Many, if not most, of these guys are just repeating "sound bites" they have heard from other sources. It is like repeating what a political commentator says without really checking the facts yourself and making up your OWN mind. I've owned the PRS505, PRS300, PRS600, and PRS900. The best hands down was the 505. Sony Readers are definitely built solid, but there is a lot more plastic in their cases than these guys will admit too, especially around the edges. Glossy painted plastic is not metal. At any rate, the new Kindle DXG is rather well built. Older Kindles were not as well built. The new K3s look to be following in the better built standard of the DXG.

As far as screens, the 505 was/is the best of the Sony Readers. The 700 sucked horribly. The 600 is too glossy and faded for prolonged reading, for me that is. The 900 had a better screen than the 600 and a much better design. But it was still lagging in contrast and still had too much glare. I still own my 300 which has a screen close to the 505, but smaller. If Sony introduces a Pearl screen without a degrading touch layer, they will have a good reader to compete again. I would love to see a PRS900 with a Pearl screen and a non-touch interface for selecting and entering text.

The touch screen concept seemed like a really cool idea. But I found that using your finger was ill effective. Pretty much had to use a fingernail and even then it was slow and difficult to highlight the exact text I wanted to highlight. The stylus gave more control, but didn't improve the speed, and highlighting was still somewhat flaky as after you lifted the stylus from the screen it would occasionaly change which words were selected. So I finally gave up on e-Ink screens with an added touch layer. It just degrades the contrast and adds glare. Sony should abandon this concept unless they can put the touch layer beneath the e-Ink screen. The Kindles 5-way mouse actually works better for me.

As far as updating firmware goes: My PRS300 has been in release for almost a year. The latest firmware for it is version 1.0.00.18160. That is rather typical of Sony Readers in that Sony refuses to refine the firmware. Amazon is constantly updating the firmware for Kindles. Many other manufacturers follow Amazon in that regard.

Now let us talk bookstores and software for transferring books to a reader. Sony is the worst of the lot in both instances. Their bookstore is crappy and difficult to navigate. Their Sony Reader Store application is horribly written in what looks like Adobe Flash, does not follow Windows or Mac conventions, and really sucks when it comes to transferring books and files to a Reader. The phrase, "don't use Sony's software use calbre instead" is often repeated among Sony Reader owners on this forum for a good reason! Amazon and others have a much cleaner, more refined, easier to use store and reader management software.

Normally the Japanese kick our American backsides when it comes to electronics. But this is one case where an American company has kicked the Japanese electronic firms in the backside. (Apple is another such case with their iPad.) I think the Japanese execs have long since lost touch with the pulse of American buyers, so Amazon just might have awakened them a bit. I hope so because I would like to see some stiff competition to Amazon from Sony. But I'm afraid it won't happen and that Sony will soon cease making readers either by choice or by the market place.