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Eric Qel-Droma · 10-21-2009, 02:41 PM

I just bought a Sony PRS-505 on clearance at Target for $70. It comes with a cover. The screen is darker than I'd expected (it's definitely gray and black, not white and black), and it's not the single most comfortable reading experience ever. I've thought seriously about taking it back.

However, it can do both DRM'ed EPUB and PDF, which gives it a fair amount of flexibility on formats. I've bought one book in PDF, and I do not enjoy reading it on the 505, as it does not reflow the text very well. I end up with a nicely spaced page of text, and then I turn the page (which takes 1-2 seconds) and get a single line. Then I have to turn the page again, which severely interrupts the reading experience. So the PDF reading experience isn't great for me.

That said, the Sony-format books, of which I've downloaded two free promotional ones (tie-ins to the current Star Wars series), look great, reflow wonderfully, and will supposedly be converted to DRM'ed EPUB by the end of the year. (Sony's changing its entire store over to EPUB.) So, my understanding is that my Sony-purchased books should be available to me later on any device that can read DRM-EPUB, as Nook is supposed to be able to do. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm very new to all of this.

So, for me, the price is right, the format shouldn't lock me in too badly, and the sudden ability to buy out-of-print books without paying ridiculous prices is huge. I'd like some of the cooler Nook/Kindle features, but I don't need them--and it's certainly not worth it to me to spend 4x as much money right now.

The guy at Target also told me that I can return the opened reader as long as its in sellable shape if it's "not what I want or expect." So I'm giving it a trial run with a couple of books. We'll see how that goes.

I hope that helps with some of your decision making.

10-21-2009, 02:41 PM	#10
Eric Qel-Droma Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Portage, MI Device: Sony PRS-505	I just bought a Sony PRS-505 on clearance at Target for $70. It comes with a cover. The screen is darker than I'd expected (it's definitely gray and black, not white and black), and it's not the single most comfortable reading experience ever. I've thought seriously about taking it back. However, it can do both DRM'ed EPUB and PDF, which gives it a fair amount of flexibility on formats. I've bought one book in PDF, and I do not enjoy reading it on the 505, as it does not reflow the text very well. I end up with a nicely spaced page of text, and then I turn the page (which takes 1-2 seconds) and get a single line. Then I have to turn the page again, which severely interrupts the reading experience. So the PDF reading experience isn't great for me. That said, the Sony-format books, of which I've downloaded two free promotional ones (tie-ins to the current Star Wars series), look great, reflow wonderfully, and will supposedly be converted to DRM'ed EPUB by the end of the year. (Sony's changing its entire store over to EPUB.) So, my understanding is that my Sony-purchased books should be available to me later on any device that can read DRM-EPUB, as Nook is supposed to be able to do. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm very new to all of this. So, for me, the price is right, the format shouldn't lock me in too badly, and the sudden ability to buy out-of-print books without paying ridiculous prices is huge. I'd like some of the cooler Nook/Kindle features, but I don't need them--and it's certainly not worth it to me to spend 4x as much money right now. The guy at Target also told me that I can return the opened reader as long as its in sellable shape if it's "not what I want or expect." So I'm giving it a trial run with a couple of books. We'll see how that goes. I hope that helps with some of your decision making.