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Sadly, they have discontinued the 950. The T1 is almost a replacement for the 950, but not quite, at least as well as I can tell from the information released so far. I paid $400+ for the 950 (that's including the leather cover, shipping, and an extended warranty from Sony) and think it was a bargain. Previously, I had paid close to the same for my Sony 505 (again, including shipping and an extended Sony warranty) and think that, too, was a bargain.
I used the 505 for 3 years -- until the 950 was released and delivered; I preordered it from Sony -- at which time my wife happily took it. She has been using it for several hours every day for nearly a year, and the 505 still works as well as the first day I received it. I've offered to replace it with a newer reader, but she declined. In addition, my son has a Sony 505 that he has been using for 3 years.
Yes, these readers cost more than readers I could have gotten elsewhere, but their performance has been topnotch and they keep on working. The T1 has yet to prove that it will have the staying power of either the 505 or the 950, and while it is a more "modern" reader than the 505, I don't see where it has any big advantage over the 950 with the exception of choice of fonts and additional sizes. I know that lack of font choice has bothered a number of people on MR, but it hasn't bothered me and I'm not sure how much of a selling point that will be to the average reader.
I think Sony should have "updated" the 950 as a premium model, even perhaps as a limited edition model.
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