Font Size of Sony 505 Proprietary Books Vary From Book to Book!

[crusader666]

I am about at my wits end with Sony because the font size varies on all the books they sell.

Initially, when I downloaded a bunch of the "100 free classics" about two months ago, I noticed the font size is larger and there are less lines per page than with books I am currently downloading.

Since I am visually impaired, the larger the font, the better, and I believe the initial books I downloaded were 7 lines per page (in Landscape mode, Large font).

Recently, I have downloaded books from the Sony store, only to find that the lines per page are 8 or 9 lines per page, thereby making the font smaller, and difficult for me to read, even in Landscape mode, Large font.

I have sent numerous e-mails have to Sony and I have to give them each and every title for them to "rework the books" in question. It takes forever (or so it seems) for them to "rework" each book and then notify me of same. In the meantime, they have collected my money for books that are worthless to me in what I consider a tiny font for "Landscape/Large mode."

Why the F aren't they consistent with their formats? For a $300+ investment for a device, and then more for books, this really bites.

Anyone have suggestions of how to best deal with Sony on this issue?

Thanks.

Crusader
http://crusading4u.blogspot.com/

[Nate the great]

The font size has been a problem ever since Sony started selling ebooks. My recommendation is to not get books from them. My favorite site for public domain ebooks is www.blackmask.com. 10k plus title, much better formatting than Sony, and FREE.

[KlondikeGeoff]

I have he vision problems too, and that was the main reason I got the Reader, as they advertised it as helpful to visually handicapped people by offering larger fonts. Many of the purchased books I got have a problem with the largest font in the landscape mode far too small for me to read comfortably.

Repeated calls to Sony have resulted in absolutely no help, except one time when I insisted, they did give me a credit for one book. It was far too much of a hassle to repeat this for each one that gave me a problem.

Therefore, I am going to get either the Cybook Gen 3 or the Kindle. As I understand it, the Cybook, like my old Rocket eBook, lets you load any font and type size you have on your computer and use that. The Kindle has six sizes of type, the largest being 20 point.

It is too bad Sony misrepresented this factor and also fails to do anything about it. While I'm waiting to buy one of the two new ones, I just use the free books which can make any size I want. When I get one, I'll sell the Reader.

Some posts here has suggested that this is a problem in the way the publishers format their books, and thus differ among them. However, if the two ebooks mentioned above, and even the really old Rocket eBook could make it easy for visually handicapped people, it is idiotic that Sony does not care or do anything about this.

[AnemicOak]

I've bought plenty of MS Reader (LIT) books that have the same 'problems' it's not a Sony exclusive thing.

[crusader666]

Thanks for sharing the font size regarding the Kindle, because not one of these eBook manufacturers provides any real type of specs in their advertisements.

I am going to raise hell with Sony and they will either make good on their product, refund monies to me for the books that I cannot read, or they will be dealing with my wrath.

They specifically advertise the reader as being good for the visually impaired, which is only true when they produce the book with the correct font size. Otherwise, the device is useless!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by crusader666

Otherwise, the device is useless!

You could buy the LIT version, un-DRM it (ConvertLIT) & use libprs500 (lit2lrf) to convert it. Then you can increase the base font size to whatever is necessary.

[KlondikeGeoff]

Originally Posted by crusader666

Thanks for sharing the font size regarding the Kindle, because not one of these eBook manufacturers provides any real type of specs in their advertisements.

Sorry, I meant to list all the font sizes and forgot. This from the Kindle site:

The font sizes are as follows:

1 = 7pt
2 = 9pt
3 = 11 pt
4 = 14 pt
5 = 17 pt
6 = 20 pt

You can change sizes any time as you are reading.

[crusader666]

Thanks for providing even more detailed info about the Kindle fonts. It appears that despite its negatives, the Kindle just might be the best eBook device for those who are visually impaired.

Thursday night, I came across a good example of Sony's discrepancies with their fonts. "Oliver Twist," by Charles Dickens, part of Sony Connect Classics (formatted by Sony) is full of formatting errors, making it impossible to read. Individual words are connected as one word, no spaces after periods or commas, to name a few. In comparison, the illustrated version of "Oliver Twist" uploaded on MobileRead is in a nice bold font and does NOT have these formatting errors. It is a pleasure to read.

Why on earth Sony doesn't take advantage of the entire Reader screen and either bold the fonts and/or make them larger just doesn't make sense to me. Simply put, they are fools.

Just an aside, because someone in this forum recommended blackmask.com for public domain books, the automatic formatting they use on their eBooks is a thin font and very difficult for the visually impaired to read. On the positive, they do have some VERY RARE things available, including magazine articles from the 1800s!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crusader666

Thanks for providing even more detailed info about the Kindle fonts. It appears that despite its negatives, the Kindle just might be the best eBook device for those who are visually impaired.

Or the CyBook. The CyBook allows you to load any font you wish onto the machine, and view it in any of 12 different sizes.

Why on earth Sony doesn't take advantage of the entire Reader screen and either bold the fonts and/or make them larger just doesn't make sense to me. Simply put, they are fools.

It is NOT Sony's fault. Sony just sell the books; they don't create them.

One difference between the Sony and the Gen3 (or Kindle) is that on the Sony, the font is specified by the book creator; on the Kindle/Gen3 it's chosen by the reader.

