If you were to get another reading devise....

[Bremen Cole]

Originally Posted by Treven

I'll wait a few months and buy the Sony 900; I'm just a Sony fan; all of my readers have been Sony. My laptop, TV, DVD player, and Amp are all Sony. Hell, if Sony made kitchen appliances I'd buy those instead of Kitchen Aide.

lol I used to be a major Sony fan as well. But it seemed 10-15 years ago their quality and innovation went down. Also the brand was diluted a bit too much with cheap, low end products. But, it seems the past few years they are getting back on track. I may be returning to the Sony fold myself

[lionel47]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

From reading many of the posts here, it makes lots of people cry..........

Really? Is the Sony software that bad?

[rjfarrell]

Truly, I do not have any issues with the Sony Software. We have a total of 6 Sony Readers between myself, husband, kids, mother-in-law.

I will admit that my mother-in-law finds it more challenging at upgrade time. So we walk her thru it.

Honestly, my 3 kids and my husband and myself find the software easy to use. Is there better? Absolutely, if you invest more time and need more from it. For fast easy purchase of books (purchase of free and or for $) and for downloading from the library, its quite fabulous. I want to buy or check out a book, read it, and be done.

My 2 cents.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by lionel47

Really? Is the Sony software that bad?

Doesn't seem to be to "intuitive" for the newbies.

True, some don't read the instructions first, but even when they do, it seems a lot have problems, just from the posts I'm seeing.

However, that being said........there is the other side of the coin. Like the post below.....many have no problems with it.

Hmmmm........I see a poll coming........

[CarolB]

I've had no issues with the software. I think it's kinda neat, but I've never done the e-reader thing before, so that's just me. I'm no computer literate person either. Something hiccups on the computer and I have to call my husband to fix it. I love my Sony, have no issues with the software either.

[Meemo]

Originally Posted by CarolB

What would it be? I have a 600, but my sister is trying to convince me to get a Kindle 2 at tax time to supplament my present reader. She figures with the books she has (hundreds) and the free ones on there all the time that it'll be worth it. I'd consider it, but I'm afraid that if I do, that I'll neglect my 600 and I don't want to do that. I paid good money for it and even though the books are cheaper and the screen a little crisper on the Kindle, I still love my Sony. What would you do?

If you and your sister have similar reading tastes, and you would be sharing an account, it could definitely be advantageous for you to get a Kindle. I've had my Kindle for over a year, and it's more than paid for itself in free downloads, not just of the classics, but current/recent books (and I got it back when they were still $359). I got a Sony 300 in November, and it's clear that Amazon offers much more in the way of free current/recent content than Amazon does. I like both readers, for different reasons - and find that I use them about equally at this point. (If I had to get rid of one, though, it would definitely be the Sony - partly because I have so much more content from Amazon, partly because there's just more features I like about the Kindle than the Sony.)

If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you could get the Kindle app and try sharing accounts that way - if it works out you could get a refurbished Kindle from Amazon for $219. Or just stick with the Kindle app.

[CarolB]

There is VERY little that she and I read alike. I have MUCH more conservative taste in books than she does. The free current books are something that very much appeals to me. They have alot of books coming up free that I would read and it would have already paid for itself by the time I read the books that I'd pay for on Sony that are free on the Kindle. That said, I would use both becuase there's things I like and things I LOVE about my Sony. I just have a hard time spending the money on something like that, even several months from now after just having spent the money on my Sony, almost feels like I'm cheating on my Sony. I'm sure there's a way to strip the DRM from the Kindle books I've gotten free for Kindle for PC, but I'm not a computer person and don't want to ruin the books.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

However, it should be noted that Amazon will introduce the "Cue" at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas this month. It just may beat the Sony PRS 900. No details on that one yet.

1. It's called the "Que", not the "Cue".
2. It's being made by Plastic Logic and has absolutely nothing to do with Amazon.
3. It's not being released at CES. Plastic Logic are merely announcing when it will be released.

[kwjones]

If I were to consider a "2nd" reading device, I'd probably be looking at PDA or PMP size, like an HP iPAQ 110 or 210 series, or an Archos 5 Android internet tablet.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by lionel47

Funny, until about a week ago, I was struggling with whether to get a Sony Daily Edition or an Astak EZ Reader. I like the EZ Reader because of all the different file types it handles and the fact that they regularly release firmware updates.

I like the Daily Edition for the wifi and the fact that I can get RSS feeds from the wireless.

Ultimately, I decided that I would wait to see what new ereaders come out at CES this week. I'm rooting for Astak to come up with a reader that meets my requirements because they seem like a good company working hard to satisfy customers. However, if something else meets my requirements better, then I have to go with it.

If I were to consider another reader, the Astak EZ Reader and the Daily Edition would be the two readers currently available that I would take into consideration. I especially like the native html reading on the Astak, even though converting html really isn't a hassle with calibre. I also like that it can read .lit files (although I've read that lit files can be a problem sometimes with the Astak reader). All in all it looks like a great reader.

