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Sony PRS-505/LC Blue Digital Book Reader
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 List Price: $299.99 Sale Price: $265.00 Availability: unspecified 
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Product Description
The Reader Digital Book holds about 160 eBooks or hundreds more with optional removable memory cards. Its portable size makes it the perfect travel companion, allowing you to read a variety of books whenever and wherever you want. With thousands of eBook titles available from the CONNECT eBooks Store, you can choose to download new releases, classics and popular book titles as well as view other document formats such as Adobe PDF10, RTF, TXT, BBeB and Microsoft Word. Its long battery life lasts up to 7,500 continuous page turns, and the amazing paper-like screen technology is easy on the eyes.
Details
- Easy to read display - e-paper display with quicker page turns
- Premium design - Simple, yet sophisticated with easier navigation
- Compact and lightweight
- Integrated eBookstore with 20K titles
- Up to 7,500 page turns on full charge
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Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
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July 28th, 2010 at 1:00 am
Rating
I purchased my Sony eReader device from Borders, and am very pleased with it. The Sony eBook store has a lot of titles to offer, and after some trial and error on my part I found the best formats in which to import the titles to my device is .rtf, .pdf formats do not import so well, and if you do, they are best viewed in the landscape mode, the reader library software does not tag the pdf files when it imports them.
I also found a small freeware program online called BBeB Binder which converts text and html files into Sony’s .lrf files and it does a great job so I can import all my gutenberg ebooks and the books I have gotten from Baen.com which are in open formats. For me, I find the device perfect. The only problem I had at first with it was after transferring a bunch of titles over and disconnecting it from my computer, was it appeared to freeze up, but then I realized that it was sorting the files by title and author, the more files on the device the longer it takes, but I can put up with that.
I initially started looking at the Amazon Kindle before I new the Sony eReader existed. But after meeting someone with one, and holding it and looking at it the clunkiness of the Kindle put me off, there are buttons all over the place, which is a disaster waiting to happen when shifting it from hand to hand. Plus the guy told me it is hard to hold properly, and he is forever hitting a button and changing the page, or exiting the file he is reading.
And yes, you have to use a booklight for reading in the dark, but that is not so different from having to use a booklight for a paperback or hardback novel. I bought a small compact 3 led booklight from Borders and it works great for lighting up the screen. I also have a 2 gig memory stick and a 2 gig sd card installed so I have plenty of room to store all of my future ebooks.
Everyone has different needs and wants for a reading device, so you should really take a long hard look at each device, and if you can, find someone who has one and see if they will let you look at it, hold it and question them about it first.
Borders had a working demo model of the Sony eReader so I got to use it before buying it, and that was what sold me on it. It had all the features I needed.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:13 am
Rating
This product is one of the coolest I have ever owned. The screen looks so much like paper to me, sometimes I think I am reading an actual book! Its pretty simple to set up right out of the box. It charges right from a USB port in your computer. It also comes with some pre-installed reading material, a few songs, and a few pictures loaded onto it. The pictures look nice but are restricted. (obviously not color) The free offer from Sony for 100 classics is nice, and so far I have loaded several books from that selection onto my device. Anyway, there are VAST amounts of books available that I believe will satisfy any reader. Many are reasonably priced between 4 and 8 dollars. There is enough on-board memory (210MB when I checked properties of the device) to hold many, many books. I have 38 books loaded now and they occupy just over 40MB (including a very large Bible of over 4 MB alone) If you add a memory card (and two types are supported – Sony’s Pro Duo and the more universal SD format) then the limits are probably beyond your needs. A one gig card would hold roughly 2000 books at an average file size of 500k each (file sizes do vary) Battery life? Well, its early to say – but I have almost completed two novels and the meter has not even budged off of full. That seems to fall into line with the claim that Sony boasts. As far as the battery running down with no use, I do not consider that a flaw with regular use and every product I have owned with a battery system like this does the same thing. Thats why they tell you to always charge a battery if the product has been sitting for extensive periods (like a camera for instance) The display is easy to read under decent lighting conditions but I did buy the clip-on light as I believe it will compliment this reader quite well. I recommend it! I also did a side by side comparison of an actual book to this device’s screen and its difficult to see a difference. Its not bright white but neither is most books pages I have seen. The fact that you can zoom the text is an added bonus. You certainly do not have that option with paper. Anyway, I wanted to get back into reading and wanted one of these for a long time. I am happy I took the plunge with this model. I am a very happy customer! If you want a possible future color model, then waiting is the only option. But if reading many books from one location is what you desire, this product should not disappoint.
