Why should I get a SONY reader over a Kindle or nook?

[astra]

Originally Posted by tablettweet

I think this video about Sony E-reader is very helpful, if you are thinking to buy e-reader. But how about wait for Kindle 3 I think we are almost there ! (a few months, perhaps ?)

It will have the same h/w keyboard, won't it?
Completely defeats definition of ebook reader for me.

[dorino]

The definition of ebook reader is "no keyboard?"

That's ad odd definition, astra.

[astra]

Originally Posted by dorino

The definition of ebook reader is "no keyboard?"

That's ad odd definition, astra.

No hardware keyboard like Kindle has.
Yes, for me it is one of features of eBook Reader that is very important. When I read a book I don't want to feel like I hold a gadget. I also want the eBook Reader to be nice and comfortable. Hardware keyboard ruins this.

If you like it...I could say you are odd...but I will not go down this road. I only say to each its own.

[CarolC]

Do I go for the Sony again? If so, which one?
I'm uncomfortable that other readers seem to be pushing Sony out of the market. Hope not, I really liked my reader.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by CarolC

Do I go for the Sony again? If so, which one?
I'm uncomfortable that other readers seem to be pushing Sony out of the market. Hope not, I really liked my reader.

I think that Sony is probably doing well, considering that the 650 was sold out. I'm planning on picking up the 950 myself. For my needs, it looks like the best device being sold right now (I love my 505, but I think that I'd make good use out of the larger screen, better PDF handling and touch screen with the added dictionaries). Best of luck making your choice. Do you have any particular needs or wants in a reader?

[doreenjoy]

The EPUB format doesn't look like it's going to die anytime in the foreseeable future, so I think you'll be safe buying a Sony. It's not like you'll lose your entire library if the device breaks.

[jsites]

One of the biggest selling points for me is that Sony's been making eReaders long before most other companies. So they definitely know what they are doing when it comes to producing a solid, quality device for reading ebooks.

[BMaloney]

Hello. My first e-reader is a Sony PRS-650 so, although I cannot compare with other models, I have had my appreciation for this awesome little Sony reconfirmed by reading this thread.

I actually had no idea that other readers were so restrictive about supported formats. I, like some others here, use the reader for a variety of texts and documents, including my own writing. This freedom seems a great advantage to me.

It is true, as Ea mentioned, that the Sony touch-screen keyboard is not exactly intuitive. (There is a sort of delay.) The Kindle, for example, would be superior in this regard. And even if you were to touch-type out long notes with the Sony, it restricts exportable notes in DRM ebooks to 100 characters (1000 in those without DRM).

But the reader isn't for typing. As DougFNJ put it, "I like my technology to be compact and versatile," and this model is sleek. It's light weight (215 g / 7.58 oz) and feels almost hand-crafted - artesenal. The touch screen may not be great for typing, but it really makes highlighting natural and simple. It also reflects very little light, reducing glare.

In addition, despite it's disagreeable price, the PRS-ACL65 - the black protective cover with reading light - is a brilliant accessory. In fact, it's really part of the design. Not only is it elegant and seamless in the way it attaches to the reader, and the way the light tucks away so easily when not in use, but it also adds a finishing almost nostalgiac touch to the reader: with the cover on, it really looks and feels like a small book.

Anyway, I vote Sony!

[JSWolf]

I was at Target today and saw a demo K3. It really needs IR touch. Once you have a Sony with the IR touch, you get so used to it so easily. It's the buttons that make other readers seem old fashioned.

[Loose_Appeal]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I was at Target today and saw a demo K3. It really needs IR touch. Once you have a Sony with the IR touch, you get so used to it so easily. It's the buttons that make other readers seem old fashioned.

I know, I don't even say nice things about my old PRS-300 after I received a PRS-650. It's just so good.

[delphin]

Nook -

Liked the fact that the battery is replaceable.

Liked the support for generic Adobe DRM protected EPUB which allows checking out library books and purchasing books from Kobo, Borders, Google Books, etc. as well as B&N.

Did not like the twitchy slow software (though it is a little better after the second release)

Liked being able to browse covers in full color, but the tiny touch screen was just to limiting to make this a big selling point, and I couldn't help feeling that having a backlit LCD under the e-ink screen detracts from the 'just like paper' e-ink reading experience.

