• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Reading Kindle E-books on Sony E-Readers

Ro_Laren

Commodore
Commodore
I recently ordered a Sony e-reader on-line (the PSC 600) and have looked at various books for sale on Sony's e-book store site. I noticed that a book I'd like to buy isn't sold as an e-book by Sony, but is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition book (Kindle is Amazon's version of an e-reader). Does anyone know what file type Kindle e-books are in? Can Sony e-readers open up Kindle e-books? If not, can Kindle e-books be converted into a file format that can be read by Sony e-readers?
 
Hi Ro, welcome to the Sony Reader club. :bolian: I had one of the original PRS-500s and loved it. Late last year I upgraded to the 600 and love it, as well. I hope you're as happy with yours as I have been with mine.

Now, to your specific question, Kindle uses a proprietary Amazon DRM format *.AZW and, unless things have changed recently, they are VERY particular about not permitting conversion to other formats. So, unfortunately, I suspect you won't have much luck trying to read Kindle books from Amazon on your Sony Reader.

However, there may be other alternatives. I don't know if you're familiar with Calibre, but it's a system that I've used to convert many formats of e-books over the years (especially MS Reader's *.LIT) to file formats readable by my Sony Reader. When I haven't been able to find a book I wanted at the Sony Store, I've bought books from most other online e-book sellers in *.LIT converted them without any problem. Unfortunately, though, I did a quick search and it appears that even Calibre does not support *.AZW format conversion. But, if you want to check out what it can do, just go to www.calibre-ebook.com and check it out.

Oh, and no, I have no connection to Calibre and derive no income from the site. I was just directed there years ago by another helpful fellow TBBSer.

I've also discovered over time that, if you have time to wait a couple weeks, many books I've been looking for do eventually show up in the Sony Store. And, believe me, as slow as they may be now, and as limited as their selection might seem, it's leaps and bounds beyond what it was when I first started with them 5 years or so ago.

Hope that's helpful, and all the best with your new best friend. :)
 
^ Are you able to view Kindle books on the computer? If so, couldn't I just copy the book into Word and then upload that to my Sony e-reader (or convert it to a PDF first)???
 
You're welcome and, unfortunately, I've never tried to by a Kindle book because they've always been restricted from my devices.

But, with other formats (like *.LIT) it was protected so that you could not convert it to MS Word or PDF.

Also, I meant to suggest ebooks.com. They have a pretty wide selection and offer ePub format (which is what the new Sony Readers use), along with PDF, MS Reader (*.LIT) and others. I have also bought books there for several years, but always had to use Calibre to convert them to LIT format for my old reader (because they didn't support the old Sony Reader DRM.) But, now that Sony's converted to ePub you should have no problem purchasing anything from ebooks.

The only other caveat I would add is that there are just some books, especially small press publications, that I have just never found in ebook format and have to break down and buy in good old fashioned paper (I'm reading one such right now.) But, those are becoming fewer and fewer.
 
^ Are you able to view Kindle books on the computer? If so, couldn't I just copy the book into Word and then upload that to my Sony e-reader (or convert it to a PDF first)???

If you download the Kindle software (they have both Mac and PC), you can view Kindle books on your computer, but I don't know if you can export them to other formats. There's also an iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad app for reading Kindle books. (I think they have apps for Palm and Blackberry as well.)
 
I also use Calibre and love it.
Wouldn't trade my Sony E-reader for anything.

Agreed. I loved my good ol' 500 and was more than a little miffed last year when Sony told me they were, essentially, rendering it obsolete. Then I noticed the part about the substantial trade-in value for a new one ... and I went to a Sony Style Store ... and I beheld the shiny new red PRS 600 touch screen ... and I heard angels begin to sing ... and I was just ... :drool:

I've never looked back. :cool:
 
The Barnes and Noble library has DRM, but it is easily unlocked to most of the newer Sony readers by putting in your name and the number for the card you purchased it with. . . or so they tell me, you should probably start with one of the free books to make sure.
 
Thx for responding everyone! I am planning on going overseas for 8+ months next year and can't bring all of my books... thank God for Sony e-readers!! Now I just have to choose which books I want to put on my e-reader...
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top