Alright, you've already heard
our take on the thing, but we've got a few more reviews for you from some old school tech journos. The general consensus isn't great. Sure, the
Sony Reader packs a quite exciting new display technology, allowing for long usage times and easy-on-the-eyes viewing, but so do paper books. The main actual benefit the Sony Reader offers you over traditional pulp is that you can store books aplenty in a quite small amount of flash memory, and you can buy the titles online at your leisure. Otherwise, the Sony Reader seems to take quite a few steps back, offering awkward controls, a hard to use online store and a few other baffling functional limitations. Online prices aren't great (luckily, Sony will be including a $50 gift certificate if you buy a Reader before the end of the year), despite the virtually complete elimination of production and distribution costs, and while the Sony Connect app works well enough with pushing around RSS, TXT, RTF, DOC and PDF files, traditional 8.5 x 11 PDF files are pretty much unreadable on the Sony Reader's low-res 6-inch screen. Other funkiness includes the 10 percent skipping buttons -- there's no way to go directly to a page number or search a book text -- and an annoying 1 second refresh between each page turn. It looks like the final word on the Reader is that you should probably hold onto those dead tree editions of your favorite novels at least until some 2nd generation eBooks start popping up.
Read -
APRead -
Walt MossbergRead -
David Pogue
posted Oct 20th 2006 5:20PM
Got the device for free, and was hoping to use it to read PDF's. Scientific papers and such. I found the device on the border of useless. Text of EVERY pdf I could try was too small for comfortable use. Also it appears slightly darker gray on the light gray background. Quite worse than the way it displays Sony styled books, where letters are darker and larger.
I bought a sony reader last year while I was in New York - I returned to Australia, and haven't put it down since.. I worked out a way to reformat word docs correctly to display properly and have gigabytes of downloaded books just sitting on my computer waiting to be read.. Currently the capacity of my reader is at 152 books and I never tire of having something handy to read. The screen doesn't need the backlighting - treat it as a normal book and turn the light on to read - no eyestrain! It's a little slow when converting pdfs to read but the other formats load in no time at all. I would not hesitate to buy another! BTW if you are outside the US and need to download books from the sony site - as long as you register a credit card (from any country) and give a US address (never verified) - there is no blockage for your downloading ...
Custom Sony Reader case will be available in a week or so:
http://www.sfbags.com
Had my PRS-505 a month now and very impressed. Yes, there are probs with PDF's that are annoying, but that should be dealt with soon, (are you listening Sony?) However, I don't see this as a total replacement for my beloved books, but a way to read on the move and get some of the older classic literaturte for free, rather than spend a fortune on books I may not enjoy. Gutenberg has a great resource of classic books in txt format and it only takes a minute to re-size text to 16 point before loading as a rtf file and hey presto! A4 files perfectly readable. I have only recharged the battery onced in that time and it was nowhere near empty.
I agree with some of the others that the range of available ebooks is small and expensive - piracy will quickly result if this is not addressed - why not offer readers of paper books a 75% reduction on the price of the ebook, if bought at the same time? Why is it as expensive for the ebook as the paper copy- come one publishers, don't be greedy
Otherwise a great product.
HELP!!! i just got my prs-700, came home, tried to turn it on, the right light(power) turned on and then off in few minutes and wont turn on again, i tried charing it and i dont know if its charging or not.. also it says USB connected on the screen. has it frozen??? or ??
help please
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Thanks for that article you posted, I really appreciate what you wrote. Very intersting. Please keep on, I like reading you.
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Funny.. Every review I've seen before this was extremely positive. DLTV even had one on air, and they were raving about how great it was.
Then again.. This is Engadget, where they hate everything Sony, so I suppose I should expect this by now. Thanks for not surprising me Engadget!
Yeah, 'cause Sony's the publisher that set the prices on those books, right?
I hope 2nd generation ebooks will include backlighting, for the thousands of us who like to read in bed.
At least you have go give Sony some credit for trying to rekindle the e-book market. There're lot's of more reviews here: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Sony_Reader_Reviews
I still dont understand what the point of these is. I can read ebooks absolutely fine on my old Handspring Visor.
E-ink is really the main draw. I don't think it can be explained until you see it. It's not perfect yet, but it really is a lot closer to what printed text on paper looks like. Compared to reading on a PDA LCD, it's very different.
Of course though, it doesn't mean e-ink is for everyone. If you have no complaints or problems with reading on the Visor, then there's nothing wrong with that. But you might still be impressed by e-ink when you can see it in person.
