Talk:Sony Reader

question

This "There doesn't appear to be any information on the digital rights management features, which, in my opinion, killed its predecessor, the LIBRIé in Japan." was a personal opinion found in the article. If the person who placed it there feels it's important, then he or she should get a broader support for it, and phrase it in a neutral way, as per Wikipedia custom. --AlainV 01:31, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Sorry about not being logged in when I added the text that AlainV removed. You're right, I was being opinionated. But having said that, I feel strongly that Sony has completely missed the boat with the LIBRIé's DRM. Why on earth would I pay to rent a book for 60 days? Supposedly the Reader will allow you to upload PDF files, which wasn't directly possible with the LIBIRé. The LIBRIé has an incredible screen using the e-ink technology, but that's the end of the innovation. (I'll probably get flamed for this next remark...) Steve Jobs where are you when we need you? What the LIBRIé needs is Apple's touch. --billlund 16:40, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Or they could do the digital equivalent of what innovative public libraries started doing about 20 years ago, with the service spreading slowly to other public libraries. They have what's called a small "express" or "best-seller" collection with a borrowing fee and a very limited borrowing period (one to two weeks). You can of course pay again to borrow again a copy of the book you want. Or you can decide to place a reserve in the system and wait a bit for your turn to read the single non-paying book the library keeps in the general collection. Or you can wait a few months, when the copies of the book you want to read is taken off the best-seller collection and most of the copies are placed in the book sale shelves (ongoing or annual, containing weeded bookls and/or gift books) where you can buy one for 50 cents or a dollar. --AlainV 17:04, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

What is it like?

If anybody gets one of these things, I'd like to hear what your experiences are. Specifically, are there any DRM hassels involved when it comes to playing unencrypted MP3s, or reading unencrypted PDFs or TXTs. LenW 02:18, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

I am also a little bit curious as to how it functions...but am also wondering from where previous contributors to the article have gotten their information. I haven't seen any recent news about the Reader except that Sony took off the 'Available in Spring 2006' on the Sony Style page for it. No set price still, no product availability. Despairing for wanting a chance to test it hands-on, I called a local Borders to see if they had it. For one reason or another, the employee was unable to find a match in the computer. Xtremegene 03:54, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

• I work at Borders. An internal announcment was posted regarding the Reader some time ago, but we have no seen any other info on it, yet. It will be carried in select stores to start with, and Borders has an exclusive partnership with Sony to sell the reader for an undisclosed ammount of time. In short, haven't gotten them yet, but looking forward to it. I am eager to see how the display looks. We'll see a listing for the reader in our inventory system at least a month before they actually ship them to our stores.--Eion 03:06, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

---

I recently purchased one about 4 weeks ago. I have had little to no trouble with it, for the most part. The best format (apart from buying the books off of the software) is txt, as it allows you to store more books onto the unit, far above the 75-80 titles that is advertised. I do not recommend PDF, as the print has to be very large in order to be visible. As a result I had to switch many documents over to txt. Word docs, while they show on the unit, are difficult to move to the unit. There is a bit of "ghosting" present that many reviews mention. As I've read more the ghosting appears to become more visible, but that may be just my imagination. It doesn't even remotely affect reading. The size button can be toggled on any file except for pictures & books such as manga. Since there is so little space on the actual unit I do not recommend uploading music unless it is on a card. I save the music & audiobooks for my ipod. The bookmarking is nice, but if the book is on the actual unit (not a memory card) the spot is automatically marked. The time spent for the pages to "turn" is very small, and is not really a bother. I spead read, and it hasn't slowed me down that much. The battery power is amazing. In the 4 weeks I spent reading books (I used it every day, at least 50 pages, but usually around 500 pages) the bar hardly moved an inch. When I finally used up powerbars I was surprised. My big complaint is with the books available. The Connect software only has a limited selection, so I had to either shop around the internet or (more often than not) download it elsewhere. However, it appears that they are getting all of the newer popular books that are being released, so I don't forsee it being a problem in the future. (Assuming that all goes well & the units/ebooks sell.) I wish that it was backlit, but I am happy without it, as it uses less energy. Hope this helps people. Tokyogirl79 16:55, 14 March 2007 (UTC)Tokyogirl79

---

I've purchased mine after reading a lot of reviews (especially this site was very helpful http://hightech.afmag.net/categories/gadgets/sony-reader/ )It does not disappoint. I was going for the manga-reading capabilities too, and that site prepared me enough for it. PDFs can be converted for optimal readability (see the aforementioned site to see how). The batterylife is not as good as specced (of course). I think my record is about 4000 pages. But that's from reading from an sd-card.

