Sony Reader, a couple of questions

Dave Berk · 05-05-2006, 07:43 AM

Hi

I'm new here. Just found this site.

After reading through the reviews here on the site, both on the iLiad and on the sony reader, I've decided to go with the sony, because of the following reasons:

1. iLiad too expensive. (the most important reason

)
2. From what I've seen of the pictures here it seems both ugly and too big for easy carrying. (matter of opinion, though)
3. No cover. I've yet to see a screen that doesn't get scratches. A cover goes a long way to ensure your ipod/digicam/cellphone will still be readable a couple of months later.

and I don't really need all the bells and whistles of the iLiad. mostly I just want and eReader to read eBooks. Nothing more. for mp3 I've an ipod. for a calendar - a very good paper and ink flowers calendar. I was never a big fan of the whole convergence idea.

I still though have few questions I didn't find an answer for on the site.

1. In a paperback you get usually around 35 lines of about 11 words each. from what I have seen of sony reader here is seems we will get around 22 lines of 7 words each. And it's not nitpicking, I don't want to have to flip the pages every few seconds. Is that the way it is or can you adjust the size? and if you can, how small is still readable?

2. Look at the Reader's image there. you will see that the end of the lines (in the text) doesn't end in the same place. Also, paragraph don't always start at the same distance from the margin. I don't know why, but that bothers me in a book. Is that just a badly formatted book? a problem with the reader?

3. Last, is there any known problem with the reader? Faults of the Librie that may or may not been fixed in the reader?

Sorry for the rant ..

Thanks for reading
dave

Henrycat · 05-05-2006, 09:21 AM

The Iliad right now is only atractive to users who read a lot of ebooks (manuals for instance), or someone who spends a lot of money in p-books, like i used to. Don't expect to read comics on the Sony reader though...

1 - See my Librie images to see how i used to paginate my texts for the iliad, the sony reader is the exact same size (device and screen)

2 - This happened in the Librie, don't know if it will continue on the Sony reader

3 - The main problem would be the need to convert everything to be read on the reader.

Now that i can simply copy the files to the Iliad i can't go back to all the conversion the Iliad needs. There's easy and simple ways to do it, but not with the same quality functionality.

Dave Berk · 05-05-2006, 10:22 AM

Thanks for the reply, henrycat.

Quote:

1 - See my Librie images to see how i used to paginate my texts for the iliad, the sony reader is the exact same size (device and screen)

Where?

Quote:

2 - This happened in the Librie, don't know if it will continue on the Sony reader

Even after You paginate the text yourself?

Quote:

3 - The main problem would be the need to convert everything to be read on the reader.

I thought .rtf .pdf and .txt files are natively supported by the sony reader...

I don't care much for pdf, but most of my elibrary is either rtf or txt.

thanks again for taking the time to reply.

TaKir · 05-05-2006, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simple dave

1. In a paperback you get usually around 35 lines of about 11 words each. from what I have seen of sony reader here is seems we will get around 22 lines of 7 words each. And it's not nitpicking, I don't want to have to flip the pages every few seconds.

Sony Reader & Jinke V8/V2 have identical screens.

Look at Jinke V8 screen here.
It fits 28 lines x 40 symbol. It's almost like in paperback book. The screen itself (90x120mm) is a bit smaller, then a paperback (110x165mm).
And as you can see - no problems with text formatting...

By the way, Irex' screen is very close to paperback size (122mm by 163mm)

https://www.mobileread.com/eink/

Dave Berk · 05-06-2006, 06:51 PM

Yes, it seems all right.

Still I feel torn between this and the iLiad after reading henrycat review, and seeing the pictures. After seeing the iLiad in relation to a laptop it doesn't look that big, but it is expensive and not elegant.

