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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
-
does exactly what it says on the tin.
I've had one of these for 18 months and it's my favourite thing in the world. Don't get me wrong - I love books and still have shelves full of them at home (actually boxes full at the moment as we're decorating) but the Reader is just a great, simple device that enables you to have a library that you can fit in your pocket. E-ink is as good as reading from a paper page (screen isn't backlit so no eyestrain such as some people may get from reading from a typical computer type screen) and the device only uses power from the battery when you turn a page - I use mine every day for at least a couple of hours at a time and I typically charge the battery once a month (takes a couple of hours or so). I have a fair number of Star Wars ebooks on mine (including all of the Legacy of the Force series which I purchased a couple of weeks ago from Sony's US ebook store for about £3 each apart from the last one which cost me £7), as well as a whole bunch of Discworld books, some Stephen Fry, all the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars Series, and a bunch of Mario Puzo books to name just a few. Took it on holiday recently - last time I went away from some time in the sun I took half a dozen decent sized paperbacks as did my wife - this time I just took my Reader - though I had to lend it to my wife as she finished her books and had nothing else to read (probably get her one for christmas now).
Rating: 
-
RIF - children
I am looking forward to purchasing an eReader for myself and started thinking about my daughter who absolutely loves to read. Her love for books is nothing like I've ever seen.
First, let me say I use the word "read" losely as she's almost 2 yrs old. But she is a mature reader - she no longer wants to be read books that read like "pup, cup" "pup in cup", "cup on pup", she wants stories like "The Cat In The Hat" and "And To Think I saw It on Mulberry Street". I am always buying books. We spend weekends in the childrens section of Borders and Barnes & Nobles.
At school the teacher says she'll go to the book section of the room, take the books to the overstuffed chair in the corner and start reading (flipping through the books, pointing at the pictures and identifying the items to herself). At home she is always wanting to sit in my lap and have me read her book after book (sometimes up to 15 childrens books a night). It's a fight at at times to make her understand she can't stay up all night and read.
With that I started thinking about how to continue encouraging her love for reading but not have to carry around pounds of books, especially when we travel (flying is the worse). I thought the Sony eReader would be perfect (USB sync, light weight, small, ink like pages, etc) but I see that they don't have a category for childrens books only juevenile reading.
Needless to say I was disappointed. I think this is an untapped market. I have decided to wait for one of the top 5 eReaders to provide childrens books. I love techi things and my daughter has all the techi toys/gadgets/games I can buy her. Apple has PC games for children, maybe they'll be the first to gear an eReader towards children. I believe that in this age of technology (that I love so much) we (adults and children both) are moving away from reading (despite the Harry Potter books). I want to encourage her to read more books and I think an eReader would be a great way to do that - in the car, on a train, a plane and at the park on a picninc blanket.
I hope to see something geared towards children soon. I don't believe I am the only parent out there that would purchase this for their child. Note to eReader manufacturers: So many kids watch DVD's on their portable DVD players...... their parents bought all those DVD's and DVD players.
A parent of the RIF era trying to teach her daughter new age RIF
Rating: -
I LOVE my Sony Reader!
I own this unit and I love reading and listening to music on it at the same time.
After I got my unit, I went to http://www.mobileread.com and found a great hack tool which can load a bunch of features which make the interface more rich and useful.
I also like getting my books from the feedbooks site because they work specifically for the Sony reader and you don't need any special software, just load them on a cheap SD-card and your set.
I also use Calibre [google search for Calibre] instead of the Sony software and this works great. I plug in my unit and download all my RSS feeds daily to read on the train to work. Calibre works great in Vista. The Sony software doesn't work in Vista [last time I checked] . Calibre is a fully featured FREE Sony Reader synchronization software interface; this is not crippled software.
I have actually experimented a bit by getting an audio book in MP3 from my library website and the same book from [feedbooks] , so I can have the book read to me while I follow along page by page. This is an amazing experience and other people should try it if you can't stand reading long novels by yourself in silence.
The battery life has been great, I can easily get about 5000 page turns when reading, and about 6 continuous hours if I also listen to music. Sleep mode lasts about 2-3 weeks. Your mileage may vary.
I have had my unit and it's cradle for about 1 year and I really like this product. I especially like turning pages using the joystick at the bottom [with the hacks loaded above]. In comparison, the new PRS-505 is nice, but the turn-page buttons just don't do it for me, I like my Sony Reader joystick too much.
If you get this Reader for displaying PDFs, make sure you sync using Calibre since it will automatically converts a PDF into something which perfectly fits to the Reader screen size [since the screen is only about 7 inches and most PDFs are generated at 8x11]. I can read any PDF easily this way.
As with many of the reviews here, in case you are prone to accidents, this is delicate device, so I would recommend getting an extended warranty from SquareTrade, Sony or someone similar; and also a nice case if you plan on taking with you in hand. I actually attached my Wii controller wrist strap to my Sony Reader unit since I can get it to fit more snug than what comes in the box.
Anyway, this unit is very nice and I do recommend it.
Rating: 
-
Nice Screen, Otherwise Quite Poor
I have read about 10 books with my Sony eReader since I got it approximately 1 year ago. The screen is a wonder to behold. This is where the good news ends. As for the bad news, the battery in mine will not hold a charge for more than about 50 page turns. At most it has never held a charge for more than one book ~700 pages. Sony claims 7500 page turns. No way. The software is terrible and trying to interface to a Mac is a nightmare. PDFs are essentially non-usuable on the device, they display very slowly and require a very specific format to display in a legible way.
I give the screen 2 stars and for everything else it is 0 stars. So we will say 1 as an average. I can only recommend that you do NOT buy this.
Rating: 
-
Pretty good for what it is.
I purchased this on a whim. I didn't know if I'd use it, but I got it. It's been about a year or two now, & I absolutely adore it. People at work are still asking me about it & more than one person has purchased an ebook after seeing my copy.
While the ebook store may be somewhat limited as far as their selection goes, it's getting bigger & better with each update. It may not be as flashy as the kindle, but it's still nice. The ghosting effect is somewhat noticeable if you are looking for it, but it doesn't disturb the reading. The page turning does take a few seconds, but you get used to it. (The later models have less ghosting & quicker page turns.)
My only complaint is that when you insert a memory card the books are slow to load onto the unit (10 seconds or so). This isn't a big thing, but it's a bit annoying to see the unit putter away. I anticipate that this is something that's rectified on the newer models.
Still, if you were going to get a reader I'd recommend the Sony portable over the Kindle. It may not be as flashy, but it gets the job done & is pretty dependable. I've put mine through a lot of paces over the years & it still looks pretty good. When it finally wears out, I'll be purchasing one of the later models, not a kindle.