---

I purchased a PRS 700 a few months back. My initial experiences were good, but over time I've come to notice several problems:

The PRS 700 comes with several zoom options; a sliding zoom, and several preset magnifications. The sliding zoom doesn't implement text wrapping, so I'd like to use the preset magnification levels. Unfortunately, the preset magnification levels fail to render certain fonts correctly. Moreover, any text that includes a large number of equations usually renders poorly. The lines in some texts break mid line, and the zoom levels are not consistent between texts. That's not to mention the fact that the magnification levels do not work for some texts (Note: almost all of my files are PDFs).

The PRS 700 provides some support for taking notes and highlighting texts. Unfortunately highlights do not span pages, so if you can't highlight a sentence that runs to another page. Worse, the highlighter occasionally 'blots out' sections of text. So for example, I might try to highlight two lines, but if I try to extend the line to a third the highlighter will automatically highlight the entire page. The highlighter does not work while the sliding magnifier is enabled. The PRS 700 has a relatively small screen and trying to select text without magnification is difficult. On many texts, the sliding magnifier is the only one that works correctly, but I can't use it while I'm highlighting.

The PRS 700 allows users to upload music, and I admit, the sound quality is pretty good. Unfortunately, the built in memory space is less than a GB. Considering that my $25 MP3 player has more capacity, I count that as a weak point. Second, once audio files (the reader only supports MP3's) are uploaded, there is no way to organize them into play lists. This means that whenever you play music, the files will be played in alphabetical order, unless you manually select a different file. Options such as shuffle, repeat, etc are not supported. Third, the PRS does not provide a way to delete audio files. The only way that I know of is to use the desktop software that ships with the device (more on that in a minute). The same problem applies to image files.

The main menu contains a link to a page called 'Collections'. To this day, I do not know what, if anything, it does.

The PRS comes with a desktop program that can be used to upload, and delete files. Unfortunately, Sony does not provide a Linux version. Being a Linux user, I'm used to getting ignored by hardware manufacturers, so I wrote my own interface program. Never the less, I expected more from Sony.

In conclusion, I've read a number of the criticisms that have been written about the PRS 700. Most of them focus on screen glare and mention nothing else. In my experience the screen glare has been a non issue, but the device has far more significant design flaws (For example, my reader has been frozen for the past two days following a faulty reboot). I could continue to list others (for example, you can not reset the device while it's in the middle of another operation that might have frozen, and you can't change the battery), but I won't for lack of time. I work in software development, and I when I use my PRS, I can't help but feel that I'm holding a prototype. The software is unstable (It's crashed on me twice over the last 6 months) and (IMHO) there are a number of bad design decisions. Nevertheless, I'm an avid reader and I love having 30-50 books with me wherever I go. Hopefully, Sony will refine the design over time.

Where can I buy it?

Where can I buy the Reader, exept for Sony Style (it is not shipping to Europe!!!)? Please post any links...

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7721 --stobs 10:41, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

I got mine at ebay.

B&H also sells them, and sells the newer 505 models as well: http://bhphotovideo.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.225.145.140 (talk) 15:42, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

No Backlight but ...

Anyone know if there is a built in light so you can read it at night?

No, there's no light because E-Ink is designed to be just like paper. The lack of a light was done on purpose to imitate paper more closely. You're supposed to get that "comfort food" feeling by reading in bed with a night table lamp turned on :-).

-- there is no backlight because the Eink display isnt transperant, the only option right now would be to add a side or front light

Original Research?

I own one of these, and I'm trying to refrain from editing this article ... anyone have any suggestions? Salad Days 04:58, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

It would be great if you could take a photo of your unit for use on the page. As of now, we don't have a free one- the one there now is fair use. Staecker 14:02, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Add here first if you want, I'm sure we can incorporate it. Agree need a picture also. -- Stbalbach 16:30, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Though I’m sure it baffled the wary employees at the local Borders, I’ve spent considerable face-time with their demo Reader. Read a self-generated PDF off a SecureSD card just fine. Screen quality is amazing. User interface is completely unintuitive, but nothing that couldn’t be remedied with a firmware upgrade, should Sony be so inclined. I will be purchasing one within the next two weeks, will try to get pics up. --Cygfrydd Llewellyn 20:25, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Linkfarm

ok, the link section is seriously overcrowded. I propose deleting all the links except

the product page from Sony

the Mobileread forum link

the Readerette site

the New York Times review

Any objections? --Sirana 14:56, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any harm with the links. At least for now, I think we should keep them. -- Stbalbach 16:14, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I just think that 18 links to reviews (most of which are seriously outdated) don't add any value to the article and they devalue the important links. Sirana 08:44, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

