Why should I get a SONY reader over a Kindle or nook?

[crovakiet]

Originally Posted by budalb

Two reasons for me to buy Sony. 1) epub support, 2) SD card. Actually Nook has both and 3G +wifi. But Nook is bigger. I don't want to buy from BN. Not sure it's wifi function. BTW I got a good deal from Walmart.com. The only good thing of Kindle is free Gmail.

I don't think a kindle is even good for gmail. Most phones nowadays have internet access and can just use the phone for email access. Heck, my palm treo can go on gmail and download the files i have stored on google's server like mp3s, word docs etc.

An e-reader should just be what it should be, a plausible replacement for a paperback without straining your eyes and not much else. A smartphone can take care of the rest. That's just my opinion.

P.S. I am scared of the kindle and/or remote access to devices by certain companies as well given that particular newsworthy event where a book was wiped from everyone's device...that's the equivalent of a book burning.

[nick101]

Originally Posted by crovakiet

.

P.S. I am scared of the kindle and/or remote access to devices by certain companies as well given that particular newsworthy event where a book was wiped from everyone's device...that's the equivalent of a book burning.

I think that's an important point. I know Amazon promised they'd never do this again, but mistakes happen. It's outrageous (IMO) that the technology is designed to give the supplier control of the content on my device.

It's one of the oddest things - no-one at all (never mind no-one in their right minds) would think it was OK to walk into people's homes, offices etc, and grab back books they'd bought. To design and build support for the electronic equivalent says some very unpleasant things about the mindset behind it. I like Amazon, been a customer for 10 years or more, but I don't like to see them setting themselves up as a shill for Big Content.

[crutnacker]

I appreciate all the responses. In looking at the two, here's what I am thinking:

PROS FOR KINDLE:

Access to more of the books I've been interested in for the past few months at cheaper prices.
Purchasing available everywhere.
Cheaper (vs. the 600)
Customer Service
Greater incentive for company to continue supporting product
Less glare on screen


PROS FOR SONY

More elegant design (The Kindle looks ugly in pictures.)
Known entity -- 99.9% of Sony Products I've owned have been quality products.
Access to books from other sources (Sadly, my library does not carry the books through Overdrive, and I wonder if I really would use this.)
Access to your own documents without paying (not sure if this is important to me)

In the end, I'm still torn. When I think about what I look for in a device (well designed, flexibility, quality construction (I'm assuming)), SONY wins. When I think about what I want to use it for (primarily reading new releases at a reasonable price), Kindle wins.

Why do these types of decisions have to be so tough?

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by nick101

I think that's an important point. I know Amazon promised they'd never do this again, but mistakes happen.

No, Amazon promised that "we will never do that again, except for this list of conditions under which we will."

[nick101]

Looking down your list, it seems to me that the Kindle fits what you know you want, and the Sony fits some things that you might possibly want but not definitely.

It looks to me as if the Kindle is a much better fit to your needs (and I speak as a Sony owner). Things will change in the next year or so (this is a rapidly evolving market). Buy what works for you know - not what may or may not work for you in the future.

[astra]

I don't have much time right now, so I didn't read what other people said.
Purely my opinion.

Sony all the way.
I never ever believed I would be able to give up on my beautiful hardback editions (cannot stand paper backs because they fall apart, have broken spines and so on. It goes against everything my dad taught me about books). I bought sony as an alternative for 1-2-3 heavy hardbacks I used to take with me on every holiday.
Never read a paper book again since Jan 2007.

Sony is all an ebook reader should be me. It reminds me a lot a real book while being a gadget. It helps to retain the proper atmosphere when you read a book. You never think that you hold a gadget in your hands, but manuscript

I almost never leave house without it nowdays.

[dsvick]

With tech purchases I tend to lean towards the "get the best you can afford" philosophy. At least in as much as it does not include extras that you definitely would not use - i.e. you may not want or need a browser on a book reader. For that reason I would go with the Sony (I'm waiting on the 900 to come out myself). The biggest reason is the touch screen and the ease that it adds to things like looking things up in the dictionary, searching, and highlighting (if you would use that).

[sirmaru]

Personally, I've downloaded the free eReader software for PC's from Amazon, Sony and Barnes & Noble. I already own the Sony PRS 505. I'm also prepared to buy a Kindle 2 and the Nook.

