Replaced my 500 with the 505

[boca]

Well it came today and having both devices, I quickly went to a side by side comparison.

Firstly the Screen... The 505 wins here. It is much whiter and feels cleaner and easier to read because of it.
My 500 is only 6 months old, so should not have suffered from the ageing that old machines have reportedly had.

The Controls... having those page turn buttons on the left of the 500 really bugged my so I am very pleased with the new layout.

Refresh Rate... I could see absolutely no difference in time between page turns. The 505 treats the refresh differently to the 500, but it still seems to take as long.

Bookmarking... No blue light anymore, and it takes the same time to bookmark and un-bookmark

The Cover... No more crappy connector on the back YEAH! Maybe this means I do not have to buy 4 cases to find one that fits straight! The Case fits on a center spine connected at the top and botom of the reader. This is much better as there is no fears of cracking that screen when you put the cover on.
The cover itself is nice (I like the contrast ofthe white stitching on the blue cover), but I will no doubt get the leather one when available.

Memory Card Slots... Two separate ones on the top of the machine, not as neat as the 500 and navigating books still takes a while longer if there is a card containing any data present

The Box Contents... No more AC adaptor. No biggie I guess.

The Software... No Issues, just loaded and resorted my books.

The Conclusion ... All in all I like the 505 better than the 500, but it is not the upgrade that I expected. The screen is superb, but I was really expecting something more noticeable around the screen refresh... I will definately need to sell the 500 to offset the twinges of buyers guilt that I am feeling for spending $320 (inc tax) on getting this.

Couple of additional comments...
The file handling is much improved, in terms of the new auto synchronization, in how stuff is stored on the data card and in finding books on the device.

I prefer the pad rather than joy stick...no more frustrations of trying to 'click' the joy stick in without accidently pushing it Up or Down.

No more buttons on the left edge of the device anymore, so switching on and off is longer as natural as it was on the 500.

It is sooo thin. Those few mm really make a difference!

[mdhuang]

congratulations on your purchase! Good to see the comparison!

[ns66]

question: what's the new "folder" feature, does it mean you can organize books in folders in the device (not computer) so easier to find book?

thx

[JSWolf]

Boca, what about the new software? How is that?

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by ns66

question: what's the new "folder" feature, does it mean you can organize books in folders in the device (not computer) so easier to find book?

I think he means the autosync folder.

However, you can organize your books in collections on the device (both 500 and 505) and the 505 adds the ability to do so on memory cards, which is big step forward.

In the Books menu, they're still all in one list (thought the 505 breaks them down into sub groups of the alphabet: A-C, D-F, etc.), but you can also access them in the Collections, which also allows you to put them in the order which you prefer that they display, incidentally.

[boca]

Originally Posted by ns66

question: what's the new "folder" feature, does it mean you can organize books in folders in the device (not computer) so easier to find book?

thx

The computer allows you to create folders for the books (I currently have 10 folders) and the auto synch allows you to pick and choose which of these folders to synchronise across to the device.
So the folders are reproduced on the device, but cannot be edited on the device.

The good news is that folders can be put on the data card, although I have not worked out if auto-sync works for the data cards.

On the device itself, I can search Title and Author by alphabetic entry which speeds life up. Unfortunately Oscar Wilde in listed as "O" and Charles Dickens as "C", so you have to know how the author was listed.

By the way... really silly point, but the On-Off button on the top is bugging me. My thumb keeps seeking the left edge!

[boca]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Boca, what about the new software? How is that?

Painless.

I put in the disc, it overwrote my old software, and picked up on my old library without any issues.

I authorized the reader via the 'store' icon in the software and then checked which collections I wanted to transfer.

It did not automatically sync until I reconnected the USB cable to the device, and then off it went.
Very quick (USB 2.0 I guess).

Not much has changed though... still the same interface as before.

[JSWolf]

I would hope the new software also supports the 500 since I'll want to use it with the 500 as well.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by boca

The computer allows you to create folders for the books

I think those are what the Sony folks call Collections, boca -- a bit silly of them but there you go.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would hope the new software also supports the 500 since I'll want to use it with the 500 as well.

It does.

[boca]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would hope the new software also supports the 500 since I'll want to use it with the 500 as well.

It does... I just checked.

BUT no auto-sync for the 500.

[hello]

could you youtube the entire proces s of getting it up and running loadi ng machine/ebook/flipping etc?

[dhill]

I'm also thinking about moving the the 505. Is there a difference in the 8-bit greyscale vs. the 4-bit on the 500? This should make a difference in pictures, but also in PDFs. I also like the USB 2.0 interface.

[hello]

whats faster the 505 or th e cybook 3 see n here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=dJzR5AXkR28

[boca]

Originally Posted by dhill

I'm also thinking about moving the the 505. Is there a difference in the 8-bit greyscale vs. the 4-bit on the 500? This should make a difference in pictures, but also in PDFs. I also like the USB 2.0 interface.

I have not got any pdf files, but the photos look a lot nicer, but they still take a while to load up.
My fault...I have not optimized their size to a portable reader, so they are pretty much the same size that comes out of the camera.

[boca]

Originally Posted by hello

could you youtube the entire proces s of getting it up and running loadi ng machine/ebook/flipping etc?

Afraid I don't have that capacity.
Shame because the difference in the screen really is clear, but NOT the refresh rate.

I am interested in seeing if others have the same view as me on this. For some reason I really thought that the specs showed a substantial improvement in the refresh.

Still, the more I play with it, the happier I become that I got it.... APART FROM THAT DAMN ON/OFF BUTTON...
My left thumb just will not stop twitching!