Expectations for Sony PRS-600

[stygian]

Hello, I hope this the right forum for this question. None of the others seemed right.

Are these reasonable expectations for the new PRS-600

1) You will be able to read books from Sony and from Barnes & Noble on the Sony reader (less "lock-in" than for the Kindle).

2) All of these books will viewable on your computer screen as well on the ereader.

3) There will be folders (collections?) to organize the books you download for free as well as the books that you buy.

4) You will be able to select different fonts, not just different font sizes, when viewing books.

5) You will be able to skim through books several pages at a time as on the Kindle 1.

6) There will be a dictionary to look up words, as on the Kindle 1 and 2.

If the all these features are present and the ergonomics are good, I think I would buy the PRS-600 and use it as my primary ebook reader. I would still keep my Kindle 2 because I bought a fair number of books from and Amazon and would like to retain access to them.

Are these reasonable expectations for the Sony PRS-600, or am I dreaming?

[igorsk]

1) Yes, plus many other sites (anything that sells EPUB).
2) Yes
3) Yes for collections
4) No. You can change the fonts by editing the books, but not on the actual device.
5) Yes.
6) Yes.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by stygian

1) You will be able to read books from Sony and from Barnes & Noble on the Sony reader (less "lock-in" than for the Kindle).

You can read ebooks from several sites that provide Adobe ebooks (PDF and ePub), but not from B&N which only sells ebooks in its own eReader format. A plus for Sony is that many UK ebooks are only available in Adobe ePub, so you can't read them on MOBI devices and the Kindle without stripping their DRM. In fact, you can't read any DRMed UK-only ebooks on the Kindle without stripping the DRM.

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

You can read ebooks from several sites that provide Adobe ebooks (PDF and ePub), but not from B&N which only sells ebooks in its own eReader format. A plus for Sony is that many UK ebooks are only available in Adobe ePub, so you can't read them on MOBI devices and the Kindle without stripping their DRM. In fact, you can't read any DRMed UK-only ebooks on the Kindle without stripping the DRM.

Correct. I asked that question directly to B&N Customer Service.

Can I read my Barnes & Noble purchases on other reading devices, like the Sony readers?

Not at this time. It only supports PC, iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry, Mac

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by wachuko

Correct. I asked that question directly to B&N Customer Service. Can I read my Barnes & Noble purchases on other reading devices, like the Sony readers? Not at this time. It only supports PC, iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry, Mac

However, B&N has announced plans to support ePub. So the answer is "maybe".

[terriluvsbooks]

Can you read Fictionwise or E Reader books on it? They are both owned by B&N and seem to have a good inventory.

[stygian]

So it appears that there is still uncertainty about formats and that books from the various stores may or not all be viewable on the Sony reader. It might be helpful if I could buy books from stores in the UK (I'm in the US), which might give me access to some books that I can't get now.

Another feature that I forgot to list is the ability to view documents in landscape orientation. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you can do this with current Sony readers and that it should still be possible with the PRS-600. I would like this option to be able read poetry without having to reduce the font size to prevent line breaks.

[sayhello]

Originally Posted by stygian

Another feature that I forgot to list is the ability to view documents in landscape orientation. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you can do this with current Sony readers and that it should still be possible with the PRS-600. I would like this option to be able read poetry without having to reduce the font size to prevent line breaks.

Yes, you can do this with the Sony PRS 505. I believe it's the same with the 700.

Sayhello

[dordale]

I can confirm that the 700 also supports landscape mode...both the 505 and the 700 will display half a page when in landscape mode.

dordale

[DrMoze]

7) You will be forced to endure a slightly-fuzzy and glare-prone screen that may induce eyestrain.

I took the 600 off my 'maybe' list when I saw several reports and images indicating that the screen wasn't really better than that on the 700. No sale here. Gimme buttons and a crisp display any day.

[Be Szpilman]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

7) You will be forced to endure a slightly-fuzzy and glare-prone screen that may induce eyestrain.

I took the 600 off my 'maybe' list when I saw several reports and images indicating that the screen wasn't really better than that on the 700. No sale here. Gimme buttons and a crisp display any day.

Oh man, when's Sony gonna strike the right balance between touch-screen and crisp-screen ? I'm still holding onto my 505 for all that I know..

[dordale]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

7) You will be forced to endure a slightly-fuzzy and glare-prone screen that may induce eyestrain.

I took the 600 off my 'maybe' list when I saw several reports and images indicating that the screen wasn't really better than that on the 700. No sale here. Gimme buttons and a crisp display any day.

From what I've read on these forums (and the pictures I've seen) it appears that the clarity of the 600 is somewhere between that of the 505 and the 700. I'm looking forward to seeing one in person. I'm really hoping that I'll find the screen to be pretty good. I'd really like to have the touchscreen interface, ability to annotate books, and of course a dictionary.

dordale

[DrPong]

Originally Posted by DrMoze

I took the 600 off my 'maybe' list when I saw several reports and images indicating that the screen wasn't really better than that on the 700. No sale here. Gimme buttons and a crisp display any day.

Could you hack the PRS-600 by peeling off the upper touch layer of the screen? Would it still be usable I wonder?

[UncleDuke]

i want it to read all of my old books for the sony 500

[MerLock]

Originally Posted by rhadin

However, B&N has announced plans to support ePub. So the answer is "maybe".

Even if B&N supports ePuB, I believe it still depends on the type of DRM they will use for it. I could be wrong, but I think Sony only supports Adobe ePuB currently, which is the only one I'm aware that exist currently. But there is rumor going around that B&N may use a different one, which Sony may not support.