PRS-900 Wait for the 900 or go with 600?

[mteneyck]

Hi All -

I am having a hard time deciding if I should wait for the PRS-900 or go for the PRS-600. Perhaps you can help me! Is it worth the extra time and $$ (although by the time I purchase a case for the 600, the $$ savings does diminish)?

I will use the reader for both recreational and professional reading, and definitely want to be able to make notes on what I'm reading. I plan to access digital books from our public library and want to make sure I can get them on the reader. I travel only about once a quarter and I'm about to have a baby so I expect to be at home a lot in the coming months!

That being said, I do love gadgets and wonder if I will regret not getting the "best available" Sony model. Totally conflicted.

Merci!!

[Kolenka]

Here's what you get from the 900 over the 600 (the big things anyways):

- 3G access to the Reader Store
- 1.3" (roughly) taller screen
- One extra zoom level
- Two-page view (when the device is in horizontal orientation)
- Periodicals in their own section of the device.
- A more refined UI to fill the larger screen.

You do lose support for DRM'd BBeB (LRF) books though.

It'd be hard to which one you should go for without knowing if any of the above is important to you.

[brookie]

Originally Posted by Kolenka

Here's what you get from the 900 over the 600 (the big things anyways):

You do lose support for DRM'd BBeB (LRF) books though.

It'd be hard to which one you should go for without knowing if any of the above is important to you.

I am new to e-books/readers and am in the same boat.

How would losing support for DRM'd BBeB books affect me as a new user? I just don't want to miss out on a lot of titles, that's all. Is the loss of LRF support mainly a disadvantage for users who have a large collection of LRF formatted e-books?

I plan to download books from the Sony Store, Manybooks and Munseys and also to take advantage of e-books offered by my public library.

Edit: I think what I just might do is view both LRF and ePub books on my mom's 505 and get a feel for the difference.

Thanks!

[omk3]

Originally Posted by brookie

How would losing support for DRM'd BBeB books affect me as a new user? I just don't want to miss out on a lot of titles, that's all. Is the loss of LRF support mainly a disadvantage for users who have a large collection of LRF formatted e-books?

Thanks!

LRF is the former sony proprietory format, sold until very recently through the sony store. The sony store is now changing all its titles to epub, so as a new user, it shouldn't concern you at all.
The main reasons for wanting to choose the 900 over the 600 would be the screen size and the wireless connectivity. There are also some other minor advantages in that it makes automatic read/unread categories and stuff like that, but really its two main selling points against the 600 are screen and wireless. It's up to you if you want these features or not.

[Kolenka]

It should only be an issue if you have already bought books from the Sony Reader Store before Dec 11th, 2009, and those books aren't yet available for re-download after the switch to ePub. I don't know of any other seller beyond Sony that used DRM'd BBeB.

Because I have no idea what people have in their existing library, I figured it'd be a good idea to bring it up, but it shouldn't impact too many people, and anyone buying their first e-Ink device will be unaffected.

[mteneyck]

Thank you for your responses so far. I am a new user, so format is not an issue for me. I guess what I'd like to know from those of you w/o wireless connectivity is, do you find yourself wishing you had it?

[omk3]

I don't. I actually would like to avoid wireless connectivity entirely, because I have big brother issues :P (ok, I know that's my problem)

Seriously now, I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that you will only be able to use the wireless to shop from the sony store, and that you will still have to go via usb for all the other epub selling stores. I might be wrong though, so please correct me if anyone has different information.

Anyway, I don't find it that much of a hassle to buy via my laptop and load via usb, and since I like removing the drm first, that's what I would have to do either way.
Still I'm usually at home for many hours. If I spent most of my time on the road, maybe the flexibility the wireless would give me might be a major bonus.

[Kolenka]

I had a first-gen Kindle, sold it because of early hardware issues (now fixed) and Amazon's desire to stick to Mobipocket with their Amazon-only DRM.

The one thing I miss about it is being able to have newspapers delivered by wireless so it is there in the morning before I leave for work (or I can grab it on the bus or in the office if the wireless was off overnight).

The larger screen will also help if you read comics (it is closer to the ratio of a lot of Japanese and US comics, and the extra size will make text easier to read).

ADDITIONAL: I've gotten a chance to play with one of the demos of the 900 at a local Sony store. The screen is pretty much identical to the 600 in readability. The taller screen is just about perfect in size, IMO.

The case is a bit lighter-duty than the 300/500/505/600 (more higher-quality plastics, less metal in the shell) to keep the weight about the same as the 600. I didn't really find it to be a bad thing, as the weight loss does help keep it easy to hold with one hand.

[scottjl]

unless you need some daily periodicals and don't feel like hooking up to a computer every night then there isn't a hell of a lot of advantage the 900 has. the screen isn't that much larger, and a larger screen does mean a larger unit to carry around with you. i was going to hold out for 900 and thought to myself "do i really need 3g?" the answer was no. i'm very happy with my 600.

[mteneyck]

Thank you, all, for you input. I went to Best Buy to check out the 600 and decided it was just what I needed. So, I am now the proud owner of a Red PRS-600. Can't wait to start reading!

Now I just need to figure out how to upload books in Adobe Digital Editions (borrowed from the library) onto the device. The Adobe site shows instructions for the PRS-505 but not for the 600. I'll poke around other threads, but if someone reads this and knows the answer let me know.

Thanks.

[quillaja]

I didn't use ADE to upload to my 600, but i think it's as simple as plugging it in, loading up ADE, and a few clicks of the mouse.

[Kolenka]

If you have 3.0/3.1 of the Reader Library, you can use it for ADE books (reading and copying).

The 600 should be the same as the 505 though, and you can just plug it in and ADE will see it. This doesn't work on the Mac or Linux though.

[mteneyck]

aha, so that's why I'm having problems. I'm on a Mac. Am I out of luck?

[Kolenka]

Here's what seems to work for me:

Authorize the machine to ADE (if you haven't already)
Install the Sony Reader software (3.1 for Mac)
Copy ADE books using the Sony software after authorizing the device.

The Sony Software seems to look at your ADE authorization and use it.

[wifish]

900,if money is not a question