Guess I will see which come out first and buy it. Hope it will be the reader. the iLiad will put a real dent in my pocket.

edited to add:

I don't know if it has been posted before, but here a couple of videos of the reader from CES 2006:

here and here

TadW · 05-06-2006, 10:21 PM

Keep in mind that the iLiad is also heavier and bigger than the Sony Reader. This strikes me as a major disadvantages since I want my reader to be as portable as possible. For this reason plus the price I am tending towards purchasing the Sony.

Btw, thanks for the vids Dave.

Kosst Amojan · 05-06-2006, 11:10 PM

Has anyone heard any updates as to when its coming out?

Adam · 05-07-2006, 12:24 AM

Most likely I will not get the sony reader for one reason, Sony's buisness model. The sony reader says it will display all these different formats but to do that you need to convert to their propeitary (sp?) format. Take a look at what they did with the psp. there were hacks make for the platform that let it do a lot of stuff. What did sony do? they fixed it so that all that functionality went away and even went further so that you had to "upgrade" to play the games that were comming out. Sony absolutly hates any kind of competition. So if ebooks become popular in the non drm formats, i wouldnt put it past them to upgrade their ebook format so that it will no longer convert from those sources. And you can bet that they will never allow the other drm formats to be able to play on their device so there goes the competition from all the other ebook venders like amazon.

Dave Berk · 05-07-2006, 09:03 AM

Another Sony Reader video review from cnet.co.uk.

The guy from cnet also says in the video that the reader displays html. but it doesn't says anything about it on the sony website, so I don't know if it's true.

Laurens · 05-07-2006, 09:28 AM

I wouldn't take that CNET video too literally. He was just rattling off some info. As far as we know, HTML is not supported natively.

Gameboy70 · 05-07-2006, 05:35 PM

Actually, most reports on the Sony Reader at CES included HTML in the list of supported formats, though they were unclear about whether or not support was native. Since several journalists reported HTML support, I can only assume that the information came from Sony (though journalists will sometimes parrot each others' information without verifying). Yet nothing on Sony's PRS-500 site or the FAQ page on their ephemeral CONNECT site mentions HTML except by implication: support for RSS and "other text formats." If nothing else, they'll probably have an improved version of their Printer and Newspaper LIBRIe software to import web pages and RSS feeds.

05-05-2006, 07:43 AM	#1
Dave Berk Fanatic Posts: 574 Karma: 138556 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PRS505	Sony Reader, a couple of questions Hi I'm new here. Just found this site. After reading through the reviews here on the site, both on the iLiad and on the sony reader, I've decided to go with the sony, because of the following reasons: 1. iLiad too expensive. (the most important reason ) 2. From what I've seen of the pictures here it seems both ugly and too big for easy carrying. (matter of opinion, though) 3. No cover. I've yet to see a screen that doesn't get scratches. A cover goes a long way to ensure your ipod/digicam/cellphone will still be readable a couple of months later. and I don't really need all the bells and whistles of the iLiad. mostly I just want and eReader to read eBooks. Nothing more. for mp3 I've an ipod. for a calendar - a very good paper and ink flowers calendar. I was never a big fan of the whole convergence idea. I still though have few questions I didn't find an answer for on the site. 1. In a paperback you get usually around 35 lines of about 11 words each. from what I have seen of sony reader here is seems we will get around 22 lines of 7 words each. And it's not nitpicking, I don't want to have to flip the pages every few seconds. Is that the way it is or can you adjust the size? and if you can, how small is still readable? 2. Look at the Reader's image there. you will see that the end of the lines (in the text) doesn't end in the same place. Also, paragraph don't always start at the same distance from the margin. I don't know why, but that bothers me in a book. Is that just a badly formatted book? a problem with the reader? 3. Last, is there any known problem with the reader? Faults of the Librie that may or may not been fixed in the reader? Sorry for the rant .. Thanks for reading dave Last edited by Dave Berk; 05-05-2006 at 08:06 AM. Reason: spelling

