Can't decide...

[Asphodel]

I think I've researched to the point of being overwhelmed. I have read many of the threads here hoping that all the great advice to others might help me make up my mind but I think I need to ask for myself.

I'm torn between the Sony 505 and the Kindle 2.

My main interest will be in purchasing and downloading popular fiction, but I want to easily and quickly load content from the many other sources online (all legitimate stuff) and my local library has an ebook lending program I want to try out.

I want to stay with an e-ink model and a 6" screen (or larger, although I'm not sure I can afford a larger screen because the Kindle 2 is at the top of my budget.)

I have a PC and I should be able to run whatever software is required to manage the device I choose.

I'm pretty sure that I can do what I want to do on both devices. My main concern is how quick and easy is it to load non-Amazon content to a Kindle? And it seems like, with the Kindle, that a lot of what you're paying for is the Whispernet access, which I can see being convenient when I travel - but I don't travel that often.

On the other hand, the Sony store selection is not as good as what is available through Amazon and it seems a bit more expensive, at least for some titles.

I guess I'm just looking for input/opinions/advice from those who are more knowledgeable than I. Any thoughts are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by Asphodel

My main interest will be in purchasing and downloading popular fiction, but I want to easily and quickly load content from the many other sources online (all legitimate stuff) and my local library has an ebook lending program I want to try out.

I'm pretty sure that I can do what I want to do on both devices. My main concern is how quick and easy is it to load non-Amazon content to a Kindle? And it seems like, with the Kindle, that a lot of what you're paying for is the Whispernet access, which I can see being convenient when I travel - but I don't travel that often.

Non amazon content can be loaded to the kindle from your pc with the usb cord provided. Easy peasy. It must be drm free (like what we have here) or you need to strip the drm first.

Sony has the easiest library usage.

Whispernet can be used just about anywhere in the US.....not just for traveling.

If you want a book from the Amazon store, whether you are at home or in the docs office or standing in line somewhere, you turn on whispernet, go to the Kindle store, find it and click 'buy now'. Bingo bango....its there. Thats the beauty of it.

You can also buy books from other sites for the Kindle. See here. This is a great link. (thanks to Daffy)

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...+myths&page=20

[Alisa]

Personally, I was willing to pay the extra money to get search, dictionary lookup and annotation. When I first decided to get the Kindle over the Sony or the Cybook (the main eInk competitors at the time), it was these features as well as the selection and price in the Amazon store that sealed the deal. Cybook has dictionary support. Actually, its dictionary support is considerably better than the Kindle, but it didn't have search. Sony just didn't have the features I wanted. Great price and nice design, though. And it has better PDF and ePub now which is attractive.

At the time, I didn't really think Whispernet was a big deal. Now that I have it, I see more value in it. The key for me is the free sample chapters. Some stores have excerpts on their sites. Sometimes they're a few paragraphs or even a few pages worth. I've yet to see a store that gave you a whole chapter and sometimes more. This has totally changed the way I buy books. Before I moved to ebooks, I would go to the book store and try to find enough things that interested me to hold me over for a few weeks. I would frequently end up with 5 or so books. Some of them I didn't like enough to finish. Some were a passing fancy and I didn't even start. I estimate a good 20% of the stuff on my shelves was unread. Since my taste runs to contemporary fiction, that was a lot of hardbacks. Now, when I hear of a book that interests me, I go to Amazon and click on the button to send myself a sample. When I want to read a new book, I have a bunch of samples waiting for me. When I finish one and decide I like it, I buy the book. Not only is the book cheaper, I'm not buying books I don't finish. Of course, I could read the shorter online excerpt many stores provide and decide from there if want it. They're usually about as long as I would read standing in the book store, too. IME that's not enough for me to be reasonably sure (as exemplified by the many unread books in my library). Also, since I'm pretty much always where there is Whispernet coverage, I don't worry about buying stuff ahead so I'll have something when I'm ready for the next book. I can be at a cafe, in the park, on the train or just snuggled up in bed with a cat on my lap. I don't need to get myself in shopping mode when I want to be in reading mode. So, not only is it astoundingly easy to buy books, I'm actually buying fewer and reading more than I did before. I'm not trying to anticipate what I will want later. I buy what I want now.

[kelly1010]

I have the Sony 505 and the ability to download library books is one of my favorite things about the 505. The price was the other deciding factor. It is VERY easy to download library books to the 505. I enjoy reading popular fiction, and so far I've been able to find every book I want to read on my 505. I know the Kindle store is cheaper, but the FREE library books offset that.

[HamptonsDave]

I just received a 505 for my birthday. I have not taken it out of the package yet because I want to make sure it is the right ereader for me. Is it easy to get books for and is it the right choice over the Kindle? I would like to be able to use my libraries ebook download feature. Help please.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by HamptonsDave

I just received a 505 for my birthday. I have not taken it out of the package yet because I want to make sure it is the right ereader for me. Is it easy to get books for and is it the right choice over the Kindle? I would like to be able to use my libraries ebook download feature. Help please.

Well............welcome to MobileRead, Dave.

Only you can decide if its the best reader for you. We can offer lots of opinions, and believe me.......you'll be getting them.
The Sony is easier to download library books with.

The Kindle has a wider variety of books thru Amazon, and they are less expensive, and you get instant gratification with the whispernet service.

Realize that which ever device you stay with, not every book is available.........yet.

Now, you might want to go here and start your own new "introduce me" thread......right now you are kinda hidden.