Update: After reading a couple of reviews about 64 bit incompatibilities, I wanted to say that it would be a real shame if Sony did not address this issue. I have a 32 bit system so I do not encounter this issue now, bit it could be a serious issue in the future. On a downside, the unit does take extra time to load larger files. My Bible takes 20-30 seconds to load. But that is surely an exception as my experience so far sees most book files much smaller than that. Watch the price you pay and be sure to check Sony’s site. A particular retailer here is charging grossly over the normal price. Do your homework before buying!
August 1st, 2010 at 4:30 am
Rating
Sony Reader handles PDF’s blindingly fast if the PDF includes a proper table of contents. If the PDF is created without a table of contents then of course the result will be much less efficient than it could be on this or any other reader.
HERE’s THE PROOF…
I took a dense 1500 page book and formatted it with MS Word to suit the Sony Reader (with a bigger font) creating 8,000 smaller PDF pages optimized for the Sony Reader.
Then I used Adobe Acrobat Professional to create the PDF, instructing it to process ALL tags (default is NO tag processing). The PDF creation process took 1 – 2 hours but the result was incredible.
THE RESULT…
Using the Sony Reader I can now find or reference any part of this HUGE text FASTER than using an actual printed version of the text.
It’s beautiful and it works great!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!
August 9th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Rating
I first found out about ebooks via a forum question at CNet. Hadn’t really known about them before that thread. Read all the responses, got curious, came HERE and read all of the responses (both on Amazon’s reader and Sony’s) and ordered my blue Sony Reader on Thanksgiving Day. I received it yesterday afternoon and within the hour was reading a book I’d always wanted to read but kept forgetting to buy.
The newer model #505 is completly responsive and there is NO lag in the page turning feature. Yah, the contrast could be more black & white vs. pale grey/dark grey but when you read the ebook by a window or light (like I would a paper book) there is ZERO problem in reading it.
The hardest thing for me to do is to get used to NOT TURNING A PAGE!!! Silly, I know; it’s like driving a stick shift for years and then switching to an automatic…you continue to reach for the shift lever by default.
I travel extensively and can be away from home for up to 2 months at a time. I like to travel light so that means a back pack and a computer case. Most of the books I enjoy reading are big thick novels and they simply took up too much space in my backpack. And although I read that many people enjoy reading books from their laptop…I spend hours a day at my laptop designing landscapes, the last thing I want to do is be UPRIGHT at night, reading a book! I want to be cuddled up in an arm chair or flat on my back, in bed, and the Sony Reader allows me to do that luxury.
I’m a dinosaur with technology but the enclosed paper QuickGuide and pdf. file for more advanced features got me through every potential qlitch. I wish EVERY personal electronic device was this simple to install and understand.
Of course, there will be newer and “better” readers in the future, just like laptops and cell phones have evolved. But, I’m willing to accept the few limitations that the current ones have to enjoy the luxury of reading what I want, when I want…and not dragging a Public Library with me.
Also, until February 2008, when you buy a Sony Reader, you get for FREE 100 classic books that you chose, so if you’ve always wanted to read any Jane Austen books or Walt Whitman and have been putting it off, you dont’ have an excuse any longer.
All in all, I’m very, very satisfied!
August 11th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Rating
I just received my ereader and am very impressed with it’s compact size, long battery life, and the extensive number of books that are available for download. I both travel and read a great deal. This will be easy to travel with, and reduce the the need for shelf space for traditional books in my home.
Sony is building an e-reader site for Borders books in early 08. I have no idea when it will officially launch.
This is highly recommended.
August 12th, 2010 at 9:51 pm
Rating
I wanted to create a quick review of the Sony Reader as the other Amazon reviews helped me a lot with deciding whether to purchase:
I spent over a month researching and considering the pro’s and con’s of this device, both as a technology and as in comparison to Amazon’s kindle. I spent almost 4 hours each day commuting and was tired of carrying heavy books with me. I decided to buy and ebook as it would allow me to carry around many books in a lighter package than a standard paper-back. I purchased the Sony Reader as it was smaller and cheaper than the Kindle.
I have not been disappointed. Over the past two weeks I have purchased books online, downloaded free books and converted documents and web pages for my Sony Reader. I have found it to be just as easy on the eyes as a paper-back book, but easier to read as there is no physical page turning involved.
