Hi,

I had already posted this in the new members section, but maybe my post was not noticed. So I repost it here.

I am considering buying an e-book reader as I spend most of my Internet time reading things, and also because I like to read books occasionally: too much time in front of a LCD screen, too much time with my noisy and warm notebook on my lap.

I have been browsing this and other sites, and so far my idea is to buy a Sony PRS-300 or a PRS-505, if a find a good second hand deal. But it is just an idea.

Reasons: price, availability, epub and calibre compatibility, and "brand".

I have installed calibre on my computer to better understand what would be my life with the new gadget, I have been using the calibre reader, and the impression is positive.

Some questions:

1. reading your forum I see that some people say that 5" is too small and that 6" is necessary, while others say it does not really matter. As I have not had a chance to test any ebook reader, I would like to learn more about this. Has anybody who has bought a 5" later regretted not having a bigger 6" screen?

2. those who bought the PRS-300, what were your reasons to choose that? Has your user experience confirmed that?

3. I have downloaded news with calibre and read them in its viewer. The epub file contains hyperlinks that I can click with the mouse. Can the Sony 300 do that?

Thanks to all who will take the time to answer these newbie questions.

I can't tell you about the Sony readers, they are not my area of experience, but as far as the 5" vs 6" screens goes I would ask whether you like reading hard back books or paper back books? I've got a 6" device and I think its great, but I would be more than happy with a 5" as well. Whats a few extra page turns?

If you prefer getting more information on the screen at one time however, I would recommend a larger screen. For me, its just another push of a button.

I'd been using a 6" Cybook Gen3 for 2 years and was wary of switching to a 5" screen, but having recently bought the Elonex 511EB I can say I'm not finding it a problem. Yes, of course you get more words on a screen on the 6", but the 5" isn't too small, and I find I get just as engrossed in my reading.

Graham

I have had PRS-505 for more than 1 year now, and I absolutely LOVE it. The contrast, screen, etc is among the best of the e-readers I've seen so far.

If you read pure word (no graphic at all), it MAY not matter if you have 5-inch or 6-inch screen. For me though, 6-inch is the absolute minimum. I am considering buying a larger screen e-reader, but I will never buy the smaller one.

I've used the Iliad and DR1000 by Irex and the Astak 5" EZReader PocletPro. For PDFs, I use the DR1000 due to screen size. For general reading of anything other than PDFs, I use the PocketPro and am very happy with it. Before I bought it, I thought I'd have issues with the small screen size, but I don't have any. It's now my favorite for anything other than PDF and I get great battery life to boot.

Even for reflowable PDFs I prefer the DR1000 because a lot of times the reflow looks bad.

My $0.02.

Since you read a lot online, you might want to have a look at the Onyx Boox, which comes with a built-in browser and wifi.

Since you read a lot online, you might want to have a look at the Onyx Boox, which comes with a built-in browser and wifi.
That's a good suggestion.

Apart from that, in my experience there's very little difference in reading on a 5'' or 6'' screen if it's ony text you read and you don't need extra-large fonts. I haven't tried the Sony 300, but the 505 is a nice solid device.

Hi, thanks to everybody.
The Onyx was a good suggestion but I could not find a swiss reseller, plus its price, so I finally bought the Sony PRS-300 silver.
So far so good.
Also, second hand PRS-505 on ebay were at least 80% the price of a new 300, so I gave up on that too.

Hi, thanks to everybody.
The Onyx was a good suggestion but I could not find a swiss reseller, plus its price, so I finally bought the Sony PRS-300 silver.
So far so good.
Also, second hand PRS-505 on ebay were at least 80% the price of a new 300, so I gave up on that too.

All the PRS-505 go to Eastern Europe... :rofl::rofl:

Sorry... I've got a strange sense of the ridiciculous.. I'm Danish...