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There are real differences between how LRF and ePUB are rendered on the PRS, which can affect your choice of which format to use:
1. LRF is displayed fully justified (straight left and right margins); ePUB is displayed left justified (straight left margin, ragged right margin).
2. ePUB is displayed with a small page number in the right margin--this can interfere with the text.
3. LRF uses real "page" numbers, ePUB uses virtual page numbers. This means that an LRF book is slower to open the very first time, or when you change the zoom factor for the first time on that book, because the software has to "pre-render" the pages to work out how many there are, so it can display the page number and total page count correctly.
4. ePUBs are an open standard and becoming more popular, and are likely to have a longer life than LRFs. However, it is easy to convert LRFs to ePUB (using Calibre), provided that they are not copy protected.
Personally, 1 & 2 are sufficient reasons for me to choose LRFs over ePUB for the time being. Also note that 1 & 2 are not problems with ePUB itself, but how the Sony software displays them. Some of us hope that Sony will address this with a new firmware update, but I have my doubts, especially considering their poor financies.
There is also the longer term to think about. When I buy an ebook I want it to last for my life time. I got burned recently by some music I bought online which I can no longer play because I upgraded my PC from XP to Vista, which requires downloading the license again, but the license provider (Microsoft MSN) is no longer active.
With ebooks I am careful to only buy products that are DRM free, or can have the DRM removed so that I can format shift if necessary at some future date, or as a last resort, are DRM ePUB which has a good chance of staying around for some time. So, in 10-20 years time, when Sony PRS505s are a distant memory, I will still be able to read my current purchases, regardless of the device I will be using by then.
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