All these eReader purchase decisions will be based on the books I actually buy. Each title I need for my wife or myself will be price tested at all three locations. Then I buy and download the cheapest to my PC.

If I have at least two ebooks for a particular eReader, then I will buy that eReader.

At the moment Nook ant the Sony PRS 900 BC are not available for delivery. Thus, those 2 won't be purchased by me at all until available for immediate delivery. My wife and I usually read books on my PC. The eReaders are for use away from home which is rare.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by Katti's Cat

I opted against the Kindle purely for the fact that I would be forced to buy from Amazon - I don't like that. The Sony allows me (geographical restrictions permitting) to buy whereever I want. Sure, it is convenient to go to one store, but the concept goes against my grain.

This is false. You are not locked into buying content from Amazon. As I pointed out on the Kindle forum version of this thread I have purchased a wealth of content from independent retailers like Smashwords and Drivethrurpg.com, as well as direct from publishers like Chaosium. I would say about 30-40% of the content on my Kindle DX was purchased from sources other than Amazon. Individuals may prefer other devices, Kindles just aren't a perfect fit for everyone, but this lock on buying only from Amazon is simply not true.

[Meemo]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

When I first heard about the Kindle, it looked interesting. Unfortunately, the one thing that made it a "no go" for me was the requirement to send my ebooks to Amazon so they can put them on my Kindle (this may not have been true or may no longer be true, but that is what I understood when I first heard of the Kindle). For me, just the possibility that that might be true was not acceptable and it caused me to not consider the Kindle when choosing to upgrade my ebook reader (I chose a Sony PRS-505).

That was never the case. The only time you might go "through" Amazon is for conversion of a PDF (or other non-compatible) file to be compatible for the Kindle. And if you use one of the programs like Calibre, Stanza, etc, you don't have to go through Amazon at all. As long as you're happy with your Sony I suppose it doesn't matter for you, but wanted to set the record straight there.

[Meemo]

Originally Posted by crutnacker

I understand the idea that SONY uses more open formats, but let's assume I'm a guy who likes best sellers and new content. Given the price premium for SONY (at least for the readers that have a lot of features), why should I get a SONY over others?

I'm genuinely interested because I like the look of SONY readers, but think the Kindle and nook feature sets might be more important to me. Having never used any of them, I don't really know.

As someone who has a Kindle and a recently purchased Sony (the 300, so some features might be different on other models), I can tell you if I had to choose between one and the other, the Kindle would win hands down.

The things I prefer about the Sony 300:
1. The size - love the smaller size, fits in all my purses nicely.
2. The "collections" feature - I do love being able to group books by author or series or whatever.
3. I like how the reader fits into the Sony covers, with a "hinge" at the top and bottom left corners.
4. It wakes up from sleep mode much faster than the Kindle.
5. IF you have access to a library that allows you to download ebooks, and IF they have a good number of books you're interested in reading, you can read them on the Sony. My library doesn't, but I knew that before I bought.
6. It's cute & pink. (Okay, I'm reaching now...)

Why I'd throw it under the bus if I had to choose:

1. Content trumps all - much more available from Amazon, and it's almost always cheaper. I've already noticed that Amazon also offers much more in the way of free books (not the classics that are public domain, but new books). I'd rather count on a device backed by a bookstore, rather than an electronics company dabbling in selling books. I didn't plan on buying a lot from the Sony store, and most of what I've put on there so far is from non-Sony sources. In the end, I want to read on my reader, and content trumps looks.
2. The Sony store - it's pretty awful. Amazon's Kindle store has its issues, but it's way better than Sony's as far as navigating around it. And more expensive on top?
3. The Sony software - you have to download their software to your computer to buy from the Sony bookstore and transfer books onto the device. It's already crashed on my computer once, apparently doesn't play well with Macs, so now I'm trying it on my netbook. The upside of that software is that you can create "Collections" (ie folders) of books to organize your home screen. But that's the only advantage, and Amazon has announced it's working to add that feature to the Kindle. The software issue leads me to...
4. Kindle's wireless capability. SO much nicer to be able to buy a book from the Kindle store via the computer (or on the Kindle itself), tell it to send it to my Kindle (or my iPhone, or my husband's Kindle if it's for him), and turn on Whispernet & watch it "magically" appear. It's pretty limited as a browser, but it's even great for downloading books wirelessly from other sites, like MobileRead
5. Many functions are a little easier on the Kindle, one that comes to mind is deleting a book once you've read it - but that might be one of those things that's different on models other than the 300.
6. Kindle has the built-in dictionary feature - I didn't think I'd use it often, but the more I read the more I find myself looking up words instead of guessing their meaning from the context - maybe because I've expanded the genres I read. I've been reading a book this week on my Sony and came across a couple of words I'd sure liked to have been able to look up instantly.
7. Twice as many choices of font sizes. Sometimes I want something "in between" sizes on the Sony. Again, that may be different on the 600.

