Brand New Sony Reader Desktop Software for PC and Mac Computers

Not only did Sony just start taking pre-orders for their new Reader Wi-Fi, but they also just put out brand new desktop software for PC and Mac computers.

The new Reader software has completely been revamped, and even installs separately from the old Reader Library software. This is good news for all the people that have had problems with Sony’s notoriously crummy Reader software, or is it…

The layout is more visual with book covers on the homescreen, and there’s a slider to set exactly how big you want the covers to be. There are different sections like before for ebooks, periodical, notes, collections, etc. These are tabs now that line the top instead of using a left navigation. It looks like they tried to make it a lot more like the Kindle and Nook desktop applications. It does look a lot better and has a more functional layout than the old Sony software, for sure, and adds some new features too.

The reading view now looks just like an open book. There are options to add bookmarks, highlights, and text notes. You can export notes to RTF, like before. There’s a table of contents window for navigating that also shows bookmarks, annotations, and history. History is something new, and is kind of cool because it keeps track of all the different places you’ve been in a book. The Sony Readers have that feature too, and it’s under appreciated.

There are a minimum of font settings, just adjusting text size and switching from one or two page view. There’s also search and full screen view. Still no mouse wheel page-turns, just on-screen clicks or arrow keys. My only other gripe thus far is that the Reader for PC window is too big and extends slightly beyond the visible are of my laptop’s screen. Other than that, it certainly seems like an improvement over the old software, granted I just started using it so it hasn’t had enough time to go haywire yet.

Here’s the download page if you want to take the new Sony desktop software for a spin.

via