MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - My First Two Weeks: PRS-505

Hamza · 02-03-2008, 11:28 PM

Hey everyone:

So I've now owned my silver PRS-505 for two weeks and I'd like to humbly submit to the forum my thoughts on my device. Why this is relevant at all, I feel, is that before I bought my Sony Reader I was a total ebook novice. A friend at work introduced me to the devices and to the community -- mobileread.com included -- in general. Before I begin, however, let me state that my critiques come from a loving heart. I am overwhelmingly impressed with the Sony Reader. For a second generation device it has made tremendous leaps over its predecessor and gives me much faith in the coming Sony models.

1. LOOK AND ATTENTION IN PUBLIC

No question, the number one thing I've noticed about owning the Sony Reader is just how much attention it generates. Sony hit the design well. It's light and pretty, and comes in its own honeysuckle-colored leather pouch. I ride the subway to and from work, and without a doubt, I get asked about it at least twice a day. When I go out to a restaurant, or am sitting at a bar reading, the device gets attention.

It usually starts off something like this: Some furtive glancing, than the ubiquitous "Excuse me but... is that a book?" I'm always friendly and explain what the Reader is. I give them the short story: it's like "an iPod for books". But people always want to know more and I always tell them. No, it's not the Kindle, no it's not a palm, can't write on it, it's really just for reading books, etc. I buy the books from Sony online and upload them with the Sony software.

Two things always surprise me at this point: one, that people aren't at all put off by the limitations of the device (not a palm, not a Kindle etc.) and two, the huge diversity of people who are attracted to the device. In a single day, I had a mother of two toddlers, a female IT worker from Delhi and two extremely attractive female hipster girl roommates sitting next to me at the bar while I ate brunch each inquire about the device.

On a side note, I feel like the Reader is a great way to break the ice. Like a little brother or a puppy... except more portable. Yoink!

2. MARKETING

So the question begs itself: why do I see so few people with a Reader? Every time someone sees mine -- and I always let them handle it -- they love it. Eighty percent of the time, they ask me to write down the name of the device for them. A large market exists for the Sony Reader, and it can compete with the Kindle because the kindle is hideous to look at. When the iPod came out, there were dozens of competing brands that were far cheaper and offered more space, but none were as intuitive or as sexy as the iPod. So it is with the Sony Reader.

So why do I feel like Sony isn't putting a good faith effort into marketing the Reader? When Apple first came out with the iPod, the portable MP3 player was not new. Yet Apple saturated the planet with iPod marketing and got "cool", sexy people to wear iPods. Well, I can tell you from my experience in Brooklyn, cool, sexy blonde female hipster roommates sitting next to you at brunch like the Sony Reader. They like it a lot.

... and so does my girlfriend, who is currently a college professor. Her first reaction when I showed her my new toy was: "I would love to give these to my students with the textbook on them. If they could sell an ebook of the textbook for half the cost of the print book and not have to carry it around, I'd buy them for the whole class."

Has anyone at Sony even explored the academic e-publishing possibilities of the Sony Reader?

3. EASE OF USE/DESIGN

Hands down, for what it is, I feel like the PRS-505 is exceptionally easy to use. I have no real complaints. If I had one gripe, it would be that unless you want to shut off the Sony Reader, when you close the cover the Reader's buttons still get pressed. Especially the number buttons on the right of the screen. That uses up valuable battery juice when it's knocked around in my bag.

But there is an easy solution: incorporate an iPod-esque lock switch. I hate to keep referencing the iPod but Apple is a master of design. Ain't no shame in learning from the best.

4. SOFTWARE (3RD PARTY)

The Sony Library software is severely lacking. It wants so very badly to be iTunes but has no functionality. It often crashes. If you use third-party software like libprs500, it crashes more. And I feel it's critical to support third-party geniuses like the designer of librs500. They do what they do because the believe in your product and they provide (basically free) tech support. People like the designer of libprs500 are so devoted to your product that they'll innovate new functionality for it, make it even more desirable to a customer, and all for free. One of the big selling points to the Reader for me was the ability to get the NYTimes on it, free, every day. In fact, that's how I'm justifying its cost -- no NYTimes purchases for a year.

The free work of a third-party Reader application programmer played a major role in my decision to purchase the Sony Reader -- are you listening, Sony? Feed and support these maven users/hackers. If anything, you'll shame the competition.

5. SOFTWARE (SONY LIBRARY)

But back to the Library. Critical things for a Sony Reader user are hard to find. The "upload" function is buried. There's no drag-and-drop functionality. There’s no way to make new collections for yourself. There’s no RSS feed tool.

