Customer Reviews
It's Just right 
2008-07-12
I'm a sixteen-year-old boy (go figur) and this thing is just perfect. It comes with me wherever I go (games, movies, trips) it has become a nessesity for me. I bought one for my birth day six months ago and I, embarassingly enough, left it one the car roof and only noticed until it flew by at fifty mph. It did survive the impact with little more than a bent corner. After this fall though I did by the metal case which I would recomand to anybody. The issue with the backlight is complete BS, people don't seem to notice that a backlight hurts the eyes which would defeat the purpose of the incredible paper-like quality of this device. One other thing that no one has mentioned is when you bring this out side the sun doesn't glare off the screen into your eyes like a regular book would so I count that as a plus.
I gave it a five-out-of-five because it does everything I bought it for so why would I complain.
Great item, horrible service 
2008-07-04
I have loved my sony since the day I got it. I loved the size, the shape, the design. What I didn't expect was to up grade my computer and have it not work with the sony book store. FYI - 64 bits is bad, but in the words of the "customer service" person "I could call Microsoft and down grade my system." Ya, thats an option. Oh, and there is no update on when it will be compatable. I also got to sit on line with there "Live Assistance" for a half hour with an response. Not very "live" to me. That really put me in a great mood. By the way, no it doesn't state that it needs a 32 bit system on the system requirments on line, but I was assured that it was in the manual. Really? They KNEW that there system was out of date, but still didn't work to correct it when Amazon had a system with internet capablilties? I took a gamble on Sony, because I liked it better, and I figured that it might make it. I see now that it is always going to lag behind and they don't have the capabilities to catch up with Amazon. I don't recomend this product to anyone. It really is too bad, because it is beautiful and convient. I just wish the company had better customer service.
Sony eReader 2008-06-30
Decided to try the eReader in order to evaluate for education. It took just a few tries to get adjusted to controls. The quality of the print is exceptional. Battery life is very long. I took advantage of the free downloads (all classics) to try it out I also bought some other titles including duplicates of print books I already owned for comparison.
I actually ended up preferring the electronic version to the print version. You can start and stop easily, change books and resume at each spot effortlessly, and, best of all, carry around one object that has many books on it. That is the promise that the eReader fulfills.
worth it. 2008-06-19
whenever I take out my E-Reader, someone seems to ask "what is that?"
then they ask "how much did it cost". when I tell them, they want to know was it worth it.
my answer is always yes, absolutely yes.
I originally bought one because my job causes me to travel a lot, because of that I wanted a convenient means of passing time while on long flights. I used to just bring a book, but 9 hour flights with layovers in multiple cities meant I'd go through five or six books in one trip. so I bought a Sony E-Reader and can carry sixty books in less space then a paperback.
"why not a kindle?" simple really, the places I usually go it's wireless features are useless.
In a nutshell the Sony E-Reader does what I need it to do, and does it very well.
Great Concept - Hardware Unreliable 2008-06-17
I received this as a gift and loved the idea! I do a lot of travel and this is the perfect concept for me - small, lightweight, with endless possibilities. I quickly and easily downloaded my 100 free books and bought a few more. I also loaded up a SD card with my favorite reading music to have the full experience!
I put the reader in my drawer - could not wait to use it on my next trip. When that time came, I got it out of the drawer and it had a frozen screen with stripes all over it. No amount of resetting or trouble-shooting could fix this problem. So - net - I have this great, cool device - and have not yet been able to read a single book!
I just got off of the phone with Sony. The parts are covered in the warranty, but I will have to pay to ship it to them and cover any labor costs. This really upsets me. You pay for a high-priced device, don't even have a chance to use it, and it's already not working/unusable. This is obviously a hardware issue and I should not have to pay anything to get it fixed. But I have no other choice. Very disappointing. If I had to do it all over again, I would not take the chance on this device.
