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Kumabjorn · 12-30-2011, 03:25 AM

A similar message will also be posted in the Kindle forum, should moderators consider it reduntant, then feel free to remove one of the postings.

I've had a Kindle for close to 18 months and in many ways I'm a happy camper. Living in Sweden and visiting Japan on a fairly regular basis being able to partake of Amazon's ecosytem is as divine as it gets for an atheist at heart. Yes, I have to pay $1.50 more per item and no, I can't get every book I want, but compared to BK (Before Kindle) life is soo much easier. Just the other week I started to clean out my bookshelves, a few I put aside for a day when I can scan them and have them in digital form. I have even started my first subscription for the Atlantic Journal, just to see what that will be like. So Jeff Bezos has a special place in this old heart.

The problem is that you alway want more, and more is never enough. For me the Kindle has two severe drawbacks, I can't get books in Japanese or Swedish, Amazon doesn't have a Nordic presence and Amazon Japan has yet to relese a Japanese version of the Kindle, hence no e-books either. I know I can use Calibre to convert into Mobi but the truth is that it doesn't handle vertical writing (Japanese) and besides, at my age I feel entitled to be lazy. So the last time I was in Japan I bought a Sony PRS-350. Unfortunately the screen crashed before returning to Sweden and stupidly I had thrown way the receipt, figuring I'd have no use for it in Sweden.

So, now I'm back in Japan and Sony has released the TRS-1 (a 3G version is also available in Japan) and just like the Kindle you can download books directly from Sony's BookStore. The selection isn't even close to what Amazon offers, but they are making an effort and so far being new to this I feel optimistic that those volumes i would like to read will be available. It didn't take me long to put my grubby fingers on one of those.

Immediately I went to the Sony store, although there were 35 titles on it already, I desperately wanted to buy books online, making sure I would be able to do it again once I'm back in Sweden. Two books and one Manga later I am delighted that I just spent $255 for the Reader and an additional $60 for a lighted cover. The books were $5, $8.75 and the Manga was $3.

Actually I was so happy that I also bought the PRS-350 for $113, granted I had a devious motive. The day after I went back to the store with the broken PRS-350 and had it exchanged for a new one, so right now I'm the happy, but conderable cash strapped owner of no less than three Sony Readers.

This gives me the full scope of available e-Book formats (as far as I am aware) together with any DRM scheme they may throw at me. Add to that the pocketability (don't think it is listed in Oxford's dictionary) of the PRS-350 and an extra backup Reader, I realized that I just felt the giddiness I did 18 months ago when the Kindle arrived.

12-30-2011, 03:25 AM	#1
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	Three Sony Readers A similar message will also be posted in the Kindle forum, should moderators consider it reduntant, then feel free to remove one of the postings. I've had a Kindle for close to 18 months and in many ways I'm a happy camper. Living in Sweden and visiting Japan on a fairly regular basis being able to partake of Amazon's ecosytem is as divine as it gets for an atheist at heart. Yes, I have to pay $1.50 more per item and no, I can't get every book I want, but compared to BK (Before Kindle) life is soo much easier. Just the other week I started to clean out my bookshelves, a few I put aside for a day when I can scan them and have them in digital form. I have even started my first subscription for the Atlantic Journal, just to see what that will be like. So Jeff Bezos has a special place in this old heart. The problem is that you alway want more, and more is never enough. For me the Kindle has two severe drawbacks, I can't get books in Japanese or Swedish, Amazon doesn't have a Nordic presence and Amazon Japan has yet to relese a Japanese version of the Kindle, hence no e-books either. I know I can use Calibre to convert into Mobi but the truth is that it doesn't handle vertical writing (Japanese) and besides, at my age I feel entitled to be lazy. So the last time I was in Japan I bought a Sony PRS-350. Unfortunately the screen crashed before returning to Sweden and stupidly I had thrown way the receipt, figuring I'd have no use for it in Sweden. So, now I'm back in Japan and Sony has released the TRS-1 (a 3G version is also available in Japan) and just like the Kindle you can download books directly from Sony's BookStore. The selection isn't even close to what Amazon offers, but they are making an effort and so far being new to this I feel optimistic that those volumes i would like to read will be available. It didn't take me long to put my grubby fingers on one of those. Immediately I went to the Sony store, although there were 35 titles on it already, I desperately wanted to buy books online, making sure I would be able to do it again once I'm back in Sweden. Two books and one Manga later I am delighted that I just spent $255 for the Reader and an additional $60 for a lighted cover. The books were $5, $8.75 and the Manga was $3. Actually I was so happy that I also bought the PRS-350 for $113, granted I had a devious motive. The day after I went back to the store with the broken PRS-350 and had it exchanged for a new one, so right now I'm the happy, but conderable cash strapped owner of no less than three Sony Readers. This gives me the full scope of available e-Book formats (as far as I am aware) together with any DRM scheme they may throw at me. Add to that the pocketability (don't think it is listed in Oxford's dictionary) of the PRS-350 and an extra backup Reader, I realized that I just felt the giddiness I did 18 months ago when the Kindle arrived.