And the Sony Connect Store also needs some work. There should be a search function on the front page, as well as integrated into the Library software. And you must – must! – install an “upload all” button, so that you don’t have to click through 15 pages of previously purchased books, one by one, if you ever reformat your reader. Also, why no customer reviews of books?

6. MP3 SUPPORT

The Sony Reader is not, and should not be treated as an MP3 player. But Sony included MP3 functionality and if they’re going to do a job, Sony should not leave that job unfinished.

The MP3 software is terrible. I had to look up in the manual how to turn off a song. That is the opposite of intuitive. There's no excuse for the inventor of the legendary Walkman to let the Sony Reader audio support fall flat on its face.

The Sony Reader does not need exterior music control buttons aside from volume – the physical design is beautiful. But the software needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, with audio controls comfortably integrated into multiple layers of the software and reading experience.

And what about audiobook support? If Sony would design the audio software to be extremely friendly with audiobooks, then the Sony Reader would not just be a personal reader, but an entire personal literature solution. Whether you want see text on a page or close your eyes and listen to a good audiobook, the Sony Reader has the potential to offer its owner both… if the software can just be written correctly.

7. SONY CONNECT STORE BOOK SELECTION

Ah, the bread-and-butter of the Sony Reader profit model. I have a lot of positive things to say about the selection of books on the Sony Store. Out of the 8 books I’ve looked for to buy so far, only two have been unavailable on the Sony store, and one of those was also unavailable on Kindle. I encourage Sony to go out and sign up as many publishers as possible, but frankly, I think their selection is excellent. However...

8. BOOK PRICE POINT

Retailing at $300 before tax, the Sony Reader is not cheap. Yet I accept this price tag since this technology is relatively new. But with Amazon in the game, there’s no reason for ebooks to cost double on the Sony store what they cost on Amazon. Guys, you’ve made a loyal customer out of me and I love your device, but cut the prices of your books. I’m not saying you need to match Amazon – though I’d love that – but please narrow the gap. I beg this for your own sake because I love your device, and if you don’t stop charging your customers $15 for an ebook that costs $8 on Amazon, you’re going to lose this race… attractive design or no.

That's all I have to say at this juncture. Thoughts?

