer it says locked, the red light goes on and then goes off again and it does not charge.
Any Ideas.
I absolutely agree with this article. The software was designed by an idiot.
I purchased possibly 20 books from Sony in the last year. They went right into the reader (505) no problem but then I added more books though calibi, Adobe reader etc and went to sync. It won’t sync the books I bought from SONY!!! The software just sits there. One night I left it on for 9 hours… no joy. To sync I need to delete all the purchased content and then it will sync. Next, re-download the content from Sony and it goes in. Of course each time I put a book in the reader from another source, same thing.
I just switched to the 900 and that just made it worse since now the books are EPUB and not the old LRF or whatever. The reader just sits there with the software spinning away and doing nothing. I also have the “latest” version of the software (3.0) and it is just junk. I want to be able to control the layout of the books, create collections, move things around and all that but sony simply doesn’t understand.
The reader however, is great!
Thanks a lot for the information. I can’t believe that people are having this problem since Jan, 2009. It’s more than a year and Sony still has got the problem fixed. I am using Windows 7 and just downloaded Calibre. It’s wonderful. Again, thanks a lot.
Hi. Just wanted to add that the renamed “Sony Reader Library” software, version 3.1, does work on Mac.
I had all the same problems with the reader library locking up and not loading. I never tried to contact sony because I am a stubborn little thing. After I bought a pocket edition, I tried to load the books onto it and it froze.(Never had a prob with my PRS600) I ended up going through the back door (going into my computer)to open the individual files for each book. The reader library opened up once I double clicked on a book file and I was able to transfer it to my new pocket edition. I really think they need to completely redo the estore and library and on top of it, if it is needed that we switch to a new format for the books, THEY SHOULD TAKE THE LOSS!!! I have already spent too much money with them on the 2 readers I bought and the 52 books purchased from their store.
And I thought I was the only one! I’ve used the software only for a while. It was murder trying to connect to the Sony eBook store so I gave up. In the end, I bought most of my books from Books on Board, which has ePub books in abundance, by the way.
Before discovering Calibre, I would upload most of my books to my SD Card and just insert it in my PR505, completely bypassing the need for using any kind of program. Now that I have a Pocket Reader (I do miss my dearly departed 505, dead after a deadly fall) I use Calibre, which is an utter dream to use.
I too have not been able to get the Sony estore SW to work. It did initially but once it stopped, I cannot get it to work again. I uninstalled it and now when I try to reinstall it, it tells me I have a newer version already installed and aborts. How can I have a newer version that the one I just downloaded from the Sony site? Crap, crap, crap.
I’m experiencing the same ‘freeze’ problems – Reader Library will simply not work on my Windows XP machine. Furthermore the support function on the Sony website sucks – I called into a Sony Store but they can only help with the unit itself – said I need to contact the Sony tech support desk but they’re only available between 9am and 6pm Mon-Fr so if I rush home from work some evening I might succeed in contacting them in from of my PC. Very disappointed with this product as a whole.
Dear Steve Jobs, please consider an e-book reader with e-ink screen in your future programs. After that, I hope, Sony and Amazon can understand how a real thing should be designed and work.
How do you get books from Adobe Digital Editions onto the Sony Reader Pocket Edition? I bought a book – it appears in Adobe, but I can’t figure out how to get it on my reader.. thanks in advance or any help you can provide…
Hi Eileen,
With the newer model software, you can now only get books on your device through Sony’s “Reader Library,” as it’s now called. Try right-clicking and telling it to Open With->Reader Library. If that doesn’t work, I’m afraid I can’t help more… you’ll have to call the dreaded Sony tech support.
Good luck,
Sorry, by “it” i mean the book you’ve bought. Find it in your computer and try to open it with Reader Library. You could also try opening Reader Library and telling it to “Import” the book in question.
Good luck
[...] is a bit annoying, but both are manageable. Hopefully future generations may solve these and the software problems that are pandemic and described better elsewhere. I haven’t made much use of the note taking [...]
I am having similar problems with Reader Library on OSX 10.5.8. It launches as soon as I connect up the reader and then freezes not only itself, but also prevents the dock from opening. The window sits in front of any other windows and won’t move or let me bring other applications to the front. It won’t quit and won’t even let me click on the toolbar to try anf=d force quit. Cmd, option, esc does still work so I can force quit that way.
Dragging books onto the reader itself seems to work fine. I’m going to look for Calibre now and give that a go. I am not even going to try to acquire any DRM content.
Sony are really letting themselves, and their well-designed and high-quality hardware, with this software.