At least I would delete the links that point to "reviews" that have been written in the first half of 2006 or earlier. Sirana 08:49, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

How about we look at the quality of the reviews. Keep ones that are in-depth and useful, versus the standard short blurb, which would include any that are factually outdated. -- Stbalbach 14:01, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

OK, I'm fine with that. So here come the ones that I would delete:

• a blog on reuters
• Slashdot article
• Curling up with a good e-book, Business Week
• both Engadget-revs
• TG-Daily
• Cnet + Cnet picture
• Sony press release
• ABC-News
• USA Today
• BBC-News
• Wired

Any ones on that list that you would keep? Sirana 08:40, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Ok.. thanks for going through them. I checked these, and I'd like to keep Slashdot and Wired, the rest are fine to delete. The /. and Wired are important sources in general with a lot of in-depth tech discussions in the user comments section that is helpful. It would be great to date all the remaining links and sort chronologically. -- Stbalbach 16:25, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Ok. I killed them. I'll try to get on with the sorting and dating tomorrow. Sirana 17:40, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

The link to prs-500 formatter keeps cropping up. According to this thread this is highly questionable. Let's make sure it doesn't come up again...77.62.7.24 (talk) 16:56, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Someone is repeatedly adding a link to this page. It's spam, per WP:SPAM definition.

How much does it sell?

Does Sony Reader represent a breakthrough in the almost 10 year old history of the e-book?

Is it possible to obtain any information on the relative success of the Sony Reader? How many devices have been sold up till now? Is the sale increasing og decreasing? When will the Sony Reader be released in Europe? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Obini (talk • contribs) 00:26, 11 February 2007 (UTC).

Sony said a few times that the sales were better than expected (i.e. here: "Sony is encouraged by convincingly stronger than expected sales with the PRS-500, and is convinced that there is a lot of future potential that they intend to pursue."). No concrete numbers though.

Roxfan 09:47, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

No evidence for this, but I have heard it's doing terribly (just like all previous e-book devices!). W@ntonsoup 20:49, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Out of place criticism

"The black-and-white (with 4 gray levels) screen is not covered under manufacturer's warranty. If the fragile e-Ink screen is damaged, the repair estimate is almost equal to the purchase price."

This criticism seems out of place and is not sourced. I am going to remove it because it contains three unsourced claims: (1) that e-ink screens are fragile (2) that the screen is not warranty-covered and (3) that the cost to repair is almost equal to the cost of the original device.216.16.18.204 (talk) 15:20, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

hyphen in product names

The article uses a mix of hyphenated (eg PRS-505) and non hyphenated (eg PRS505) product names. The official names are all hyphenated. Aside from the issue of correctness, some one searching google for the product with non hyphenated names will get relative junk, as compared to the hyphenated search. Not sure if this is a technical limitation with wikipedia. If not, shouldn't the hyphenated names be used always? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.71.5.46 (talk) 06:47, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

please someone answer this question!

Everything i have read about the sony 505 reader sounds good but the big question i have is will i be able to put books i downloaded for free onto this? I know of a few sites still up and going for free and im not about to spend 300 on this if i still have to buy the ebooks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.3.95.41 (talk) 08:57, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

This is probably too late for you, but for those that come here searching for an answer: I was wondering the same thing when I was considering getting one myself. Turns out, yes. You can put any books of the supported files on this. (Namely, .txt, .rtf, .pdf) I haven't seen a single difference between free or paid-for books. As for the whole Sony Reader (I got the 505), It's a very good decision if you (like me) have about 700 e-books already, or are planning to get some. I had one problem in the beginning, being that the words were too small. The real problem is that .pdf files are usually way too small. Also to save those who read this the trouble, I used "ABC Amber LIT Converter"[1] to convert my unsupported .lit files to .txt.

Another useful tool I found is the Calibre [2] program. It takes the place of the Sony eBook Library, where you can organize your books and put them on your Reader. The one distinct advantage is that with Calibre, you can edit the title, author, etc. Many of my books were formatted without the author, so I can add them in with Calibre.

And, as I'm feeling extra-generous today with the information, if you decide to continue with the eBook Library program, and have issues (like I did) you may want to check out this [3], which solved my problem. Good Luck!! Hpfreak26 (talk) 13:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

External links cleaned up per WP policies and guidelines

Per WP:ELNO, WP:NOT#REPOSITORY, and WP:NOT#DIRECTORY, I've removed the links that failed Wikipedia's criteria for external link inclusion. Wikipedia is not the place for those links, per the policies and guidelines I just cited.

