Customer Reviews

Sony PRS-500 Portable Reader System

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I got this a few days ago after seeing the high cost to get a physical paper print of a PDF book from an online publisher.

I have many technical computer documents in PDF format that I like to read. Most of them range from 200-1500 pages; having a print copy has always been more convenient to read a few pages here and there (especially on long road trips and while on the bus / subway).

I decided to get this item as used from a seller. Overall I really like my Sony Reader. If it was not for the cost I would have given 5 stars. In addition, the following are my personal scale from 1-3 (3 being the highest):

Reading clarity 2.8: Very sharp, but the brighter the surrounding light the better the contrast. I am thinking of getting a clip-on booklight so I can read in the dark (late bus rides home). When changing pages, you can see a slight "ghost" print in 15-30% of the previous imprint. However, it is very faint, and may be the limitation of the eInk technology. Ghost images do not seem to go past 3-4 page turns, however, imprints can linger in 5-10% for up to 3-4 page turns. (It seem that the screen does a single refresh when you turn the page.)

Battery Life 3.0: I've had it for the last 4 days, reading about 3 hrs / day, and it is still has 50% battery bars from the original charge.

Portability 3.0: Lighter and thinner than most of my books.

Size 2.2: The regular screen may be too small for my PDF manuals. I use the landscape and larger font for viewing. This is perfect for a novel / story book with "medium" font setting; however, most computer books and manuals are intended to be printed much larger. The size is comparable to most story book, but since there is an option for a larger font and landscape mode, I do not mind turning more pages so that I do not have to strain my eyes.

Readability Convenience 2.5: There are only 2 font settings (small and medium). The medium size is easier for me to read, but I find myself pressing the next page button rather often. However, I can take this more conveniently than a full book (lighter, smaller), so I get more reading done. (after reading other's comment, I may need to take better care not to crack the screen, though.).

Performance 2.5: It does take time to go to the next page (about 1-3 seconds delay depending on the complexity of the next page). I find myself pressing the next button ahead of time to keep a fast reading pace.

PDF 1.9: PDF seems a little slow to go to the next page when there is a picture, image, or diagram. Also, setting it on Medium font size does seem to be consistent in PDF. The font size seems to stay at small, when you change back to small then medium again you see a larger version. Also, diagrams, drawings, pictures are very difficult and next-to-impossible to read. I look on the computer to review diagrams.

Expandability 3.0: I have a 2 gig SD memory card in mine, and I still have 95%+ free memory with over 30 books.

In addition, the following deficiencies may be important to some (mostly, not a big deal to me, but I would consider a competing product):
-No way to zoom, or apply custom zooming from 0-200% or 0-x%.
-No light source or backlit (It would be nice if they could embedd led's for night reading.)
-Has Mp3 player, but no built-in speakers. (they could have taken small speakers out their palm or phone products)
-No search feature. Sometimes when I want to recall a topic or sentence, It would be easier to run a search instead of scrolling through the pages. (makes sense, since it does not have a keyboard. when frustrated, I just use the computer).

We've owned a Sony reader for over a year now. First, it sure beats having to travel with a bunch of heavy and space consuming books. One reviewer said that the font size couldn't be adjusted. This is completely false. The font size can be adjusted VERY easily. Another reviewer mentioned that the screen wasn't backlit. Probably knowing more about electronics than that reviewer, I can assure you that there is a very good reason for NOT backlighting such a large screen... That reason is power consumption. Backlighting requires a great deal of power; even more power than creating the actual letters and words on the screen. Face it, a regular book isn't back lit either! If you would like to read in a dark environment, you can use any number of small, LED, book reading lights that are available for under $10. Otherwise, in standard light, reading the Sony book is just like reading a piece of white paper... very pleasing to the eyes, and, again, you CAN adjust the size of the fonts to suit your eyesight. In addition to being capable of holding up to around 160 books, the Reader can also be used as an MP3 player. Very Cool and Nice! You can listen to music by itself, or, while you are reading. Downloading both reading material and music on to the player is simple via your USB connection. If you want to increase the memory of the Reader, you can do so by using a Sony Memorystick or a standard SD memory card. And, the memory cards just slip in the side of the unit. After you use this product, you'll wonder why you have so many paperbacks laying around. It is extremely convenient, easy-to-use, space and weight saving, and downloading a book costs about the same as the best price you would pay for a paperback book. (There are also many books and publications that can be downloaded for free). This would be a wonderful gift for someone who loves to read.

The Sony Reader is an absolute marvel. First of all the screen - is incredible - the brighter the light - the easier it is to read the screen. It was described to me as liquid paper, and is a different technology than LCD's. An LCD is backlit - and in bright sunlight difficult to read.