Very good, but poor craftsmanship where it really counts 2008-06-07
The new Reader (model PRS-505) features a svelte body design. Re-styled controls more closely mimic paper page turns and allow for quick, intuitive navigation.A next-generation electronic paper display delivers faster response and a higher contrast ratio for easy reading even in bright sunshine. Eight levels of gray scale provide for crisp and clear text, images, and graphics.This device is designed for people on the go, this device is compelling because it allows them to carry a wide variety of reading materials whether they are on a cross-country flight, in a doctor's office waiting room, or at a beach resort. The Reader can handle a stack of books and other documents that people would rather not carry, yet offers a 'book-like' reading experience unavailable with other electronic devices.With the capacity to store up to 160 typical eBooks, the Reader can act as a mobile library. Expansion slots for Memory Stick Duo media or SD memory cards make the device's library potential practically limitless.More advanced users will appreciate the USB-based mass storage capability that allows them to use the device as a portable drive for the direct transfer of documents, images and other files to the Reader. A new auto sync feature also lets users set up folders with books and documents that can be automatically synchronized when the device is connected to a PC.
Impressive... 2008-06-05
I recently purchased the sleek Sony PRS-505 and so far am quite impressed. The display is nothing short of amazing, and very easy on the eyes. Occasionally, there is a slight glare off the screen, but a simple repositioning solves this issue.
I really like the way the device feels in your hands, and the button layout is simple and unobtrusive. That was the main reason I chose this product over the Kindle.
There is a delay in the response time of the buttons, but apparently this is due to the e-ink technology. Sometimes I wasn't sure whether my keystrokes were picked up so I pressed the button again, and then again (oops), only to find myself advancing past where I wanted to be or attempting to jump to another page. I think a very small led in the corner to tell you the system is "busy" would be nice. It's not a big deal; it just takes a little getting used to.
Overall, it's a very impressive device and extremely easy to use. I would highly recommend for any avid reader. I'll give it a 4.5 / 5.00 (I rounded up) :-D
A very decent reader for fiction. 
2008-06-02
UPDATE:
You can rotate your document from portrait to landscape view...
This is not designed as a document reader, so don't expect it to perform that way.
Has anyone else noticed that Kindle downloads are less expensive overall than the Sony ebookstore downloads? I was comparing prices recently and with the recent drop in the price of a Kindle along with the less expensive downloads from amazon, the price gap is pretty darn close between the two readers now.
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I've had my reader now for two weeks and my first read was the graphic novel "Cruddy" available from Sony's ebook store. I left the text in the smallest font available and had no problems reader it. The two larger fonts are way too big for me. Part of this is due to the fact, I believe, that all that I have been reading lately are scientific journal articles which are often in very small print. My overall experience with this reader so far is very good. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Kindle, but all I wanted was a simple reader, something very compact and, most importantly, inexpensive.
However I still find this item overpriced by about $80 IMHO. Now that the Kindle has dropped in price, I might have considered buying it rather than the Sony digital reader.
Having said all that, I'm overall very happy with my purchase. I actually read a lot more than I did before (something I have been reading on a few blogs, that these digital readers actually "make" some people more inclined to read). I don't have hand cramps while reading in bed anymore. It's slim, comes with a nice case, but for the $299 could have included a home charger but does come with a USB cable that you use to charge the reader with a PC and to download books with.
I've gotten several books from the Gutenberg Project and some of the free classics from Sony's ebook site (you get a 100 classic titles for free, and that offer has been available for months now; besides, I suspect many of these titles are floating around the net for free). All are very readable in their given format. If I don't like the font type or size, the great thing is that there are so many applications for the PRS-505 and related readers that I can alter the text if necessary. I'll copy all the text and drop it in MS Word, make any changes I want, then save it as an .rtf file which the Sony PRS-505 will read. So far so good!
