3 New Sony Readers announced today, apps coming this fall

[EatingPie]

Originally Posted by millydog

The new readers look great to me. I would like a 650, but my plan is to look after my 8yo daughter first. I think that I will get her a pink 350 for either her birthday (in December) or Christmas. My daughter has a medical condition that means she is behind her peers with her reading skill level. She is still progressing though & I am pleased with her progress. She is interested in my gadgets & I think that a 350 would be the perfect device to help her develop her reading skills.
I am actually happy that the 350 is not a connected device since then I don't have to worry about her buying books om-line without my knowledge. Lol
However, the ability to buy on-line directly on my Kindle 2 is my reason for currently favoring that reader. My husband is currently using my 505 & I do miss it though, but I can't be too greedy, i will let him use it for now since I am using the Kindle 2 at the moment.
My husband likes the 505 & I am also considering getting him a black 650 for Christmas.
So then, three of us will have Sony Readers & I will have a Kindle 2 as well. My other daughter is 4 & not reading yet, so she can wait. Lol. Amazon books are about a third of the price in many cases. So that is my dilemma, what to do going forward & where to buy my books. It would be so nice to not have to worry about the DRM so as we could buy the most cost effective or best formatted version & then each use our reader of choice.

Anyway, one other good thing about Sony finally releasing their Readers here in Australia is that I hope I can then change my location to Australia & be able to buy books from Sony, rather than having to buy vouchers to spend.

Great post! I love to hear about people using Readers for their family!

I want to encourage you on using "gadget fascination" as way to encourage your daughter's reading. It makes it more fun and interesting, even though the ultimate task is the same. I can speak from an analogous experience. I once gave my wife a Bible -- leather bound, and the whole nine yards -- which she promptly filed away and never read. A while later, I found a pocket Bible for myself (back in the old days when books were only paper), which I wanted for portability. She exclaimed "that's so cute!" when she saw it, and proceeded to procure it for herself and read it cover-to-cover! The big huge Bible with 10 million references and footnotes everywhere was just too intimidating. But she was so impressed with the little one, she enjoyed holding it and reading it.

However, the dilemma that I feel that I have is that I will be split with reading devices requiring different DRM. I cannot buy Kindle devices, read the book & then put it on the Sony Reader for my husband.....so I feel like I should give up the Kindle so as we can share books, but then the ebooks in Australian on-line stores are still too expensive.

Yes, this is the standing issue with DRM. It's a lock in, and can also lead to obsolescence of your content if done badly. You can, however, un-DRM books from the Sony store and have them in the clear for reading on any device.

The other issue you have is one of format incompatibility. The Kindle format is not compatible with the Sony Reader, even if it didn't have DRM. Similarly, the Kindle cannot display ePUB (which completely boggles my mind). So even you had every book in the clear, you could not swap them between the Sony and the Kindle.

-Pie

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by krischik

For that I think the availability of apps for mobile phones are very important. Amazon has then. B&N has them. Apple has then. ePUB/ADE did not have them. For this I thought ePUB/ADE might die. As in die before DRM dies. As in die before a strong competition to Amazon will emerge.

But now there is at least some hope. If the rumored iPhone / Android apps will emerge.

The thing that seems weird to me is that it is a hardware maker that is producing those apps, it seems far more logical for them to have come from Adobe instead.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Crowl

The thing that seems weird to me is that it is a hardware maker that is producing those apps, it seems far more logical for them to have come from Adobe instead.

Sony has to be the one to do it so the apps can access Sony's eBookstore.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And because of that video, I was able to see that the version of ADE on the new readers does support full justification without the side page numbers. The book on the screen was released March 2010 after Sony gave up on LRX. So there is no way that would be an LRX eBook. Plus, the formatting is different from an LRX eBook. So it seems now that Sony has the best version of ADE since it now supports full justification and no side numbers.

Ignoring the excessive price difference to their rivals, rolling out that version to older devices would make me more likely to consider a new model from sony, but the lack of updates for older devices just puts me off even considering buying another device from them even though my prs-505 is still very nice.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sony has to be the one to do it so the apps can access Sony's eBookstore.

Being outside north america, I guess it was quite easy to overlook that, but even then it still seems slightly odd that they would be bothered about the sales they might gain compared with the potential loss of hardware sales as people decide not to upgrade to a new sony device.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Have they said anything about allowing B&N style DRM in addition to regular Adept DRM? The SDK Adobe put out earlier in the year allows for both to be used at the choice of the manufacturer.

That would be a great addition, the less fragmentation on the epub side of things the better.

[Lupa]

Just checked my Waterstones UK pre-order for the Sony Reader PRS-650 and lighted cover and it's changed now to 'order being processed' and is 'waiting to be picked up from the Warehouse'. Once I receive the new reader I will upload a video of the PRS-505 and 650 side by side on youtube in HD.

Could anyone else who have pre ordered let me know if the order status has changed aswell.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Lupa

Just checked my Waterstones UK pre-order for the Sony Reader PRS-650 and lighted cover and it's changed now to 'order being processed' and is 'waiting to be picked up from the Warehouse'. Once I receive the new reader I will upload a video of the PRS-505 and 650 side by side on youtube in HD.

Could anyone else who have pre ordered let me know if the order status has changed aswell.

Thanks in advance.

