Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Small, lightweight, ideal for travel, capacity to store many books |
| Disadvantages: |
Availability of reader, availability of books |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
It was my husband, a huge fan of both literature and technology that first made me aware of the e-book and in particular of the Sony Reader. Unlike me, he tends to think hard about his purchases in advance and so there were many conversations (well not really conversations as that would assume my participation) around the virtues of this product before he actually decided to take the plunge and get one. I am by no means a prolific reader and my literary tastes are not as high brow as his, but I do appreciate books. I like to see books lined up on a shelf and I am fascinated by old books in museums, so a book reader just seemed, well wrong, to me.
But despite my feelings on this and my rather large hints connected to a certain necklace from Tiffany's, it was a book reader that I found myself unwrapping on Christmas Day last year.
What is it like?~~
The book reader is about eight by six inches and just over half an inch thick. I have not weighed it but it is extremely light and definitely lighter and more compact than your average paperback novel. The screen itself is obviously smaller, that is about six by four inches, with the control buttons around the edges. A leather wallet for protection is provided. The screen uses new technology, so-named "e-ink" which is nothing like the LCD display on your typical PC or laptop. The background is a pale grey colour, there is no glare and the page has a sort of "matt" appearance that really does look like a page in a book. Consequently the prevailing light conditions have no more effect on your ability to read this than they would if it were a paper book. There is no glare or need to craftily angle the reader if sitting in the sunshine and equally at bedtime you will need lights on as the reader is not backlit.
Navigation is intuitive. From the main menu it is possible to browse through the saved books in a few ways namely, by author, by book title or by date and selection of one to read is a simple and obvious press of a button. If you make a selection but want to go back, the "Menu" button can be used, again fairly intuitive and I did not need to refer to the manual to work out how to navigate around. The reader does have some other functionality which I will come to later, but I just use it for reading. Each time it is turned off and back on, it will remember where it was automatically and there is no need to page through the menus again. Also whilst there is a bookmark function, this can be used if you specifically want to refer back to something, but you don't need to use it to bring up your last read as that will always be remembered by the gadget. Speed of turning the page is something that is very important, I have been perfectly happy with this, it takes a fraction of a second and no longer than turning a page in a real book.
The built in memory of the reader can store well over a hundred books. Additionally there are two memory card slots, one takes a Sony memory stick (can be used in other Sony products such as cameras and laptops) and there is also a slot which will fit an SD memory card, commonly used in cameras as well. Either of these would allow you to have thousands of books at your fingertips. I personally am not sure this is necessary and would prefer to keep it to a more manageable hundred or so. When I am choosing my next book to read, I am not sure I want to page through a list of thousands.
Where and how do you get e-books?~~
The obvious starting point is the Sony e-books store, which works in a very similar way to I-Tunes. So you buy books, download to your PC and then transfer to and from the reader at will, either connect the reader to your PC with a USB cable or save the books onto the memory card and the pop the card into the reader. Easy peasy. I have however found that the Sony store does not have as wide a selection as your average Waterstones for instance, but I am hopeful this will change as the product takes off (assuming it does)!
There are a couple of other options. If you like your classics or should I say public domain books such as Dickens or Shakespeare then you can download these for free from a website called www.mobileread.com ,and no doubt some others websites as well. Finally if you are fairly technically inclined you can buy from other e-book stores (I won't name them all but google or wikipedia can help) and then convert the file into a Sony compatible format.
As I am not that technically inclined and do not particularly like reading the classics, the first option works best for me. Sadly there is currently one huge but I believe temporary drawback, in addition to the selection of books available. The product is not officially launched in Europe just yet and you can only shop in the Sony book store with an electronic book voucher or a US credit card! As I live in Bermuda at the moment, I make fairly regular trips to the US and have a stock of electronic book vouchers that I can use for now. I bought my e-vouchers from Borders, a large chain book store in the US. The good news is that it is my understanding that Sony will launch the book reader in the UK later this year and at this point, the book store will start to accept UK credit cards. E-book prices at the moment seem to be pretty much the same as the paperback versions. I was a bit surprised at this as there are no printing or distribution costs. I would imagine that as the product becomes more common place, these prices will start to come down.
