Why Such High Sony E-reader Prices?

[Richwood]

Peple have mentioned good prices on the PRS-950 from Goodwill. I just got one from a ebay seller who listed it on a bid listing with a starting bid of about $10. My winning bid was $56 + $10 shipping which seems reasonable to me. Unit came with original documentation, Sony 1.5 amp charger with cable and new appearing original box and looks new other than two scratches on the rear plate. Seller claims the battery holds a charge and I am charging it fully now to verify that. Overall a much more reasonable price than some of the ebay BIN listings noted earlier.

BTW a couple of older Sony readers with batteries that arrived not holding a charge for more than a day or two have had the battery partially revive by cycling it half a dozen to dozen times. Still far from ideal but at least usable now without being tied to the charging cable.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Richwood

Still a lot smaller than the Kindle DX which is still one of my favorite ebook readers for home use.

True. I finished reading the book on the 950. Once I get reading the device doesn't really matter, as long as I've got a good font.

Now I've got library books I've downloaded to Kindle – so, for the most part, I'll be leaving the Sonys and Kobo for a week or so. (There's one book I've been reading bit by bit that's in ePub format.)

[Richwood]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I agree with you here. Sony even had their own proprietary memory cards.

I didn't even realize that the 950 was made in Japan instead of China until you mentioned it. I like the 950's build quality, but I'm thinking it might be too big to use much. I've been reading a book by alternating between the 350 and 950 and, even though I like the 950's two column view, over all I like the 350 better. So small and easy to carry. The 950 feels almost like holding a tablet. A sleek, light tablet, but still a tablet.

Agreed. I worked for a US corporation who tried the same thing in the personal computer field, Xerox. Xerox Parc in Palo Alto invented the GUI which was copied by both Apple for the Mac and by Microsoft for Windows. Xerox tried to market the operating system and a proprietary computer called the Xerox Star to run it for too much money compared to the IBM PC only to have both the Mac and Widows undercut them big time on price. While the Mac was semi proprietary, Apple encouraged software developers, something Xerox did not do. Xerox wanted the whole pie and ended up with pie on the face. Microsoft actively encouraged software developers to write Windows applications. Guess who won!

You would think they would have learned earlier as they tried much the same with a CP/M computer that they came out with about the same time as the IBM PC. They introduced a new CP/M computer almost simultaneously with the computer that killed CP/M as an operating system. Lost a bundle on it.

[PatGIV]

Currently have both the T1 and T2. Use the T2 almost 100% of the time and purchased a clip on adjustable light to read by at night. Light is rechargeable and only cost $5, can't beat that for a bargain!

[JSWolf]

I like the build quality of the Sony Readers, but the firmware left a lot to be desired.

[gingerbeardman]

The firmware (both the Kinoma and Android versions) did everything I needed and expected of them out of the box.

Of course, I appreciate everybody is different so I'd never force my opinion on anybody else.

[Richwood]

The PRS-950 mentioned in post 91 above appears to have the original complete file structure and files it came with. Only the original owner books were deleted before he sold it so far as I can tell.

Plugged into the computer USB port the reader shows up as 4 drives, in my case F:, G:, H: and I:. F: has a quite complex folders structure which I will post in case it is useful to others. No expansion memory installed so G: and H: are empty.

Top folder is labeled "database". Along with the folder books can go on this level, NOT IN THE FOLDER.

Inside the folder are 4 folders and two files. Folders are "cache", "media", "service" and "thumbnail". Files are "webmarks.xml" and "standby_pic_mediapath.xml". As I added material a fifth file was created by the reader, labeled "sync"

Inside the media folder are 4 folders labeled "audio", "books", "images" and "notepads". Contents are 2 .jpg in the audio folder, 7 .epub in the books folder, 4 .jpeg files in the images folder and 3 .note files in the notepads folder. The "service" folder has 2 folders labeled "markups" and "positions". The cache folder has 2 .xml files and one .xsb file. As received the 7 .epub files in the "books" folder were 3 book sample files and four short periodical files.

The thumbnail folder has 4 levels of folders inside it. As books are added at the top level a folder is created in the thumbnails folder for each book. First level as received was only two folders labeled "database" and "User Guide.pdf". In the database folder is one labeled "media". In the media folder are 4 folders labeled "audio", "books", "images", and notepads. Inside the 4 folders are folders for each individual file in the folders under the top media folder listed a couple of paragraphs up, the media folder under the top "database" folder.

Books can reside in the top level with the database folder or in the Books folder under the top Media folder. Photos go in the top images folder and sound files in the top audio folder.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Richwood

Peple have mentioned good prices on the PRS-950 from Goodwill. I just got one from a ebay seller who listed it on a bid listing with a starting bid of about $10. My winning bid was $56 + $10 shipping which seems reasonable to me. Unit came with original documentation, Sony 1.5 amp charger with cable and new appearing original box and looks new other than two scratches on the rear plate. Seller claims the battery holds a charge and I am charging it fully now to verify that. Overall a much more reasonable price than some of the ebay BIN listings noted earlier.