One group of the external links may be valuable for use within "ref" tags for citing sources in the article; so I'm listing those here so that some or all could be incorporated as proper citations where appropriate within the article.

Reviews/Press

• [4] More info on the Sony reader prs 505s e-ink display (Engadget.com 14/02/07)
• [5]: Sony Reader PRS-505 Now on Sale (Engadget.com 10/02/07)
• Slate.com: Gizmos: The Latest Gadgets and Toys. October 13, 2006
• New York Times: Review tied in with e-book industry notes. October 12, 2006
• TIME.com: Gadget of the Week. October 11, 2006
• MobileRead: Detailed hands-on review. September 26, 2006
• MobileRead: Another detailed hands-on review, during a visit at Sony HQ. September 26, 2006
• PC Magazine: In-depth video review of the hardware. July 24, 2006.
• Register Article: Register Article on Sony/Borders deal. April 3, 2006
• Wired: "Screening the Latest Bestseller". January 20, 2006
• SpicyGadget.com: Sony Reader Review by Iron Cook. November 20, 2006
• Daily Giz Wiz: Daily Giz Wiz review of the Sony Reader. April 19, 2007
• The Weekly Standard: Switched-On Book: Is the Sony Reader the library of the future? April 2, 2007
• AFmag: sequential arts (comics and manga) on the Sony Reader. June 24,2007
• compatibility issues with SD-cards and memory sticks

--- Barek (talk • contribs) - 21:13, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

FB2 support?

I added FB2 to supported formats - am i corect? Can it read FB2 files just as easy as, for example, IBook eReader[6] can do it? FB2 ebook format is one of the most convenient ebook formats and my personal top criteria for a hardware ebook reader! --KpoT (talk) 11:55, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Bookmarking and annotation support?

Can the Sony Reader bookmark and annotate pages and if so, how does this work? --24.199.115.32 (talk) 22:07, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes you can. 500 and 505s let you place bookmarks within the books which you can easily jump back to from a menu. The 700 allows actual highlighting and text notes entered using the touch screen in addition to adding bookmarks. All notes and bookmarks are referenced from the same place on the 700.Ajh16 (talk) 14:19, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Can I view arxiv.org's pdf-files?

Can I view arxiv.org's pdf-files with the Sony Reader? I mean: does it show the mathematical equations correctly? The article doesn't mention that. Urvabara (talk) 11:11, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

---

The PRS 700 doesn't render mathematical equations correctly when magnification is enabled. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 162.129.44.50 (talk) 22:27, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

What is the maximum capacity of the Memory Stick and SDHC cards the reader accepts?

According to the article, it is 8GB for the Memory Stick and 32GB for SDHC. Is this correct? The information I have found on Sony's website is ambiguous. They states that 8GB works for Memory Stick and that 16GB is "not guaranteed". On the other hand, they state that SDHC cards of "more than 4GB" are accepted in the info on the latest firmware update. Sony's customer service doesn't have a clue. My e-mails were answered with "you need to phone us, we cannot answer this in an e-mail". When I phoned, I was told the same stuff they have on their main website, stuff we know is incorrect. When I pointed this out, they would "phone me back." They never did. Ignorance is bliss, it seems.

While it seems logical to assume that 32GB SDHC is indeed possible, it would be nice to have firm confirmation of this.

I just went to the Sony Store in the Toronto Eaton Centre, and someone of their staff claimed that 16GB Memory Stick was indeed possible. But again, that is far from a firm confirmation.

Bart B. Van Bockstaele (talk) 17:09, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Why inline citations?

There's a note on the article recommending more in-line citations. I can't see any information in the article other than a list of specifications that needs referencing externally. Frankly, it's not even necessary for the specifications as the only logical source is Sony itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.19.206.121 (talk) 17:57, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Support for external firmware?

I added links to provide Cyrillic support for the device previously, someone keeps removing it. I have personally tested this firmware with my reader and it works perfectly, not sure why it's getting removed by someone as I know many people who look for ebook readers that can support Russian text. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.46.227.65 (talk) 16:12, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Personal Opinion?

Am I allowed to add this here? I tried a Sony e-book reader yesterday. I found it annoying that when the pages changed, the screen blipped and went dark for less than a second. Oh you can still see the letters, but I just found out it...well, annoying Rad vsovereign (talk) 10:49, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Operating Systems

Although the official specs for 2.5 version of eBook Library says it's supported on Windows Vista 64-bit, in personal experience it does not work correctly failing in the same manner as previous versions of the software which only supported 32-bit Windows. Since an anecdote does not equal data, I wouldn't update the article & will just leave this comment in the discussion if anyone came here looking for information on 64-bit support.