Having said that, I'm not sure this revision of the Sony Reader is it (for the reasons others have noted..... no highlighting, no searching, etc.), but I am pretty convinced that e-ink when combined with those features and in a more affordable package is something pretty compelling.
Let's see, between the fact that you can't read 8.5x11 documents and you can't select the page number you want, this device just doesn't sound like a winner. Do they even allow searching?
I wonder how long before the batteries start exploding on these?
I use my sprint 6700 phone to read all my books. Sure, the page is smaller but I have it with me all the time, no need to carry extra gadgets. Waiting for the doctor or at the car fix it place or anywhere else I have my book with me. Sure, I have to flip pages more but battery life is not a problem and the white print on the black background is pretty easy on the eyes. I get all my books at www.ereader.com. Why do I need this also ?
This is a crap idea! You really can't beat having a real book in your hands, the smell of the book, the cover artwork and virtually no eye strain. There's tons of gadgets out there that are VERY VERY COOL, but this idea and product ain't one of them.
99.9% of the time i'd choose the high tech option, I mean, I'm always checking the engadget web site but this is the .1% of the time i'd prefer the retro version.
Sorry Sony but this is a rubbish idea!
Jeez,
All they need to do is upgrade the firmware to deal with PDFs in a smart way, and I'm in. I'd LOVE to take my tech books along with me, but as it is, good luck trying to read code on that thing.
Finally mine's shipping. Ordered Sept 25 & shipping Oct 20. Not great, but I'm looking forward to it.
This is one of those products that I know I'll have to try for myself. Who really knows about the mindset of the reviewer? As a librarian & doctoral candidate, a convenient way to read is high on my list of wants.
The 1000+ page Clinton bio was sheer torture on a Palm OS.
Plus, the Connect prices look pretty good to me.
Clinton bio? Sorry to criticize this, but I didnt think anyone who had any mind read that crap. That was self promotion for his wife. I'm stunned that I actually came in some sort of contact with someone who says they read that book. I'm serious about this, that's scary.
ebooks are dead
Please let the whole e-book thing die peacefully.
Seriously, it's just cruel to keep dragging it out.
Funny, reading the articles themselves gives a TOTALLY different impression than the engadget post. Overall the articles were fairly positive (while still noting the shortcomings), and certainly were nothing like the panning that the engadget story suggests. IMHO the engadget writer needs to work on his journalistic integrity here..
These are definitely early adopter devices. I have one and it does have it's faults. However the main benefit make this worth it for me-- battery life.
I took this on a two week trip from Hawaii to New York. Despite using it continuously on the loooong flights, and occasionally during the day and before bed it still had 25% charge left on the battery.
If they could fix their connect store and software problems and adjust a few ergonomic items on the reader this could be a relatively successful product.
When I showed it to my niece she started dreaming of the day she didn't have to lug 40 pounds of textbooks around at school-- that could be a killer market.
@ Succorso
you had me at "car fix it place"
kidding.
eBookman?
eBookwise?
Sony Reader
Just a thought.
A portable screen that you can read for hours without straining your eyesight or running out of battery power is a huge advance for the ebook revolution.
Detractors seem to miss the point on the huge advantage of a simple dedicated device to just read on.
A computer can do many things, but it is still a computer: most laptops are bigger than a paperback novel and have backlit screens which cannot easily be read in sunlight. PDAs and phones are typically equipped with low-resolution 2 to 3" screen sizes, that for reasons of power consumption, are not as bright or high in contrast as a laptop screen.
And desktop computers with their brighter and higher contrast 20"+ displays are not portable, and even if you're prepared to sit at a desk to read a book for long hours, still have an eyestrain effect.
An LCD screen has a fluorescent backlight which, although more stable than a CRT, still has an imperceptible flicker which unconsciously causes vision strain when reading on it for hours on end.
Whereas, printed paper, and this new generation of e-ink, is a static object which reflects light rather than generate it from a fluorescent source.
Sure the Sony Reader and the iLiad have their shortcomings, all first generation products do, but it's still a huge step towards refining a 2000 year old process of pulping trees, which itself is a development from using animal hide parchments, which in turn superceded the papyrus that the books of the Old Testament where written on.
(In a way, you guys were probably around when paper making started, saying, "this newfangled paper nonsense won't catch on, I've already got my Portable Calfskin Document (PCD) right here thank you.")