05-05-2006, 09:21 AM	#2
Henrycat Zealot Posts: 149 Karma: 1146 Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Pernes. A small village in Portugal. Device: Kindle Voyage	The Iliad right now is only atractive to users who read a lot of ebooks (manuals for instance), or someone who spends a lot of money in p-books, like i used to. Don't expect to read comics on the Sony reader though... 1 - See my Librie images to see how i used to paginate my texts for the iliad, the sony reader is the exact same size (device and screen) 2 - This happened in the Librie, don't know if it will continue on the Sony reader 3 - The main problem would be the need to convert everything to be read on the reader. Now that i can simply copy the files to the Iliad i can't go back to all the conversion the Iliad needs. There's easy and simple ways to do it, but not with the same quality functionality. Last edited by Henrycat; 05-05-2006 at 09:23 AM.

05-06-2006, 06:51 PM	#5
Dave Berk Fanatic Posts: 574 Karma: 138556 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PRS505	Yes, it seems all right. Still I feel torn between this and the iLiad after reading henrycat review, and seeing the pictures. After seeing the iLiad in relation to a laptop it doesn't look that big, but it is expensive and not elegant. Guess I will see which come out first and buy it. Hope it will be the reader. the iLiad will put a real dent in my pocket. edited to add: I don't know if it has been posted before, but here a couple of videos of the reader from CES 2006: here and here Last edited by Dave Berk; 05-06-2006 at 06:59 PM.

05-07-2006, 12:24 AM	#8
Adam Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 14 Join Date: May 2006	Sony's Buisness model Most likely I will not get the sony reader for one reason, Sony's buisness model. The sony reader says it will display all these different formats but to do that you need to convert to their propeitary (sp?) format. Take a look at what they did with the psp. there were hacks make for the platform that let it do a lot of stuff. What did sony do? they fixed it so that all that functionality went away and even went further so that you had to "upgrade" to play the games that were comming out. Sony absolutly hates any kind of competition. So if ebooks become popular in the non drm formats, i wouldnt put it past them to upgrade their ebook format so that it will no longer convert from those sources. And you can bet that they will never allow the other drm formats to be able to play on their device so there goes the competition from all the other ebook venders like amazon.

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05-06-2006, 10:21 PM	#6
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Keep in mind that the iLiad is also heavier and bigger than the Sony Reader. This strikes me as a major disadvantages since I want my reader to be as portable as possible. For this reason plus the price I am tending towards purchasing the Sony. Btw, thanks for the vids Dave.

05-06-2006, 11:10 PM	#7
Kosst Amojan Addict Posts: 207 Karma: 19597 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Northern Virginia Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	Has anyone heard any updates as to when its coming out?

05-07-2006, 09:03 AM	#9
Dave Berk Fanatic Posts: 574 Karma: 138556 Join Date: May 2006 Device: PRS505	Another Sony Reader video review from cnet.co.uk. The guy from cnet also says in the video that the reader displays html. but it doesn't says anything about it on the sony website, so I don't know if it's true.

05-07-2006, 09:28 AM	#10
Laurens Jah Blessed Posts: 1,295 Karma: 1373 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands Device: iPod Touch	I wouldn't take that CNET video too literally. He was just rattling off some info. As far as we know, HTML is not supported natively.

05-07-2006, 05:35 PM	#11
Gameboy70 Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 1002150 Join Date: Apr 2006 Device: Kindle Paperwhite, 3rd Gen iPad	Actually, most reports on the Sony Reader at CES included HTML in the list of supported formats, though they were unclear about whether or not support was native. Since several journalists reported HTML support, I can only assume that the information came from Sony (though journalists will sometimes parrot each others' information without verifying). Yet nothing on Sony's PRS-500 site or the FAQ page on their ephemeral CONNECT site mentions HTML except by implication: support for RSS and "other text formats." If nothing else, they'll probably have an improved version of their Printer and Newspaper LIBRIe software to import web pages and RSS feeds.

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