All my current Sonys (except for the T2) came from Shop Goodwill and all have good batteries. I get the feeling that none of these readers were used a whole lot (with the possible exception of the 505) and so the batteries haven't really been run down. A couple Kindles and a Nook I bought on Shop Goodwill (on the other hand) had bad batteries. One of the Kindle's battery had swollen badly. I'm lucky it hadn't blown up – though I think the pressure might have broken the screen. My conclusion, the Sonys had better batteries – very good build quality.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by PatGIV

Currently have both the T1 and T2. Use the T2 almost 100% of the time and purchased a clip on adjustable light to read by at night. Light is rechargeable and only cost $5, can't beat that for a bargain!

Do you have a link for that light? Even it costs more now, the rechargeable feature would be nice.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I like the build quality of the Sony Readers, but the firmware left a lot to be desired.

I liked the firmware, it just didn't have some of the features that would have been nice, like changing the margins. Fortunately you can do it (for non-DRM books) relatively easily in Calibre.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by gingerbeardman

The firmware (both the Kinoma and Android versions) did everything I needed and expected of them out of the box.

Of course, I appreciate everybody is different so I'd never force my opinion on anybody else.

I think the Sony firmware is very polished and solid – in that way I think it's superior to any other eBook firmware, except maybe the firmware on the Kindles. But it did lack some features that would have been nice (mainly the margin adjustments, for me).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Richwood

The PRS-950 mentioned inpost 91 above appears to have the original complete file structure and files it came with. Only the original owner books were deleted before he sold it so far as I can tell.

Plugged into the computer USB port the reader shows up as 4 drives, in my case F:, G:, H: and I:. F: has a quite complex folders structure which I will post in case it is useful to others. No expansion memory installed so G: and H: are empty.

My 950 F:Reader "drive" has basically the same structure. I don't have an SD card or a Sony Memory Stick, so only two "drives" show up in Windows 8.1. F: is my Reader drive and I: is my Setting drive. It appears all that the Setting drive is used for is to load desktop software to Windows or Mac (probably well outdated by now). If I hook my 950 up to Linux, only the Reader drive shows up. I guess there's no need for the Setting drive to appear there. (The 350 behaves the same as the 950.)

Just curious, what version of software are you using on the 950? I have 2.0.00.11300, which was quite a jump from the 1.03.xxx that was on it when delivered. I don't know what it changed, except that, after installing it, my Page Turn buttons started working properly and I now have a (now useless) Google Book App and Purchased Content App that appear in my Network section.

Strangely, the T2 shows both Reader and Setting drive even in Linux. The 505 and 600 don't. The 505 also doesn't have a Setting drive in Windows.

[Richwood]

Originally Posted by rcentros

My 950 F:Reader "drive" has basically the same structure. I don't have an SD card or a Sony Memory Stick, so only two "drives" show up in Windows 8.1. F: is my Reader drive and I: is my Setting drive. It appears all that the Setting drive is used for is to load desktop software to Windows or Mac (probably well outdated by now). If I hook my 950 up to Linux, only the Reader drive shows up. I guess there's no need for the Setting drive to appear there. (The 350 behaves the same as the 950.)

Just curious, what version of software are you using on the 950? I have 2.0.00.11300, which was quite a jump from the 1.03.xxx that was on it when delivered. I don't know what it changed, except that, after installing it, my Page Turn buttons started working properly and I now have a (now useless) Google Book App and Purchased Content App that appear in my Network section.

Strangely, the T2 shows both Reader and Setting drive even in Linux. The 505 and 600 don't. The 505 also doesn't have a Setting drive in Windows.

My 950 firmware is the same as your current one, the last version available. I listed the file structure as I have received Sony readers with the whole reader file structure and original files wiped out, apparently by a memory reformat. I manually rebuilt the structure on a couple of Sony readers. The 950 with the apparently complete file structure now has about 170 ebooks and 75 photos side loaded. I activated the sleep mode photo display and selected about a dozen photos to use with it including 3 of the 4 original photos Sony placed on their ebook readers originally. BTW I am using a very elderly HP Windows XP system.

[PatGIV]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Do you have a link for that light? Even it costs more now, the rechargeable feature would be nice.

Have had mine for just under 2 years and from the number of peeps that have bought it drove the price up about 200%, anyway here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/LuminoLite-Re...ok+light&psc=1

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by PatGIV

Have had mine for just under 2 years and from the number of peeps that have bought it drove the price up about 200%, anyway here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/LuminoLite-Re...ok+light&psc=1

Thanks. If it's a good light, it's still a good price. And, if the price is going up, that means people must like it. I assume you clamp it to the right or left edge of the Reader? Or can you just clamp it to the top?