one last push - gen3 or prs-505

[ravenlife]

Hi Guys,

so i have spent 2 days looking around the net at various reviews and comparisons and forum posts about the various ebook readers.

i narrowed my choice down based on reviews and price and came up with these 2

Cybook Gen3 - £180
Sony PRS-505 - £200

as you can see there isnt much price differnce, and although £180-£200 is not a particulary large amount of money, it is enough to make me wary, and its 20+ books on amazon in paper format.

so it would be great if someone who has/had both at some point to give me the final push

couple of things to note

PRS-505
- i like the stylish design
- i like that its sony
- i like what ive read about refresh time ect
- i'm not bothered if i have to convert a pdf

Gen3
- i like the design
- i like that it has mobipocket support
- i like what ive read about refresh time ect
- i'm not bothered if i have to convert a pdf


as you can see there pretty even matched and im just bouncing back and forth between the two.

i really like them both, so my real question is

which is the best to read with?
which feels the best in hand (comfortable)

and anything else you think will tip me over the edge and finally take the plunge

thanks guys for all the help thus far,

RavenLife

p.s,

dont know if this makes any differnce, but i would have a large selection of books on there, probably a couple of hundred, once i build up my ebook supply

[HarryT]

To my mind, the Gen3 is the clear winner (and I say that as a former Sony owner), for the following reasons:

- MobiPockets support gives you the widest range of bookstores and books to choose from.
- You can load any TrueType or OpenType font onto the machine, and read any book in any font.
- Proper support for font families (real bold/italic fonts) compared to the Sony's synthesised font styles.
- A choice of 12 font sizes in which to read, compared to 3 on the Sony.
- Dictionary lookup, with a choice of hundreds of dictionaries to choose from.
- A user-replaceable battery.

Both machines, however, are excellent; I'm sure you'd be very pleased with either.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Both machines, however, are excellent; I'm sure you'd be very pleased with either.

Harry has a textexpander keyword with this text in it.

BOb

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Harry has a textexpander keyword with this text in it.

BOb

Do you deny the truth of the statement?

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you deny the truth of the statement?

No, I'm just saying you post that same message many times so you must have it on speed dial. I've actually been thinking of putting some of my post into textexpander too since I post the same info alot of time.

BOb

[HarryT]

I can type my standard "benefits of the Gen3" spiel on "autopilot" these days .

[DDHarriman]

It's a no brainer… get the Cybook!
One day… later… if you will need a second reader, get the Sony.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Harry has a textexpander keyword with this text in it.

BOb

Why not? He is completely correct. I say this as a duel reader owner - Cybook Gen3 & Sony PRS-500.

[ravenlife]

thanks for the info guys

- You can load any TrueType or OpenType font onto the machine, and read any book in any font.
- Proper support for font families (real bold/italic fonts) compared to the Sony's synthesised font styles.
- A choice of 12 font sizes in which to read, compared to 3 on the Sony.

tbh, i have read your posts in other topics where you make these statements, and i always thought, but whats the point? i dont get a choice when i nip down to the book store, i cant say "i will have Eragon in comicsans please"

however having said that, having it is surely a benefit, i might just want to.

out of curiosity have you changed your font?

- Dictionary lookup, with a choice of hundreds of dictionaries to choose from.

this should have been in my "things i like about the cybook" list, i often want to look up a word i dont know or one that im not quite sure of the meaning.

but how may i ask does it work, if there is no touch screen, do i have to scroll all the way from top to bottom just to check a word?

again thanks for the help im swinging back towards the cybook now.

[gwynevans]

Well, I made the wiki page - https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Sony_vs_Cybook - in the hope that we could just point to that!

For me, the Sony's got a nice feel to it, the multiple-buttons are very nice, as is the clock (via modified firmware). The ePub support is useful and I don't miss Mobipocket as if needed, I could convert it but, if you think that a dictionary would be useful to you, then it's the Cybook that you should probably favour.

Bear in mind that in reality, they're both going to display the books on the same screen & neither will be a 'bad' choice...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ravenlife

[being able to load your own font]

tbh, i have read your posts in other topics where you make these statements, and i always thought, but whats the point? i dont get a choice when i nip down to the book store, i cant say "i will have Eragon in comicsans please"

The point is not so much that you can keep changing the font, but rather that you can select whatever your favourite font is and read with that. I use "Georgia", myself.

[looking up a word in a dictionary]

but how may i ask does it work, if there is no touch screen, do i have to scroll all the way from top to bottom just to check a word?

You press the <Enter> button to display the main "popup" menu, and select "Lookup Mode" from the menu. This gives you a "word highlight" cursor on the screen that you use the navigation control to move up, down, left, or right. When the word you want to look up is selected, you press <Enter> to look it up. It's an interface which works very well.

[bbusybookworm]

I'll echo Harry's statement of support for the Cybook.

Having owned th PRS-500 and Cybook and used the 505, I definately suggest getting the Cybook, for the expanded functionality. Still, I'll put down the Plus's and Minuses's for each (in my opinion)

Cybook Gen 3

+ Font Support - You can add any TT font, which add a lot of flexibility, especially if you read foreign languages.

+ Font Sizes - 12 sizes, which is great. I've often been frustrated by the 3 sizes in the sony, especially in converted books.

+ Mobi support - You can buy protected Mobi books from any where in the world, so a great deal for us UK/European users, as Prices in US eBook stores are often 1/2 to 1/3 the UK prices, and with more book available. For your own books, Mobipocket creator is great and available for free. It does an excellent job of converting most formats, including Most PDF's.

Mobi also means that if in the future I shifted to a device which did not support Mobi, I could Format shift my purchased books as Mobi DRM has been cracked and I unlike Harry don't consider my eBook's as disposable entertainment


+ PDF Support - While it does not reflow, like the sony, I actually prefer it as the only files I usually leave in PDF are ones with graphical or strange layouts, which would render strange under Reflow.

+ Dictionary Lookup - I did not consider important when I got my (First) Cybook, but now can't really live without. Once you get used to the convenience, you don't really want to give it up.



Sony PRS 505

+ Menu Structure - The Menu structure and Interface in the Sony is more intuitive and easier to use. The ability to jump to book startinng with a certain letter can be a godsend, if you have hundreds of books on it.

+ Single Bookmark folder - Having a single location for bookmarks can be great, as you don't have to navigate to an individual book, the jump to a specific bookmark.

+ Landscape Mode - I like the Son's ability to switch to landscape mode at any time, and not just in PDF's like the Cybook. It can be really handy at times.

+ RTF support - If you have or plan to read a lot of documents, this makes it really easy as all Modern Word Processing programs allow you to save a document in RTF format, and you can just copy it onto the device without conversion.

+ PDF Reflow - If you have a lot of PDF's with mainly text which you want to read, without conversion, the Sony's PDF reflow can be nice. While it can result in some broken formatting, it can make reading them alot easier.

+ ePub support - As the new emerging standard, its nice to have it built in.


In the end it really depends on what your usage is going to be. If its mainly going to be for purchased eBook, I'll say go for the Cybook as you can get books from more sources, and support for a wide variety of devices.

If its mainly for your own documents, then the Sony may be a better option.

[ravenlife]

All the comments are much appreciated guys,

looks like im still bouncing back and forth, but the cybook is now looking like it will be the one.

ill stick around and read up on software ect, and start building my ebook library ready for the end of the month

Thanks Again guys

rl