My review of the PRS-505 after one year...

[radamo]

I have to agree. I have had mine for just under a year. Due to the convenience factor I have read twice as many books as with pbooks. I think it is really funny that publishers are so leary of ebooks. Seems to me that they would sell a lot more books and have lower costs by going the "e" route.

[kennyc]

Love my 505!

[alecE]

I've had my 505 for 14 months now, and the experience has been very similar to the other posts here - I love it, I read more (lots more), my range of genres has expanded. It's the best electronic device I've ever bought.

My only niggle about the device is the lacklustre case it came with - that got replaced very quickly with a TuffLuv case.

My only other niggle is nothing to do with the 505, it's to do with the sometimes poor quality of ebooks (poor editing, omitted illustrations, incorrect handling of accents).

I looked at the new offerings from Sony and decided that I preferred my 505.

[Mike_73]

Originally Posted by RCR

Interesting that we're all so enthusiastic about the 505 - and Sony stopped making them!

I've been looking at the touch edition this weekend, and basically, I found except for a fancy way of operating the unit (with the typical tradeoffs of a touchscreen), nothing has really changed to the 505.
Being one of the first mainstream-readers from sony, there had to go quite a lot of brain into developing the 505 while the successors usually are minor improvements.
I will extend my "range of readers" as soon as bigger devices get really cheaper. I think I won't replace the 505 as long as it's running (exept they start bringing color for similar prices).
With the solid build quality and prices for the battery as low as around $10, I think my reader could easily do another 3-5 years (in terms of battery, I'd try replacing it myself as soon as it runs out).

The touch edition I played with on the weekend was the same price point as my 505 when I purchased it. With all other readers being similar in price and features, there's just no reason to change.

In my opinion, Sony could just have lowered the price of the 505 and use it as cash cow. I also found the build quality of the 505 better than that of the touch. In my business, developing successors usually means stripping of cost and then, maybe make some minor improvements to make the unit look better.

[tyche]

I've had my 505 for just over a year and I definitely have read more books since I've got it.

There may be more models out now but nothing beats the 505's quality. It's a real shame they don't sell them anymore.

[kennyc]

Agreed I've only had mine about 6 months, but love it. I just bought a 900 yesterday though and am trying it out ... compare and contrast etc.

[DebT]

I have had my 505 and love it. When I originally got the 505 it was because it was the first "gadget" that I saw that I think I actually drooled over. I am not a tech hound...I am a book hound....everyone in the family has the latest computer or screen or phone or something....I got alot of "but mom dont you want"....nope I'm fine. Well then life made a turn and now we spend a great deal of time in one hospital or drs office or another...what a blessing that PRS has been. I love books but I know I could not have carted the variety and number around those places without needing medical attention myself. My number of books increased because of the ease of portability. I still get specific loved authors to set on the shelf. But have the ability to try tons of new ones without losing the shelf. Funny now I hear "mom wanna a new one? then I could have your old one" ....so I will keep an eye on the new ones for them more than me and hope they come down in price to be able to get them one.
No issues with battery....if I remember I charge in on my computer about 1x a month I read a couple hours everynight and an hour maybe two throughout the day.
I hate the sony library software I prefer calibre.
My purchases are from sony and BandN but my first 100 reads were classics from here at mobile read.
I love the reader.

[Lilly]

Great reviews; the PRS-505 was my 1st reader in December of 2007 and I still love it today. It's not being used now since I'm trying to get to know my PRS-900 but I still love my PRS-505.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Lilly

Great reviews; the PRS-505 was my 1st reader in December of 2007 and I still love it today. It's not being used now since I'm trying to get to know my PRS-900 but I still love my PRS-505.

Hey so Lilly I got the 900 as well.....and at Best Buy....but not while they were having the sale I'm loving it, but there are definitely things about the 505 I prefer...mostly the clarity of the screen the link navigation...

of course the touch screen is nice as is the bigger screen...and the dictionary...and the search function(which was what pushed me over the edge ).

[taildragger-j3]

I started with a 500 about 2 years ago and upgraded to a 505 the end of '09 so I've been reading on a Sony for over 2 years. I like the contrast on the screen on the 505 better than the 500. I've not seen a 900 yet. I am at a workstation almost all day so wireless download is not a big deal to me, especially since that would be exclusively Sony Store.

I agree with everyone else so far. I'm reading more, enjoying it more, and wouldn't dream of going back!

[Ankh]

I had mine for more than a year, too. No impact on my reading habits, I used electronic readers before.

Generally, I love the hardware, eInk is great. ePUB, too. The fact that it is supported by Calibre is one of the strongest points, I use Sony software for purchases only.

What I don't like is:
- not a single firmware upgrade (mine came with ePUB, that was the reason for purchase) since I got the device. The version of Adobe DE on my Sony 505 is ancient, lack of justification and poor handling of soft-hyphens is becoming an issue, as the time goes by.

- lack of integrated dictionary (was using WinCE LED device before and that was a step back)

- how closed the platform is, I assumed that OpenInkpot will run on it within a few months after the purchase. Looks like it never will .

PRS 505 was a nice purchase at the time, still serves me well, but if I had to buy a reader today, it would not be a Sony model.

[Lemurion]

I've had my 505 a little over 6 months, I got it for $199 at Borders.

I love it, and I don't think there is any better 6" device for just reading books.

[GraceKrispy]

Iʻve had my 505 for about 15 months now. I have barely looked at any other ereader since. My heart belongs to my 505. I have had a few issues with epub/pdf confusion on library books, which really ticks me off, as I am *not* a technical person and I hate dealing with troubleshooting troubles. Other than that, itʻs the perfect machine!

[jamesbeat]

I've had mine nearly a year now.
I both like and dislike it...
I love the idea of being able to have all of my books on one device and was pretty sorely disappointed when i realized that this isn't practical on the reader.
I have no clue why Sony decided to make the operating system so clunky, but I have now installed PRS+ and the reader is now approaching what I expected it to be.
So, the hardware is good (love the screen and aluminum chassis) but the supplied firmware is disappointing.
Thanks to the PRS+ team and Kovid Goyal's Calibre, I'm pretty happy with my PRS 505

[Mike_73]

Yay, another PRS+ user. Awesome.
Right now it seems a bit quite in the PRS+ thread with new releases but it also spares me some work with manuals ;-)