There are other things I could mention - the library book function on the Sony is great - if you have access to a library with a lot of ebooks to lend. You definitely aren't limited to Amazon for content, despite what many people say. I love the Sony device - the 300 is a cute little package - it's factors beyond the device itself that makes Kindle my #1.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Meemo

That was never the case. The only time you might go "through" Amazon is for conversion of a PDF (or other non-compatible) file to be compatible for the Kindle. And if you use one of the programs like Calibre, Stanza, etc, you don't have to go through Amazon at all. As long as you're happy with your Sony I suppose it doesn't matter for you, but wanted to set the record straight there.

Thanks for the clarification. As I said, that was my understanding at the time.

I'm very happy with my Sony Reader. For me, it is a perfect replacement for most physical books. When I first got into ebooks with my Palm PDA, the one thing I wished for is a reader with a larger screen and sharper text (the early Palm PDAs had a screen resolution of 160 pixels by 160 pixels). The Sony Reader was a vast improvement over my old Palm PDA when it comes to use as an ebook reader.

For me, the only type of book where the screen size is an issue is with manga titles. The screen resolution is fine and a non-color screen is not a problem when reading manga (since most of it is in black and white), but the screen size makes it a little hard to read some of the text. For this reason, I will probably get a reader with a larger screen (as a minimum the screen size must be at least 5" x 7.5", the size of most manga books) with the same number of pixels per square inch when it comes time to upgrade to a new reader.

[CraftyDan]

One point I haven't seen here (though it doesn't apply to all Sonys) is speed. If you've seen the vids of the nook -- the guy presses a button . . . then waits . . . no, wait it didn't recognize the press, I have to do it again . . . then waits . . . Ah, there it goes . . . it's finally changed. If I were in his shoes, that would make it a demo from heck (it could have been worse, but the faults are screaming in the silent pause while you're praying, "work, gaul-dang you, work!").

All E-ink screens will be slow, but most of the delay on the slower units isn't because of the screen -- it's from the underpowered CPU trying to wake up, figure out what to do, read from memory, render the page and tell the screen it's ready. The CPU is at fault for almost all of the delay between the button being pressed and the screen starting to flash. The nook is showing CPU lag in spades.

The later, higher end Sony readers have MUCH less CPU lag .

Granted, that nook was a marketing prototype, and I imagine they'll lick the missed button presses before release or in the first patch (it's a young device, it WILL need a patch). I still doubt they'll get rid of the lag any more than other e-readers with underpowered CPUs.

It's the snappy response (comparatively) of the Sony units that sold me. Frankly, it's the slow screens from iLiad, early Sonys, Cybook, HanLin, and Kindle -- much like the nook -- that kept me reading on tiny PDA screens for so long.

Dan <><

[JSWolf]

Pro for Sony
Sony has upgraded the old 500 to be current. They did it at their expense.

Con for Amazon
Amazon has not upgraded the K1 to be current.

So from what I see, Sony cares more about customers.

[Madam Broshkina]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Pro for Sony
Sony has upgraded the old 500 to be current. They did it at their expense.

Con for Amazon
Amazon has not upgraded the K1 to be current.

So from what I see, Sony cares more about customers.

Sony had to upgrade the 500 because they are going to ePub only in their stores. Sony wants to sell ePub books to the 500 owners. For Amazon there really is no reason for updating the K1 because owners can still buy books via Amazon. I am pretty sure that if Amazon introduced a format that could not be read on the K1 they would provide an update.