Has Sony ever given a reason why they don't sell the reader in electronic stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, or even Staples? After I got my reader, and took it to work, everyone was impressed. I was suprised at how many people never heard of ebooks before. I had alot of people saying that they would like to buy one, but have never seen it in a store.

Best Buy and Circuit City do sell them, don't think Staples do though.

Best Buy and Circuit City do sell them, don't think Staples do though.

Not according to the web site, or the 2 Best buys I've been to in South Jersey

Best Buy here has them, Circuit City may not though...I confused them with CompUSA which did carry them


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8586185&st=sony+reader&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1190676990769

Best Buy and Circuit City in So Cal carry them, though stock ran out over the holidays.

Circuit City and Best Buy carry the Sony 505 as does Target. For Target and Circuit City, I believe they are available only online. I know they sell them because I was trying to see if someone was discounting them (no) and found the Reader at each of these sites. In addition, my wife and kids bought mine at Circuit City online for this past xmas.

Not sure what you are talking about. Anyone that comes through the Port Authority in NYC will see 505 advertised EVERYWHERE.

The problem with selling them online, is that if you've never heard of it, then you're not going to go online and look for it. The only place around me that sell them in the store is Borders. Thats where I saw it for the first time, and wanted it right away. If they sold them in more stores I think they would be more popoular.

Perhaps they will when they can keep a reliable supply, Sony's website today said they won't have any until Jan 22

Not sure what you are talking about. Anyone that comes through the Port Authority in NYC will see 505 advertised EVERYWHERE.
Man, how could I have missed seeing all those ads in that one single place where I have never been and may never go in my lifetime? Clearly, Sony's marketing team is working weekends to make sure that the word gets out about this product that's been released for over a year!

I bought my PRS-505 at a Blue Temple here in central NJ. They are on the Best Buy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8586185&st=reader&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1190676990769) website, but currently listed as Out of Stock. They had a tiny display in the store before Christmas, but I haven't seen it since. It was very small and would likely only found by those searching for it. I recently sent my broken PRS-505 back to Sony for replacement. They called and mentioned that their supply was very short, but they were expecting more soon. About a week later they emailed and said they had one an were shipping it out. You might have better luck at a Sony Store. There is one at the Menlo Park Mall - call first.



PCH

Man, how could I have missed seeing all those ads in that one single place where I have never been and may never go in my lifetime? Clearly, Sony's marketing team is working weekends to make sure that the word gets out about this product that's been released for over a year!


Yes I can understand that. But 1 MILLION people walk through bus terminal in NYC per week. On every wall, door, floor is a picture of the 505. Since that many people ask me about it when they see me reading it. Still $300 for it is just too much. If I did not get it on the credit card deal for $60 I would never have gotten it.

Yes I can understand that. But 1 MILLION people walk through bus terminal in NYC per week. On every wall, door, floor is a picture of the 505. Since that many people ask me about it when they see me reading it. Still $300 for it is just too much. If I did not get it on the credit card deal for $60 I would never have gotten it.

That's a deceiving number to cite, since so many of those people are the same people every day (monday through friday) and are there twice a day (morning commute to work and evening commute home), so if we remove all those duplicates, that brings it down closer to between 300,000 and 400,000 different people using that terminal each week. And from my observation of the behavior of commuters (not that I'm an expert) most are totally ignoring the ads.

It would be interesting to know how many people ordered online or walked into B&H or a Sony Style store or Borders and said "I saw an advertisement at Port Authority and just had to buy one."

I think people in airports are better targets, since we know that people have to arrive at least an hour and a half before departure time and then learn their flights are delayed, so they're more apt to be A) bored and B) lacking proper entertainment, so they keep looking around.

I wonder if placing Sony Reader booths with preloaded, precharged current books would be quick sales in airports? There could be two different models, each in two different colors -- one loaded with current Romance novels and the other loaded with current mystery/crime/suspense novels. Maybe with a $50 additional price to pay for the books, but with 20 books on it that would immediately be a savings over buying the reader and the 20 books separately.