Sony 505s - What the heck? - Page 2

azayn · 10-13-2020, 02:05 PM

I dug mine out from the crawlspace last year and to my surprise it still powered on. I did have to order a mini USB cable to charge it though but otherwise, it's still a very usable reader despite having no touch screen. There was an update Sony put out years ago that allowed them to read epubs and improved text clarity.

Ended up giving it away to a friend as I already have a Kindle and a Kobo. It made me realize that e-readers almost never become obsolete. At the end of the day, it's just a a device for displaying black text on a white background. The rest is just bells and whistles.

JSWolf · 10-13-2020, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azayn

I dug mine out from the crawlspace last year and to my surprise it still powered on. I did have to order a mini USB cable to charge it though but otherwise, it's still a very usable reader despite having no touch screen. There was an update Sony put out years ago that allowed them to read epubs and improved text clarity.

Ended up giving it away to a friend as I already have a Kindle and a Kobo. It made me realize that e-readers almost never become obsolete. At the end of the day, it's just a a device for displaying black text on a white background. The rest is just bells and whistles.

Actually, they do become obsolete. Kindle's that cannot handle KF8 are obsolete. All Sony Readers except the T3 are obsolete because they do not support a new enough RMSDK that has hyphenation. Only the T3 has an RMSDK that supports hyphenation.

While is may not be the hardware, the software can make the Reader obsolete.

Mort1997 · 10-14-2020, 03:50 AM

The use of Calibre and conversion of files can keep devices in use as long as you happy to do so.

JSWolf · 10-14-2020, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mort1997

The use of Calibre and conversion of files can keep devices in use as long as you happy to do so.

I didn't say you could not use them. Just that they are obsolete. The reading experience with some of these old Readers is not all that good. For example, the K1 & K2. You cannot embed fonts in Mobi. You cannot use side loaded fonts. The fonts that are part of the firmware do not have enough weight. Mobi has no hyphenation. So overall, not a good reading experience.

Sony (505) LRF with simulated italics is not good unless you embed fonts. Left justified ePub is not all that good.

LDB · 10-14-2020, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Then go get your ideal Reader. It exists. You want a Kobo Libra H2O or a Kobo Forma with both buttons and a touch screen.

Or a Kindle Oasis. I go about 80/20 to maybe 87/13 touch/buttons but I really like having both options.

BookCat · 08-10-2021, 11:37 PM

My old 505 has an SD card and masses of books which I put on it. The only problem I have with the reader is the lack of a frontlight. This wasn't a problem at my former house. But I moved in 2013 to a house with dimmer lighting (which I still haven't sorted out). This was when I bought the PW3.

So it's hard to read on the 505 now; it really needs good ambient light. I still use it as a book repository, in that I take books from it, put them onto my computer and into Calibre, convert them and put them on my kindles. The only format which gives me hassle is lrx. These will need to be read on the 505.

So it still has some uses. Shame about the lack of lighting, though.

bazz2004 · 08-11-2021, 11:37 AM

Sony make cases for their devices so there's sure to have been one with a light for your PRS-505. If you keep looking on ebay something will turn up.

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10-13-2020, 02:05 PM	#16
azayn Groupie Posts: 168 Karma: 7934958 Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Chicago Device: Nova 3, Galaxy S22+, iPad	I dug mine out from the crawlspace last year and to my surprise it still powered on. I did have to order a mini USB cable to charge it though but otherwise, it's still a very usable reader despite having no touch screen. There was an update Sony put out years ago that allowed them to read epubs and improved text clarity. Ended up giving it away to a friend as I already have a Kindle and a Kobo. It made me realize that e-readers almost never become obsolete. At the end of the day, it's just a a device for displaying black text on a white background. The rest is just bells and whistles.

10-14-2020, 03:50 AM	#18
Mort1997 Wizard Posts: 1,047 Karma: 15288073 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony various , Voyage, Oasis, K3, K4T,Nook Glow+Kobo Aura/H2O/One	The use of Calibre and conversion of files can keep devices in use as long as you happy to do so.

08-10-2021, 11:37 PM	#21
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,912 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	My old 505 has an SD card and masses of books which I put on it. The only problem I have with the reader is the lack of a frontlight. This wasn't a problem at my former house. But I moved in 2013 to a house with dimmer lighting (which I still haven't sorted out). This was when I bought the PW3. So it's hard to read on the 505 now; it really needs good ambient light. I still use it as a book repository, in that I take books from it, put them onto my computer and into Calibre, convert them and put them on my kindles. The only format which gives me hassle is lrx. These will need to be read on the 505. So it still has some uses. Shame about the lack of lighting, though.

08-11-2021, 11:37 AM	#22
bazz2004 Groupie Posts: 197 Karma: 14745 Join Date: May 2020 Device: Boyue Alita	Sony make cases for their devices so there's sure to have been one with a light for your PRS-505. If you keep looking on ebay something will turn up.

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