Not the Sony Reader - It has no backlight, and is intended to be just like a book (ie. Needs light to read).

It is elegant, light, CRISP screen, and capable of storing E-Books, MS Word Documents, and Adobe .pdf files.

MOST Amazing is the battery life - it is rated in page turns, not hours on. It takes virtually no electric power and can stay on indefinately, and only takes power when you turn a page. (Allows 7,500 page turns on a re-charge)

I have read more than 5,000 pages already, and find it so easy to carry around many books that I have always wanted to read, but couldn't find the space in my briefcase to carry the book(s). I have 80 books currently on mine....... So many books are available for free on the internet.

Even better - is the Sony READERS ability to play your favorite music while reading your books, because it plays MP3's.

And if all that isn't enough - You can store pictures in it as well.

Could not recommend this product higher - MUST HAVE!!!!!!

This unit has spent its life: on my book shelf, packed securely in my handbag or at the Sony repair facility. No one else has touched it.

I pre-ordered the Reader from Sony Style direct for my mother. It arrived last November and mom found it too complicated. I decided to keep it for traveling. I didn't really try it out until January and I noticed that the battery drained quickly (only used the AC adapter) and the buttons didn't work according to the manual. After many calls the unit went back to Sony - they did a firmware upgrade & shipped it back...no mention of the buttons. I took it on an extended trip and the battery ran out after 1,000 page turns. The screen also seemed to get greyer..and the buttons still didn't work.

Upon return, I started the multi-hour process of connecting with Sony and gave up. I restarted the process (literally 3.5 hours on the phone) and eventually sent it back in for repairs. I got a notice that while the ubited was no damaged in transit it (my packaging was fine) the unit was damaged - needed a new motherboard, screen, etc. to the tune of more than $297. Of course not covered under warranty. Luckily I had bought additional warranty that could pay for the repair.

The unit was never dropped - if there was damage it occured during handling by a Sony person. Since the unit never worked properly my thory is that it was defective. It seems disgraceful to throw "good money after" to repair the unit (yup - I grew up not only in New England, but before everything became disposable). I don't want to use the extended warranty coverage to have a repaired defective unit - I want a replacement.

Sony has trained all of its service personnel beautifully in the art of saying no. No replacement. I even wrote to Sony Corporate in NYC - no response.

The Reader is a cool idea - but for a product that was designed for travel it isn't strong enough for the intended purpose. The "page turn" is very, very slow, so "page turners" are agony to read.

Also, Sony appears to have absolutely no concept of standing behind their product - as in admitting that it could have been defective - or cern with return customers. This is my second bad experience with a Sony product during the past 3 years.

I've had my Sony eReader for over a year and am very happy with it. I'll spare you all the common complaints--no backlight, impossible to re-size font from a pre-existing PDF--and concentrate on the positives.

While this technology doesn't have the whiz-bang factor of the new Kindle (which I haven't tried and probably won't for a good long while), this is a very nice first step. The picture quality is fabulous, the page itself very close to reading something in a paperback, and the reader itself easy to use. An expandable slot allows you to add more books to your queue or load some music to listen to as you read. Having that nice cover also means you don't run the risk of wasting battery power by having something in your backpack or purse turn on the unit. I've found that the battery power lasts about a week and a full charge requires about six hours (though twelve are recommended).

The CONNECT ebook store started out being fairly spare but has grown over the time I've had my reader and the selection's getting better. I have read that some Kindle users are unhappy with the relative lack of certain authors' books, and that was a problem for CONNECT, too. That is, they'd release the newest book by a particular author and perhaps the one just before that, but that was it. As the store's gone along, though, they've built up a bigger inventory. The prices are pretty good, too, though higher than Kindle's $9.99 flat rate.

Am I curious about the Kindle? Sure. The primary advantage the Kindle has over the Sony eReader is the Whispernet, and certainly delivering newspapers and magazines to people on an electronic reader is a boon to folks who travel or just flat out want to save a tree or two (and my reason for getting the eReader). But it would be hard for me to imagine how you'd actually go about maneuvering through a newspaper or magazine on an ereader: finding what page to go to, focusing on a particular article, etc. A review in Newsweek said the same thing.

Here's the thing, though: If you can delay your wish for instantaneous gratification and buy your ebook over your laptop or desktop and then drag and drop onto your reader, why would you need to spend $150 more for a reader which uses the same imaging technology? If you spend time on any computer, why would you need your reader to do what you can do at your desk or on your laptop? Is it less convenient? Maybe. But I can't imagine that convenience is worth $150.

For my money, I'd stick with the Sony, for now. For one thing, it will likely come down in price (too late for me, of course, but maybe not for you) and my guess is the books will start to come down in price, too. In addition, I suspect there are a more than a few bugs with the Kindle (as there were with the Sony) which will have to shake out over time. Better to wait until the Kindle comes down in price and adds color and video to really get the bang for your buck.

