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

[petercreasey]

Originally Posted by Mike_73

Yay, another PRS+ user.

Mike etal, What is PRS+?

If I don't already have it on my Sony 505, do I want to get it? Why? And how?

[mollybo]

I'd like to know the same. How did I miss this? Mine is two years old and I adore it.

[elcreative]

Try https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64510 where you'll find all explained... basically a set of tools and software to modify the firmware of the PRS 505. Adds extra functionality and many of us think it makes the eReader even better...

Originally Posted by petercreasey

Mike etal, What is PRS+?

If I don't already have it on my Sony 505, do I want to get it? Why? And how?

[Mike_73]

New main features of PRS+ are:
•Browse Folders for books (sort by author, title, filename, author swapping surname/name)
•Menu Captions (aka Unified headers, always small, always big, sony default)
•Page Index (page index style "1 of 100", "1/100", "1/100 (0%)" etc)
•Clock (when to show, 24/12 hour modes, can be toggled on/off via hotkey configurable in Key Bindings)
•Screenshot (allows to make screenshots)
•Key Bindings (Like shortcuts to functions of the reader which you can assign to buttons)

There are also games ;-) in case you run out of books.

[buecherhans]

Review of the Sony PRS 505

I agree with a lot of the comments, I read more, I love to carry approx. 200 books around, I created allot of the books myself from some digital resources (mostly pdf to ePub), some "Complete Works of XXX)" a 1000 or sometimes more pages that translates into 2 kg of paper, which I will never carry around, or many PDFs that I will never read on the PC.
But there are a lot of shortcomings and I am looking for a better device.
1. high-lighting (marking) text that I am used to do on paper,
2. no search function, something that I expect on digital media,
3. too little content that I am interested in on the Sony ebook shop,
4. the books are generally too expensive (taking into account that I have to spend 200 EUR up-front and can not sell used ebooks after reading (or can I?)
5. Amazon lets people share ebooks on the Kindle
6. I have seen what some friends can do with ebooks on their iPhones and I was fascinated, that is the way ebooks should be, except for that mini display.

Certainly the 505 did one thing, I don't by paper books anymore, if possible.

Unfortunately there are not to many devices sold in Germany, not even the Kindle. Maybe Apple's iPad is the alternative, but what I have seen on the net, it appears to be too big for me to be called a mobile device, but the price and the possibilities are intriguing.

Overall: Sony 505, I love it and I hate it. No replacement for paper books, but a step. Maybe it is ok, but I just read the wring type of books. Or I set the bar too high for the time. To me it looks it was developed by people who do not read.

The PRS 505 deserves a good, serious software update, and not competing products from Sony.

My next reader will be a Kindle or an iPad.

[Mike_73]

Originally Posted by buecherhans

The PRS 505 deserves a good, serious software update, and not competing products from Sony.

My next reader will be a Kindle or an iPad.

I fully agree allthough I just got me a Sony 600. It brings features I really missed on the 505. I still like the formfactor which is about the same as the 505 (despite that it's thicker). But it's the only reader out there that is sold in stores here. As soon as there are other brands to have in stores, I'll certainly consider them. I was wondering about the iriver which is sold at "Schlecker", but unfortunately, only online. And we don't have the stores set up here with options like "pick up in store" which I regret.