MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - taking the plunge: buying a 650, selling my 600

ebooker · 10-13-2010, 12:31 AM

After thinking about it for a long time, i've decided to take the plunge.

Truth be told, I did not have any major issues with the 600. I know the standard complaints, but they did not bother me all that much. I actually liked the less-contrast screen. I dont like high contrast screens. I liked the extra heft that screamed quality. Size? It was certainly small enough for any reasonable person. And the Sony cover fit it so perfectly.

So why upgrade? The only reason i'm upgrading is because I figure I'll upgrade anyway, so it may as well be now. I'll upgrade mainly for the dictionaries. I think its a no-brainer for language learners to have one-tap definitions popup on the screen, in e-ink no less.

Sure, the lighter weight, better screen responsiveness, and better contrast, are all plusses, technically

Upgrade issues to be navigated:
1. de-authorizing, syncing books and notes, resetting old one
2. putting it up for sale. I have all the original packaging, I think.
3. setting up new one, transferring books. I'm actually not counting on notes and etc seamlessly syncing to the 650.
4. I want an ac adapter for the charger. Dont want to pay $30 at the sony store for what is essentially an ac-usb adapter that you can get on ebay for $5. I'm assuming any old ac-usb adapter will work.
5. I want a nice cover like the sweet brown leatherette cover I have for the 600. I cant find covers for the 650 anywhere. I dont want to pay $35 (!) for the sony official one. The sony official one also has an extra-large plastic connector, which I dont get. Why so large? I want my cover to be small and light (and brown and leatherette). Cant find one. I might just buy a small journal cover and use velcro as someone suggested. At least until someone (m-edge, we're waiting) comes out with a decent and reasonably priced one.

The sony store in manhattan has the 650. I called them up asking about price-matching and/or student discounts. The answer was "No" on both :-(
I mentioned that tigerdirect would save me $18 in taxes, and asked if they could offset the price by a bit. "No". Oh well, tigerdirect, here I come.

I hope to keep the 650 for a while (2 years? 3 years?) and not upgrade in a knee-jerk way every time a new model comes out, because i think actually for an e-ink e-reader, it pretty much has everything a reasonable person could require. I think the only thing that could make me upgrade again is if a)bluetooth keyboard connection, or b)better audio player with playback speed control, for listening to audio books (without playback speed control and audio bookmarks, the player is useless for anything except background music). It seems to me its also a no-brainer for sony to add those two features to create a single device for both text and audio books.

10-13-2010, 12:31 AM	#1
ebooker Banned Posts: 140 Karma: 16076 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: NYC Device: sony prs-650!	taking the plunge: buying a 650, selling my 600 After thinking about it for a long time, i've decided to take the plunge. Truth be told, I did not have any major issues with the 600. I know the standard complaints, but they did not bother me all that much. I actually liked the less-contrast screen. I dont like high contrast screens. I liked the extra heft that screamed quality. Size? It was certainly small enough for any reasonable person. And the Sony cover fit it so perfectly. So why upgrade? The only reason i'm upgrading is because I figure I'll upgrade anyway, so it may as well be now. I'll upgrade mainly for the dictionaries. I think its a no-brainer for language learners to have one-tap definitions popup on the screen, in e-ink no less. Sure, the lighter weight, better screen responsiveness, and better contrast, are all plusses, technically Upgrade issues to be navigated: 1. de-authorizing, syncing books and notes, resetting old one 2. putting it up for sale. I have all the original packaging, I think. 3. setting up new one, transferring books. I'm actually not counting on notes and etc seamlessly syncing to the 650. 4. I want an ac adapter for the charger. Dont want to pay $30 at the sony store for what is essentially an ac-usb adapter that you can get on ebay for $5. I'm assuming any old ac-usb adapter will work. 5. I want a nice cover like the sweet brown leatherette cover I have for the 600. I cant find covers for the 650 anywhere. I dont want to pay $35 (!) for the sony official one. The sony official one also has an extra-large plastic connector, which I dont get. Why so large? I want my cover to be small and light (and brown and leatherette). Cant find one. I might just buy a small journal cover and use velcro as someone suggested. At least until someone (m-edge, we're waiting) comes out with a decent and reasonably priced one. The sony store in manhattan has the 650. I called them up asking about price-matching and/or student discounts. The answer was "No" on both :-( I mentioned that tigerdirect would save me $18 in taxes, and asked if they could offset the price by a bit. "No". Oh well, tigerdirect, here I come. I hope to keep the 650 for a while (2 years? 3 years?) and not upgrade in a knee-jerk way every time a new model comes out, because i think actually for an e-ink e-reader, it pretty much has everything a reasonable person could require. I think the only thing that could make me upgrade again is if a)bluetooth keyboard connection, or b)better audio player with playback speed control, for listening to audio books (without playback speed control and audio bookmarks, the player is useless for anything except background music). It seems to me its also a no-brainer for sony to add those two features to create a single device for both text and audio books. Last edited by ebooker; 10-13-2010 at 01:06 AM.