Definitely, NOT a plus that Nook is the heaviest and largest of the three.


Kindle 3 -

Liked the easy access to Amazons Kindle Store directly from the device (this is pretty much the ONLY thing that did impress me on the Kindle).

Did NOT like the fact that the Kindle locks you into Amazon and doesn't support Adobe EPUBs (So no checking out library books, or purchasing books from Kobo, Borders, Google Books, etc.)

Did NOT like the totally lame 20 years out of date 'MS-DOS' style interface (Alt-F to select the next MP3 track - COME ON! WHO ARE THEY KIDDING!)

Did NOT like the 'worst I have ever seen' Kindle manual (strange that a company that sells so many books obviously knows NOTHING about writing one).

Did NOT like the half-finished barely usable 'experimental' features (AGAIN - Alt-F to select the next MP3 track - WHO ARE THEY KIDDING!) This was supposed to be a sophisticated third generation Kindle, not some Amazon programmers 'science project'.


Sony PRS-650 -

Did NOT like the higher price (especially for a device lacking WiFi or 3G) or the typical greedy Sony lack of accessory items. No one includes a cover now, but the Kindle and Nook both at least DO include a AC USB charger, but not SONY.

LOVED the full screen IR touch interface which makes not only for a really nice point and touch GUI interface, but also allows absolutely seamless navigation of hyper-links in both PDF and EPUB documents. None of these devices is perfect for technical PDF's due the small screen size, but the Sony was the best by a HUGE MARGIN, mainly due to the flexible zooming, panning, and navigation that the touch screen offers.

Liked the support for generic Adobe DRM protected EPUB which allows checking out library books and purchasing books from Kobo, Borders, Google Books, etc. as well as the Sony Store.

Liked the fact that, although the PRS-650 doesn't offer games like the Nook, or 'text to speech' like the Kindle, the features that it does offer, like it's built in MP3 player DO WORK. (I locked a Nook up at the B&N store just playing around with the chess game, and the Kindle 3's built in "MP3 player" is the most useless piece of garbage I have ever seen)

Liked the fact that the PRS-650 was a bit lighter, and significantly more compact than either the Nook or the Kindle 3, and has nice solid metal construction.


Bottom line -

After actually trying all three devices, and making a fair side by side comparison, I went with the Sony.

Even if the Kindle's interface had been better, and the included features like the MP3 player had actually been worth something (they aren't), the Kindle would have still been a non-starter for me because of it's lack of Adobe EPUB support. I have already checked out free Library titles that would have cost more than $400 at Amazon.

After seeing B&N's improved second release software for the Nook, that would have been my second choice, but I just couldn't pass up that wonderful full sized IR touch screen interface on the Sony PRS-650 (Yes it IS that good)

Of course the Sony lacks a direct WiFi or 3G link, but I get most of my titles from the Library, or free sites like feedbooks, so I don't mind this.

Getting a book from the library using Overdrive is as simple as clicking on the download link (1 second), watching it download and open up automatically in Adobe Digital Editions (10 seconds) and then transferring it to my PRS-650 (another 5 or 10 seconds).

I think that I can live with that horrible delay (almost a half a minute!) to avoid having to pony up 10 bucks to Amazon for the same book.

[BeccaPrice]

I have a Sony 350 and a K2 Kindle. I use them for different things.

I use the Kindle for Amazon's extensive free and cheap books. The wifi download of purchased books is nice. I like the text view of books I have better than thumbnail views of covers. And Amazon customer support is the best there is out there. Don't like the keyboard, but then, don't use it much. I do like the positioning of the page forward and back buttons.

I use the Sony for non-DRM'd books and library books. I love using Calibre with the Sony to put books in collections based on tags. I wish I could use Calibre with the Kindle! I like the Sony's interface and touch screen - it's simply an *elegant* little ereader.

Both now have collections to organize books.

I checked out the Nook, but didn't like the interface. I don't like the fact that the Nook treats non B&N books differently (they're in Documents, not Books) than books purchased through B&N. And I didn't like the color screen below the eink screen: too distracting. Plus, the Nook is heavy and I found it ugly.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

I have a Sony 350 and a K2 Kindle. I use them for different things . . .

I agree with your points about the Nook. I also found it's mixed up LCD *plus* E-INK to be awkward, and not quite my cup of tea.