Here would be my point of view on the negatives that I have seen in other reviews:
Poor battery life: I have probably allowed the device to charge for 3 hours over the last two weeks, while I have been copying books onto it. Over those two weeks, while commuting, I am yet to see the battery indicator go below Full.
Poor PDF support: This is a valid point. I am able to view PDFs on the reader, but they are slower and harder to read than normal books. However, I am only interested in the text, so export these to normal .rtf files, and they work great.
Slow page turns: It takes me more time to turn the page of a physical book than it does to hit the button and wait for the screen to refresh. I am a relatively fast reader and have not found my reading interrupted by the page refresh time.
Badly designed software: I did not find the software difficult to use at all. There is also some free software which performs a similar role and works very well.
Poor online book selection: I considered this prior to purchasing the reader. However, it is easy to visit the Sony book store and see if they have enough books of your taste to suffice.
Overall, I am very happy with this purchase so far and hope to continue to be so.
August 15th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Rating
I’ve had my dark blue Sony Reader for exactly two days now and have been reading books non-stop ever since. It’s even better than I expected from all the reviews in these ways: it’s lighter, more compact, easier on the eyes, page turning is a breeze, it feels great in the hands, the three different print sizes offer functionality I didn’t expect to appreciate…
One HUGE Con: A VERY LIMITED INVENTORY OF BOOKS FROM THEIR PROPRIETARY STORE.
Those of us who chose the Sony over the Amazon Kindle are making a big wager that the selection of books will be greatly expanded in the future. I have no complaints whatsoever about the product, but it’s all about inventory, and the Sony selections so far are very disappointing.
Perhaps the competition from the Kindle will force some quick action–or extinction.
August 18th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Rating
Hi guys,
I’m a huge fan of ebooks but it’s only now that I went looking around for a proper ebook reader. In the past, I relied on my Palm handhelds for my reading requirements and never really gave it much thought until I walked into a Sony outlet and saw the Sony Reader. Right then, I was blown away by what it could do. However, I’m not the type to just buy whatever gets me exited without doing research first. So, I decided to check online for my options and check out people’s reviews of the Sony Reader.
After a little while, I started to compare this to the Amazon Kindle 1 & 2. Online reviews mostly favor the Amazon Kindle for it’s substantially large book library, wireless ordering and also it’s web/bookshelf browsing ability. In the same token, the Sony was slammed for it’s lack of wireless, no Mac/Linux support, and the Sony store’s comparatively limited list of books. In other words, if I had just relied on what I read online, I’d probably have a Kindle. Luckily, that wasn’t the case. Here’s why:
1. Kindle’s “Wireless” service only works in the US.
2. Kindle 2 has no expandable memory.
3. Fewer supported formats.
After doing a bit more research on Sony’s Reader, I found out that most of people’s claims are pretty much unfounded. I’ll try to tackle the issues one by one:
1. Sony Reader only works with Windows – False
- The Reader runs on Linux itself and acts as a removable disk if you connect it via USB to either a Mac or Linux computer. Simply cut and paste the ebooks to the right folder and you’re good to go.
2. Sony Reader has a limited library – False
- The Reader supports multiple formats besides Sony’s proprietary format, from Microsof Word as well as Adobe’s PDF and some others. That means you can download from any source as long as it’s in these formats. That opens you up to whole bunch of online options besides Sony’s bookstore.
3. Lack of wireless – True
- The Reader doesn’t have wireless connectivity and it can’t browse online websites. However, this is a feature you may or may not need. Personally, I’m not looking for another netbook type of device since I already have one and besides, if you’re going to give me wireless that I can’t use anywhere else but the US, then it’s a moot point especially if you’re not even from there to begin with.
With all that stacked in favor of Sony’s Reader, I got myself one and couldn’t be happier. The Reader’s not without it’s faults however given that there is a slight lag when flipping pages and if you’re using larger fonts, the Reader sometimes “cuts” pages at weird points: For example, the Reader would display just one paragraph on a page even if the chapter’s not finished and there’s still a lot of space left on the screen. Still, these are all minor gripes which won’t stop me from getting another one if I lose this unit.
That said, I highly recommend you guys check the Reader for yourselves. As it is, the expandable memory, sleeker looks, Linux/Mac support, as well as it’s multi-format support all add up to make this the winner.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Rating
Reviewing this device is a bit hard – why is that ?