Think of this analogy: in the last century, recorded music has gone from wax cylinders to iPods. But books have gone from pulped trees to...
Good day to you all,
I have a question in which it`s harder to get the answer than i thought.
I am very interested in one particular technology , that is called E-PAPER (electronic paper) technology. There are allready big names involved in the development of it. Such as : Eink (www.eink.com), Philips, Siemens, Hitachi, etc.
However, i believe that even if this technology will be succesfull in the future if to invest in those companies above, there might be no benefits as other projects they develop may fail.
Hence i would like to know ,
is it possible to invest in such a way, that if this technology is succesfull to feel the result?
Thank you in advance for any help!
rytist@yahoo.com
I enjoy the reading experience so much more w/ebooks, I think they can catch on w/the right technology. I recently saw the SONY and can't believe they got so many things wrong.
I use a Palm TX and read almost every day. Some advantages over the SONY: easy to pull out of pocket & control w/one hand, it can search, has a built in dictionary, instant page turns w/o flicker. Main problems: need to recharge nightly, hard to read in sunlight. Put an _fast_ flicker free eInk display on the Palm and I'd be in heaven.
Side note: when I complained to the SONY rep about the time it took to transition from page to page his response was 'but you can leave the same page on for months'. Sorry but the ebook is for reading, not for displaying static pages!
how does a man self-promote his wife, exactly?
Never claimed to have a mind.
Plus, the Clinton years were certainly great for all the "pre-ipo", venture capitalist, .com'rs that I know.
I'd rather be led by a man who later promotes his wife in a 1000 page bio than one who's probably still trying to make his way through "My Pet Goat".
I have a Reader and it's the best new gadget since the iPod came out 4 years ago. The screen is great for reading, the battery lasts for weeks or even months (what other device can you say that about?) and it's tiny--ounces in weight. I currently have 18 books on there with room for plenty more. Pile that up next to 18 real books and you'd need a small suitcase to get around with.
Engadget, your wrong, it's a great device.
If you actually used it once, you will never ever want to miss the Sony Reader.
It took me 15-30 minutes to get "accustomed" to the new way of reading my books, but after that -> its small, takes dozens of books, wherever i am - bulky computer books, religious texts whatever - Sure, you have to keep in mind it is first generation - but its advantages outweigh those first-generation shortcomings by all means!!
All I know is the kids can read manga on it. :-o
While not perfect, I do love my Reader. I've already read 5 books I never would have picked up otherwise. On the train, plane rides, etc. it is wonderful. Not having to carry the 5 or 6 books I'm currently interested in is a huge benefit. Easy on the eyes, lightweight and loooong battery life make it a winner. Check out ebay...they're selling for $200 over list. Remember how bad the first ipods sucked?
No one is talking about about how useful the Sony Reader can be for people with poor vision. I was born visually handicapped and as I age it is getting harder and harder for me to read magazines and books. It is also increasingly exhausting for me to read normal sized text.
As many of us ago our eyes deteriotate. So this problem may be in your future.
Reading on a Palm or similar sized device is not an option for many of us. I spend too much time sitting at a computer. I want to sit in a comfortable chair to read a book.
The Sony Reader can magnify text in most formats, 200 and 400 percent. For many people this could mean the difference between being able to read a book and not being able to.
Sure it is a first generation product, but I have have spent about 10 minutes hands on with them in various stores with different lgihting and I will buy one as soon as possible.
If you are visually handicapped and can afford one, buy it. If the first generation device fails there may not be a next generation reader.
It is important that the low vision community enbrace this and similar products and let the manufacturers know that we are buying them. They need to know we are a viable market so that future products could be more tailored to our needs.
I've nothing but praise for the Reader itself. The software for the PC however does have it's issues. That said you aren't tied to using the software so it's not a huge deal.
I've read 6-7 books so far and I'm about to charge it for the first time. I find the reading experience to be exactly what I'd get out of a book except the smell and texture, but seriously if that's what you need to get your self off, then there will never be a device that caters to you.
What I don't understand is the wealth of so called tech enthusiasts who are clearly so afraid of a new development that they won't even go and try one before criticizing a device. But then I suppose tech is only OK as long as it's a predictable jump like the addition of A2DP to your favourite phone. Woooo, go progress.
eReader should partner up with one of these ebook hardware companies. They have excellent software and a large catalogue. Keep all the other formats in there as well (doc, pdf, etc) but eReader support would be huge since that ebook market has been around for so long and has many customers.