I shouldn't have been so hard on the Kindle 3 perhaps, but it suffered from being built up as this wonderful, great, fantastic, impressive, super duper, improvement over all other book readers created by mankind - yada, yada, yada - and after all that HYPE, I found the real thing to be HUGELY DISAPPOINTING.

For example, you mentioned that you didn't like the kind of 'second class citizen' way that the NOOK separated the users side-loaded titles from B&N content. I felt the same exact way about the way that Amazon entices you with a nice Thumbnail book-cover browser in the 'Kindle Store' BEFORE PURCHASE, but once they HAVE YOUR MONEY, your book is just unceremoniously DUMPED into a 'text only' home screen listing.

I'm glad you prefer it that way, and given the Kindles limitations, this may be the quickest way to navigate, but it would be kind of nice to have a choice.

By way of comparison, on the PRS-350/650/950 readers you can easily PICK whether you want a 'thumbnail' or 'text' based title browser, and select from two differently levels of 'text' info (a simple title only one-line display, and a title and author two-line 'list' display).

For anyone who would prefer this, and hasn't found it yet on their Sony reader, just go to HOME, pick the 'See All' mode and then hit your 'Options' key and select 'View' to select the type of view you want.

This only effects the 'See All' view - so the main home screen will still give the nice 'continue reading' thumbnail, plus cover icons for the three most recent titles - but as soon as you pick 'See All' you will get either the thumbnail or simple text-listing based on the 'View' option.

So in simple terms, the Sony reader CAN do a 'text-listing' view like Kindle, if that's what you prefer, but the Kindle CAN'T do a nice cover thumbnail view like I prefer on my Sony.

This is just one of many, many reasons that, after seeing the Sony, I thought the SOFTWARE on the Kindle was just HIDEOUS. If I had never seen the Sony, then I might not have been quite as harsh on the Kindle, but after seeing Sony's third generation reader, it was obvious that they had made some pretty dramatic advances. Where, with the Kindle I was left asking myself "What has Amazon been doing with all their profits from the previous models?" (because it sure didn't look like they had invested in writing better firmware for the Kindle or better user documentation)

If you put the Sony and the Kindle side by side, and simply bring up each device's built-in instruction manual, it's like night and day. The Sony's manual is not only much better formatted aesthetically, but is laid out with on-screen control buttons and hyper-links that really show off the way that the touch screen let's you effortlessly navigate through a complex document.

The Kindle 3's manual is just horrible. I would say that it looks like it was written by a sixth-grader, but I don't want to insult the sixth-graders of the world. The Kindles sketchy documentation, not only doesn't do anything to clarify it's kludgey and confusing interface, but, if anything, really drives home the point about how little effort Amazon put into refining both the device and it's associated documentation.

In fairness, the ACTUAL READING EXPERIENCE on the Kindle 3 is pretty nice - it has a really great E-INK Pearl Screen, plus nice fonts and typographic options to tweak things to your liking. The battery life is incredible, so you don't have to think about unwanted intrusions like having to stop reading so you can charge the unit.

I have herd that there are actually some folks that don't want a touch screen on their reader, as they are afraid that it will get marked up with fingerprints or some such thing, so if that's the way you feel . . .

For me though, having had a chance to use both, if I was stranded on a desert island and could have a thousand ebooks of my choice, but only one book reader, there is absolutely no way in the world that I would trade my PRS-650 for a Kindle. Not the Kindle WiFi, not the Kindle 3G, not the Kindle DX.

[BeccaPrice]

One thing about Amazon is their amazing customer service.

For me, the jury is still out on which I prefer. I haven't used the Sony enough yet to know how intrusive the touch page turns will be. I have to wait til my skin or my cover arrives so that the Sony will be more comfortable in my hands. I really like the Sony size - I could easily do without the Kindle keyboard, but I like the page turning buttons on both the right and left hand sides of the unit.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by delphin

For me though, having had a chance to use both, if I was stranded on a desert island and could have a thousand ebooks of my choice, but only one book reader, there is absolutely no way in the world that I would trade my PRS-650 for a Kindle. Not the Kindle WiFi, not the Kindle 3G, not the Kindle DX.

Hmm... if I was stranded on a desert island I would want to be rescued. Of course, if I had to be and I could choose a reader it would be a crate of paper books... because I'm not quite sure how I would charge a Sony or a Kindle.

BOb