Considering purchase. Your experience?

[JDM]

Hello everyone.
I am considering buying a used SONY PSR 500 with cradle.
I want to ask you about your experiences with the unit. What are its strong points, what its weaknesses? What's the most annoying thing with your reader? Is it rugged, or fragile? And how much should I expect to spend on a used unit in good condition with the cradle?
Thanks for your advice.

[HarryT]

Weaknesses:

eInk screens cannot be backlit, so you need reasonable light to read, similar to the level of light you'd need to read a paper book.

Very poor for reading A4/US Letter sized PDF files. This is a weakness of the PDF format, not the Reader, of course! Don't buy one if reading A4 PDFs is a big deal for you.

Strengths:

Really, everything else. Superb battery life (I recharge mine perhaps once every 3-4 weeks, and read at least an hour a day on it); paper-like display. Very light-weight. Ideal form-factor. I've been reading eBooks for 10+ years and this is, as far as I'm concerned, the ultimate book reader so far.

The Reader is pretty tough, especially if you get the leather case. It's not a rouch-sensitive screen, of course, which makes it a lot tougher than it would be if it had one.

The cradle? I honestly wouldn't bother; personally I don't see the point of the cradle. The Reader needs charging so infrequently that you really gain nothing from it.

Prices? Can't help you there, I'm afraid. I doubt you'll get much - if any - discount over buying one new. Might just as well buy a new one, to my mind.

[dhbailey]

I just bought mine last Sunday, having waited for a few weeks since deciding I wanted one and I can only say that it is better in person than I had imagined. I love it!

I don't think you need the cradle at all -- I see no problem with laying mine on my desk and hooking up the USB cable to transfer books, nor do I have a problem with laying it on my desk to charge from the included AC adapter.

I haven't dropped mine yet, but it seems rugged. The switch and buttons seem solid and should hold up to normal usage (whatever that is.) I had no problem authorizing my Reader at the Sony Connect website, nor did I have any problems downloading to my computer the books I purchased and I have had no problems transferring books between computer and Reader.

If yours is a used unit, you should definitely download the firmware update and install that because it supposedly gives longer battery life when playing mp3 files.

It is a text reader, it is not an interactive device, so while some on this forum have stated desires for search capabilities or for annotation capabilities, I feel it does just what it says it will do very well and think that if it gets fancier with interactive capabilities it will simply become a Palm-type handheld with a larger screen, something I don't think will be good.

The only weakness I can see with it is the way it handles PDF files. PDF files which are predominantly text are pretty good, but those which consist primarily of graphics are not very good.

New units cost $349.99 practically everywhere, so anything less than that would be a good price. Add in the $49.99 price of the cradle, and the list price for what you'll be buying is $399.98, but since the cradle is totally unnecessary in my opinion, paying anything over $349 is too much.

You should read the various threads on this forum, especially in the Content sub-forum, to find out all the terrific materials already available as well as the great tools available to convert files which you can get free at Project Gutenberg and other places on the 'net.

I'll also agree with the PDF shortcomings for large-sized formatting but with the caveat that if you are making them yourselves you can size it to the reader and it will look fine. (Though of course most of us have the problem that they are already made and most definitely NOT for the small reader screen.)

But my main gripe is with book organization. Basically it tosses all of your data into one big pile and then makes you sift through it 10 items at a time (if looking at it on the reader). Not so bad if you have a few dozen books but with all the space in there it can be very easy to end up with many more (Currently have 153 on mine. But to be honest, quite a few are things like book and music inventory's, personal info, itinerary pages, restaurant menus...all sorts of general info that I find nice to have handy.)

[Aprilbeginnings]

Yes, I thought the cradle was neat looking but why spend the extra money to get that. The reader comes with a charger already you just plug in the wall and that works for me. Spend the $40 bucks on books or something.

[dhbailey]

Originally Posted by stxopher

[snip]But my main gripe is with book organization. Basically it tosses all of your data into one big pile and then makes you sift through it 10 items at a time (if looking at it on the reader). Not so bad if you have a few dozen books but with all the space in there it can be very easy to end up with many more (Currently have 153 on mine. But to be honest, quite a few are things like book and music inventory's, personal info, itinerary pages, restaurant menus...all sorts of general info that I find nice to have handy.)

