Reading the eBook.
Feb. 15th, 2010 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueSo, it's been a while since I got my eBook Reader, and have had a couple of people ask if I still use it.
My answer would be 'very definitely, yes'.
It's one of the better pieces of tech I've bought. I was worried that Sony would 'do a Sony' and make it proprietary lockdown stuff. To date, the only 'sony-ism' I've run into is it has a memory stick slot _as well_ as an SD card slot.
That I can most definitely live with.
Anyway, it's text quality is high, it's lightweight and compact. It's UI is easy and intuitive, and it's quite easy to read one handed.
Unlike some of the other market offerings, it has remarkably few bells and whistles. Some offer Wi-Fi, some offer MP3 playback (actually, I think the Reader will do that) some offer this that and the other.
Doesn't need it.
What I want from an eBook reader is something that will:
Have a good battery life (Reader is a good couple of weeks with my normal usage - I charge about when I put a couple more eBooks on there, and that's it)
Have good text quality.
Be lightweight and compact.
Have space for enough ebooks. (160Mb internal memory, and an SD card and a memory stick means you have tonnes of space for 1MB each ebooks)
Be 'open' about it's data formats, so I don't have to mess around with what formats I can/can't use on it. (I have yet to find an eBook format it _won't_ read, and you can buy them from anywhere)
The Sony PRS-505 does this in spades.
You download to your computer, and you have a choice of ways to get it onto your reader (this is not common :)). Sony supply one, Adobe Ebook wossit will 'talk direct' and then there's free stuff like Calibre.
Top notch product. I daresay you won't go too far wrong with the newer models - the newer readers are
It's not quite all sweetness and light - they're not as robust as a paperback would be - you don't really want to drop them in the bath, or on the floor, because when you do, they will be expensive to fix. (e.g. about the same price as a new one). I've added a Tuff Luv cover and it does very nicely with keeping it safe.
My answer would be 'very definitely, yes'.
It's one of the better pieces of tech I've bought. I was worried that Sony would 'do a Sony' and make it proprietary lockdown stuff. To date, the only 'sony-ism' I've run into is it has a memory stick slot _as well_ as an SD card slot.
That I can most definitely live with.
Anyway, it's text quality is high, it's lightweight and compact. It's UI is easy and intuitive, and it's quite easy to read one handed.
Unlike some of the other market offerings, it has remarkably few bells and whistles. Some offer Wi-Fi, some offer MP3 playback (actually, I think the Reader will do that) some offer this that and the other.
Doesn't need it.
What I want from an eBook reader is something that will:
Have a good battery life (Reader is a good couple of weeks with my normal usage - I charge about when I put a couple more eBooks on there, and that's it)
Have good text quality.
Be lightweight and compact.
Have space for enough ebooks. (160Mb internal memory, and an SD card and a memory stick means you have tonnes of space for 1MB each ebooks)
Be 'open' about it's data formats, so I don't have to mess around with what formats I can/can't use on it. (I have yet to find an eBook format it _won't_ read, and you can buy them from anywhere)
The Sony PRS-505 does this in spades.
You download to your computer, and you have a choice of ways to get it onto your reader (this is not common :)). Sony supply one, Adobe Ebook wossit will 'talk direct' and then there's free stuff like Calibre.
Top notch product. I daresay you won't go too far wrong with the newer models - the newer readers are
It's not quite all sweetness and light - they're not as robust as a paperback would be - you don't really want to drop them in the bath, or on the floor, because when you do, they will be expensive to fix. (e.g. about the same price as a new one). I've added a Tuff Luv cover and it does very nicely with keeping it safe.
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 06:17 pm (UTC)But I'm also really enjoying it.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-15 06:57 pm (UTC)However according to ze Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Reader#Formats_supported
"DRM-free Text: BBeB Book (LRF), PDF, TXT, RTF, ePub. Typefaces in PDF files formatted for 216 x 280 mm (8.5 x 11 inch) pages may be too small to read comfortably. Such files can be reformatted for the Reader screen size with Adobe Acrobat Professional, but not by Adobe Reader software. The Reader does not directly support Microsoft Word DOC format. The 'CONNECT Reader' application uses Word to convert the .DOC files to RTF before sending them to the Reader.
DRM-protected Text: BBeB Book (LRX); Secure PDF and ePub.
Audio: MP3 and DRM-free AAC (except on the PRS-300)
Image: JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP (Loading an animated GIF will freeze the Reader)
RSS: Limited to 20 featured blogs such as Engadget and Wired, no ability to add others and no auto-update (as of 2006-12-01)"