So we were noodling around the laptop section at Best Buy the other day, semi-shocked at the relatively frenzied activity at the big box retailer, when we happened to glance over and notice a very lonely device being ignored by the throngs of shoppers. That poor, unloved gadget was none other than the
Sony Reader, which saw a fair amount of hype prior to its (
perpetually-
delayed) release, but now seems to have basically slipped off most people's radar. Are people buying this thing? Has it developed a following? Is there a community devoted to software and hardware hacks? We're honestly not sure, which lead us to wonder how Sony could have changed things up to make the Reader -- in general, a solid concept -- a more desirable purchase for the mass market. Since it's surprisingly format agnostic for a Sony product, we don't expect to hear too many suggestions in the compatibility department, although there will understandably be some folks seeking support for WMA, non-BBeB protected content, native DOCs, and the like. That being said, should they have loaded it up with more flash, or at least made it compatible with memory cards bigger than 4GB? Would out-of-the-box support for Mac and Linux users help? How about a non-crippled RSS reader? (Hey, at least they hooked you up with Engadget, though). Help us out here, people, what would it take to send you home with a brand new Sony Reader?
posted August 24th 2007 5:15PM
I have one and it's not absolutely perfect but it's really enjoyable.
I own a lot of ebooks. A really, really large amount.
Is it really so much to ask for a decent ebook reader so that I can have my spent wealth outside of the confines of my computers.
Here is my perfect ebook reader:
It should be the size of a standard paperback. It can be somewhat thicker, both to facilitate tech and to have a nice feel in hand. Also it needs to be scratch proof and rugged, as it has the potential to be used a lot.
It should have something similar to the Sony e-ink technology. That way it can be readable and easy on the eyes while at the same time also easy on the batery.
It should not limit the format of books you can use. I want to be able to use pdf, txt, doc, and most importantly lit without needing to use a converter every time, or having to rebuy titles I already have.
It should have a nice memory size. Think gb and not mb. Heck if I can buy 1 gb usb stick for less than 10 dollars why do I have only 256 mb on a 500 dollar gadget. And yes there is a really big need for the space. Ebooks and especially pdf's are getting larger by the month it seems. Plus you really do not know what mood you might be in. It can be a Dave Barry or a Frederick Pohl you never really know. Choice is good. Also it might be good for it to have a usb port so that you could transfer books from sticks you take with you thus making the memory virtually unlimited.
I can not emphasize enough the need for it to be easy on the eyes.
Here is what it does not need to have:
Ability or need to connect to the internet. I have a computer for that.
Word processing. See previous.
Phone, and other media capabilities. Ditto
A color screen. It's an ebook reader. It deals mostly with black and white letters. Black and white pictures I can live with.
A proprietary format. Seriously. Enough.
Now I ask you is this really that much to ask. Is anything unreasonable. So why do we not have such a gadget yet. I think it would be universally accepted. By the authors because it means more books in people's hands and more money for them. For the publishers because it means that they get to sell their books without any additional costs such as printing and shipping. To the readers because they get the satisfaction of reading a good book, with all the good sides of ebooks and no drawbacks.
It is clearly a win-win-win :)
Iv had my reader for about a year now, agreat device!
I am going to an online university and bought this so that I could actually read my ebooks somewhere other than at my desk. The problem is that the ebooks from the university are password protected and once I transfer it to the reader, it asks for the user and password again, but there is no way to input it.
The Sony Reader, much like all of Sony products, even their Remote Control for home entertainment systems, their older phones and PDAs, do not work on MAC.
So no I do not even look at Sony anymore. I would buy all of their products and gadgets if the could get someone to figure out all the what must be diffiuclt programing needed to communicate. Either Sony cannot figure it out or its just a simple Corporate decision not to communicate with Apple products. I like the reader but would not buy it. I have stopped buying any Sony products just because of that. I do not like Patches or Addtitive type software to make something work that should have worked in the first place.
I own a Sony Book Reader, and on the whole, I'm glad. I read a LOT and carry a lot of books. Even with the reader, there are still a couple of books in my purse, but I used to carry at least 5, generally, so the reader is taking the place of 3 or more. Also the 30 or so books on my reader represent 30 or so books that are NOT overflowing my bookshelves when I finish reading them.
There are a number of things I wish Sony would add. Number 1 is of course content. I want ALL the books -- from all the world. I understand that they concentrate on bestsellers. And the eConnect site has a fair and increasing selection of more serious nonfiction titles. But I still have to buy or borrow books, especially foreign titles and books from smaller publishers. Ideally, I would only buy a book if it was particularly beautiful as an object, because every book I simply wanted to read would be available on my reader.
Second, the electronic books are creeping up in price until they nearly match the regular bookstore price, which is not reasonable. There HAS to be a savings in not printing, transporting and warehousing the books, and it should be passed on to readers.
Finally, there are a few things that could be improved about the reader interface. Well... quite a few, really. I like the fact that you can select the type size, but the decision about handling page numbers (as one screenful of words, at any font size) strikes me as odd. Also, WHY can we not go to a page number? There is no way to "flip through" the pages to find something you wanted to read again. It should be possible to highlight passages and make notes, and pass those notes back to your PC when you no longer want to carry a book on the reader.
Still...I'm happy to have my reader. I would like to see it developed further, which is why I decided to buy this one.
Price is the biggest issue with me. I currently read books on my Dell Axim X51v. Before Dell quit selling them, you could get them for the same price as Sony's Reader, but my Axim can do tons more stuff than the Reader. I'd be willing to pay $100.
The other problem is it needs a backlight. I do a lot of my reading at night and I usually can't turn on lights because other people are around trying to sleep or I'm a passenger in a car or fire truck.
NYTimes on the new PRS-505? Does the newest Sony Reader allow for newspaper and magazine reading?
the price sucks. for something so small. Might as well just use the laptop. or better yet , comparing the size, just use the psp to read books. The psp isn't much smaller when it comes to just reading. You just download some of that freeware thats out there and you can put books on the psp. Costs a lot less, and you get more than just a reader - games , music, movies, etc, . WIth a psp what's the point in buying this Sony Reader?
SOny should just sell some $20 software for the psp to make it all easier.
I want to be able to search for text, highlight passages and it would be nice to be able to get from page 5 to page 655 faster then just doing it 9 pages at a time. Also I want more choices of books AND I think it would be great if it was possible to buy e-text books for school. I myself am out of school, but can you imagine just having 1 "book" with all of the heavy books for schol on it.
I agree with Lissa. What we need is an e-book textbook. You could spend a lot less on a digital copy of a book that you use one semester and ignore forever after. Allowing notes to be written on it would be a great addition, although that would add to the already high price.