Let us welcome you properly.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=49

[grooks]

I purchased the 505 before the library borrowing feature was available. Once it became available I am saving so much money by not having to purchase books. Before deciding whether the Sony 505 is a device for you, check your local library's selection of pdf/epub and mobi books. Look at some of your favorite authors to see what is available. Make sure there is enough of the content you want before making a purchase.

Some people have libraries that do not have a very good selection of ebooks. If you are reading popular fiction and your only option is to purchase it is difficult to beat Amazon's $9.99 bestsellers.

[ht1948]

Get the 505, you will not regret. Ask yourself how many times you are going to use the Kindle keyboard or use Whispernet to purchase book? I don't think the answer is many. And the easy library borrowing is a killer feature. Last but not the least, the Sony just flat out beats the Kindle 2 in the look department.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by ht1948

Get the 505, you will not regret. Ask yourself how many times you are going to use the Kindle keyboard or use Whispernet to purchase book? I don't think the answer is many. And the easy library borrowing is a killer feature. Last but not the least, the Sony just flat out beats the Kindle 2 in the look department.

The keyboard is used to search and use the web features.

The Kindle has a built in dictionary. A great feature.....just ask those who don't have one.

As for looks....its a matter of perspective. I much prefer the looks of my K1 to the Sony. Its a personal thing.

And you can use the library with the Kindle. Just not quite as easily.

[MickeyC]

I agree with ht1948. I've had a 505 for over a year and a half and really like it. And I've downloaded lots of books from our local library.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by ht1948

Get the 505, you will not regret. Ask yourself how many times you are going to use the Kindle keyboard or use Whispernet to purchase book? I don't think the answer is many. And the easy library borrowing is a killer feature. Last but not the least, the Sony just flat out beats the Kindle 2 in the look department.

I don't use the Whispernet to shop usually. I use it to get the rest of the book after I've read the sample chapter. That means I can read samples at my leisure and not worry about whether I have internet access to get the rest of the book when I'm done. This decreases the level of speculation in my book buying and saves me money (aside from being remarkably convenient). I've saved more than enough to make up for the price difference by NOT buying books after reading the sample. These are books I would have bought if I'd only had a couple paragraphs to read. I also use Whispernet for the occasional web or Wikipedia search. It's great for tracking down allusions made in older books and historical novels. By the way, I get plenty of books from my library. Even the Adobe books are simple to convert. It takes less than a minute. Any book they have, I can read on my Kindle.

The Sony is attractive but even though it was the only eInk game in town when I first saw it, I couldn't abide the lack of features. The fact that it had no dictionary and I couldn't search my books on it astounded me. You have computing power and documents. You should be able to harness that to do something more than just display books. The only thing it has that I'm envious of is the content organization with the "Collections" feature. Not quite my ideal. I'd rather have folders or tags you could manage without special software, but it's still an advantage.

[Elfwreck]

Key differences:

Sony PRS-505 allows you to use ADE to download library books.
Has slots for memory cards.
Reasonable, native PDF support.
Collections sorting feature.

Kindle has search, dictionary, and Whispernet functions.
No memory cards, but theoretically re-download at will.
Troublesome PDF support--files must be converted by Amazon.
No idea what sorting features are possible.

(I consider "instant download of new purchased books" to be a minor thing; most of us can plan ahead more than a few hours and get a new book when we're next at a computer. It might be nice, but isn't as nifty a feature as general web-browsing.)

In order to put library ebooks on the Kindle, the DRM would have to be removed, a maneuver of dubious legality and some technical skill. However, it's do-able; there isn't any "browse the web with the Sony" option.

I love my Sony, but I'm aware that what I love about it isn't everyone's ideas of the best features. Part of what I like is the PDF support; I can make & edit PDFs to work well on it. I also like the ePub support, as many drm-free ebook sites offer ePubs.

[kelly1010]

I also have a 505 and the free library books was one of the deciding factors. I'm not into converting, etc. I want to download my books and start reading and not waste time with that other stuff. The whispernet was really the only thing I liked about the Kindle, but I decided it wasn't worth the extra $90 (I'd rather use that money to buy books). I haven't missed the whispernet so far. It is no problem for me to do everything on the computer.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Key differences:

No idea what sorting features are possible.

It's pretty basic. You can sort by author, title and having the most recently added stuff first. Search helps, though. It's not as nifty as being able to categorize stuff yourself. Some people have used the annotation system to add tags of a sort.

[Asphodel]

Thanks for all the replies - all the good information you folks have provided has given me a lot to think about.

I think I am making progress in making my decision. Based on the responses here, I've checked out a few things. My local library's ebook program is really rather lacking in selection, so that doesn't appear to be a major consideration (at least at this point, I suppose they may add more in the future). I did some comparison shopping on several books that I am interested in buying, and they were cheaper on Amazon, every one of them. I am a little concerned that Amazon may raise their prices in the future, since I think they are discounting Kindle books quite a lot to promote Kindle sales and I don't expect that to last forever. But even if Amazon raises their prices I doubt they would be more expensive than the other ebook retailers out there that I've checked (Fictionwise, Diesel, the Sony store).

If I'm understanding correctly, I can use Calibre to convert any unsecured free book I might download (like public domain books) to a format that Kindle can read and load them on with the USB cable.

So I think I'm going to get the Kindle 2. The Sony looks like a great product and I like the fact that it is open source friendly, but I'm thinking the Kindle might be the device for me.

I've been so indecisive about this for the last few days that I want to see if I can stick with this decision for a bit before placing an order. ^^;;

Thanks again for all the help and info. This is a great place.