I'm using collections currently to handle the organization issue -- they're really quite easy to work with when the reader is connected to the computer and once you've got all your books (and personal files -- i think having such things on the reader is good idea, as long as the reader remains in your hands) organized into collectionss, it's very easy to find things from the collections menu rather than from the Books menu.

[NatCh]

I'm all over the collections thing too, dhbailey, but I'm still hoping for hierarchical file support, it's just too easy to work with for me to give up hoping for it yet.

I do have a cradle, but I don't use it to connect to the computer, I keep it by the bed for charging purposes. I see a couple of advantages to the cradle from that perspective.

1) When I'm falling asleep and I know I'm ready to recharge the Reader (as determined by my own anality on the matter, not the Reader's actual, present-moment need for re-charging), I just close the cover and drop it into the cradle, then wiggle it a bit 'til the light comes on (the wrist lanyard I have on my Reader makes that necessary), and my last waking thought is that I know it'll be charged in the morning.

2) The light on the cradle can be seen from across the room (even with room the lights on), so I can tell when it's done charging from a distance. Fortunately, the charging light doesn't keep me, or my wife, awake.

For transferring texts, I still use the USB cable, I can carry that around with me, so it's more convenient ... and, despite its relatively small footprint, we don't have room for the cradle on our computer desk anyway.

[SciFiReader]

I have had mine for six weeks. So far it travels to work with me everyday, has gone on vacation to Florida, and I have had nothing but a great time with it. It was the best Valentines present my wife (me) every paid for. I really like the feel and texture of the unit. It just feels good when I hold it. The adjustable font size is great for these aging eyes. Like everyone else, I agree that PDF's are a bust. I tried loading some magaizne PDF's, (National Review) and they are just not readable. I have had great luck with some of the 3rd party Mac products for the Reader, especially the Biblioskop (?) for loading books and RSS feeds. Does a great job and is easy to use. I ordered a cradle and leather book cover from Sony a month ago, haven't got it yet, but only did it cause I thought it would be a neat thing. It is not really needed unless you plan on uploading RSS feeds every morning before you run out the door, then it could be a benefit, by noting dealing with the cable.

[Aprilbeginnings]

Originally Posted by SciFiReader

I have had mine for six weeks. So far it travels to work with me everyday, has gone on vacation to Florida, and I have had nothing but a great time with it. It was the best Valentines present my wife (me) every paid for.

LOL............ boy do you sound like someone I know..... well I am proud to say I bought mine with some inheritance and didn't depend on the DH this time around. In fact I am having a ball with some (tiny) amount of this money...The rest will be saved for retirement but it's nice to not feel so dependant upon someone all the time. In fact I even bought him a present (on me) <G>

[NatCh]

My wife just landed her first truly paying job as a University Professor (she's done some part-time work before this, but it pays peanuts), and she's really enjoying the prospect of being gainfully employed (in terms that mean anything to someone other than the IRS, that is). I'm really proud for her, she's worked really hard (still is -- the dissertation's still 'in progress'), and she's totally earned it.

[bkilian]

I've had mine for about 6 months now, and it blows the other e-readers I've had out of the water. I've recharged it maybe 8 times in that 6 months, and since I bus to work, I read it at least an hour to 1.5 hours a day. My biggest problem has been finding good content, since I refuse to support DRM books that I couldn't move to a new device at some point. (Although I did spend the free $50 they gave us)

I've dropped it a couple of times, onto concrete, so it's a little dinged. The outer casing is metal, so I just used a pair of pliers to fix it. I also feel mine "ghosts" more than it used to, but that could be the temperatures, and, of course, it has the charging indicator bug we got from the last update, which is annoying, but not fatal.

All in all, it's the best device to have around on the 30 hour flights back to my birth country, weighs less than a paperback, and carries enough books and battery life that I don't get left out in the cold.

[Aprilbeginnings]

Originally Posted by NatCh

My wife just landed her first truly paying job as a University Professor (she's done some part-time work before this, but it pays peanuts), and she's really enjoying the prospect of being gainfully employed (in terms that mean anything to someone other than the IRS, that is). I'm really proud for her, she's worked really hard (still is -- the dissertation's still 'in progress'), and she's totally earned it.

