08-01-2008, 09:52 PM | #1 | |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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ATTENTION All Sony Reader owners (regarding the PRS-500 update)
For those seeing this for the first time: We got a response from Sony on this issue. They're offering a $100 trade in credit on the PRS-500. There won't be an update.
I just got a response from Valerie Motis about updating the PRS-500. What had been previously conveyed was that the update is still under consideration. She reiterated this, and added something more. She said Quote:
I can think of two ways we can politely pressure Sony into doing the update. (If you know of another way to raise the issue, feel free to suggest it.) 1. Send an email to the Sony Reader tech support, and ask about status of the update for the 500. Click here. 2. Call the 800 number for Sony Reader tech support, and ask about status of the update for the 500. 1-866-962-7669 One final note: Please do not spam Sony tech support. I want this to be an honest effort to overwhelm Sony with requests for the update. |
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08-01-2008, 09:57 PM | #2 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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I just remembered a third way to attract attention. Add your request to this thread.
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08-01-2008, 10:01 PM | #3 | |
Member Retired
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Quote:
"It has come to the attention of the Mobileread.com community that Sony is still considering the potential/possibility for a firmware update for the PRS-500. I would like to voice my enthusiastic/maniacal support for any potential update." |
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08-01-2008, 10:20 PM | #4 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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And here is a fourth way to ask. Mail a letter to the CEO of Sony. Here is the mailing address:
Howard Stringer, CEO Sony Corporation of America 550 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 I put the CEO's name because he probably has a staff to deal with mail. If we did not put a name on it, the letters might be swallowed by the PR department and not be seen by the people who might affect this decision. |
08-02-2008, 08:10 AM | #5 |
Alien life form
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Please Sony. Give us the update. Rescalable pdf's would make my prs 500 so much more userful.
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08-02-2008, 08:42 AM | #6 |
Super Skwerl
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Device: Sony 500
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I love my little reader and would love to see an update for it. PLEASE PLEASE SONY DO ONE FOR US!!! ::cries::
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08-02-2008, 09:11 AM | #7 |
Enthusiast
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I have a PRS-505 and have just upgraded :P
PDF reflow is not that big deal of an improvement IMHO, you still could accomplish the same result with pdf2lrf (although it's more of a hassle). Lacking of support for ePub is not a big dealbreaker either at this moment, though things might change in the future as more publishers support that format. The general (slight) performance improvement is nice though ... but it's optional. So don't worry too much, you PRS-500 guys are not missing a lot by not getting the firmware update. |
08-02-2008, 11:47 AM | #8 |
Recovering Gadget Addict
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The primary advantage of ePub support for me would be that I could check out library e-books with it. Plus in the future as ePub becomes (hopefully) well-established, I'll be able to buy books for it with DRM that is standard across vendors enough to expect long term support for the DRM mechanism - i.e. I have a better chance of not rudely finding out that I can't read my content on new devices in the future. Right now, if you buy BBeB e-books or Kindle e-books for example, you could wake up one day and find that no new devices are still made that support your DRM'd e-books. You're then left either reading on an old device or losing access to your books.
Btw, one of the great things about the Sony Reader in terms of life expectancy is that you can load rtf e-books without any software via the SD card. Plus there are even great 3rd party programs to do format conversions to BBeB (you can find a bunch of them for free right here at MobileRead by some amazing developers). That means that if Sony support for the device ever falters, I can still continue to use it so long as the hardware and battery hold out for me! Unfortunately, I don't really think that this is the sort of topic that will bring an avalanche of responses. I almost didn't even post to this thread even though I REALLY would like to see a 500 firmware upgrade. It's more the sort of thing that you just appreciate when you discover it has actually been made available to you. Let's hope that this is the case. And if Sony does this, even if you don't own one, but are just considering a future purchase of a Sony Reader, surely it's one more indicator (along with things like the original design decisions to use an SD card reader and to publish BBeB format information and to support RTF, and to provide firmware upgrades in general, and to now support non-Sony e-book stores, etc etc) that Sony really will make the customer glad that he or she bought a Sony. |
08-02-2008, 11:52 AM | #9 |
Geekette
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Done! Pleasssseeeeee Sony do the update. You'll earn our undying love and brownie points and all that.
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08-02-2008, 12:04 PM | #10 |
Connoisseur
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Yes, I would love to see the update for the PRS-500. And if the current eBook library's PDF support is any indication on the quality it would be on the Sony Reader, it is almost a must have.
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08-02-2008, 12:07 PM | #11 |
Junior Member
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Device: Sony PRS-500
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I agree with Bob Russell - support for ePub would allow we PRS-500 owners access to public library material and provide mainstream support to the ePub standard. I also think that since we 500 owners are the second wave (after the Librie) and helped establish the PRS as a viable product you could give us this one little bone.
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08-02-2008, 12:33 PM | #12 |
Wizard
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I would very much like to see an update for my PRS-500.
If users here on mobileread can create hackbuilder with functionality like deleting, copying files, clock, small font for book list, reprogramming of joystick button for page turns, direct page number entering the Sony engineers with unlimited access to the hardware specification, firmware source code and much more should be able to do great enhancements. Please, please, pretty please, Sony show us you can do even better job than our resident hackers. |
08-02-2008, 01:07 PM | #13 |
Actively passive.
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I don't own a PRS-500, but still enthusiastically support the idea of an upgrade. This would demonstrate a level of responsiveness from Sony that would be very encouraging.
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08-02-2008, 01:28 PM | #14 |
curmudgeon
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A firmware upgrade for the PRS500 would be WONDERFUL! My wife and I own two, and have been mulling over the question of when to upgrade, and what device to upgrade to.
Lack of an upgrade for the PRS500 was causing Sony to DROP PRECIPITOUSLY on our buying list; bringing out such an upgrade would put Sony's next reader (after the 505, that is) back at the top of the list. We'd feel more comfortable buying from Sony if we felt that older models are likely to be well supported. It matters to us because we are "upgrade every-other or even every-third model" folks. Xenophon |
08-02-2008, 02:18 PM | #15 |
Zealot
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Location: Melbourne
Device: PRS-500; Boox C67ML; Boox Max
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I've sent the mail. It would be great to see an update! I would reconsider other Sony products, too.
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