MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - new PRS-600 owner disappointed and returning it

Bismarck · 11-01-2009, 11:25 AM

Got this 3 days ago as a birthday gift from my wife.

I had experience reading eBooks 6 years ago on an iPAQ pda when I was in a hospital for 4 weeks. It was an OK experience but I didn't get hooked on the concept. When my wife surprised me with this, she was excited and so I wanted to be excited too. Immediately downloaded some public domain books - old H.G.Wells that I had not yet read.

But as I investigated the process of buying books, I was disappointed with all the DRM hassles.

It would be great to have digital versions of stacks of technical books I use. The publisher offers print/digital bundles at reasonable prices, but no option for those who already spent $1000+ on print copies to get digital versions at any kind of discount similar to what bundles would have been.

Last straw was PDF handling. I tried a couple and one worked fine. Reflowed everything except images and tables. But the second was nothing but blank pages. Cover image was there, and grey shadows of hyperlinks in the TOC and index which functioned but wen to blank pages. Same thing in the library software. Sony tech support was of no help. Blamed it on the PDF, though the PDF was fine in Mac or Windows Acrobat reader, or Mac Preview, and it was created in Acrobat 5, which sets the standard.

In the end, eReaders are still a work in progress.

Hated to tell my wife we should return it because it was a wonderful thought, but better to do that than never use it. Either way would be a letdown.

11-01-2009, 11:25 AM	#1
Bismarck Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: PRS-600	new PRS-600 owner disappointed and returning it Got this 3 days ago as a birthday gift from my wife. I had experience reading eBooks 6 years ago on an iPAQ pda when I was in a hospital for 4 weeks. It was an OK experience but I didn't get hooked on the concept. When my wife surprised me with this, she was excited and so I wanted to be excited too. Immediately downloaded some public domain books - old H.G.Wells that I had not yet read. But as I investigated the process of buying books, I was disappointed with all the DRM hassles. It would be great to have digital versions of stacks of technical books I use. The publisher offers print/digital bundles at reasonable prices, but no option for those who already spent $1000+ on print copies to get digital versions at any kind of discount similar to what bundles would have been. Last straw was PDF handling. I tried a couple and one worked fine. Reflowed everything except images and tables. But the second was nothing but blank pages. Cover image was there, and grey shadows of hyperlinks in the TOC and index which functioned but wen to blank pages. Same thing in the library software. Sony tech support was of no help. Blamed it on the PDF, though the PDF was fine in Mac or Windows Acrobat reader, or Mac Preview, and it was created in Acrobat 5, which sets the standard. In the end, eReaders are still a work in progress. Hated to tell my wife we should return it because it was a wonderful thought, but better to do that than never use it. Either way would be a letdown.