02-03-2008, 11:28 PM	#1
Hamza Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2007 Device: None Yet	My First Two Weeks: PRS-505 Hey everyone: So I've now owned my silver PRS-505 for two weeks and I'd like to humbly submit to the forum my thoughts on my device. Why this is relevant at all, I feel, is that before I bought my Sony Reader I was a total ebook novice. A friend at work introduced me to the devices and to the community -- mobileread.com included -- in general. Before I begin, however, let me state that my critiques come from a loving heart. I am overwhelmingly impressed with the Sony Reader. For a second generation device it has made tremendous leaps over its predecessor and gives me much faith in the coming Sony models. 1. LOOK AND ATTENTION IN PUBLIC No question, the number one thing I've noticed about owning the Sony Reader is just how much attention it generates. Sony hit the design well. It's light and pretty, and comes in its own honeysuckle-colored leather pouch. I ride the subway to and from work, and without a doubt, I get asked about it at least twice a day. When I go out to a restaurant, or am sitting at a bar reading, the device gets attention. It usually starts off something like this: Some furtive glancing, than the ubiquitous "Excuse me but... is that a book?" I'm always friendly and explain what the Reader is. I give them the short story: it's like "an iPod for books". But people always want to know more and I always tell them. No, it's not the Kindle, no it's not a palm, can't write on it, it's really just for reading books, etc. I buy the books from Sony online and upload them with the Sony software. Two things always surprise me at this point: one, that people aren't at all put off by the limitations of the device (not a palm, not a Kindle etc.) and two, the huge diversity of people who are attracted to the device. In a single day, I had a mother of two toddlers, a female IT worker from Delhi and two extremely attractive female hipster girl roommates sitting next to me at the bar while I ate brunch each inquire about the device. On a side note, I feel like the Reader is a great way to break the ice. Like a little brother or a puppy... except more portable. Yoink! 2. MARKETING So the question begs itself: why do I see so few people with a Reader? Every time someone sees mine -- and I always let them handle it -- they love it. Eighty percent of the time, they ask me to write down the name of the device for them. A large market exists for the Sony Reader, and it can compete with the Kindle because the kindle is hideous to look at. When the iPod came out, there were dozens of competing brands that were far cheaper and offered more space, but none were as intuitive or as sexy as the iPod. So it is with the Sony Reader. So why do I feel like Sony isn't putting a good faith effort into marketing the Reader? When Apple first came out with the iPod, the portable MP3 player was not new. Yet Apple saturated the planet with iPod marketing and got "cool", sexy people to wear iPods. Well, I can tell you from my experience in Brooklyn, cool, sexy blonde female hipster roommates sitting next to you at brunch like the Sony Reader. They like it a lot. ... and so does my girlfriend, who is currently a college professor. Her first reaction when I showed her my new toy was: "I would love to give these to my students with the textbook on them. If they could sell an ebook of the textbook for half the cost of the print book and not have to carry it around, I'd buy them for the whole class." Has anyone at Sony even explored the academic e-publishing possibilities of the Sony Reader? 3. EASE OF USE/DESIGN Hands down, for what it is, I feel like the PRS-505 is exceptionally easy to use. I have no real complaints. If I had one gripe, it would be that unless you want to shut off the Sony Reader, when you close the cover the Reader's buttons still get pressed. Especially the number buttons on the right of the screen. That uses up valuable battery juice when it's knocked around in my bag. But there is an easy solution: incorporate an iPod-esque lock switch. I hate to keep referencing the iPod but Apple is a master of design. Ain't no shame in learning from the best. 4. SOFTWARE (3RD PARTY) The Sony Library software is severely lacking. It wants so very badly to be iTunes but has no functionality. It often crashes. If you use third-party software like libprs500, it crashes more. And I feel it's critical to support third-party geniuses like the designer of librs500. They do what they do because the believe in your product and they provide (basically free) tech support. People like the designer of libprs500 are so devoted to your product that they'll innovate new functionality for it, make it even more desirable to a customer, and all for free. One of the big selling points to the Reader for me was the ability to get the NYTimes on it, free, every day. In fact, that's how I'm justifying its cost -- no NYTimes purchases for a year. The free work of a third-party Reader application programmer played a major role in my decision to purchase the Sony Reader -- are you listening, Sony? Feed and support these maven users/hackers. If anything, you'll shame the competition. 5. SOFTWARE (SONY LIBRARY) But back to the Library. Critical things for a Sony Reader user are hard to find. The "upload" function is buried. There's no drag-and-drop functionality. There’s no way to make new collections for yourself. There’s no RSS feed tool. And the Sony Connect Store also needs some work. There should be a search function on the front page, as well as integrated into the Library software. And you must – must! – install an “upload all” button, so that you don’t have to click through 15 pages of previously purchased books, one by one, if you ever reformat your reader. Also, why no customer reviews of books? 6. MP3 SUPPORT The Sony Reader is not, and should not be treated as an MP3 player. But Sony included MP3 functionality and if they’re going to do a job, Sony should not leave that job unfinished. The MP3 software is terrible. I had to look up in the manual how to turn off a song. That is the opposite of intuitive. There's no excuse for the inventor of the legendary Walkman to let the Sony Reader audio support fall flat on its face. The Sony Reader does not need exterior music control buttons aside from volume – the physical design is beautiful. But the software needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, with audio controls comfortably integrated into multiple layers of the software and reading experience. And what about audiobook support? If Sony would design the audio software to be extremely friendly with audiobooks, then the Sony Reader would not just be a personal reader, but an entire personal literature solution. Whether you want see text on a page or close your eyes and listen to a good audiobook, the Sony Reader has the potential to offer its owner both… if the software can just be written correctly. 7. SONY CONNECT STORE BOOK SELECTION Ah, the bread-and-butter of the Sony Reader profit model. I have a lot of positive things to say about the selection of books on the Sony Store. Out of the 8 books I’ve looked for to buy so far, only two have been unavailable on the Sony store, and one of those was also unavailable on Kindle. I encourage Sony to go out and sign up as many publishers as possible, but frankly, I think their selection is excellent. However... 8. BOOK PRICE POINT Retailing at $300 before tax, the Sony Reader is not cheap. Yet I accept this price tag since this technology is relatively new. But with Amazon in the game, there’s no reason for ebooks to cost double on the Sony store what they cost on Amazon. Guys, you’ve made a loyal customer out of me and I love your device, but cut the prices of your books. I’m not saying you need to match Amazon – though I’d love that – but please narrow the gap. I beg this for your own sake because I love your device, and if you don’t stop charging your customers $15 for an ebook that costs $8 on Amazon, you’re going to lose this race… attractive design or no. That's all I have to say at this juncture. Thoughts? Last edited by Hamza; 02-03-2008 at 11:35 PM.