sony e-reader

dylel

Just seen the sony e-reader for £149-99 at play.com

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/5261015/Sony-E-Reader-PRS-505-SC-Digital-Reader-Book/Product.html

I am very tempted!

Nilrem

As I said in another thread about these*, they are absolutely wonderful bits of kit if you can source the books cheaply (Baen.com / webscriptions.net are good for sci-fi for example and best of all don't use DRM).

I don't regret for a moment paying £200 for my one just before Christmas, as to date i've read about 40 books on it, even if it just lasts me another 18 months at the price i'm paying for the books** it'll have broken more than even, and i'll have the E format books ready to move onto another reader

The big downside with them at the moment is that the price and selection of Ebooks in the UK is to be honest, absolutely awful compared to the US - Waterstones and Smiths are charging in many cases more than the Paperback version for the Ebook, when the Ebook version is available at all (unlike in the States where the likes of the official Sony Ebook store often has the books cheap, especially for older ones).

*I think it should show in a search.

**I'm paying an average of about £3 a book thanks to various free libraries (Baen, Gutenberg, manybooks), and the price at Baen for collections of books by authors I like (not to mention the collection of books that came with it, of which i've read about 5 so far).

farso

I think its possible that places are clearing stock due to the new PRS-700 thats just been released into asian markets. I believe it has a backlight, touchscreen and ability to take notes.

alanrowell

Nilrem wrote: »

**I'm paying an average of about £3 a book thanks to various free libraries (Baen, Gutenberg, manybooks), and the price at Baen for collections of books by authors I like (not to mention the collection of books that came with it, of which i've read about 5 so far).

I find that looking on ebay or abebooks generally gets me SF cheaper than £3 - but what about collections of books?

MsCrow

I use http://www.booksonboard.com/index.html for audio books - they were significantly cheaper for the audio BBC book I was after than the competition. I'm not sure if they're worth a look for their e-books?

toniq

You get 100 free books on it, to get you going, i have found like Nilrem, there just isn't enough variety of books available comapred to the U.S xxx

dylel

Are there any restrictions for reading ebooks?
Is it ok to buy the really cheap ebay ones?

Nilrem

dylel wrote: »

Are there any restrictions for reading ebooks?
Is it ok to buy the really cheap ebay ones?

I don't know what books are on ebay, but the Sony 505 has native support for LRM and epub format books, with additional support (via conversion software such as calibre) for txt, doc, rtf and a couple of other formats.

The big problem would be if you tried too use a book with DRM on the reader that hasn't been authorised for it, in which case it wouldn't work with that book.

Personally i'd be suspicious of ebooks on ebay if they are actual fiction, as chances are they'll either be out of copyright and possibly available free elsewhere, or in copy right and dodgy (in which case you'll probably be able to find them free anyway if you don't mind being dodgy).


alanrowell, these are the sort of collections i've been buying, as well as some of the webscriptions.
For example for at the time they were doing the Pournell continuum set (normally $40) for $20, for the 9 or 10 books (3 were short stories/essays) - which was one I jumped at (I'm a fan of a lot of what i've read of Pournell, and it had 4 that i'd been planning on buying anyway), and another $20 for the Jupiter collection.
The actual "webscription" sets are more varied usually all by different authors varying each month with a mix of new and old books.
Add to that their "free library" and there is a fair bit of content available chap for sci-fi fans there

One of the big advantages in ebooks for me, as someone who likes to reread stuff is that i'm running very short on book space, so if I can get some in DRM free ebook format it's a huge plus (I've got hundreds of books on my shelves, including some that are older than I am, and I hate getting rid of any of them - it's often proven a pita to buy a copy of older books when I want to reread them in the past).

seth

and the price has gone up to £179!!! Typical

dylel

seth wrote: »

and the price has gone up to £179!!! Typical

Unlucky!!!!!
I ordered mine Monday, it arrived Tuesday - fastest ever from play.com!!!

seth

Tried topcasahback for 4% and 1% on the CCard.

Reading reviews today... Its 260g not too bad

You do not need the reader to read ebooks any computer can run free reader software for paid for or free books.

Many classic books "Origin of Species", Jeeves - PG Wodehouse, etc are free and legal.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/224232/sony-reader-prs505.html the comments provide good ideas http://www.pcpro.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=297158

Places I've found so far for free books

http://www.feedbooks.com sign up for a free account this site provide free book in epub, pdf and Sony format (the sony will read all of these and even word and RFT,pjeg tiff etc!) but they also allow you to link RSS feeds in from the beeb et all. This might be really good as it can combine all the feeds and create your own virtual paper to read on the train. I've attached a quick example created in 5 seconds. Interesting that NY Times and other outfits only provide headlines and 2 lines of text. The beeb and other players provide full content! Excellent!!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3223484.stm#whatisrss I use Google reader so I can move all my RSS feeds to Feedbooks. When you select a feed and click download remember to wait as it has to get the whole feed and process it before your download starts.

Google has a deal with Sony to provide their book catalogue free. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/03/sony-google-e-b/ get them here: http://ebookstore.sony.com/google-ebooks/ interesting you DO NOT have to use the Sony software!! Interestingly Sony also support RSS subcriptions from any source http://ebookstore.sony.com/rss/ Can't use the Sony software on work PC as it needs admin rights!!

Project Gutenberg has epub and PDF books free by the thousand. I used the Adobe Digital Edtions Windows Client software works well. Oh this is the top 100 http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top some must reads

Good reviews
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/224232/sony-reader-prs505.html

Sony firmware
http://ebookstore.sony.com/download-firmware/

I've attached the PDF versions note the new firmware reflows PDF and added EPUB. Sony is working with Adobe and Google on the software and content so their offerings all work together. I've notice that the downloads in EPUB display very well on the laptop and my big screen using the Adobe software which is what the Sony uses

I've not used the Sony client software for Windows the review says its like iTunes 2005 (sucky!!)

I've also attached a PGW book its is a 120k I can't read this without laughing out loud!

Clear cookies, order via Quidco 6% or TCB http://www.topcashback.co.uk who are 7% £10 off!! Play is free P&P

Oh the charger for the ebook is the same as the PSP one

And these take SD card as well as the more expensive Memory Stick Duo.
These can read Sony Ebooks, Word, PDF, JPEG, MP3, AAC and EPUB