[MovieBird]

I got to play with the 350 and 650 for a couple of minutes at the local SonyStyle store today. Holy crap is the screen an improvement! The touchscreen still took quite a bit of pressure to activate on default, but as has been stated, that can be adjusted.

The casing is not as nice as the previous years models. Where my 600 appears to be all aluminum, even with the thin plastic edging, the 50s are very obviously two pieces of aluminum plate sandwiched on a plastic core. The stylus has also been changed, and just feels chintzy to me.

The last quick thing I noticed ergonomics-wise was that the 350 buttons differed from the 650. The 350 used the same sharp cornered buttons that are on the 600, which lead to a finger indent if used for an extended period of time. However, the 650 buttons were rounded, and slightly wider, leading to a much more elegant feel.

I'm tempted to upgrade for full justification of epubs and the improved screen, but the reduction in build quality and lack of updates for older models make me pause.

[AlbertaCowboy]

Originally Posted by astra

Thanks in advance.

Ditto. Although I already feel that I own a new silver 650...

[astra]

Originally Posted by AlbertaCowboy

Ditto. Although I already feel that I own a new silver 650...

[Clancy_s]

Originally Posted by AnaemicOak

Have they said anything about allowing B&N style DRM in addition to regular Adept DRM? The SDK Adobe put out earlier in the year allows for both to be used at the choice of the manufacturer.

The only info I've seen on that is on Nate's review: his Sony contact said (paraphrase) "not to my knowledge" on that one. I'm in Australia so I've not looked in to it further - I can cope with dedrm but not the geo restrictions.

Originally Posted by EatingPie

Yes, this is the standing issue with DRM. It's a lock in, and can also lead to obsolescence of your content if done badly. You can, however, un-DRM books from the Sony store and have them in the clear for reading on any device.

The other issue you have is one of format incompatibility. The Kindle format is not compatible with the Sony Reader, even if it didn't have DRM. Similarly, the Kindle cannot display ePUB (which completely boggles my mind). So even you had every book in the clear, you could not swap them between the Sony and the Kindle.

You can also strip the drm from most Amazon books - google unswindle or skindle.

If you use Calibre to manage your library, it will know what format any particular reader needs and do a conversion if needed 'on the fly' when you send books to the device. In my experience .mobi conversion to .epub for reading on my 505 works fine for prose, I've not tried it for anything with tables or illustrations beyond a cover image (and I don't care about full justification). You could probably set it to convert to lrf instead if you want full justification on a 505...

[Avwriter]

Originally Posted by MovieBird

I got to play with the 350 and 650 for a couple of minutes at the local SonyStyle store today. Holy crap is the screen an improvement! The touchscreen still took quite a bit of pressure to activate on default, but as has been stated, that can be adjusted.

The casing is not as nice as the previous years models. Where my 600 appears to be all aluminum, even with the thin plastic edging, the 50s are very obviously two pieces of aluminum plate sandwiched on a plastic core. The stylus has also been changed, and just feels chintzy to me.

The last quick thing I noticed ergonomics-wise was that the 350 buttons differed from the 650. The 350 used the same sharp cornered buttons that are on the 600, which lead to a finger indent if used for an extended period of time. However, the 650 buttons were rounded, and slightly wider, leading to a much more elegant feel.

I'm tempted to upgrade for full justification of epubs and the improved screen, but the reduction in build quality and lack of updates for older models make me pause.

Thanks for the details. Sad to hear about the poor construction. However, this was probably the next logical step in making them lighter weight, and it does not necessarily mean that they will be any less durable. I will miss the 600's stylus though. It was even better than the 900's. I don't suppose there is a chance that the 600 stylus would fit in the 650's slot. On the other hand, it is nice to hear your comments on the 650's hardware buttons. The feel of the 600s buttons have always bothered me a little. The edges are sharp, and they feel mushy when you press them. Overall, I am still excited about the 650.

Andrew

[Orn8one]

@ SkyDream Thank you for answering my post about the Daily arriving in the UK - hope you are wrong!!
@Dave Berk - I looked at B&H - thank you - how does it help me??
@ GeorgieGirl2012 We have 3G in the UK so why is it the kiss of death for the Daily coing to UK
and @ Lupa - can't wait for your review and I hope you are pleased with your purchase.
Can anyone direct me to a link where all the mysterious things you talk about are explained i.e. DRM, Adept DRM, SDK, LRX. Thank you.

[Georgiegirl2012]

Originally Posted by Orn8one

@ SkyDream Thank you for answering my post about the Daily arriving in the UK - hope you are wrong!!
@Dave Berk - I looked at B&H - thank you - how does it help me??
@ GeorgieGirl2012 We have 3G in the UK so why is it the kiss of death for the Daily coing to UK
and @ Lupa - can't wait for your review and I hope you are pleased with your purchase.
Can anyone direct me to a link where all the mysterious things you talk about are explained i.e. DRM, Adept DRM, SDK, LRX. Thank you.

Sorry, you may have misunderstood my post, but then I probably wasn't very clear - what I meant was that shops are now selling the old stock at a reduced price to clear the shelves for the PRS-350 and PRS-650. That was not in relation to my comment about wanting to see the Daily Reader in the UK - if this model was available it would probably be my first choice product, but I have not read anything to suggest there are any current plans by Sony to release the model in the UK. Does that make a bit more sense?