All That Glisters Is Not Gold

Author's Rating:

Pros: aesthetically pleasing; multiple functions (music, audio-tracts, e-books); read/listen to music at same time

Cons: flash and delay on page-turning; pdf files not displayed well--no scrolling capability

The Bottom Line: 
This baby looks like a million bucks, but there are significant limitations that prospective buyers need to consider carefully before shelling out US$300.

Author's Review
AESTHETICS/PORTABILITY

Sexy and elegant, the Sony Reader Digital Book comes in space-age silver (model number: PRS-505/SC) or a sultry dark blue (model number: PRS-505/LC). A protective cover (in a non-descript tan shade) is included, but more attractive covers are available for purchase on-line at Sony’s own store.

At a slimline 7" by 5", a third of an inch thin, and weighing in at a lightweight 9 ounces (similar to a paperback, considerably less than a hardcover), the Sony Reader will fit perfectly into your carry-on or even in your handbag, and with a rechargeable battery life lasting up to 7,500 continuous page turns, a single charge will likely last you through a week of avid reading.

CONTENT STORAGE CAPABILITY

The Sony Reader can hold up to 160 eBooks or hundreds more with optional removable memory cards to boost the 200MB of internal storage. Thousands of eBooks are available for download at Sony’s own Integrated eBook Store as well as other participating websites. 100 Connect eBooks Classic titles are available free with the purchase of the Sony Reader. Unsecured eBooks in supported file formats can also be read.

Other document formats such as Adobe PDF10, RTF, TXT, BBeB, Microsoft Word are all supported, meaning all such documents can be transferred from your computer to the Reader (using a standard USB 2.0 connector), as well as user-selected web content. The Reader also plays back MP3 tracks and unencrypted AAC files, and accepts pictures in JPG, GIF, PNG, and BMP formats.

That’s right, you can play music and view pictures on the Sony Reader. But while it’s nice to have background music while you’re reading, it does tend to drain the battery that much more quickly. For those of you with ipods who are used to playlists organized into albums and other categories, you’d quickly get fed up with a single long list that goes through every song each time. And as to why anyone would want to view black and white (or more accurately, grayscale) photos on the Sony Reader, even if there is a slideshow option, is anyone’s guess. Unless those photos were black and white to start with, I suppose, and very artistic to boot. But I digress.

DISPLAY/ READABILITY

The Sony Reader Digital Book boasts a display screen 6 inches across on the diagonal. Breakthrough E Ink technology (600x800 display) allows for high contrast and high resolution, and a near paper-like readability (similar to a glossy printed page) even in bright sunshine and at extreme viewing angles. Text can also be magnified but instead of being black, appears to be dark gray, while the background is light gray. This allows for enough contrast and doesn’t seem to induce eye-strain as far as we can tell.

Of more concern is the flashing and delay that occur when you turn a page. This happens every time and can be annoying at first, especially since I’m used to smooth, flashless page turns on my eBookwise. Of even more concern is the problem with reading PDF files (the no. 1 reason my husband cannot use my eBookwise and chose to buy the Sony Reader instead). Since there are only two zoom levels: ‘fit to width’ and ‘fit to screen’, and no scrolling option, it can make the text almost impossible to read. Unless, that is, you rotate the screen into a horizontal position, though this would be at the cost of fewer lines of text at once. But even so, the font is still so small (my husband’s pdf files often consist of subscripts and formulae) that it’s barely legible. Higher magnification and scrolling capability would solve this problem.

The bookmarking option is simple and easy to use, but annotating is not possible, unlike on my eBookwise.

The screen consumes no power except on page-turns, so there’s no need to shut the Reader down except in transit when you don’t want to hit any buttons inadvertently.The power slider and two card slots are along the top, while the power connector, a mini-USB jack, a headphone jack, and a volume control are placed along the bottom. Ten number buttons are to the right side of the screen while page turn buttons are placed on either side to the bottom.

CONCLUSION or SO, IS IT WORTH THE PRICE TAG?

Well, it depends what you want the Sony Reader for. I have my own eBookwise Reader which I chose for its lower price (US$125). Beside the sleek and sexy Sony reader, mine looks clunky and chunky by comparison. Mine’s also a lot heavier. Then again, I only need it for reading fiction e-books at home. My husband, however, needs one to read pdf files while he’s travelling on the plane or in the subway. As I have already mentioned, he’s none too pleased about the problem he’s been getting with his pdf files. However, he does like the fact that he can upload audio versions of articles from The Economist into his Sony Reader so he can listen to them and rest his eyes while travelling to work in the morning. He also enjoys reading e-books on the Sony Reader, and likes the fact that he can have background music playing while he reads. But we were surprised that the non-fiction e-books he’s considering purchasing are much more expensive than my fiction ones; in fact, not much of a savings compared to the print versions, though of course one should consider the savings tree-wise.

At US$300, the Sony Reader’s on the expensive side, but then it does look like a million bucks, and exudes that ‘executive’ feel, as opposed to my ipod nano (on which I listen to audiobooks as well as music) which looks more at home in the gym, which is where I use it.

NB: We'd waited over a year for the Sony Reader to be sold in Canada, but in the end was told they won't be selling it here. We couldn't even buy one online as they refused to send the Reader internationally. So, in the end, we had to get a friend's daughter (who's at university down in the States) to buy one and send it to us.

Read my review of the eBookwise 1150 e-book reading device: http://www99.epinions.com/content_338091413124