I returned my sony 600. What now?

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by suncor

Thank you so much for all of the suggestions so far. I'll take a look at the pocketbook, bebook and sony 900 as well. So the 5 inch screen isn't frustrating compared to the 6 inch? There is a 505 on my local craigslist, but it seems the price is inflated. Are there any other 6 inch readers I should look into?

The 505 sells for a premium because it is, in many people's opinion, the best of the Sony ebook readers. I agree; there isn't an ebook reader on the market I'd take in exchange for my 505 (well, I'd take an iPad, but only so I could sell it and buy my 505 back, plus a spare in case of damage). I personally think it is far superior to the 300 (too small, no expansion card), the 600 (touch screens and I don't get along), and the 900 (too big to carry everywhere). It's also, IMO, superior to any flavor of Kindle (I'm reading books on it, not writing them, so no need for a keyboard) and Nook (that color thing is gimmicky and annoying). That's all of the readers I'm personally familiar with. While there are features I'd like to see (multi-level collections, author indexing) there is none that I need that the 505 lacks, nor does it have any extraneous misfeatures that annoy me and get in my way. As far as I'm concerned, it's the perfect ebook reader, at least for me.

Seriously, check out that 505 on Craigslist. If anything happens to my 505, I'll pay whatever I have to to get another one. Well, unless Sony has read my wish list and created a 510 for me, but that's not gonna happen.

[PG4003]

I'd like to comment on the 5" screen on the PRS300. I am a Kindle 2 owner and then bought the Sony PRS300 to use for library books. After a while I found the 5" screen was just annoying to me, after being used to reading on the 6" Kindle. So I sold my Sony PRS300 and bought a Nook WiFi and I love it. Also, on the Sony PRS300 I didn't like just having the one control button in the middle at the bottom. I like having the Next Page buttons on both sides of the device. That way you can hold it one-handed in either hand and press the Next Page button with your thumb. With the PRS300 I found it difficult to hold in one hand and easily turn pages, with the controls being in the middle. But the PRS300 is definitely portable, if that's important. It'll probably fit in the back pocket of your jeans.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

The 505 sells for a premium because it is, in many people's opinion, the best of the Sony ebook readers.

An attitude which is a mystery to me, given the many faults in its ePub rendering - most notably, the fact that it displays everything left justified, which I can't stand. Perhaps the people who love it use it exclusively for Sony's LRF format?

[Worldwalker]

I don't mind the ragged right.

Sure, the 505 has its flaws, but on the whole, it has fewer flaws that affect me than competing devices do, and its ratio of features to flaws is much higher.

[HarryT]

I entirely agree with you that the 505 is a very nice reader. I just think personally that Sony have slightly fallen behind a number of other manufacturers, and that there are better choices available these days from companies like Pocketbook, BeBook, and so on. But you're right; the 505 is still an excellent choice if you don't mind left-justification, and have no need of features like dictionary looking, searching, annotation, and so on.

[wizzard]

The 505 is probably the best reader that I have experienced. It is sturdy and has great battery life. It was on sale at Booksamillion.com for $99 but went fast. I currently use a 600 which is glare prone. I got it mainly for its ability to render PDFs natively and the ability to change orientation. The glare is not a concern in daylight but indoors under fluorescent lighting it is not good. If I had the spare cash I'd have bought the 505 immediately.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by ejm

My wife and I have the SONY PRS-600 and the B&N nook (original with 3G) in the house. We mostly use them for library books to read in bed - and so for us that's the key to our strong preference. The nook beats the PRS-600 "hands down" in that the SONY has a firmware defect that prevents you from using BOTH epub and pdf library books at the same time. They have a support link that basically tells you to avoid trying (see below)

I also think the nook's screen is more "paper white" than the SONY and therefore incrementally better contrast, especially in lower light situations.

The nook has since dropped price a few times and recently B&N has introduced a new model without 3G feature. Unless you need to buy books on the road (via AT&T 3G) when you are nowhere near a wifi connection (which all nooks still include anyhow), then the current non-3G nook would be my first choice.

In fact, if we could do it over again, we'd return both of our current readers for a pair of (non-3G) nooks.

Happy hunting.

SONY link: http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/d...nalId=C1008686

I noticed that as well when I was in Best Buy over the weekend. The difference in contrast between the Nook and the 600 is pretty dramatic. I honestly don't understand the attraction. It has very little internal memory, low contrast, no wireless connectivity, no replacable battery, and to top it off it's more expensive then the Nook lite (wi fi only) If I lived outside the US I honestly think the KOBO is a better option.

The problem with Sony is they have "Pride" issues. They always seem to think that people will buy them because they are "Sony"
Sony was the first company to create portable music and portable MP3 players yet they allowed Apple just take over basically without a fight.

Sony was the King of TV's but they allowed Samsung and even Vizio come waltzing right in and overtake them as the best selling HDTV's.

Sony has been at the ereader business well before Amazon and Barnes and Noble yet they allowed Amazon to just again take right over and now Barnes and Noble is cruises right on by them (at least here in the US)

Sony's higher ups need to do a little swallowing of some pride and some reality checks are in order. People just don't buy something because it says Sony on the front anymore like they did in the 1980's.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by boswd

I noticed that as well when I was in Best Buy over the weekend. The difference in contrast between the Nook and the 600 is pretty dramatic. I honestly don't understand the attraction.

The PRS-600 is an extremely nice reader; it's perhaps the best device on the market when it comes to its annotation capabilities, and that's an important feature for many people.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The PRS-600 is an extremely nice reader; it's perhaps the best device on the market when it comes to its annotation capabilities, and that's an important feature for many people.

that's a good a point. For annotation takers I guess I can see the attraction. But for the general reading public, I just don't see it.

[loveangel]

i was in same situation and bought kindle which is best for me