E-reader 6IN Portable Silver E-book Approx 170 Pix/inch

E-reader 6IN Portable Silver E-book Approx 170 Pix/inch
From Sony

Holds up to 160 books / 8-Level Gray Scale Panel / 170 Pixels Resolution / 6" Screen Size / Dual SD and Memory Stick(R) Pro Duo Expansion Card Slot

Product Details

Customer Reviews

Very good, but poor craftsmanship where it really counts2
I bought the Sony PRS-505 mainly because Kindle isn't available in Canada, and Sony is. The readability is fantastic, the pricing of the books is certainly higher than Amazon, but not outrageous.

All around I was happy until... the power switch wore out. Not from extreme use either...typical use turning on and off by the side of my bed.

To continue to be able to use it I plug into a USB to turn it ON, turn sleep mode "OFF" and leave it on all the time, otherwise there's no way to turn it on without plugging it into the USB!

Wouldn't it make sense that the one button you actually need every time you use the device would not be made from such cheap plastic that it gets destroyed after 1 months use?

Gripe wise - the books are overpriced and until the next firmware update comes with the new ePub format you'll be locked into the Sony bookstore, which wouldn't be so bad if you couldn't get the same books for 10-30% cheaper at Amazon.

Kudos-wise, the display is fantastic, nice leather cover, very comfortable to read with and the design doesn't have any distractions - I'm not nuts about the keys on the Kindle.... I just want to read.

Impressive...5
I recently purchased the sleek Sony PRS-505 and so far am quite impressed. The display is nothing short of amazing, and very easy on the eyes.
Occasionally, there is a slight glare off the screen, but a simple repositioning solves this issue.

I really like the way the device feels in your hands, and the button layout is simple and unobtrusive. That was the main reason I chose this product over the Kindle.

There is a delay in the response time of the buttons, but apparently this is due to the e-ink technology. Sometimes I wasn't sure whether my keystrokes were picked up so I pressed the button again, and then again (oops), only to find myself advancing past where I wanted to be or attempting to jump to another page. I think a very small led in the corner to tell you the system is "busy" would be nice. It's not a big deal; it just takes a little getting used to.

Overall, it's a very impressive device and extremely easy to use. I would highly recommend for any avid reader. I'll give it a 4.5 / 5.00 (I rounded up) :-D

A very decent reader for fiction.4
I've had my reader now for two weeks and my first read was the graphic novel "Cruddy" available from Sony's ebook store. I left the text in the smallest font available and had no problems reader it.
The two larger fonts are way too big for me. Part of this is due to the fact, I believe, that all that I have been reading lately are scientific journal articles which are often in very small print. My overall experience with this reader so far is very good.
It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Kindle, but all I wanted was a simple reader, something very compact and, most importantly, inexpensive. However I still find this item overpriced by about $80 IMHO. Now that the Kindle has dropped in price, I might have considered buying it rather than the Sony digital reader.

Having said all that, I'm overall very happy with my purchase.
I actually read a lot more than I did before (something I have been reading on a few blogs, that these digital readers actually "make" some people more inclined to read).
I don't have hand cramps while reading in bed anymore.
It's slim, comes with a nice case, but for the $299 could have included a home charger but does come with a USB cable that you use to charge the reader with a PC and to download books with.

I've gotten several books from the Gutenberg Project and some of the free classics from Sony's ebook site (you get a 100 classic titles for free, and that offer has been available for months now; besides, I suspect many of these titles are floating around the net for free).
All are very readable in their given format.
If I don't like the font type or size, the great thing is that there are so many applications for the PRS-505 and related readers that I can alter the text if necessary. I'll copy all the text and drop it in MS Word, make any changes I want, then save it as an .rtf file which the Sony PRS-505 will read. So far so good!

Now, about the infamous PDF issue. Yes, the reader claims to handle PDF files, which it technically does. The problems is you can't magnify the viewing area on this 6" reader screen like you can on a monitor with Adobe Reader.
In many cases the font in a PDF file is so small to start you can't read the text on the reader.
If I really want the PDF document on my reader, I'll copy the text from the PDF and drop it in MS Word, then save it as an .rtf file. The reader will also read .txt if you don't have MS Word. If you google "pdf to lrf" or "rtf to lrf" (whatever it is that you're looking for) you'll come up with many hits. (lrf

Keep in mind that the PRS-505 was not designed to be a PDF reader, it really is a fiction reader. For that purpose alone, AND because there are so many applications available to change formats of documents for this and other Sony readers, I love this reader. It does what it's supposed to do. I think it could just be less expensive.

Whatever reader you choose, make sure you understand its limitations. I wanted a simple reader and that's what I got. Yes, this reader does mp3 but I never use it for that purpose...

Features

  • displays eBooks purchased from the CONNECT eBook online store
  • displays Adobe® PDFs, plus TXT, RTF, BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG and Microsoft® Word files
  • plays MP3 and AAC files (protected files not supported)
  • internal 192MB memory
  • memory slot holds an SD Memory Card (up to 2GB capacity) and Memory Stick® Duo media (up to 8GB capacity)

Posted by SPS
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