Anyone suffered these connection woes?

[MeerKate]

Firstly, I do love my PRS-T1 Reader.  It's a lovely bit of kit.

However, I am getting ready to launch it out the window.  I've been through the forums and can't find anything so far that would help me.  Hopefully someone has had the same issue as me.  If so, and they have a solution then great.  If not, then please bear all this in mind Sony for the future.

I have a 3 year old Sony laptop.  It has 4 USB ports (2 on each side).  When I connect my PRS-T1 it makes the USB connected noises.  The laptop does not "see" the PRS-T1 however.  Now, I know the PRS-T1 does not like hubbed USB ports.  I suspect the ones on my laptop are hubbed (and not one of them connects directly to the motherboard).

I have tested the PRS-T1 on another computer that I got access to and have successfully connected the PRS-T1 to that (to check that it was the laptop rather than the PRS-T1).  It is old, outdated and not connected to the internet.

I have downloaded Calibre (nice bit of software) and have used it to send pdfs to the MicroSD card for my PRS-T1 (SD card removed from Reader and inserted into card reader slot on laptop).  Nice and simple.

I decided that there's no point in having a nice shiny PRS-T1 without nice new books to go with it.  I downloaded a cheap book through Google.  I downloaded ADE.  I created an ADE ID and authorised my laptop.  I added the book to Calibre.  I used Calibre to transfer the book to the MicroSD card.  The PRS-T1 doesn't like this as the book is protected by DRM (Error - Protected by Digital Rights Management).

So, I'm getting to the end of my tether.  Especially as the Sony Bookstore is *still* "Coming Soon".  It's been "Coming Soon" since I made my first enquiry into the PRS-T1 in October last year.

I am very, very, very disappointed in Sony so far.  I've stood by them through the SonicStage, Connect years and have loved every bit of kit that I've bought from them.  However, none have been as frustrating as the PRS-T1.

If anyone can suggest a way to get round the hubbed USB ports on my laptop, I'm listening.  I've Googled and got nothing so far.

Don't get me started on DRM...

[sehuxle]

You need to authorise your reader. Install Reader 4 pc, sonys reader softwar, then plug in your t1 and authorise it.

The book you downloaded from google will now work.

You did the difficult bit, just auhorise your reader and you"ll be good to go

[MeerKate]

Aha! But you're wrong.  The easy bit was authorising my laptop.  The difficult bit is authorising the Reader. 

My laptop does *not* recognise my Reader (due, I suspect, to multiple hubbed USBs - it's too much to hope that a Sony laptop would recognise a Sony Reader).  So, I was left with a Reader which, with my current setup, cannot be authorised to read DRM content.

So, I gave in and dragged an old PC from hibernation in a cupboard, installed all relevant software and authorised the Reader.  This took longer than I would have liked and was not the best solution.

I transferred the downloaded DRM ebook and can open with the Reader.

The big test will be using Calibre to transfer the book to the MicroSD card which has been removed from the Reader and using a SD card reader in my laptop.  If that works, I'll be reasonably happy.

However, this does mean having to use the old PC for future firmware updates. 

Sony - why isn't your technology integrated to work together?  If a Reader can connect by Wifi, why can't the authorisation be done that way by means of a simple menu option.  Don't just tell me it's not authorised, give me a means of authorising it.