Comparison Jetbook Lite x Sony PRS-350

[jorlando]

Unfortunatelly I dropped my JBL a few weeks ago and despite the low height the screen cracked.

I became unsatisfied with the build quality and decided to try another model of e-reader, that were capable of reading PDF with reflow, what the JBL could do with excellence. So I decided for a Sony PRS-350

Sony PRS-350 is better at:

- form factor, very thin
- e-ink screen gives a better contrast
- touch screen
- resolution 800x600

The JB(L) is better at:

- can read more formats
- book management is based on folders

What I really miss is the book management in folders. Really. The PRS-350 management is lousy. So lousy that you can only appreciate it's lousiness with one in hand.

Remember the free library that is pre-loaded with JBL? You can copy that library directly from the SD card to your PRS-350, the same folder structure and what you get on PRS-350? A presentation of more that 200 books listed alphabetically like they were on the same folder.

How to separate? Create "Collections" of books. Create a collection named "fiction" and populate it marking the fiction books from all your stored books.

Create another collection, "sherlock holmes", populate it marking the sherlock holmes books of your collection. All of it. Books included in one collection aren't removed from the list. They are greyed out, can't be added but still there, occuping space on the screen and difficulting navigation.

I had 700 books organized in 30 or so folders in my JBL. Of course I don't read all of them, but they are there, dont weight nothing and I could let my inspiration choose from diversity.

It seems that there is a xml file on PRS-350 that I'll try do edit directly to organize my collection the way I want.

I think that the Sony devices where designed for a small quantity of books or for users that load a few ones, read and delete after.

I really miss my JBL...

[GA Russell]

Thanks for your candor, jorlando.

With the decline of the prices of the kobo, nook, Kindle and the Sony 350, I have noticed that the general feeling here at MR is that the price of the devices is no longer a factor. I do not believe that this is true. I think there are still many people for whom $100 is a lot of money, too much for them to plunk down for an eBook reader.

The Sony 350 is currently going for $150 plus, what?, $35 for a cover?

Last week Newegg offered the JBL for $85 plus a free leather case, a free earlight and free shipping. In Chas's thread I pointed out that even if we ignored the earlight, that deal still pegged the price of the JBL at $61.

So even if one were to say that the 350 beats the JBL in all areas, at 245% the price ($150 vs. $61) maybe it's not such a good deal.

And it has not escaped my attention that a great many of the people here who felt throughout 2010 that their Sony or Kindle 2 or nook were better than our JBLs went out and bought a Kindle 3 or Sony 650 or nook wifi, while those of us who bought the JBL are content with what we have.

[jorlando]

GA Russel,

price is very relevant, but usually I can't benefit from these bargain priced offers. I live in Brazil and a lot off online stores don't ship to foreign countries or only ship using couriers like DHL and Fedex what results (in Brazil) in taxes that double the price.

I bought the PRS-350 at borders.com. I paid US$140 for the device and US$8 for s&h. The total was a little less than what I paid for my JBL

I really don't understand that details like folder organization (or any type of organization) are missed in reviews.

The superiority of a Kindle or PRS-350 lies in some points. As a whole I preferred the JBL.

The lack of folders is a deadly sin that I will try to hack away what I know that is not safe (from what I read a bad xml file can lock the PRS-350) nor pratical, since I will do with some scripting in linux.

In fact, appreciating all resources I think that the JBL is a better ebook reader than the competitors considering a base price tag US$150.

The JB(L) is bulkier, uglier and uses an older technology but does it's primary function of storing and presenting books better than the others.

Unfortunatelly has some problems of engineering to overcome.

My advice: don't let it drop It will give you a great job.

The PRS-350 is not a garbage, has advantages but was given an interface that is a POS, IMHO. Maybe for people that load only a few books or don't mind to do all the organization using a Calibre-like program, it is a winner. For me, no.

[Kralik]

I would highly recommend using Calibre to simplify the process vs. manually editing the XML. Why not create 30 collections identical to your original 30 folders? (I assume sub-folders make it not as efficient?)

[jorlando]

kralik,

I just installed calibre on my linux computer, but I could not find a "collection" option.

I noticed "tags" and "series". I use any of these or both to have the effect of collection on PRS-350?

I organize the way I want on calibre and upload to the reader? I never used it...

TIA

orlando

[Kralik]

I'm at work now, so I don't have Calibre on my computer. But from memory: Tags (and maybe? series) are automatically added as "collections." You'll want to find the device configuration settings (called Sony plugin, I think?) and there you tell it whether to use tags, series, authors name, etc. as collections or not. When you use the "Send to Device" option, it will update your Sony's metadata.

I'll see if I can get more specific instructions when I get home. Good luck!

[grooks]

In Calibre terms, Tags is the same as Collections. I believe you can also use the series as a 2nd modifier if you have multiple books in one series.

[jorlando]

Kralik and grooks,

thanks a lot!

When I get home I'll try these advices. I preffer to mount folders by hand, but this will be much more manageable than fiddling with configuration files directly!

[Kralik]

When I had a jetBook, I also preferred to manage my old folders. However, since the Sony doesn't really "do" folders, I have found that Calibre speeds the process up immensely and I let it take care of the details for me.

[Kralik]

OK, here's the overall method:

From the main Calibre screen:

Preferences-->Plugins-->Device interface plugins-->SONY Device Interface-->Customize Plugin.

Quite a few options for collections. I also like "Automatic Management" in Preferences-->Sending Books to Devices to manage the metadata.