MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Anaximander · 08-31-2008, 09:42 PM

As you can tell, this is my very first post. I've been browsing the forums heavily for the past six months, trying to decide which device to buy. I'm an American teaching English in Japan, so I was waiting until my next visit home to buy one. (I wanted to make sure I got to physically hold one to see the e-ink wizardry firsthand. Plus, shipping to Japan on any of the devices is scary. Even the Hanlin [from China--a two-hour flight from here!] ships to Japan for more than it costs to ship to the States.)

As soon as I got home, I hoofed it to the nearest Borders and checked out the SRS-505 on display. All I'd heard about the technology (from you guys and everyone else) was completely true--it reads just like paper, albeit decidedly gray, newsprint-style paper.

Thanks to having read all I could, I had narrowed my choices to the Cybook or the SRS. I ruled out the Kindle because I have next to no interest in paying for new books, and as I live outside the country, I have no need for the admittedly sexy Whispernet feature. I'm also one of the many who cannot abide the blocky design. I also have no need for the keyboard; all I wanted was a screen to display my books.

The Cybook got vetoed because of reliability concerns. Not that the SRS hasn't had difficulties, but at least that one can be shipped domestic from within the States. The prospect of paying to ship the Cybook back to Europe for repairs is what ultimately decided it.

Suffice it to say, I bought the 505, and I absolutely love it. I'd been foraging for public-domain classics over the past few months, and, thanks to BookDesigner, those plain-text tomes are now beautifully formatted .RTFs. The device stutters a bit when initially loading the .RTF books, and admittedly takes about a solid minute to resize fonts, but once you get situated, it turns pages just as fast as plain text and .LRF files.

This isn't a yay-me post--honest! I was able to make a well-informed decision about which device to buy thanks entirely to this community's posts and discussions. I never felt the need to ask any questions on my own, as all of them had already been asked! I'm sure there are many others out there like me who keep up with the posts without responding to them. You guys are a huge help. Thanks!

08-31-2008, 09:42 PM	#1
Anaximander Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Sony PRS-505	Thanks from a new owner As you can tell, this is my very first post. I've been browsing the forums heavily for the past six months, trying to decide which device to buy. I'm an American teaching English in Japan, so I was waiting until my next visit home to buy one. (I wanted to make sure I got to physically hold one to see the e-ink wizardry firsthand. Plus, shipping to Japan on any of the devices is scary. Even the Hanlin [from China--a two-hour flight from here!] ships to Japan for more than it costs to ship to the States.) As soon as I got home, I hoofed it to the nearest Borders and checked out the SRS-505 on display. All I'd heard about the technology (from you guys and everyone else) was completely true--it reads just like paper, albeit decidedly gray, newsprint-style paper. Thanks to having read all I could, I had narrowed my choices to the Cybook or the SRS. I ruled out the Kindle because I have next to no interest in paying for new books, and as I live outside the country, I have no need for the admittedly sexy Whispernet feature. I'm also one of the many who cannot abide the blocky design. I also have no need for the keyboard; all I wanted was a screen to display my books. The Cybook got vetoed because of reliability concerns. Not that the SRS hasn't had difficulties, but at least that one can be shipped domestic from within the States. The prospect of paying to ship the Cybook back to Europe for repairs is what ultimately decided it. Suffice it to say, I bought the 505, and I absolutely love it. I'd been foraging for public-domain classics over the past few months, and, thanks to BookDesigner, those plain-text tomes are now beautifully formatted .RTFs. The device stutters a bit when initially loading the .RTF books, and admittedly takes about a solid minute to resize fonts, but once you get situated, it turns pages just as fast as plain text and .LRF files. This isn't a yay-me post--honest! I was able to make a well-informed decision about which device to buy thanks entirely to this community's posts and discussions. I never felt the need to ask any questions on my own, as all of them had already been asked! I'm sure there are many others out there like me who keep up with the posts without responding to them. You guys are a huge help. Thanks!