70.81.106.196 (talk) 15:53, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Calibre: It says that this does not support Windos64 versions. This might be true, but Calibre DOES support Linux with 64 bits ;-). This is what I am running right now on my AMD64 platform.

92.194.173.47 (talk) 01:15, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Article is missing attribution to the original Sony reader model.

The PRS-500 was NOT the first reader from Sony. The original Sony Reader was only available in Japan and was known as the Librie'. (circa 04-05) Granted it was junk compared the later PRS-500, but it was still the earliest model. Sadly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_LIBRIé_EBR-1000EP is a terrible page mixing various versions of the original, but all we have for now.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.47.140.186 (talk • contribs)

You might want to add something about the predecessor Librie, but it was an ebook, not a Sony Reader which is Sony's brand name for this series of ebooks. --Blainster (talk) 22:09, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Inaccuracies regarding ebook purchases

At the start of the article it is stated: "The reader uses an iTunes Store-like interface to purchase books from Sony Connect eBook store (currently US and Canada only)." This is misleading as buyers in the UK can buy books from Waterstones, W H Smiths and independent sellers. They can also buy the sony reader at Sony outlets and Waterstones bookshops in the UK, as well as through other outlets.

See http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/reader-ebook/5

apologies for any poor formatting: I'm new here.

Fairflow (talk) 17:25, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Not made by Sony?

First line of article states that the reader is made by sony. Not necessarily, it may be made by another company such as foxconn under contract from sony. foxconn may have licenced the sony name or sony may have contracted foxconn for manufacturing. also, make sure that it is foxconn/sony/whoever else has made it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.22.191.67 (talk) 15:46, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Mac OSX

Removed the following statement from article because it is obviously a personal experience/opinion. If it is indeed correct it needs to be referenced by an acceptable source:

While Sony claims in its advertising and support media (as well as in the Help scripts that its tech support staff uses) that the PRS-600 is compatible with Mac OS 10.4.11, if a call to tech support is escalated to a high enough level, Sony will admit that the PRS-600 is not compatible with 10.4.11, and that the only solution is to upgrade to a newer version of MacOS.

--Blainster (talk) 21:54, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Ebook library borrowing

The option to borrow ebooks from a library is important for the Sony Reader because this distinguishes it (and others such as the Nook) from the Kindle which currently does not have this capability.

OverDrive provides library lending services to over 9000 libraries worldwide including USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and Turkey.

You can find a participating library in one of these countries at search.overdrive.com by clicking on "Search for a library", then choosing a country from the selection box. --Blainster (talk) 07:49, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Updated models

I recently read that the models have been updated, but am not messing with the article! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.159.21.15 (talk) 18:56, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

There have been some updates. The PRS-650 and PRS-350 have been available for a while now. I've purchased the PRS-650, having seen them in the local Sony shop several weeks ago. I suspect this means that the PRS-600 (and 300) is now discontinued, although there still might be some old stock selling in some markets. In New Zealand, the only models offered for sale are the PRS-650 and PRS-350.

• http://www.sony.co.nz/product/prs-350
• http://www.sony.co.nz/product/prs-650

--Xagent86 (Talk | contribs) 08:07, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Some more details - the PRS-350 and PRS-650 were introduced into Australia and New Zealand on the week beginning 13-Sep-2010. This article from the 8th September, talks about "next week", which would match when I first saw them in the Sony shop in Auckland, New Zealand on the 16th September.

• http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/articles/2010/09/17263/

--Xagent86 (Talk | contribs) 09:14, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

--Maxim75 (talk) 11:53, 3 October 2010 (UTC) Photos of PRS-350 and PRS-650 were taken last week at Sydney's World Square Sony shop. Only these two Reader models were available.

Sony Reader Family box confused about PRS-T1 and older versions

The Sony Reader Family box now mentions PRS-T1 at the top and most of the info is for PRS-T1. However, the photo is of an older model and the claim about the operating system seems to be out of date (screenshots and data elsewhere on Wikipedia points to Android instead of Montavista). Hsivonen (talk) 09:07, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Mistaken info about PRS-T2

Hello everyone, I was going through the article and some of the information about the specs of the current Sony Reader are mistaken. For example, the size on cm is 15.2cm and not 15.5cm; theavailable memory is 1.3GB and not 1.35GB; The battery life is of up to 2 months, we could include that info. Here is the reference, if you want to check http://www.sony.co.uk/product/rd-reader-ebook/tab/editorialarticle3 Cheers, Zalunardo8 (talk) 17:40, 22 February 2013 (UTC)