Do not buy this product.

I bought a Sony Reader PRS-500 in December 2006. I have been using about once a week to read long articles that I find on the Internet.

One day, after 10 months of operation, I was navigating through the device's menu, and the screen output suddenly got corrupted. I tried to turn the device off and on, but that had no effect. I downloaded the Sony PRS-500 Instruction Manual, and followed their troubleshooting steps. I pushed the reset button with a paper clip, and that also had no effect.

I called Sony Support. They indicated that I have a parts-only warranty, since I had purchased the device within the last year. However, they would still charge me $79.99 for a parts-only warranty repair. This is a very steep price, considering that the device may break again. I decided to not pursue the warranty repair.

I would not recommend buying this product.

I received a Sony transistor radio for Christmas in 1960. Since then, as a loyal Sony customer, I've purchased several stereos, at least a dozen TV's, and a variety of weird electronics (AIR-8, ICF-SW1). But I'm giving this product failing marks for one reason: Sony lied when they said it supports Adobe PDF's.

I purchased this product specifically to read PDF's while on the road but it's stayed on the shelf: PDF's are essentially unreadable.

In Sony-speak, "support" doesn't mean "read". It's impossible to read most PDF's in anything other than a good light because the font is small and faint. While it's possible to flip the document on its side for better viewing, Sony didn't provide an easy way to advance to the bottom of the page.

Unless you have Adobe Acrobat or some other utility, PDF document titles may be missing or garbled (it's not the name of the file you download; it's hidden inside the PDF). Sony should have provided a utility to update title and author (properties in each PDF). The CONNECT utility provides barely enough functionality.

If all you can about is straight text (downloaded books, Word documents), this product will work.

The PRS-500 is classic contemporary consumer electronics: it's designed to steer you into feeding at the trough of Sony's e-Book store (and possibly music downloads).

This biggest disappointment is Sony's deaf ear to these problems; it appears they're not concerned. I suggest paperbacks-buy them before your trip and leave them in the hotel lobby for others.

I'm a gadget person and a voracious reader who has lusted over the e-book since it was first introduced in Japan. I have to say I'm disappointed by the reality, even if the possibilities are huge. Here's the reality from my perspective.

1. Display is still just not good enough. It approaches the paperback experience only if you have very bright light. Reading in normal or dim lighting is definitely more strain on the eyes than with a book. Hmm, think that explains the display at Barnes and Noble where it looks so great?

2. I thought I'd use it for work documents in pdf form. No dice. Most interesting documents have margins and pictures and insets, making the small-medium-large choice of fonts offered on the e-book completely useless. No amount of magnification helps. Hard to believe Sony wouldn't have invested in a tweaked version of Acrobat that dealt with their form factor.

3. The vaunted Sony style is sadly deficient. How can you compare the sharp-edged, difficult to click buttons on the e-book to the experience of an iPod?

4. DRM. Need I say more? Sony still doesn't understand that people buy books to own them and don't want to deal with their digital rights management nonsense. Wouldn't it be nice to have a competitive e-book marketplace without having to guess whose proprietary form of restricted content will win out. Amazon gets it with their new music store and invested in the business relationships to make it work.

5. Go to the Sony online store and browse before buying. It is like being serviced by the electronic equivalent of the bookmobile of yore. Hopefully it will improve over time. Still, if you're used to browsing through and picking up a wide variety of quality paperbacks at a decent bookstore, you will find the pickings quite slim. As a consolation for some, there is a great selection of Penthouse Forum magazines, though!

It is nice to have 3-4 books to choose from on a trip without lugging them in my suitcase. Still, based on my experience, my advice is to wait for the first generation kinks to be worked out before investing in this e-book.

(Actual Score: 4.5)

I really like this thing. I have a couple reservations, and some cautions, but I hope this concept finally gets off the ground. I've tried eBooks on a PDA...It sucks. I've tried eBooks on a laptop...It sucks. My first business trip with this reader and I re-read "1984" (Sony should have asked the publisher to make one more pass at the eBook and clear up a couple dozen obvious typos/scanos.) -- and am looking forward to reading more books.

Typically, Sony tends to overcharge, and then lets you pay again and again for the privilege of using their products by using proprietary content and or accessories. This is genetic - the company cannot help itself any more than Microsoft can't help fouling up DRM. Luckily I got my reader for just about $200.