Now, about the infamous PDF issue. Yes, the reader claims to handle PDF files, which it technically does. The problems is you can't magnify the viewing area on this 6" reader screen like you can on a monitor with Adobe Reader. In many cases the font in a PDF file is so small to start you can't read the text on the reader. If I really want the PDF document on my reader, I'll copy the text from the PDF and drop it in MS Word, then save it as an .rtf file. The reader will also read .txt if you don't have MS Word. If you google "pdf to lrf" or "rtf to lrf" (whatever it is that you're looking for) you'll come up with many hits.
Keep in mind that the PRS-505 was not designed to be a PDF reader, it really is a fiction reader. For that purpose alone, AND because there are so many applications available to change formats of documents for this and other Sony readers, I love this reader. It does what it's supposed to do. I think it could just be less expensive.
Whatever reader you choose, make sure you understand its limitations. I wanted a simple reader and that's what I got. Yes, this reader does mp3 but I never use it for that purpose...
repairs 
2008-05-31
I was so excited to order this product and could hardly wait for it to arrive. Unfortunately, when it did get here, the unit was defective and had to be returned for replacement because it could not load the books. After receiving my second unit, I was thrilled and immediately loaded several books on it and started reading away. One week later I was scheduled to make my first out of town trip for a week and was anxiously looking forward to taking my Reader book along instead of having to pack books. The night before I left I noticed that the battery was starting to go down which I thought was unusual. I had read fewer than 1000 pages and the charge is supposed to last for 7500 pages. Just to be cautious, I decided to charge it for the night so it would be all ready to go. The morning I was scheduled to leave, I couldn't get the unit to stay one. Once I turned it on, it shut itself off. I called Sony Customer Support and they told me to charge the unit for a longer period of time. I tried that but when I got it turned on, it wouldn't load and gave me a message stating "Low Battery." After charging it for another 12 hours, I then received the message of "NO Battery." My phone conversation this time with the Sony Customer Service went very badly. I was on the phone with someone for almost an hour while they tried to get me a Work Order Return Number. I finally gave up and said I would call back later because I didn't have any more time. I'm now waiting for my new unit to be sent to me -- but basically I paid for it over a month ago and haven't had a working unit for more than a few days. When it did work, I loved it -- but now I'm pretty skeptical about actually counting on it -- especially for out of the country trips when you might not be able to run down to your local book store if your Reader fails.
PRS 505 - 2008-05-28
OK, well over all this is not a bad product , but it dose have some very annoying aspects.
The unit doesn't come with a mains charger, so you need to connect it to a computer to charge , this wouldn't seem like a show stopper , However , every time you connect it to a computer (Charging), it goes into USB mode.
It still doesn't seem like a problem dose it , BUT , when you remove the USB cable ,It re-catalogues all your books !!,
So you get stuck watching a pretty little cursor go round and round in the middle of the screen , and you can't do anything till it finishes. And It's Slloooowww, Putting a large amount of books on an 8Gig memory card and it becomes impossible to use the device. Takes so long to make the catalogue , by the time it's finished you need to charge it again, I'm not kidding , only with (approx 3,000) books at 1gig on a memory stick takes close to 2 hours to catalogue, You don't even need to add or remove a book, just connecting it for charging is enough to start it cataloguing all over again.
You would have thought that as it supports MemoryStick and SD cards you would actually be able to make use of all that extra space - But in my experience no, maybe for music or audio books , but not for a large collection of written books.
I haven't done anything with music or picture so , I can't give any advise on that , But if you are going to have a small to medium collection of books , on the internal memory (1-500) books it is great , for me who wanted to create a complete library with all my books (17,000 - including reference manuals. etc.. ) it just doesn't work.
Also the ability to display PDF's is absolutely awful, They DO display but at resolutions that will cripple your eyes trying to , read, Converting PDF's to other formats *can* be done , but again it is time consuming / complex, and in some cases I'm not even sure the software needed is legal.
For what it is , it's ok, but unless you only want to read one book at a time , only buy new books to install on the device, Or have a large amount of money you want to throw away, I wouldn't buy it.
Sorry to be so negative, but *Really* think about if this device is what you need before you spend all the money on it.
