I'd like to get an idea of what percentage of Readers out there have had major problems that required either repair or replacement. I'm talking about things like damaged displays and frozen units that were'nt readily unfrozen. I'm not sure what all the problems are that people have had. I assume most of the software issues were readily resolved, but I don't know that either. I know that there were some issues with charging but I assume we're past that point. I'm just trying to give people an idea of what they might expect for reliability if they bought a unit today.

I've documented my problems in THIS THREAD (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18358).

Sony Repair Service felt that it was not covered under warranty and offered to fix it for 90% of the purchase cost. There was a happy ending thanks to a Sony executive that I tracked down and asked for help. I would highly recommend purchasing the Sony extended warranty that cover accidental damage so this won't be an issue. I guess the delicate nature of these displays is not just a Sony problem and an extended warranty is a good idea for any brand.



PCH

My "forward" button and "forward" on the disc control no longer work unless I press them about 7 times. I haven't tried a warranty repair, but I'm assuming it is out of warranty after a year and four months... Anyone else have similar issues and a solution?

my only problem is that i dont have enough time to read it

My "forward" button and "forward" on the disc control no longer work unless I press them about 7 times. I haven't tried a warranty repair, but I'm assuming it is out of warranty after a year and four months... Anyone else have similar issues and a solution?

flumbo, do you mean that both page advance buttons have the same problem? And do you have any problems with either of the "page back" buttons? Did you contact Sony to ask their advice?

flumbo, do you mean that both page advance buttons have the same problem? And do you have any problems with either of the "page back" buttons? Did you contact Sony to ask their advice?

The back buttons work fine. I'm guessing the forward buttons broke because they've been used more than the back buttons. I can still use it with the joystick hack, but I'm sure that will wear out eventually also.

I haven't contacted Sony because the buttons didn't stop working consistently until after I'd had it for a year and I'm not sure I want to pay any amount to fix it. Reading other responses in here for repairs it doesn't seem like Sony would fix it for any reasonable amount...

My next step I guess is to hack the "back" buttons to be forward buttons. When I'm out of working buttons I guess I'll see if I can get rid of it for parts on ebay. Doesn't make me want to try my luck on another reader though.

This poll will be skewed since it's likely that a larger percentage of the people that have had trouble are going to answer it than the people who have not.

Why is the poll only asking about MAJOR problems. Minor problems count (or should count) too. :)

This poll will be skewed since it's likely that a larger percentage of the people that have had trouble are going to answer it than the people who have not.

Look at the poll results...

Both Sony PRS-500/505 are excellent devices, they're very reliable.

Yeah but they're even more reliable in reality ;-)

No problems here, and I've dropped the rascal a time or two. :shame:

I had one problem one time.

I pushed power button to start the reader, later I could not remember whether it showed a page for a fraction of a second or didn't show it all, but the screen stayed blank. No matter how many times I tried to switch it on nothing would appear on the screen. I thought that's it. I connected the reader to my PC via USB, then tried to switch it on and it worked! The reader was well charged, I think 3 of 4 bars. So, I disconnected the reader and it worked well since then.
The only worry it gave me that if I am traveling and I don't have a laptop and this thing happens....I would be in a big trouble.
What if it happens during a long 10h flight?

Otherwise, I didn't have any problems with the reader. I think I never dropped it :)

I had one problem one time.

I pushed power button to start the reader, later I could not remember whether it showed a page for a fraction of a second or didn't show it all, but the screen stayed blank. No matter how many times I tried to switch it on nothing would appear on the screen. I thought that's it. I connected the reader to my PC via USB, then tried to switch it on and it worked! The reader was well charged, I think 3 of 4 bars. So, I disconnected the reader and it worked well since then.
The only worry it gave me that if I am traveling and I don't have a laptop and this thing happens....I would be in a big trouble.
What if it happens during a long 10h flight?

Much as I love my reader and am doing the vast majority of my reading on it (when the authors I enjoy most are available for it!) I always travel with at least one paper book. Technology is great but always has that potential for problems, so I always have a paper book so I can keep reading should that most horrible of thinkable reader-crises occurs and my Sony Reader quits on me or suffers a fatal accident.

I realize the results of the poll will be skewed, but there's no other way I know to get any info at all like this. The reason for asking is that I see several posts of minor problems that probably got solved after a short period and a couple posts about more serious problems, but I didn't have a very good idea how common or uncommon the serious problems are (ones requiring a repair or replacement). So far, from the poll results, I'm happy again thinking that the Sony Readers are pretty reliable. My guess is that in a larger population of users (not ones who come here looking for solutions, for example), their occurence is less than 1%.

Cool as long as you realize that...

I haven't tried a warranty repair, but I'm assuming it is out of warranty after a year and four months... Anyone else have similar issues and a solution?

I just bought the 505 recently and remembering seeing somewhere in the official documentation that there is a 2 year warranty from Sony.

I can only answer once so add +1 to the no-problem count for my wife's unit. She's fundamentally a luddite and will not come post here.

I just bought the 505 recently and remembering seeing somewhere in the official documentation that there is a 2 year warranty from Sony.

90 days labor, 1 year parts.

- Mike

I can only answer once so add +1 to the no-problem count for my wife's unit. She's fundamentally a luddite and will not come post here.

She has my sympathy! I am a luddite at heart, too. I really would prefer to just read. :)

I have two 500's and one 505. One of the 500's, the oldest, had the screen go screwy. No recharge or reset would fix it. The other 500 and the 505 are plugging away fine although the 505 did freeze up for a few minutes once.:chinscratch:

I've only had my reader for two weeks but I've had no problem either major or minor. I agree with the earlier poster who stated that the only problem was not enough time to read it.

Got my 505 at Christmas and have read one book with no problems.

Brand new member, first post.

I have two PRS-505's -- one my wife gave me for my birthday last fall and the other I gave her for Christmas. Both have been almost completely trouble-free so far (knock on wood) -- except (and I guess this is a newbie question in disguise) neither one can keep time worth a darn. Set the time and it goes to some date in 2006 or other after a few days. With both, we use only ebooks placed on an SD card with eBook Library, and neither one has ever been sync'ed).

Otherwise, we both love them!

I should check the clock on my 505. The only time I've ever set it was when I first got it. I'm hoping that it syncs with the computer when used with Ebook Library.

I've had mine for 8 months with no problems at all, despite heavy use.

No probs at all, still in love :)

I think I was wrong when I said I had any major problems. I had one and I am still having it.
Some time in March/April I have discovered that I can use joystick to flip back through history. That's when I realised that my joystick does work well when I press it to the left :( I live in the UK, so it would not be worth to send it back for repair...it still almost doesn't work when pressing it to the left. It works fine if you press it right, north, south, or down though.
I would consider it as a hardware fault.

On my 500.