Lets find some media sticks for this device.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

It's Sony, anything may happen.

Which gives "It's a Sony!" a completely different, perhaps unwanted, meaning

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

Really? I know Sony has myriads of departments inside, but....
<snip>
It's Sony, anything may happen. They are probably more busy with the content rather than the Reader, though. SW and HW looks pretty final to me.

You've got your finger on the most relevant point, lordvetinari2, -- The Sony division responsible for the Reader hasn't got a thing to do with the PS3. I'm sure the PS3 folks have their own issues, and I haven't been paying much (as in, 'none') attention to them so I haven't the faintest idea what those might be.

But the best indications I can dig up on the Reader are that the PC Mag Review's statement about the release date will turn out to be fairly close. I certainly haven't seen anything to contradict their info which doesn't fall into the realm of speculation or really crummy fact checking. (shrug)

Salt to taste.

[lordvetinari2]

I think Gizmodo and Engadget are poisoning me against Sony. If it's from Apple is the best ever, if it's from Sony it's the devil. They they seem to put way too much weight to the design, they are fashion junkies.

Well, rambling aside, you are right saying that every Sony division is different from the other, and they are not very communicated. I should know, I translate Sony stuff from +3 different clients, and each one has different methods, requirements, expectations, flexibility, industry knowledge... However, they all have in common very high quality standards, even for a Japanese company, just the opposite to Chinese and Korean manufacturers (BTW, avoid LG as much as you can). Let's hope we get a good Sony division.

I am no gamer (although that will change with the Wii), but I think the Sony gaming division is not doing well at all. I'm not against the hardware, more like their policy.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

I think Gizmodo and Engadget are poisoning me against Sony. If it's from Apple is the best ever, if it's from Sony it's the devil. They they seem to put way too much weight to the design, they are fashion junkies.

If you think they're biasing you, I suppose you could try ignoring them for a week or so to detox, and then seeing if they seem more biased than you remembered.

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

Well, rambling aside, you are right saying that every Sony division is different from the other, and they are not very communicated. I should know, I translate Sony stuff from +3 different clients, and each one has different methods, requirements, expectations, flexibility, industry knowledge... However, they all have in common very high quality standards, even for a Japanese company....

Heh-heh, now you're actually arguing my premises -- maybe MobileRead is biasing you!

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

I am no gamer (although that will change with the Wii), but I think the Sony gaming division is not doing well at all. I'm not against the hardware, more like their policy.

I enjoy my PS2 for blowing stuff up in a socially acceptable manner (great for stress relief), but I don't think I remotely qualify as a gamer. I'd still hate to loose the platform, though.

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

Let's hope we get a good Sony division.

We've at least got a division that took the trouble to ask for and answer questions from the blogosphere, I'd say that's at least a hopefull sign.

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

(BTW, avoid LG as much as you can)

I was thinking LG was a division of Philips ... or maybe you mean Lucky-Goldstar?

[lordvetinari2]

Originally Posted by NatCh

I was thinking LG was a division of Philips ... or maybe you mean Lucky-Goldstar?

I mean 'Life's Good' LG. Their manuals and service are the worst I have ever faced.

For instance, let's say you are from some LatinAmerican country and you have a query regarding your LG mobile phone ('I can't download games/music', it's always that). You send an e-mail to your local branch, but it really goes to mother Korea. Then it goes to a translation agency in Korea (in handy XLS format), they forward it to Spain, back to the translation agency, back to LG Korea, and finally to your inbox. Ain't that a sweet workflow?

No one checks their manuals, either. Both English and localizaed versions are laughable, they just copy and paste from old manuals without any checking at all.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by lordvetinari2

I mean 'Life's Good' LG.

Hmm, this is the one I thought was a division of Philips. I can see from their history page that I was mistaken. Apparently it used to be Goldstar (which I knew as Lucky-Goldstar when I worked in the semiconductor industry). And I liked the looks of one of their refrigerators, too -- may have to think about that some more. Then again, how much does a real geek need the manual for a fridge?

[lordvetinari2]

There are some mean fridges coming out lately, with TV, internet connection and all that jazz, so they are not as easy nowadays.
Anyway, a real geek would never RTFM, they are positive they know everything, so if something does not work, they would call tech support to complain that something's wrong with the thing.
Manuals are for average "tech-savvy" (word of the week) people. Enough knowledge to understand them, not enough to disregard them completely.

What I mean is, looking at LG's QA procedures on manuals and service (i.e., they do not have any), how can I trust them for H/W and S/W? Samsung's OK, but I try to avoid LG whenever I can (and it's getting more difficult by the minute, they are everywhere).

They are worlds apart from Sony. My company receives Sony documents from at least three different sources, and I can tell you that working with them is a real pleasure. Well, apart from them being so demanding, that is. But you can see that the end product is very good.

[Frogsmasha]

Well from reading up on the latest tid bit of the Sony Reader from MAKE's website I feel strong enough to say that the hardware should be final, and that the Secure Digital memory will be used for this device.

I almost slapped down the 12.49 for the 512 card when I decided I should wait for the hardware specifications to be final. With MAKE's story I feel confident this is true, and I started to look yet again for CHEAP Secure Digital Cards.

I found a 1gb Secure Digital card for only $20.98 shipped, and this is coming straight from Amazon. Kingston 1GB SecureDigital Flash Card ( SD/1GB )
$12.99 - Quantity: 1 - In Stock http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-1GB-S...&s=electronics This is the same memory stick that was reviewed on Newegg, but this one has 1gb instead!

So for 8 more dollars you get 512mb

[Ken Stuart]

So does the PRS-500 come with either hard-wired memory or included-in-the-box MS or SD memory ?

And are there two memory readers, one for MS and one for SD, or is it that the slot allows either to be inserted in one memory reader ?

(Hah! We have "the reader's reader". )

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Ken Stuart

So does the PRS-500 come with either hard-wired memory or included-in-the-box MS or SD memory ?

And are there two memory readers, one for MS and one for SD, or is it that the slot allows either to be inserted in one memory reader ?

According to the Sony's website The PRS-500 has 64MB internal memory, but I don't remember how much is user-accessible off-hand, most of it, I'm sure. I haven't heard anything about it coming with memory cards -- I'd expect not.

From looking at various pix around the 'net I think it has two separate card slots, but that's about half guess.

[Frogsmasha]

Well I got my card from Amazon.com, and everything works perfectly. It doesn't even take that long to transfer a file over.

I would recommend this product to anyone, as I am a satisfied customer.

[NatCh]

Is that the 1GB Kingston, Frogsmasha?

[Frogsmasha]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Is that the 1GB Kingston, Frogsmasha?

Yes it is. Good Stuff

It also comes with a lifetime limited warranty.

[Slava]

Just found 128mb Lexar Memory Stick (circa 2002), finally I can use it Probably cost me half of the eReader price back then

[Bob Russell]

Originally Posted by NatCh

According to the Sony's website The PRS-500 has 64MB internal memory, but I don't remember how much is user-accessible..

It has got 64meg available for customers to use for storage. That's estimated to be enough for 80 books on average. The total storage is larger, but 64MB is what is available.

In case you are curious, while I don't remember the figure for sure, I think it was in the 96MB range if you include unavailable storage also.