Because it is the best eBook reader on the market currently BUT it has problems , but again on the other hand it has less problems than any other device
So let’s begin :
First you need to know about it is that it’s NOT LCD screen. Why this important ? – Two reasons:
a) I and many people can’t read from LCD , the back lighting gives me a headache and my eyes get tired after several minutes , with this device I can read as any paper book. It has just white (well actually bit gray) screen and text looks black on it.
b) The battery holds much longer, and I mean really longer, with regular PDA or cell phone it runs out after 3-5 hours (depending on device and battery) but here it can sustain the device for month. How this happens ? – well this eInk technology does not require power to keep image on screen, just to draw it so battery get used mostly only when you turn the page and believe me you can finish several books with one charge.
I previously owned earlier version of this device called PRS-500 in this version they had fixed several issues I had with previous one.
- They made it appear as “Mass storage device” when connecting to computer so you can just drug-and-drop files there.
- They moved page turn buttons to the right side of the device so now you can hold it with both hands and pressing the buttons right hand is more intuitive.
- They moved the menu selection buttons from bellow the screen to the right so they match software menu positions – a much welcome change also since the right hand is closer to them and it’s more intuitive, like in some ATM machines
Also “Size” button (controlling the text size) moved to more convenient location.
- The bad thing is that dropped the charger from the set, you can still buy it separately but its a downgrade. Anyway , option to charge it from USB is still there
- The device use 2nd generation of eInk technology called Visuplex, with it screen looks much whiter , texts looks more vivid, updated much faster and it does not suffer from the “artifact” leftovers problem PRS-500 had (actually it only sound serious, they were visible only if you look for them)
The device is light, easy to handle and convenient to use.
It’s a book reader, so what types of books can you read on it ?
1. You can read Sony’s own .rlf and .rlx format files (books) bought at SonyConnect store.
2. You can read TXT files.
3. You can read PDF files (here there is a small problem since most PDFs are created in A4/Letter page size and displaying them on 6″ device even in highest magnification looks too small, but you can hold “size” button for several seconds and it will rotate the screen 90° – now everything fits and looks nicely but amount of text on page of course reduced). Also turning page on PDF a bit slow.
4. You can read RTF and DOC files (DOC files actually only loaded thru Sony’s software that convert then in a second to RTF)
Personally I use program called “BookDesigner 5.0″ to convert everything I want to read into Sony’s .RLF format and there are a lot of other converters. SonnyConnect is not the place with best book prices, at least not yet , may be now with some competition from Amazon’s Kindle they might reduce prices. Also there are a lot of free stuff on the internet.
Now what the most impotent things about book reader ? – Well book reading experience
you might notice it.
The device provide a very good one, the 6″ screen for me when I first read about sounded too small but after actually using it it’s a good size, ideal for traveling but at home (to replace paper books totally) I would prefer to have something like 8-9″ , but again it’s a minimum to feel comfortable even at home.
As for a negative sides one can mention that when you turn page it kind of “flashes” inverting it content, probably it’s a technology thing , that’ the way eInk screen clears itself and you do not notice it when reading but if you not reading but reviewing device
Also the page turning could be faster, its not too slow but it touches “bare minimum” of the time one need to read comfortably, especially this true for PDFs.
Device also can show gray images and play MP3 and AAC music (in music case running your battery out pretty fast , I guess no eInk for sound
There are two versions of the device – silver and “dark blue” (it’s so dark that hard to notice it’s blue and not black
) Personally I recommend to get the blue one – text looks much clearer in dark surrounding.
The cover also rather good, you feel that it actually protects the device and it feels good in hands.
Also if you are not English user there are firmware modifications to make this device show your languages. It’s not thanks to Sony but to community of users (they added a lot of modifications also like clock, different icons, navigating pages with joystick etc) but at least this option exists.
Bottom line:
would make this device ideal.
Adding the wireless, increasing speed a bit, supporting full unicode languages range and cutting price by 1/2
Also it would be nice to have it in 8-9″ flavor.
May be having it with touch screen would be nice as well, but sure not with ugly keyboard as on Kindle.
