Sony (PRS-505SC) Silver Portable Digital E-Book Reader System w/ Case

Love to read, but run out of space of your bookcases? Looking for a way to reduce luggage weight & size while travelling? Want to have your reference materials with you in school & work. Looking for a digital book that doesn't need charging every four hours?

The Sony Reader Digital Book PRS505 is a new generation ebook that is easy to use, even for the technically challenged among us.

The PRS505 has been around for a number of months, and is proving to be one of the best of its kind! The more I use it (and locate additional sources of ebooks), the more my enthusiasm increases about this product. (Compare this review to my earlier review on the PRS-505LC to understand what I mean.) There are actually two versions of the same reader. There is the PRS-505 in space-age silver (model number: PRS-505/SC) and a sultry dark blue (model number: PRS-505/LC). The features itself are identical.
I have seen a number of reviews that really do not award the PRS505 all the appreciation that it honestly deserves, and in my humble opinion that is mostly caused by a person's lack of understanding on how the product really works and by pricing strategies currently used by one of the preferred content sellers.

Read on and discover why I believe the Sony Reader Digital Book PRS505 can tempt even the biggest paper book lover into using a Sony Reader Digital Book.

The Sony Reader Digital Book PRS505 is a very compact and light weight-weighing device, weighing only 9 oz. (282 g). It has a 6 inch display (90 × 120mm) using "Electronic Paper", which makes it as easy on the eyes as other printed media, with a near 180º viewing angle. Electronic Paper (or e-Ink as it is officially called) is a new display technology that has the distinct advantage of only using power for page turns, and does not consume power to maintain a page display. Most importantly, electronic paper provides a crisp, clear image that rivals print seen in paper books. It reads well in the bright sun, and just for normal print, you will need a reading light to support reading when it is dark.

I have both the silver and blue versions of the reader, and the verdicts are mixed about the color. The dark blue reader (PRS-505LC) shows fingerprints, and the silver reader (PRS-505SC) may be too light for some (not everyone is equally happy with the light color around the display itself). But after having used both readers, I think it is solely a matter of personal preference.

Text and illustrations are displayed using 8 gray levels, with a screen resolution of 170 pixels per inch (ppi). 170 ppi is currently the highest resolution that is currently available for electronic paper. If you are buying the reader to view images, then "try before you buy"! You can also "reflash" the reader to support Cyrillic fonts (it is very simple procedure).

I read a lot, especially when on holiday, and I always have an issue with the weight of my luggage. I can slip this device in my bag and I've got all my latest books with me. I am also using the reader more and more for the reference material I like to keep nearby. The PRS505 is extremely well-made and sturdy. It can easily take the beating that it is subjected to during travel and normal use (including it falling of your lap while waiting for your flight in an airport lounge and the wear and tear it is subjected to in my briefcase). I have never had to worry about charging the PRS505. The only time that power is consumed is when you turn a page (or access the menu). The amount of reading content that is stored in the devices standard memory lasts me about a week. By that time I hook up the PRS505 to the USB port on my PC to exchange the content. During that time the battery is also being recharged, so far I have not needed to separately recharge the battery. A fully charged battery should allow for approximately 7000 page turns... but in my usage it lasts for about half of that. There is no clear reason that explains the difference (maybe 7000 page turns is in ideal lab conditions, and 3500 page turns is normal for real life).

Sony has been selling e-book devices since 2003, and that experience clearly makes a difference in their product. The screen is easy to see, even if you read in bed by a small light and the feel and weight is no more than an average medium paperback book.

The Sony Reader display can also be changed from portrait to landscape so you hold it horizontally (my preferred way of using the PRS505). The page change button is in a natural place, under your right thumb. The buttons down the side provide a kind of browse feature while reading. To open the book near the beginning you press one of the buttons near the top, the middle button skips to the half way point etc. Hold down the page turn button to skip on 10 pages. This is also an easy way to skim through a book and get an idea of the content without reading it all, although this kind of browsing is not as "nice" as with a paper book. The OS is very intuitive and the navigation controls are very well thought-out. Reader itself is easy to use. You can even listen to mp3 while reading your ebook.
Upon starting up; the reader goes into it's main menu and automatically asks you if you want to continue reading where you left off (perfect). The pages go blank from screen to screen (as you turn the page) and some say this is slow, but take my word for it - after a dozen pages you won't notice this (at least I don't).

The reader itself is only lacking a search function, which would be useful if one has many books on it, but there is still an alphabetized list by author or by title. On the other hand a search feature would require the use of a keyboard or touch screen...

Besides reading ebooks, other sources can also be used for offline reading. One of the most exciting things is that RSS feeds can be downloaded to the Reader. You can get daily updates from all kinds of news feeds like BBC news, The Guardian and the New York Times. Go to http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ and get Calibre to add your own feeds. They display well on the Reader and include images. You can also load blogs, web pages and Wikipedia for offline use. Another good conversion tool is called "abclit".
Adobe PDF files can also be displayed, but note that PDF files look better when optimized with the Reader's screen size, because text may appear small if it has not been optimized.

Waterstones is one of the biggest content partners for the Sony Reader Digital Book PRS505. Unfortunately they seem to have a high pricing structure (a minimal pricing difference compared to printed books), without the bargains often found with printed books (e.g. 3 for the price of 2, etc). The Waterstone's website also looks like it was designed by a somewhat stupid child. The only problem is that you can only buy books from the Sony Store if you live in the U.S. or Canada. Fortunately, there are a number of other sites, although you do have to watch the format. When you start searching, it is almost unbelievable how much free and cheap content there is available! New books coming out are reasonably easy to obtain, as are classics. There is a growing number of libraries where you can download ebooks using your library card for free!

Books can be loaded using the somewhat clumsy software that is included in the kit, and the device can also be filled manually as a USB drive.

Tip: If having trouble downloading to the reader from ebooks, minimize the screen and you will see a rectangular shape on the left hand edge. Click and move to the right to show reader and library column. (I had to call tech support to find this out!)

There is a few comments I like to make about the use of memory cards. The SD / SDHC Card slot accepts SDHC Cards up to 32GB (with a firmware upgrade which is taken care of automatically when you load the software on your pc and plug in your reader).
There is a downside to working with large memory, and that is the number of directory entries the reader will need to read each time you go to the content list. If you have a large memory card, you will fill it (that is why you bought it...), and since many ebooks are relatively small in size, you will quickly have a huge directory list.
My suggestion is to use smaller memory cards (e.g. max. 1 or 2GB). If you use a number of smaller memory cards, you can categorize your ebooks even better by using a card per category. The memory cards are hot-swappable (you can swap memory while the reader is switched on).

My conclusion:
Great Buy! A fantastic product for book lovers who are not fully addicted to the actual feel of a book.
Buy Sony (PRS-505SC) Silver Portable Digital E-Book Reader System w/ Case!