I am one of the original PRS-500 owners and have loved it, although I always thought the screen was just a bit too dark. So when I heard that Sony was offering a trade in program, I thought I might as well upgrade. Then I heard rumors of a new Kindle that was on the horizon and thought I might wait for that one instead.
After a bit of research and looking into digital books provided by my local libraries (Los Angeles County, Pasadena...) and seeing that the Kindle does NOT support DRMed PDFs, I quickly changed my mind again and decided to go ahead with the PRS-505 trade in. Who knows if the new Kindle will support DRMed PDFs... I'm guessing not because they want to lock you into the Amazon store.
Well, I couldn't be happier! The 505 is so much better in so many ways. It's stylish, supports DRMed PDFs (which seem like a big deal to me!), has a much better display, more memory, and it seems to page turn quite a bit faster than my old 500. There isn't nearly as much ghosting as well. I also get 100 free "classics" downloads, which I didn't realize when I did the trade in. Also, the Sony rep told me I could get the 3-year insurance and if a newer model comes out, I would get that new model as a replacement. I also got the wedge light cover. It's a bit pricey but works so much better than the clip on lights.
Now, I'm not sure if this was a mistake, but the Sony rep took the $100 discount off the top, before sales tax. That made a nice difference in price (savings of $8.25 LOL).
Yes, the libraries do not have a great selection, but I think it will only get better in the future... and you can't beat having access to free books without having to spend eons reformatting them! I just "ordered" my first library book, Blink. I'm very excited!
Here's some links to pics of my lovely new gadget (kinda blurry cuz I used my phone):
http://pics.livejournal.com/erasure25/pic/0005x4bf
http://pics.livejournal.com/erasure25/pic/0005y1z2
http://pics.livejournal.com/erasure25/pic/0005wa30