[crusader666]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Or the CyBook. The CyBook allows you to load any font you wish onto the machine, and view it in any of 12 different sizes.



It is NOT Sony's fault. Sony just sell the books; they don't create them.

One difference between the Sony and the Gen3 (or Kindle) is that on the Sony, the font is specified by the book creator; on the Kindle/Gen3 it's chosen by the reader.

That doesn't make sense, that the publisher creates it. How then can Sony say "we are reworking a book" and then provide it to me with less lines per page. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the "Sony Classics" that have a Sony Connect copyright on them are designed by Sony, correct?

In any event, it isn't right for a manufacturer to claim that a $300 device is for the visually impaired, when in fact, it is not! That just isn't cool. In the meanwhile, I hear the waiting list for a Kindle (which does allow for multiple readable fonts that the user can select) is as long as 7 months, which explains why these devices (retailing at $399) are going for $600+ on eBay.

I will just read public domain books that appear on forums that are in a nice large and bold font, and the Sony Bookstore can take a hike; it's absolutely worthless for me and many other customers, which is a shame if we want to read the latest modern books, such as "The Nine" or "The Race," for example.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by crusader666

That doesn't make sense, that the publisher creates it. How then can Sony say "we are reworking a book" and then provide it to me with less lines per page.

Presumably Sony request the publisher to re-do it.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the "Sony Classics" that have a Sony Connect copyright on them are designed by Sony, correct?

That would certainly seem reasonable, yes.

In the meanwhile, I hear the waiting list for a Kindle (which does allow for multiple readable fonts that the user can select) is as long as 7 months, which explains why these devices (retailing at $399) are going for $600+ on eBay.

7 months is a slight exaggeration . Amazon are currently quoting late Jan for delivery of Kindles ordered in the week before Christmas. The Kindle is not the only choice, of course; the CyBook will display text considerably more flexibly than the Kindle, and that's available with only a short wait.

A device on which the USER selects the font size, rather than the book creator, is probably a better choice for someone with visual problems.

[KlondikeGeoff]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A device on which the USER selects the font size, rather than the book creator, is probably a better choice for someone with visual problems.

So true! Pity Sony does not seem to understand this. No matter, they should not promote it as Large Type if they are not willing to make the publishers provide that, or willing to adjust it themselves.

For what it's worth, and I posted in another thread that several books I ordered had the largest type too small for me. In one case, I finally insisted that they give me a credit, as I could not read it and had deleted it from the Library and my Reader. After some argument, they finally relented and did this. However, it is far too annoying to have to go through that each time the problem occurs, so just have to wait for my Kindle.

Harry, I was about sold on the Cybook, but Santa gave me a note that he had ordered the Kindle for me, so will just have to wait it out. I hope you are right about late January. Meanwhile, still have enough PG (or rather, Mobilread, thanks to all you fine people who have formatted them) books to keep me going on the Reader until then.

[crusader666]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Presumably Sony request the publisher to re-do it.




That would certainly seem reasonable, yes.



7 months is a slight exaggeration . Amazon are currently quoting late Jan for delivery of Kindles ordered in the week before Christmas. The Kindle is not the only choice, of course; the CyBook will display text considerably more flexibly than the Kindle, and that's available with only a short wait.

A device on which the USER selects the font size, rather than the book creator, is probably a better choice for someone with visual problems.

I was wondering about the 7 months that was mentioned, of course by an eBayer trying to get a huge amount of money for a Kindle that s/he didn't even have in their possession yet.

I finally researched the CyBook (Bookeen) device and notice a nice feature for the consumer to change the font size AND style, which is very nice. Some reviewer said the buttons on the device weren't real great, though. For hundreds of dollars for a device, I expect everything to be designed properly, but that's just me.

In the meanwhile, my Sony PRS-505 totally crapped out Sunday night. The only way to get it back up and running was to FORMAT the internal memory AND remove all the books from my 2GB memory card, which I am not real happy about.

[JSWolf]

klondike, what you can do is purchase MS Reader (LIT) format ebooks and then convert them to LRF. I'm sure youv're read the threads on how to do so. lit2lrf allows you to set the base font size to what you want and you get an ebook that has NO DRM and is in a font size that you can easily read.

[shousa]

Originally Posted by KlondikeGeoff

I have he vision problems too, and that was the main reason I got the Reader, as they advertised it as helpful to visually handicapped people by offering larger fonts. Many of the purchased books I got have a problem with the largest font in the landscape mode far too small for me to read comfortably.

Repeated calls to Sony have resulted in absolutely no help, except one time when I insisted, they did give me a credit for one book. It was far too much of a hassle to repeat this for each one that gave me a problem.

Therefore, I am going to get either the Cybook Gen 3 or the Kindle. As I understand it, the Cybook, like my old Rocket eBook, lets you load any font and type size you have on your computer and use that. The Kindle has six sizes of type, the largest being 20 point.

It is too bad Sony misrepresented this factor and also fails to do anything about it. While I'm waiting to buy one of the two new ones, I just use the free books which can make any size I want. When I get one, I'll sell the Reader.

Some posts here has suggested that this is a problem in the way the publishers format their books, and thus differ among them. However, if the two ebooks mentioned above, and even the really old Rocket eBook could make it easy for visually handicapped people, it is idiotic that Sony does not care or do anything about this.

I agree that it is not cool as well.

Book designer (on this forum) could handle this issue as well.

Though you have to convert 1 book at a time.