End of Sony consumer readers confirmed

[GA Russell]

The first eBook reader I saw in person was a Sony I saw on display at BJ's about June, 2009.

[din155]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

The first eBook reader I saw in person was a Sony I saw on display at BJ's about June, 2009.

You really have a good memory. Although Kindle keyboard was my first reader, I switched to 650 and it still lives on with my family. But like HarryT I don’t think I would have bought another Sony reader without front light. In spite of our love for Sony readers, maybe they didn’t see enough profit in the reader business. I am sad to see them go but now I have kindle paperwhite that I love

Originally Posted by Pomtroll

I loved my Sony readers ( the 350 & TS1), but I did not like the store. The Kindle is
so much easier to work with.

Me too. I had the 505, 300, 350, 900, and 950. But Sony's store deficiencies and lack of usable syncing between devices drove me to the Kindle. I also had and loved several Sony PDAs (Clie line) that ran the PalmOS. They were ahead of Palm in those days, but they withdrew from that market too.

I still think the PRS-950 was the best e-Ink reader I ever owned as it was perfect for reading in landscape mode. The front lit ereaders still look like crap to me, so I think Sony was right to give up after the PRS-700 fiasco.

[Xanthe]

Sony has always had great new tech. It was always better constructed and logically designed. Where they have always failed is with the follow-up when other entities start to enter the same marketplace to compete with them

I have always wondered if it was hubris on Sony's upper management part, sort of a "We have the best product" mentality that never allowed them to see that their products have to evolve to include better tech designed by others.

The walled Sony Store never made any sense. The prices were always higher than other ebook sites so there was no incentive for me to purchase my books there.

Too bad that they are giving up (once again) on the consumer market. They did that in the past, IIRC, for a while after their introduction of their first ereader. I still use both of my Sonys (silver 350 & red T1) and I take visceral pleasure in their design, as opposed to my other ereaders, which are functional but not beautiful.

Maybe they'll be back again someday....

[faithbw]

I'm sad to hear this but I'm not surprised. I liked the Sony x50 series and my second e-ink reader was a 350. There are so many reasons why Sony's e-reader ship sank. IA with Xanthe that Sony makes quality products but for some reason, they seem content to sit on past laurels. It's not just a problem with the e-reader line. It seems to be a problem for them when it comes to smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. I mean what happened to the company that gave us the Walkman and Discman?

[Ripplinger]

I still love my Sony 350s and it's still the ereader I judge all others by (and so far nothing comes close to the aesthetics and just rock-solid stability of the software). If they continued with the x50 line and added a front light to that format, I've no doubt that would have been a top seller. I'd certainly have been willing to pay a premium price for it. I bought only a few books from their bookstore, but I always want the option to shop for best pricing, so bookstore or not didn't affect me much either way.

I finally caved in to the convenience of the front light though and got a Kobo Glo since I read out of the house a lot where I need the extra light. But everytime I read on a 350, just picking one up makes me think again what a great quality reader it was.

Here's more hoping they come back again someday to the ereader market.

[Iskariot]

My first reader was a 950. I still love it and still have it. I feel it is the most beautiful designed reader in existence and would have been willing to pay a lot for an upgraded version. But Sony did everything it could to destroy my goodwill for their ereaders... and they succeeded.

Sony's ereader division self destructed. They just did not get at all what customer's wanted. I fully expected Sony's ereader division to run into the ground after their CEO stated in an interview that customers did not want front lighting. Morons.

Personally I always wanted an upgraded 950: more internal memory, high res screen, front light. With current technology they could have even fitted a high res 8 inch screen in virtually the same casing. Would have been so cool.

I was extremely disappointed when I saw what Sony did to their ereaders.
Then Kobo released the Aura HD. It had everything I wished for in a modern ereading device. I never looked back.

[frozennorth]

I don't like the front lit readers. I'm still using a T1 for reading outside. For reading anywhere else I prefer my smartphone in night mode.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by frozennorth

I don't like the front lit readers. I'm still using a T1 for reading outside. For reading anywhere else I prefer my smartphone in night mode.

But do you not like them because they have a front light, or because they are not Sony?

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by frozennorth

I don't like the front lit readers. I'm still using a T1 for reading outside. For reading anywhere else I prefer my smartphone in night mode.

Same here with my T2 and kindle. I'm one of the few who actually prefers e-ink the way it is.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by din155

In spite of our love for Sony readers, maybe they didn’t see enough profit in the reader business. I am sad to see them go but now I have kindle paperwhite that I love

Sony is in turmoil. This spring (I believe it was this spring) they gave up on their PC business. So, comparatively speaking, their Reader business was hardly worth a second thought to them.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by frozennorth

I don't like the front lit readers. I'm still using a T1 for reading outside. For reading anywhere else I prefer my smartphone in night mode.

I tried a front-lit reader. Didn't like it. But instead reading on a smartphone, I just use an E-Luminator on Eink readers.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

But do you not like them because they have a front light, or because they are not Sony?

Not the OP, but I don't like front-lit readers because they are hard on my eyes. Almost as bad as back-lit tablets and smartphones for me. I was kind of hoping Sony would continue making a non front-lit reader.

[CommonReader]

It's a sad day. I just love their readers. I started with the PRS-300 (used by my wife now), then used the PRS-650 and picked up a PRS-T3 recently for just 97 €. Perhaps I'll get another T3 if they sell them off cheaply.
I like the compact design of the T3 with the integrated cover and I just love the luxurious fell of the PRS-650. I was very annoyed when they abandoned producing real premium readers with the T1. Yet the functionality and stability of the Sonys is very much ahead of Kobo.
Sony should have cooperated with large national bookchains like Hugendubel in Germany and fnac in France to leverage the position of these companies in their book markets.
It's just a shame that they didn't follow through to turn their innovation into commercial success.
It's the same with their computers, always innovative, always top quality, yet apparently not profitable. I have both their Vaios Tap 20 and Tap 11 and I am extremely happy with them. They were the first to rethink the use of computers with Windows 8.

[jersysman]

I have a T1 and really liked it, but gave up on Sony when they didn't make a frontlit reader. After not selling the T3 in the US the writing was on the wall. This is not unexpected.