Sony eLibrary 3.0 For Windows XP

Even though I looked on Sony’s site, I couldn’t find any links for the 3.0 version of the Sony Reader eLibrary software. Nevertheless, those wizards over at Mobileread did! UPDATE! Mobileread now has a link for the Macintosh OS X version too!

This is the installation process, which shows me upgrading from the prior version.

The 2.x desktop shortcut icon:

This is what the 2.x software looked like minutes before:

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Install dialog:

Intermission dialog:

I did click on Details for the Just In Case. This is the web page. Note this still:

Using the eBook Library software with 64-bit versions of Windows® XP operating system is not supported.

And after a few minutes, behold 3.0:

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Ignore what’s in my library. Most of the links were actually dead! Just look:

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By now, your reaction is probably the same as mine: Wow! That’s fugly!!

Strangely, it had cached the covers of the dead links!

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FeedBooks ePub in full-screen view:

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Sample ePub via Adobe in full-screen mode:

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Unlike 2.x software, the bottom controls no longer fade away when the pointer isn’t touched. The controls seem to persist.

Cover of an Adobe DRMed ePub borrowed from the New York Public Library in full-screen mode:

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First page of same in full-screen mode:

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After I cleared out all the dead links, I was left with this small list. And here I am returning that ePub to the library:

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The new XP desktop shortcut icon:

Well, the software is still fugly. It’s still unintuitive. It launches slower than 2.x but seems to run OK. This hasn’t been a beat-down stress test, just a quick documenting of the upgrade.

I was really hoping for some user interface and eye candy improvement. I guess such things are beyond Sony’s ability. Too bad.

iPod Touch II On September 9, 2009

The two tablet rumors make absolute sense to me.

1) Six-inch screen Tablet that is based on the iPhone OS

2) Ten-inch screen Tablet that is based on Mac OS X

I believe we will see the first next month. It will have an iPod branding. I wouldn’t be surprised if it had a rather plain name like the iPod Touch II. “Now Double the Fun.”

Why do I see this happening next month?

Because of Cocktail.

If Apple wants to replicate the fun of album covers and liner notes, they’re not going to settle for having people look at that on a wee three-inch screen. People would react with So what? and Why do I need that?

So I’m certain a bigger screen is in order for that.

Plus, it will be an iPod, not a Mac.

This distinction is crucial. It means none of us can look forward to it being a productivity device. It will be an extension of the iPhone and iPod Touch continuum — which emphasizes fun and leisure.

In short: no Bluetooth keyboard for it. Give up that notion right now.

And eBooks? I don’t see Apple giving Adobe money for its ePub DRM scheme. People will have to rely on Stanza for DRMed ePub.

I still believe that Steve Jobs has nothing but utter contempt for ePub — as well he should! — and so should everyone! — so if Apple is going to do eBooks, it will be via the Cocktail platform.

Yes, I do believe that Apple will get into digital books. Steve Jobs can’t help but to look around and see how absolutely pathetic his so-called competitors in the field are. It’s wide open for Apple to take. And it doesn’t require a full-blown Mac OS X notebook for that. An iPod Touch II would do just fine.

A Tablet based on Mac OS X will most likely appear next year, probably in Spring or Fall. There is no compelling reason to rush something as important as that. We’ve all seen what rushing a tablet to market did for Microsoft’s failed Tablet PC plans.

Apple will be making money hand over fist with an iPod Touch II in the meantime. And learning a lot in the process too, which it can incorporate into a Mac OS X tablet.

ePub: The Death Of The Index?

Screensnap from the Appendix of an ePub eBook borrowed from the New York Public Library. This is not the first one to have a worthless Index. But it is the first one to offer such an insulting suggestion!

This is unacceptable.

One more nail in the coffin of the Axis of E.

Sony: Not All Words Allowed!

Of course I wind up pushing the envelope once again.

I’ve joined Sony’s new Words Move Me site.

But the first literary quote I put in flagged the bluenoses!

The quote was this:

I disliked them all immediately, sitting around acting clever and superior. They nullified each other. The worst thing for a writer is to know another writer, and worse than that, to know a number of other writers. Like flies on the same turd.

— Women by Charles Bukowski

This is how it appears on Sony’s site:

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Now I ask you, which is worse? The word “turd” or making people think the actual word was “shit”?

Nevertheless, I went on to add nineteen snippets to the site:

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I’m mikecane there.

What I like about the site is the crawl of quotes on the main page:

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One other person has begun to add quotes too after I did.

It will be interesting to see if Sony leaves the Bukowski quote looking so damaged or if they’ll realize that “turd” is better than what people can imagine in their own filthy minds.