[shanghaichica]

Hi, I have a sony prs-300 so I can answer your questions about it. I dont have a kindle but ive ordered one. Once i recieve it I'd be able to make a better comparison.

Sony PRS300S

1. How Easy is it to Transfer EBooks to the Device.

It is very easy and there are several ways to do it. The first thing I'd recommend is not to bother with the official Sony software. It's not easy to use and can be quite fustrating. You'll need two pieces of software, Calibre and Adobe digital editions.
Calibre can be used to transfer non protected (DRM Free) books to the reader. It's free and easy to use. You simply add your DRM free files to the library and then connect your ereader to the computer and the select transfer to device. The books are then sent to your Sony reader. Calibre can also be used to convert your books into different formats e.g epub to PDF, LRF to epub, to arrange your books and download newspaper content which can then be transfered to your device.

For DRM protected books, which are most likely the books you will buy from the online store you will need to download Adobe Digital editions (ADE). Once you've downloaded it it will ask you to set up and account and will authorise your computer. When you connect your reader to the computer ADE will ask you to authorise your device. When you buy ebooks online you need to open them with ADE, connect your Sony reader and then drag and drop the books to transfer to the reader. You must first open them in ADE before you transfer to the Sony otherwise you wont be able to open the books on your reader.


2. Are there many Stores Availble in the UK that support Sony

Well in the UK there are WH Smiths, Waterstones and the book depository which sell epub and PDF books which are supported by the Sony and probably more that I dont know about. There are also many American stores such as KOBO and books on board and others which sell Epub books. Basically what you need to know is what files the Sony supports and buy from stores which sell those files. Amazon sell ebooks in the mobi format which is not supported by the Sony device. You could buy these in theory and then remove the DRM and then convert them to epub or another format that the Sony uses and be able to read them. I've never removed DRM before so I can't tell you how easy or hard it is. But basically there are many more stores which sell books for the Sony than there are that sell books for the Kindle.

I've got the Sony PRS-300 and I really like it. The contrast on the screen is very good and it doesnt suffer from glare in sunny conditions. I find it very easy and comfortable to read on the device for long stretches. It's very compact, easy to use and i've found it very easy finding the books I wanted online and buying them. I suppose if it had built in wifi it would be quicker to buy books and get them on your device but it really isnt that hard and doesnt take that long so it's not a problem for me. Battery life is pretty good, I get about 2 weeks from a single charge with heavy usage (4-5 hours/day).



I have pre-ordered a kindle 3 because of the additional features at a low price but had the kindle 3 been out when I had bought my PRS-300, I would still buy the 300. The one thing I dont like about the Kindle is that it doesnt support epub books and this makes the sites which you can buy from very limited, you would almost be restricted to amazon's kindle store. As I don't have the kindle i'm not sure about the questions you've asked but I do know that you can sync your books between devices, i.e pc, iphone, kindle, android phone etc and you only have to buy the book once. You can also share your books with your friends and family if they register their devices to your amazon account. Another nice thing is that when it syncs across your devices it will remember where you are in the book. For example if you got up to page 100 in the kindle, when you open the book on your iphone app it will know what page you were at when you last read it on another device.

Once I have the kindle obviously I mind might change my mind. I think it depends on what you want. If you want all the whistles and bells, the ability to buy direct tou your device and are not bothered by the lack of ePUB support then maybe you should go with the kindle. If ePub support and more choice in where you are buying books from is important to you then the 300 may suit you more. The screen size may also be important to you, with the kindle being bigger. The kindle also has a larger internal memory than the Sony.