But anyway on my opinion it’s the best device for reading eBooks, for example Amazon’s Kindle looks ugly with all this buttons,weights more support only rather rare formats and huge page turn buttons that should make it easier to use easily pressed by accident (there is more but we not reviewing Kindle here
)
August 21st, 2010 at 1:48 am
Rating
I bought the sony prs-505 digital reader because I like to travel and I like to read. I have taken some longer trips and had to find something to read because I couldn’t carry along enough books, and in some places it is difficult to find books in English. So I thought the digital reader would be a good idea for me. It costs more than I wanted to pay, but I finally talked myself into it.
Point one, a good point in my opinion: One thing that some readers found annoying but I think is good is the fact that the screen is not backlit. I have tried reading from my PDA and from my laptop and the backlighting irritates my eyes after a while. I work on a computer all day long and my eyes don’t seem to suffer, but I have other things to look at besides my computer screen, whereas if I am reading a book I concentrate wholly on the screen for quite a long period of time. The sony reader is not backlit so it is more like a real book. If it is dark you will need a light if you want to read. In my opinion, the contrast between the page and the letters on the page is almost as good as a book. Not quite, but almost.
Point two, mostly a good point: the reader is about the size of a paperback so it fits easily into almost any sort of carrying bag or jacket pocket and, although heavier than a paperback it is much lighter than a hard cover book. The bad thing about this is the size of the screen. I would like it a little bigger but that might make the reader a little too big.
Point three, some good some adequate: there are free electronic books available on the internet. Three sources that I know of right off hand are sony’s free books that come with the reader, Baen books [...], and Project Gutenberg [...]. The books that come with the reader are all classics, many are very good classics, but nothing modern. These books are usually top quality and seem to be made for the sony reader. Project Gutenberg books are all out of copyright. There are lots of them and it will take a long time to see what is available. Baen Publishing offers their authors a chance to offer a free electronic version of their books, but the down side is that some of the free books are part of a series and you might have to purchase other books from the series. The bad part of the free books is that, other than the sony classics, the books are not formatted for the sony reader. The Baen books are pretty good, but the Project Gutenberg books, although very readable, could be better. There are probably other sources for free books, but I haven’t had enough time to search for them yet.
Point four, a pretty good point: I have so far only used .txt, .rtf, and .pdf files in the reader. The .txt and .rtf work pretty good, turning the page is about as fast as if you had to turn a paper page. The only .pdf I have looked at is the user guide and the pages sometimes take several seconds to turn. I don’t have enough experience with the .pdf to say whether they are all like that or not.
Point five, something necessary: You have three different font sizes. Some free books are pretty good and the three font sizes work very well, but some free books have a very small font so even at the largest size offered, it could be difficult for some people to read.
Point six, a very good point: you can add memory with memory cards, there is a slot for an SD memory card and a slot for a Memory Stick Duo. I don’t use these for the books because I have had just under a hundred books on the reader with pleny of room left on the internal memory. What I use the extra space for will be explained in:
Point seven, a very good point IMHO: You can listen to MP3s while reading. This is where I use the extra memory cards.
Point eight, an unnecessary feature IMO: you can look at pictures in black and white on the reader. So what.
Point nine: I recommend buying the extra charger so you don’t have to use the USB plug to charge it. I think charging it with the USB plug is a pain in the neck.
My final analysis: I would probably give it four and a half stars rather than five, but I would recommend the sony reader to people that can afford it and that would use it. And buy the extra charger.
ADDITION TO THE REVIEW: Okay, I have had the PRS-505 for quite a while now. I still say it gets five stars.
[...]
Sony has an update available that the Sony ebook software on the PC will suggest installing. Do it. The one thing that I really noticed is that it helps with the PDF format. Note, however, that your ebook must be attached by USB and it should be fully charged before downloading the update.
[...] has started putting their free ebooks into several formats including Sony’s .lrf format. It helps make them easier to read.
There is some free software available that converts several formats into the proprietary .lrf format. [...]. I have used it with PDF files as well as files with the .lit format and it does a pretty good job. It also works with files from the Gutenberg.org site, .txt, .rtf, and .htm files. Using the .htm files you can also get pictures when available. The pictures are black and white, but sometimes they add quite a bit to the story. There might be other software available, but this was the first I found and it does the job for me.
If you search the net you can find free copies of copyrighted books. They might be in the wrong format, but Calibre might be able to help with that. Keep in mind that it is illegal to download free copies of copyrighted books without the author’s permission. Also, earlier I mentioned project gutenberg. Australia and Canada also have their projects gutenberg. If you are from those countries, check them out. They have different copyright laws than the U.S. so they might have some books that the U.S. doesn’t offer.
[..]