Sony PRS 505 Portable Digital e Reader System Silver
The Reader (model PRS-505) features a svelte body design. Re-styled controls more closely mimic paper page turns and allow for quick, intuitive navigation.A next-generation electronic paper display delivers faster response and a higher contrast ratio for easy reading even in bright sunshine. Eight levels of gray scale provide for crisp and clear text, images, and graphics.This device is designed for people on the go, this device is compelling because it allows them to carry a wide variety of reading materials whether they are on a cross-country flight, in a doctor’s office waiting room, or at a beach resort. The Reader can handle a stack of books and other documents that people would rather not carry, yet offers a ‘book-like’ reading experience unavailable with other electronic devices.With the capacity to store up to 160 typical eBooks, the Reader can act as a mobile library. Expansion slots for Memory Stick Duo media or SD memory cards make the device’s library potential practically limitless.More advanced users will appreciate the USB-based mass storage capability that allows them to use the device as a portable drive for the direct transfer of documents, images and other files to the Reader. A new auto sync feature also lets users set up folders with books and documents that can be automatically synchronized when the device is connected to a PC. PC.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Great minimalist reader
For the tech-head on the go, this is the perfect reader, especially if you prefer basic function and read mostly fiction or textbooks. Battery life on the Sony reader is great, I read at least two books a week and only charge it only once every two weeks. It’s size and portability are perfect for me, and my lifestyle fits just right with the reader. I recommend it to everyone who asks about it, especially to those whom I know read a lot, as this device has easily saved me thousands of dollars.
1 Star Terrible software and terrible customer service is a bad mix.
About six weeks ago I decided to invest in an eBook reader. I read the reviews for numerous readers before finally narrowing it down to either the Sony PRS-505, or the Amazon Kindle. I went with the Sony PRS-505 because it supported PDF files without any additional charge, and because it was less expensive then the Kindle. The main selling point however, was that I could check out library eBooks with the Sony, which is something that the Amazon Kindle can’t do. The only drawback I read about with the Sony was the limited number of books available for download, but with the ability to check out library eBooks, in the end it wouldn’t matter. Or so I thought.
There are three problems with the Sony eReader. The first problem with the Sony eReader is that if something goes wrong, it ends up being very difficult to fix the issue without having to involve customer support. The second problem is that a lot of things go wrong with the Sony eReader. The third problem is that the Sony eReader customer support is truly awful.
The first time I hit an issue with the Sony eReader was about a month ago, and it’s the last time I was ever able to successfully download books to the reader. This first failure had to do with the eReader not being able to connect to the eBook store. Sony support was the standard unhelpful approach, reboot, reinstall, wipe the reader, try again, escalate to the next tier of support repeat all previous steps one more time, etc.
I went online to read about this issue, and discovered a lot of disappointed eReader owners dealing with this issue and several others that they couldn’t get past. From what I read the failures have to do with Sony’s 3.0 version of their library – but this information is from the users. Sony appears to be stonewalling the owners and pretending there isn’t any issue with the software. That or their customer support is so badly managed that they really are unaware of the problems that consumers have raised via Sony customer service. I use to think of Sony as one of the consumer electronics companies that I could purchase from based on brand name alone. That certainly has changed after the experience with their eReader.
I got past the first issue by following the advice of some of the online websites, but that involved making some fundamental changes to the O/S settings that I’m not all that happy about doing. However, after getting past the first issue I hit a second issue which was that every time I connected up the computer, the Sony website, and the eReader, the program would crash.
It finally dawned on me that since Kindle has dropped the price and doesn’t charge for PDFs now, the only difference between Kindle and Sony eReader is that the eReader allows users to checkout library books, and the Kindle doesn’t. Except, since my eReader doesn’t work I can’t download library books, or any books for that matter.
Basically, if the eReader had worked, it would have been an excellent purchase, but it doesn’t, it’s a useless piece of expensive junk. I put my Kindle order in this morning.
5 Stars Still one of the best readers at this price point!
The Sony PRS-505 is a great little gem that I purchased recently. I’ll list out the pros and cons below:
PROS:
1) Great screen quality. Text is very sharp and clear. It doesn’t have the glossiness/glare associated with newer touch screen Sony readers like the PRS-600 and PRS-700. The “page” is a shade lighter than the page color on the Kindle 2.
2) Nice metallic body which gives it a much more robust feel compared to the plastic Kindle.