Instant user base right there.
Seriously, folks. You need to buy the reader before you trash it. I have one and I just love it - I think it makes sense for anyone who travels frequently or reads more than a book a week.
I have now had mine for several days and find it to be even better than I had hoped. There was a short learning curve but frankly I think there is a good chance that this aging baby boomer - who owns thousands of hard copy books - will neve buy another one again.
All the detractors out there who have never actually used a Reader are quite entitled to promote their own approaches (like reading on a Palm - ugh), but are not qualified to judge the experience of reading on the reader. I have been searching for the right device now for years - a very expensive quest that has taken in numerous PDAs, and devices like Tablet PCs, Siemens SimPads, Nokia 770s, etc. They all suck in different ways. The Nokia 770 has come the closest to Nirvana, but the battery life sucks and it is slow and unstable (the latter if using Evince - which is mandatory as the built-in PDF viewer is near useless). In fact, using FBReader on the Nokia 770 for FictionBook format books is a good experience.
The Sony has its problems. Navigation is weak, and PDFs really need to be formatted for the device (although you can take a typical PDF and view it in landscape mode, a half page at a time). But I can fit the Reader (just) into the pocket of my jeans (its smaller than many people think), I've only had to charge the battery once when I first got it (plugging it in to USB on my PC peiodically to use the Connect software has been enough to keep it fully charged), and the display is fantastic. Sure, its not the last word - I'll be at the front of the line when the successor comes out - but it is still way ahead of anything else.
I love the idea of the Sony Reader, and I'm satisfied with the reviews so far on the hardware itself. But the content sucks so far. Of the last twenty or so paper novels that I've purchased, only 1 is available in electronic format. It can't work that way for me. I will not go looking for content that I can tolerate reading simply because I have a fancy new reader. Any ebook device better have the content I want before I purchase the device.
I *love* books - I have boxes and boxes full that I don't really have access to because I just don't have space for them all, despite a home office with an entire wall of shelving. Sometimes I get a yen to read an old one and spend lots of time in the basement rooting around for it. I have many books in ebook format, but they get zero time unless I'm searching for a specific passage. When I need to read one, I haul out the dead trees. I tried reading on my Palm, and on my phone - pathetically small screen. I don't have eye problems but... it was a horribly reading experience that never lasted long (tiny pages, batteries dying). I gave up. The Sony reader is awesome - I played with a demo unit and am eagerly waiting to take my first steps into "eBook reader"-land when it arrives at my local Borders. I really think they need to add a text search feature, but in the meantime I can search on my PC and load the appropriate book onto the reader for reading. Not good for searching travelogues while on vacation, I admit, but otherwise a wonderful addition to any modern library.
Well, now - some intersting comments on this device. I am especially intrigued by the "eBooks are dead" comment. It's not that they are dead - they were never properly conceived. A paper tome has many real-world advantages that electronics engineers do not seem to have grasped. If they did, then we would be seeing a completely different approach. One could flip through pages, throw in bookmarks, write on the page or in the margins, quickly scan by "thumb", and much, much more. As for the Reader, it is breakable. Yup, it can break. Pretty simple observation, eh, but short of burning it, a book can withstand a helluva lot of abuse, and the Reader will simply not. There ARE technologies on the shelf and about to emerge that can accomplish all of hte above, but I guess we're just waiting for someone to finally see the benefit of putting them all together, and at a sub-$200 (US) price point.
Guess I'll just keep waiting...or maybe I should start inventing?.................
My local Borders bookstore has one of these devices on display, so I had a chance to examine the Reader briefly. I only want to say that the E Ink display does seem pretty promising. When I first picked up the Reader, I immediately put it back down because I though it was a non-functioning demo. The display looked fake--like the false display on some demo cell phones and such. I then realized that's just how much the display looks like real paper. Some folks here have mentioned that the Reader is very lacking in features and functionality, and I'm sure that's true. However, I do look forward to seeing more devices with this display technology.
Some of you just don't get it, do you? I can't wait for the Sony Reader I have on order! Why? because I can't get to the library anymore, I have folks picking out books for me who do not share my tastes, I can't afford to buy as many books as I'd like, I have no more room in my apartment for books, and I need LARGE PRINT, not always available in the older books I would love to reread. I still love real books, but am willing to make adjustments due to my age which is 87! CAN ANY OF YOU CRITICS OF SONY READER TOP THAT??