Other technical points~~
The battery is extremely long life as it only uses power when you electronically turn the page, the rest of the time it makes no difference whether the screen is switched on or off. So if like me you regularly fall asleep with book in hand (or on head) it isn't going to waste the battery. I have found that my battery will easily last a week or more when reading a few chapters a day. Even on holiday when reading more often than normal it has lasted a good five days. I have never been caught out with a low battery as the icon at the bottom of the screen clearly indicates status.
The reader will store photographs and the display is clear albeit in black and white only. A colour version of the book reader is somewhere in the pipeline but at the moment is very expensive and it takes a long time to turn a page. MP3 files can also be stored and played. The advantage might be one less gadget to carry around, the disadvantage is that you can't make playlists and would have to tab through all the tracks to get to one you want. No doubt this would also expend battery life at a much faster pace and it is not something that I would bother with myself.
Conclusion~~
The biggest problem with this product right now is availability in the UK. I bought mine in the US (£150 equivalent) and bought my e-book vouchers in the US as well. But I have written my review with the expectation that it will be fully available in the UK before much longer. I have definitely overcome my natural scepticism and perhaps hostility towards the product. I was won over by the very easy to read screen, which did not result in eye strain or headaches as I had expected. But the main advantage I found is definitely the size and weight, on a daily basis it easily slips into my handbag unlike some books and on holiday I was able to take this very small and lightweight gadget and have over a hundred books to chose from, rather than carry around four or actual five books. So, when it does get released in the UK, I would definitely recommend giving it a go.
NB. First published on dooyoo under username Cat19
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katie22008m
Advantages: lightweight
Disadvantages: not cheap
**** Sony E Reader ****
I really enjoy reading but somehow my suitcase always ends up really heavy so when i saw that my local Waterstones had some in stock i decided to purchase one.At 199 quid its not cheap but i felt i could easily spend that on buying the books alone.
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One of the best things about this is that you do not have to carry loads of books around with you.
Books are cheaper on the ereader than they are to buy normally and when you buy the ereader from Waterstones it comes with 100 classic books so if you are like me and would read these anyway the ereader pays for itself.
It can also hold/play music which is good in a way because it means you have to carry one less device about with you.
...
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Review of Sony Portable Reader PRS-505 by
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Advantages: none
Disadvantages: countless - read the review
...to throw the book at Sony (sorry bad pun). This product is in fact completely pointless - why spend the best part of £200 on an electronic device that is harder to read than a real book?
Is it Worth my Dosh?
Simply put - no.
To add to the fact that it is hard to read, it also has constant faults - such as flickering black screens between turning pages. The PRS-505 is simply a high maintenance, high-price, low value product ...
...on your iPhone as well. Verdict
I find it almost embarassing that Sony have released this product, as there are other things a million times better and considerably cheaper. The Sony online book store is appalling and expensive. I say, avoid this piece of junk at all costs. ...
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14.06.2008
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Review of Sony Portable Reader PRS-505 by
lorryday
Advantages: It is very useful and very simple to use and it looks and feels fantastic
Disadvantages: The screen isn't backlit, and the zoom only has three sizes
I love the Sony E reader because since I found this gadget it has made life sitting on a bay for hours on end whle Im in my Lorry a pleasure and no longer a chore. I love the idea of the e reader by Sony, hundreds of books all in one place and all available with the push of a button. I have books all over the cab and they always get filthy and dog eared. I always lose my page when I have to put them down because the red light on the bay changes to ...
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An absolute must for going on holiday.
Review of Sony Portable Reader PRS-505 by
bigbadbill
Advantages: Looks good, small, lightweight, good capacity, easy to use.
Disadvantages: Time it takes to charge from a computer.
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It was a complete success from every aspect and helped my wife and I to make new friends (although I doubt if Sony will include ...
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Advantages: Clear words, easy use, good battery life
Disadvantages: should come with a mains adapter
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This product has not yet been reviewed. 