I would love the 900 for the larger screen size (but not too large as to be impractical to read on the bus, for example), the annotation abilities, the margin-cropping, the great reviews I've heard about pdf viewing, and the fact that Sony isn't skimping on the extras with it.

My next reader will have to wait as it is, so I, too, will be watching out for what readers will be announced at CES. I love my 505, and as much as the Astak appeals to me I really don't think I would use it enough to warrant a buy. If I did get the 900, it would be primarily to read and mark-up pdfs (journal articles and the like), so I would be using it in a different capacity. Some of these larger-screened readers that I see being announced would probably be better for that sort of work, I'll have to see how they are priced.

I do like that the Kindle offers dictionaries in languages other than English. (I'd probably buy the whole gamut if I had one), but other than that, a lot of the features that other people make extensive use of (i.e. text to speech, the hard keyboard) I don't think I would use much (if at all), and as I don't live in the U.S. probably wouldn't even be able to make much use of it's bookstore, so the Kindle wouldn't really be a consideration for me. I can see why so many people love it, however.

If you are happy with your reader and it suits your reading needs, I say save your money and use it to buy more books for your Sony-600. If money isn't an issue and there are certain features on the Kindle that you think you'd really enjoy, then go for it, especially if you can get a used / refurbished model. A lot of the free books that Kindle offers Sony ends up offering as well, so you probably won't be missing much in that respect.


Best of luck!

[HarryT]

If I were to get an 8th reading device...

It would be a larger-screen one. But I'm going to wait and see what comes out in the first half of this year.

[bookwerm]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Doesn't seem to be to "intuitive" for the newbies.

True, some don't read the instructions first, but even when they do, it seems a lot have problems, just from the posts I'm seeing.

However, that being said........there is the other side of the coin. Like the post below.....many have no problems with it.

Hmmmm........I see a poll coming........

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I am running Windows Vista, which I think the tech world has pretty much agreed is a piece of crap. However, I don't have any problems running any other software on my laptop, which leads me to blame Sony, not Vista.

I am always envious of the people who don't have any problems with the Reader store, but have spent several hours combing through threads on MR, hoping to find another thread on the problem I'm having. Mi biggest problem on 3.0 was that i couldn't even view my library at all - could only use the software to download. if you clicked on the library or a collection, the app froze and quit. Lovely. then, i upgraded to 3.1. now i can see my library (yay!), but can't sync through the reader library - it tries to tell me that older LRF books I purchased in the reader store are not authorized copies and can't be synced to my reader. argh! yes, i could just download the epub versions of the books, and i think the problem would go away.... except i prefer LRF format over ePub. it's also the principle of the matter - i guess after years of being spoiled by easy-to-use-out-of-the-box Apple devices (iphone, ipods, etc.) i hate that Sony can't figure out how to build great hardware AND software to run it.

end rant.

[Meemo]

Originally Posted by CarolB

There is VERY little that she and I read alike. I have MUCH more conservative taste in books than she does. The free current books are something that very much appeals to me. They have alot of books coming up free that I would read and it would have already paid for itself by the time I read the books that I'd pay for on Sony that are free on the Kindle. That said, I would use both becuase there's things I like and things I LOVE about my Sony. I just have a hard time spending the money on something like that, even several months from now after just having spent the money on my Sony, almost feels like I'm cheating on my Sony. I'm sure there's a way to strip the DRM from the Kindle books I've gotten free for Kindle for PC, but I'm not a computer person and don't want to ruin the books.

Well, if you ruin it, you just download it again. As I said, my Kindle has more than paid for itself in free downloads - both from Amazon and from other sites.

I understand what you mean about "cheating". I've had my Kindle for over a year, it's the original, and when I got my daughter the K2 for Christmas my husband and I were both playing with it and really liking it and I did feel guilty, like I was making "Pearl" (my K1) feel old and fat and unloved. Yeah, I know....

But Pearl and my pink Sony 300 (who has no name yet) get along just fine.

[hike_gc]

Originally Posted by lionel47

Really? Is the Sony software that bad?

My issues with the Sony software have been installing it. It didn't make me cry but I had very impolite words to say about it. Even the last software update was a problem for me. I've learned to download the software, close all open programs, turn off my anti virus/system protection software, and then attempt the install. Sometimes after all that it takes a couple tries to get the install to work. But once I get the software installed, it works fine. It's just the aggravation that it takes me away from reading and doing more productive things. When I purchase a product, I expect it to work with the necessity of me jumping through hoops, etc in order to get it to work. Very demanding of me, I know.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lionel47

Funny, until about a week ago, I was struggling with whether to get a Sony Daily Edition or an Astak EZ Reader. I like the EZ Reader because of all the different file types it handles and the fact that they regularly release firmware updates.

Have you wondered why there are so many firmware updates for the EZ Reader? Just think about it.

Personally, of all the currently released readers, I do like the 900 best. But I think the Que could be better. But the price is going to be out of most people's price range.