Husband purchased a sony ereader in america for me. Great product. Wont work here in australia.Sony are not interseted in helping at all.Is there anyone who can tell us how to download ebooks for this ereader.It would be greatly appreicated if anyone could responed. Otherwise this SONY PROdcut is just junk no thanks to Sony corporation.
Why wouldn't this battery operated LCD work down-under - does the print appear updside down or something? (Bad joke- I apologise) - wud this be a comment about a Nth American mains power voltage issue with the power adapter, or access to downloadable books outside USA? Am interested in taking one home to Oz myself but your comment has tempered my rush of blood to spend 300USD until I understand more.
I bought a sony reader last year while I was in New York - I returned to Australia, and haven't put it down since.. I worked out a way to reformat word docs correctly to display properly and have gigabytes of downloaded books just sitting on my computer waiting to be read.. Currently the capacity of my reader is at 152 books and I never tire of having something handy to read. The screen doesn't need the backlighting - treat it as a normal book and turn the light on to read - no eyestrain! It's a little slow when converting pdfs to read but the other formats load in no time at all. I would not hesitate to buy another! BTW if you are outside the US and need to download books from the sony site - as long as you register a credit card (from any country) and give a US address (never verified) - there is no blockage for your downloading ...
Husband purchased a sony ereader in america for me. Great product. Wont work here in australia.Sony are not interseted in helping at all.Is there anyone who can tell us how to download ebooks for this ereader.It would be greatly appreicated if anyone could responed. Otherwise this SONY PROdcut is just junk no thanks to Sony corporation.
These devices ARE 2nd generation. The NuvoMedia Rocket-eBook and the SoftBook were the 1st generation REAL ebook devices. The Rocket had backlighting, a very sharp display, and could even play sounds embedded in the books. You could turn your own text/html into ebooks. They were $250-500 and were amazingly awesome for the year 2000. You can still pick one up on eBay and you won't be disappointed (don't waste time on the newer REB 1100 or 2150, get an original rocket).
The lack of a back-light is a sore disappointment for these readers. Having read hundreds of books on the old Rocket, I can safely say that the white-indiglo-like backlight on it was one of its best features, and really helped me go to sleep each night.
These discussions about the lack and overpricing of content are the same now as they were 7 years ago. It's a vicious cycle, where the publishing companies aren't going to release mass quantities of titles until they see a proven track record, and people aren't going to buy an electronic book that doesn't already have mass quantities of titles available. What's more is that the perceived value of an electronic title is about 20-50% of a physical book, and there aren't discount channels for receiving an electric book cheaper as there are with a) mass-market paperbacks, or b) warehouses like costco who can drive the costs down by volume purchases.
So the bottom line is that these are second-gen eBook readers, and the e-ink display is the ONLY thing that sets them apart from their predecessors. Fortunately for Sony, e-ink is FANTASTIC, and the books are worth every penny if they facilitate education and overall enjoyment of reading for more people.
Don't ever give Sony credit for anything, Sony sucks. Sony is one of the worst of all.
I was thrilled to get my Sony eReader, and in spite of the user-hostile and overpriced on-line store, and the already mentioned usability issues, the storage capacity won me over. Until I was reading my third book on it, and the display just died. Right in the middle of a vacation that was supposed to involve a LOT of leisure reading!
Their customer service interface is soulless and uncaring, but I sent it in, assured, on-line at least, that it was still under warrantee. Until I got the e-mail a week later telling me repairs were going to cost me $260. When I called to inquire, I was told that the display problem was caused by a physical break in a component of the display system, and that the warrantee did not cover physical damage. Since the display crashed while I was waiting for the page to turn (I really HATED that wait) I know it wasn't anything external that caused the issue.
We're still fighting it out, but I strongly recommend a boycott against this product. It just isn't worth the money or the hassle.
It's back to the real printed page and squinting at my PDA for me.
I just hope they drop the price on that, or resolve technical issues that other reviewers mentioned. Now that I've learned that you can reprogram e-reader to support Cyrillic (Russian) this opens a new door for me. To me the main priority is content. There are books that I can only get if I download them. Unfortunately it's hard to read of a computer screen for any length of time. But so far everyone seams to agree that Sony-reader is easy on the eyes. I also think that you need to by additional warranty on everything these days, I learned that after throwing in the trash last year a $500.00 camcorder that I only used for 20 minutes on my vacation.