Sony Reader

Has anyone tried (or bought) the new Sony Reader?

I saw an advertisement, then saw the real thing in a Borders near work. I am tempted but reluctant--have seen too many "latest and greatest" technologies (including other e-readers like Glassbook) come and go.

The price is also off-putting, at least for a new, untried technology. (Yes, I know new technologies cost more; but I am not enough of an early adopter to fork over that kind of money.)

Reviews I've read have been generally good. I'm holding out until I see what happens.... or, perhaps, until I can get one for $99 as they disappear from the market.

No. I use my Palm Tungsten 5 and eReader to read my books. The little screen is a bit frustrating and I have trouble reading in bright light. But, I do like having about 150 books loaded on my PDA at one time (on the 1 GB card). I'll get the 2 GB card and go crazy!

Hi there,
I got to play with one at the Texas Book Fair just a couple of weeks ago. I really liked the Adobe-like clarity of the text, and am intrigued by the idea that the only time the battery is used is when you torn a page (or "press a button" is probably a more honest statement).

I would not consider getting one at this time, though. But that's just me. I already own two (count 'em -- 2) 1150 devices (one from Gemstar -- now out-of-business -- and one from Fictionwise). I got them both relatively cheaply and they have already paid for themselves by the cost-savings from all of the content I've gotten so far.

I hesitate on the Sony for 2 reasons (primarilly): 1) cost -- they want $300 for it; 2) there's no way to replace the battery. Their sorry excuse is that by the time I wear out the battery, they'll have a new version out. I think not.

Regards,
WholeHouseLibrary

Their sorry excuse is that by the time I wear out the battery, they'll have a new version out.

Which is ironic, considering the problem Sony has been having with their batteries lately.

I've not seen one up-close, but the price drives me away. Same as with the PS3.

I use my Ebookwise (www.ebookwise.com) reader - a refurbished GEM reader - and I find it works quite well. I travel a lot so I need a lot of battery life and a somewhat bigger screen than a Palm. I tried out the Sony Reader and I am turned off by the negative flicker when you page turn and the the dimness of the screen. there is no backlighting which is definitely a requirement for me. Panasonic is coming out soon with a new eReader. It may be better. There is also cybook but I think they have stopped making it.

Ichimunki (and anyone else that this might apply to),

You said "I travel a lot so I need a lot of battery life and ..."

Do you take your eBook with you when (if) you tavel overseas? I opted to not take it when I went to Ireland about 2 months ago, simply because I was afraid of the possibility of having to give it up at the airport. Eventually, I'll be traveling on business to Asia as well, and am even ~more~ concerned about the possibility of having it confiscated once I arrive there.

Domestic flights are not an issue.

Thanks,
WholeHouseLibrary

I'm tempted to buy the Sony. I know it's not the killer app in the way the iPod is. Probably will be replaced by something better within two years. Nonetheless, I'd like to give it a try. I've read quite a few books on a PDA. Can't say that was really a pleasant experience. Now I have a Treo...even smaller screen. I'm ready for a better ebook reading experience. Still I think Sony's device ought to have a lot of things it doesn't: fulltext searching, about 10 times the storage capacity, twice the current resolution (about 150 dpi), and COLOR!

The Sony is a nice compact device, no doubt about it. On the other hand, the 2 smallest buttons on the thing are the Page-Forward and Page-Back buttons (the ones about half-way up on the left edge). The button in the lower left corner is maybe 5x larger and provides the same functionality, but its location is entirely inconvenient for its function. I've got their "actual size" cardboard "demo" giveaway brochure, and that's as close as I will get to purchasing one.

Okay yes, it looks good, it'll play MP3 format tunes, it'll display color images, it's easier on the eyes than most other readers. But for that price, I can get the Ebookwise 1150 and tens of thousands of pages of content, because what I want to do with a reader device is read. The 1150 has full search and notation capability as well.

On the other hand, that's me. If you want and can afford those bells and whistles, go for it. I'd be very interested in your evaluation of it in, say 3 or 4 months of using it.

No interest, It seems loke another expensie propriatery format from a company with a bad rep for DRM.

I used a Sony Clie for ages small but very readable indoors at least. and a shirt pocket device how that could read most popular formats it was great but is geting tempremental. so I have changed to a
Fujitsu LT P-600 about the size of a closed hardback with a screen about the size of a paperback its even more forgiving of formats- adobe looks great on it and it has a big hard drive. its bulky but I love it. That demo I saw of plastic chip Technology with a the flexible display seemed to point the way forward.

