Sony eBook Library

• 1.0 stars

  "Worst Software EVER"

  April 13, 2010  |   By jcharry

  Pros

  NONE - the software is a disaster

  Cons

  Locks up, doesn't provide logical interface, slow, user unfriendly, need I say more???

  Summary

  I have never used a more horrible piece of software. I bought the Sony Reader 600 for my elderly mother who was sick and in the hospital. I purchased the Sony Reader because it was available at a local store, and I set up the library on my laptop. I wish I had waited one day for a Kindle to arrive instead. The Reader is a wonderful device, but the library is a nightmare. I've already logged about 5 hours on the phone with their foreign tech support trying to troubleshoot issues. In one case, the library software allowed me to purchase books without having first "logged in". The concept of logging in is strange because the software greeted me with a welcome using my first name and didn't object when I purchased 5 books. The act of loading them onto the device caused the account to be locked out and my mom was left stranded in the hospital with no reading material! How hard is it to require that the user log in before purchasing a book? It allowed me to purchase 5 books without logging in and then locked the account so that I couldn't use it after the 6th purchase. It even put a lock on the books already in the Reader!!! What kind of security is that?
  
  So now that mom is home from the hospital, I tried to load the library software on her desktop so that she can manage her own book purchases. Should be simple, right? Just download the software, install it, connect the existing account and authorize the new computer. Yeah . . . it still isn't working on her desktop. We have to use the laptop. Tech support had me do a soft reset of the device which caused the battery to completely discharge and the device was not usable until doing another soft after charging it overnight. Then while I was buying books and loading them onto the Reader, apparently the user isn't supposed to connect the device while purchasing the books. The download stalled, and now I'm unable to find a button or link that would allow me to download the books that I've purchased.
  
  I would NEVER buy a Sony Reader again until they get the software right. It's a shame because the device is easy to use, and my mom loves it. She would never be able to figure out the issues that I've dealt with so far. I'm sure she would have returned the Reader to the store if she had to mess with the library herself.
  
  Shame on you, Sony!!!

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1 reply to this review

• Reply by brandaojm on September 22, 2010

  I wish I would have read this before I purchased mine yesterday! I have already had to uninstall it and reinstall it because it keeps saying it's syncing, but it's actually frozen. Thought Sony could do better then this!!

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