I haven’t had my Reader for long, but thanks to a talent for obsessiveness, I’ve managed to flesh out a pretty efficient system for finding ebooks for it.
The PRS-700 can read BBeB (.lrf – Sony), PDF, EPUB, .txt, .rtf, and .doc (as long as you have Word installed). That means that certain websites and ebook providers are better than others, simply for the fact that they offer more compatible files. For instance, I appreciate Fictionwise‘s attempt to provide DRM-free, “MultiFormat” ebooks, but every book I’ve gone to their site looking for was in their “Secure” section, and often they didn’t have it in a Sony-compatible format. So I generally have to stay away for now.
(Note: Even though this guide frontloads finding books for free, I’m not against paying for them. I am, however, against paying as much (or more) for an ebook as I would for an ink and paper version, and I’m especially against paying for a DRMed book that might not survive a backup intact. So, until publishers catch on and start rewarding ebook readers instead of punishing us, I try to give them as little money as possible.)
Anyway, onward.
STEP 1 — Look for the ebook for free (and minus DRM)
If the book’s old enough, you might be able to find it on Many Books or Project Gutenberg. I’ve also found a few websites to get literary fiction and science fiction for free. Most books in both places are by big-name authors, so I don’t feel very bad getting them for free while their publishing houses figure out ebooks in their hamfisted way.
If you’re feeling ambitious, there are also PDF search engine sites. Google them, I’m not going to link to any; they’re usually useless.
If you can’t find it for free, the next option is, well, finding it for free.
STEP 2 — Check the library for free (with DRM)
Next, check out the ecollection of a progressive public library, like Seattle or Ottawa. If your local doesn’t have an ecollection, it might be worth it to give another one a call. Librarians are cool. They’ll probably understand.
In my brief experience, the library has an impressive variety of new ebooks, but usually minimal copies. If a lot of people start checking them out, though, they’ll adjust.
STEP 3 — Deign to pay for it (with or without DRM)
If you haven’t found the book by this point, you’ll have to decide whether it’s worth paying the current ebook premium for. If it is, my favorite new ebookstore is A1Books. A1 usually has prices competitive with the Kindle Store (although sometimes there are big discrepancies), they have a great selection, they take PayPal, and they sell books as PDFs.
I think PDF will be the most compatible format with most other ereaders for at least the next few years, [CLARIFICATION: DRMed PDF isn't compatible with many other ereaders. However, of the DRMed formats compatible with the Reader (LRF or PDF), PDF has a much better shot of being supported in future devices, and devices not made by Sony] PDF is also my favorite because it has static pagination (page 164 is always page 164, no matter how big the text is).
So, if you have to buy an ebook before publishers start waking up, this is the least painful way to do it.
The one weird thing: The book I downloaded (The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway) came with the name “Timmy Tammy” in the author metadata. Calibre to the rescue, for now.
Whatever you do, don’t shop at Sony
The Sony eBook Store’s prices are among the most expensive on the internet for most books. To make matters worse, the .lrf proprietary books you get from them come with fat, unnecessary margins that take up screen space. I don’t get that, because the border of the screen is already designed like a margin. Sony’s LRFs also repaginate books when you resize the text. For instance, if you start with a 389-page book in small type, medium type will make it 546, in large type it’s 882 pages, etc. This is annoying if you want to talk specifically about a book, say in a class or a book group, with people who have the ink and paper version. It also makes it impossible to cite for an academic paper.
Smart PDF versions, on the other hand, expand text to within about an eighth of an inch of the edge of the screen, the perfect distance. As I said above, the pagination also stays static, so it’s much easier to find passages when you’re talking with ink and paper readers.
Bottom line: Stay away from Sony software, including their ebooks.
That’s about it
Sony should be embarrassed about their software and their store. But publishers should be embarrassed about the way they’re handling ebooks. There are a few gold veins to be mined in the wide internet, though, if you look hard enough.
If you have other tips, tricks, or websites, let me know in the comments.