I like the look and operation of the Reader. Some have complained about the page turn speed, but I find it not that much different from what you'd experience with a "real" book. Page turning is easier than a real book - and the page stays flat on the table should you choose to do something like dine and eat at the same time. The contrast between page and print is no worse than a mass market paperback book. Increasing the print size also improves readability in dim light, or whilst aboard bumpy transport. Outdoors and in strong light it is fantastic (something that can't be said for LCDs). Maybe another pair of "page" buttons on the right side of the bezel for those who hold the coffee cup in their left hand.

Some would like to see an illuminated display, but that would just fatten the package up and might even compromise the quality of the display when not illuminated or under strong lighting conditions. Overall...This reader is a joy to use.

The future? I'm sure that we'll see some marginal improvement in the display contrast in models down the road. Likewise, I'd expect processor power to improve a little in the future, without any power consumption penalty. As for content, this would be a much nicer way than a PDA or smart-phone to read downloadable content (including news and info from sources such as AvantGo.com). With a moderately improved search and indexing capability, it would also be outstanding for manuals and other references. A rugged, waterproof version would make this the champion beach book.

It would also be nice for a future product to be a little more accepting of alternate formats. I'd prefer to see a wider choice of vendor products that all allow a range of formats to be read. We managed it with HTML and the internet...Why not eBooks? Publishers could even embed HTML-like capabilities into a DRM shell that would keep content development and publishing costs down. I have yet to try RTF documents on my reader, but that project is in the near future.

Potential problems? The urge to consolidate functions into one device is pretty strong. There are legions of folks out there just itching to junk this product up with calendars, phone lists, games, and all that other PDA stuff. Folks...It's a freakin' book. Enjoy it for what it is. I'd rather have a good eBook reader than a half-fast PDA.

I've had some eye problems (convergence insufficiency), but I love reading so much and I can't stop (probably not helping eye strain). This was absolutely perfect for me. It's simple and does one thing well. I don't plan to use it for music or pictures, even though it has support for this. I don't even use the Sony library, because I think it's a rip-off. Every book is pretty much available for free on the Internet. There are tons of torrent sites and even e-Libraries that have free book checkouts. Online-literature and Project Gutenberg has classics. No one needs to buy books anymore, and this may be my last purchase from Borders Books. Menus are a bit slow, but it's livable with. There are only two things wrong with it, but the major one is easily remedied.

1. There is no backlighting. I wouldn't mind to read this in the dark, but if I can't no big deal. It's not like I can read books in the dark normally, and it would be a huge battery drain and bad for my eyes. Update: I got the Reader clip-on light off the Sony Style website. I love it; great flex neck and pretty bright. Very nice button placement and it doesn't turn itself on in my handbag. I don't know about the battery life yet, but mine came with spares (CR2032).

2. The software involves a lot of work. The interface is nice, and a bit reminiscent of iTunes in its syncing. You can get a pretty good guess at what it will look like on the Reader screen, but expect it to be smaller than it is on your computer. There is drag and drop for files, but it has to be over the Library or Reader sidebar buttons.

However, two things piss me off about the software. First of all, you can't change the author/title in the software, and I'm a huge stickler for electronic organization. However, in Word, you can change them. Since I use OpenOffice, I just went to the code for RTF files (just open an RTF in Notepad) and added a line of code after \info... {\author authornamehere}{\title titlehere}. So that wasn't too bad. For PDFs, you can download free software such as PDFInfo. But, PDFs are bad for the Sony Reader for the following reasons.

First of all, you only have the options of small and medium for PDFs. And PDFs tend to appear smaller anyways, so you typically need the large for them. You can just increase the font size on your computer, but I realized that makes the files huge and lags your Reader. The people that complain of ridiculous page turn times were probably using PDFs. I timed up to a 9 second lag before I realized that PDFs suck anyways.

You can convert from PDF to text easily in Adobe Reader. From there, you can open it with Word/OpenOffice and save it as an RTF. Use what I said above to get the title name right. It depends on the person, but I like my text to be giant. At Arial 20 point font, it's perfect, especially on Large. And I learned from another review that holding down the Size button turns everything sideways and makes it bigger.

Update: I found a fix to the annoying PDF formatting/paragraph wrapping issues! Selnick makes a free downloadable program called SmartWrap. It fixes all of your text so that there's no weird wrapping, and it's really easy to use. After a few uses of the trial version, you have to delete a pre-printed sentence at the top, but that's a non-issue.

Randomly, for some books, quotation marks and hyphens will be replaced with square boxes, and even if it's annoying, it's not that distracting. Too much dialog isn't a sign of a good book anyway. I'll update again if I figure out how to fix it. It can't be detected in the Preview screen of your eLibrary.

Long story short, I love it. Just download free eBook torrents, convert everything from PDF to txt, and then open your text in Word/OpenOffice and save it as an RTF. That should reduce any Sony-store-and-page-turn-lag-related stress.