Congratulations to your wife.

[NatCh]

Thanks!

[LaughingVulcan]

I've had mine for a fairly short time, but I continue to be incredibly impressed by it. I was a ereading fan before the Reader, but the Reader takes it to the next level.

The biggest strength is its' resolution capability and battery charge life. I have yet to find a true description of what it's like. It's not "exactly" like reading a paper page, yet it's so close that the hairbreadth of difference fades away. The contrast is virtually identical to paper, yet the background isn't letter or book paper white (and it's far removed from LCD tan.) Reading on it, at any rate, is a true pleasure to me.

I find the lack of backlight insignificant. Except in bed I don't need one, and I'm used to using an independent backlight in bed already. (In fact, I use the same one I've always used for paper, and it works very well indeed.) It is clearly readable in the noon sun as well as indoors.

Both sets of page turn controls are on the left. It doesn't bother me at all, but I do wish they'd put one set on the right. That's the only negative I've encountered so far, with about forty books on it now and having read through about ten of them.

The PDF issue was raised above, but I've found that using PDFRasterfarian has cleaned up some letter sized PDFs into good legibility. Just don't expect to be reading letter or A4 sized PDFs as easily as you can read a letter sized piece of paper.

Two other caveats: The page refresh inverts the display for a second (old page white text on black mixed with black pixels where the new text will be,) then clears to reveal the new page. It takes less time for me than flipping a book page would, but I've heard thirdhand that some people cannot abide it. It doesn't bother me at all. Once in a great while the words of a prior page will be 'ghosted' - think of reading a book where the paper is thin enough that you can just make out there's characters on the reverse page. Again, the effect doesn't bother me at all, but some are apparently bothered by it sometimes. These are limitations of current eInk technology. I'm mentioning them for full disclosure only; as I said, they haven't bothered me at all.

I'm actually *very* disappointed in the gadget reviews I've come across on "mainstream" tech sites, especially ones that suggest waiting on "Reader 2.0," if and ever it comes. Sources that I normally trust, including CNET, Gizmodo, and WSJ unfairly panned it, IMHO. Best reason I can figure is that since the Reader (and dedicated ebook readers in general) do not fit into any convenient gadget niches (it isn't a cellphone, PDA, MP3 Player, etc.) it gets panned because it's different from them. One example: "It's too big to fit into a pocket." Yeah, but this isn't your Treo, Palm, or iPod. An average paperback is too big to fit into your pocket also, but we don't find large demand that all books be cut down to a 3" by 4" by 1/2" size.
(Oh, and I'm a wide guy with a wide waistline. I actually can fit the Reader into my front trouser pocket, thank you.)
An even further aside: I think that the lack of understanding (and, hence, enthusiasm) by the technical gadget reviewing community is also what's hampered the progress of the Tablet PC and UMPC market - the reviewers just can't understand that the uniqueness of the product might have benefits to the consumer beyond an average person's limitations.

Apologies for that digression, but it does highlight that I think most of the reviews of the Reader have it dead wrong. Especially the ones who've played with them at CES for a few minutes and then write their reviews, without actually using the thing for a month.

The brief answer after the long answer: I've had great experiences with it so far, and expect it to continue. It's been very rugged so far after two or three two to three foot drops. I don't have the cradle; haven't needed it, but I can see where it could be useful. I'm glad I snapped mine up.

Price: It's still a fairly new item. Retail is $350 for the unit, and the cradle is $50 (rounded up.) Assuming the unit is still in pristine condition, and knowing what I know now, I'd pay in the $300-$325 range for a used model with cradle. Sadly, you probably wouldn't get the $50 Connect store credit (you'd get it after authorizing the unit at the Connect store if it hasn't been authorized anywhere else.) Last caveat: The individual Reader is registered with the account created at the Connect store. I don't know, if it's been authorized to someone else's account, how difficult authorizing it on your computer would be. (And, were it stolen, I'm not sure but I'd assume that it could be tracked back down that way....)

[The Alternative]

Two things that I think need to be changed are:

1. There needs to be a place to input owner information to the Reader

and

2. The reader needs a clock display

Other than that the Sony Reader is the best electronic device I've ever purchased (period) and I own a ton of gadgets.