3) Looks great with its brushed aluminum body
4) Support for EPUB format, which is a new open ebook format that has gained widespread support amongst ebook publishers (except of course from Amazon which unfortunately insists on using its own proprietary format). This is VERY important because it means that you can buy ebooks from a number of publishers. You aren’t tied down to the Sony store alone (unlike the Kindle where the only option is to buy from Amazon and its inventory).
5) Support for EPUB format means that you can borrow ebooks from most local libraries in the US. This can end up providing you with a huge costs saving in the long run. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible with the Kindle…not until Amazon decided to enable EPUB capabilities (which would be awesome and then probably make the Kindle 2 hands down one of the best ereaders out there)
6) Memory card expansion slot is great for storing tons of books on your ereader.
7) You can custom flash the firmware (Search google for PRS Customizer) to do all sorts of neat tweaks. For example you can flash the reader to use custom fonts, enable a clock in your status bar, use custom logos as well as re-map a whole bunch of keys so as to make the user interface comfortable for yourself.
9) Text re-flow support on PDFs isn’t too bad. The best results are when you use PDFs formatted for the smaller screen (9cm x 12cm documents). Page turns are fairly snappy with most PDFs. However, regular A4 pdfs don’t work too well (as is the case with all ereaders with screens this size). You can rotate to landscape orientation to improve the font size in this case. In addition, there are tools that can help you crop margins on PDFs to remove whitespace and increase the size of PDF text.
10) The “book” case it comes with is pretty nice and I personally prefer reading books on the reader with the binder on. It feels more like reading a book, and it is also more comfortable when reading in bed.
CONS:
1) No wireless whispernet feature/internet access. Not a big deal for me but it certainly can be for others. It is nice to know that you could impulsively buy a book wherever you are provided you have wifi connectivity.
2) Amazon has a huge collection of ebooks and most of them are a bit cheaper than other ebook stores. However this advantage is already diminishing due to Amazon’s refusal to adopt the EPUB format and the fact that practically all other ebook stores have adopted the EPUB format.
3) PDF support. This is a pro and a con. The con is that ebook readers could potentially have much better PDF and zoom features but they don’t have them. This is common across the board…Sony, Kindle, Bookean, etc. Only the high end readers like the DX and the Iliad have better PDF support, but even their PDF support is a bit lacking considering how expensive those readers are.
That is pretty much it. I’m sure I’m missing some stuff. All in all, I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. It is a great little device and has many more features than the new Sony PRS-300. Considering that you can get the PRS-505 under 200 dollars if you try hard enough, it is a steal!
4 Stars old version, good one
This is the second Sony E-reader I purchased. It is extremely useful; capable of reading different formats; it is easy to handle large documents and it is not tiring to read because of its clear definition of characters. Its limitations are: few options in size of characters and limited battery charge duration.
However, the problem with Sony E-reader is that if almost impossible to buy it. It is extremely difficult to find places where Sony E-reader is sold. Neither in Switzerland or France, not even in the Sony Building of Tokyo, where I looked for. Finally I could buy it in Amazon, but not for Amazon itself but for another company (a very good one, but this is not the case).
I dont understand the battle for e-readers and the strategies of big companies. The sad part of this is that you can not buy a e-reader direct in Europe. Kindle is not sell outside Us and Sony e-reader is not sold not even in Japan. Someone could explain that?
5 Stars Simply Perfect
I am the type of reader who downloads documents, books etc and read them. This is the perfect companion for me. The negative comments for filetype compatibility are generated by people who do not convert files themselves. Here is my remedy:
1. Open the document to be converted in Open Office/ MS Word. Set fontsize to 28. Enlarge page margins.
2. Convert to PDF (Freeware OpenOffice does this perfectly)
3. Connect the reader to USB port. After some search you will see a folder named database/books. Copy your file there. Similarly you can copy your photos to image folder. But if you are going to complain about battery life do not listen to music from this device. Use an mp3 player instead. I have even deleted the music that comes with it. Because unless the headphones are connected you can not know music is playing at the background and this sucks batteries.
That`s it!!! You are good to go. My documents are mostly in Turkish with special characters and I do not see any delays etc. while reading them.
My last word: I have not even installed the CD that comes with it and I do not care. I can read all my documents with ease. This is the reader in my dreams and I hope to use it for a loooong time 
Would be interesting to see you compare it to other models.