I am with SimonW11 on the Sony Reader. I would also like to add that etext reader devices are still finding their way in the marketplace with the new e-ink technology. Wait a few years. You will see much better stuff. In the meantime, my not-so-humble opinion is that you are better off with a Tablet PC until etext reader tech reaches maturity. I use a Tablet, and now I can scarce go anywhere without it. They beat the pants off of any dedicated etext reader device that I have seen.

Hi all,
A few weeks ago I bought the new Sony Reader. I was not very fond of the idea of using these devices to read and I will always prefer paper, anyway I was surprised by the quality of the screen, it is really comfortable and looks like a paper page, no backlighting, which I find rather tiresome, and no brightness.

I was a bit worried about the DRM thing but as it reads a lot of different formats and I will mainly use it for Project Gutenberg's books it won't be a big issue.

I've been researching the Sony Reader. I'm in Australia but have a friend who can ship one to me, as they are not available here yet. I've read that the Sony ebook store is only available to US residents. So will it mean I could only use my Reader for pdfs and text files??

Well, that's seems the case. If you read the terms of service (http://ebookstore.sony.com/termsofservice.html) it is clearly stated that you must have a credit card with a billing address set in US or Canada. So you could try to find other ebook stores or other device, it depends on what you value more.

I cannot use the store both because I'm not a US resident and because I use Linux and the software is just for windows, as usual :( But as long as I have Project Gutenberg or other stores I'm fine.

you could always use WINE to run the ebook software. I did it for a while before upgrading my PC.

I just purchased the Sony prs600 Touch from the SonyStyle website. IT IS BACKORDERED.

Here in the USA the economy is not good. This ebook reader just hit the USA around Sep 1. Sold out on the Sony site within a couple days. Here we are with a product people want to buy, and they did not make enough of them. Go figure.

This is my first gadget with an the ebook reader. I tend toward hardbacks by Folio and Easton Press, but wanted something I could carry easily around with me.

Project Gutenberg has started formatting their books in the EPUB format - should work well on the Sony.

I just went to my local Sony store to hold a reader in my hands and see what the text looked like, and etc. I liked it a LOT. The touch pad version is backordered and I would be #1200 on the list; the 300 series is back ordered too but I'd only be number 300 on the list. (I'm in Canada)

I really want Santa to bring me one!

I ordered the prs600 touch from SonyStyle.com site (USA) even though it was backordered. GOOD NEWS! It will ship tomorrow!

Finally received the Sony prs600 touch Sep 22! I am still playing around with it. Bought some ebooks, downloaded some from Google and Gutenberg. So easy to carry around with me. I think I am gonna like it.

How do you find the touchscreen?

I've heard some issues about how it still glares more than is really comfortable - improved from the 700, but still not as good as non-touch models.

Yes there is some glare. Most times just changing the angle a slight bit will mostly eliminate it. It would depend on where the light source is coming from. I have only had it a couple days, and so far have not had a glare issue so bad that it was uncomfortable.

A coworker has a non-touch model. I will have to compare.

I did compare with my coworkers non-touch model. I think it was a 505. The 505 did have quite a bit less glare.

To be honest I did not really think about the glare till it was mentioned here :) I really like the touch features though. When using a book light over the 600, you just have to adjust it so the LEDs are at the side of the unit, not over top. I am using a Mighty Bright book light that has two LEDs - the XtraFlex 2. You can turn on both or just one http://www.mightybright.com

I just got a Sony PRS-300 and love it. I am constantly surprised about how it doesn't cause eye fatigue. It is light enough that it can be used for a long time with one hand. It boasts being able to have up to 350 books at one time stored on it. I think it is cool that I am starting out with 11. I think it is worth the 239$ CDN indeed. It came fully charged and is still full after almost finishing one book and showing a bunch of friends. Very happy and pleased with the purchase. I think that I will get a lot of use from it.

Well, it finally happened. After three and a half years, my Sony PRS-500 has broken. Oddly enough it isn't the screen but rather the on/off switch that broke.

This gives me the excuse to open it up since it is out of warranty. A good thing perhaps since the battery has been slowly dying and needs to be changed. Now to find the parts needed to fix it. I've already gotten the service manual off the net along with the parts list.

This should be a good little project for a rainy day.