Comments on: Sony announces updated Reader, eBook lovers around the world to meet in a phone booth to celebrate

By: Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:25:32 +0000

Sony really needs to invest in a decent design department. This still looks awful. Doesn’t stop me wanting one though.

By: Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:29:12 +0000

well mathew your out of luck in that regard unless you want to flex the rules a bot IE torrents are a wonderful way of getting massive collections of books you would never have heard of otherwise. I just got a massive sci-fi collection that has caused a nice up tick in my special order file at the local book store :-) (for books I really enjoy I want a real copy on my bookshelf :-)

By: Chris Taylor

Chris Taylor — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 03:27:19 +0000

AND sony did it right (well mostly right) it supports OPEN file formats (PDF RTF TXT) out of the box never have to plug it into a PC if you do not want to. Just toss some books on the memory card and your off.

I use mine almost daily. Whenever I can squeeze in some reading. I go through 1-3 novels a week!! I am right now on book 5 of the Heechee series. Finished “Earth” last week (excellent)

Sips power (I charge it once ever month or so) NO eye strain!! (YES staring at a damned computer screen for 8 hours DOES have an ill effect on me. It mostly does to you as well but you are just used to it. You might be relieved after using this for a few hours.

There are only a few improvements I can think of.
Needs to be cheaper. While I will gladly pay $300 (already did for my reader) for average joe thats a lot.

Needs folder support badly. More than 30 books gets cumbersome in extreme.

Needs to switch back to dry cells (AAAx2)

Then no worries over battery death ruining the device. A set of AAA’s would probably run this for 6 months with a heavy user like me over a year for your average person (if it used no power when off)

My biggest issue is what will I do in 3 years when this battery is hosed. I will have to rip it apart and pray I can find a compatible battery.

Otherwise its one of those truly rare sony offerings that is just done right.

By: mathew

mathew — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:43:42 +0000

Now all I need is a store where I can buy e-books with the same conditions as paper books, at the same price or less…

By: Peter Ha

Peter Ha — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:08:14 +0000

I actually want one of these. I hate reading e-books on my macbook.

By: Randy

Randy — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:09:26 +0000

Been using a Sony reader for a year now. Let’s see

Easy on the eyes
Small, but not too small (like trying to read from my Blackberry)
Doesn’t get viruses
Doesn’t need to be booted up or restarted
Holds hundreds of new books
Feelings good holding it.

Hmm…a product that works as advertised and it gets made fun of…interesting. Maybe if it was made by Apple the bloggers would say it was perfect thank you al might Steve

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:23:18 +0000

who reads three books on laptop? Maybe 1 book per 8 hour flight. I’m saying life will find a way to render this obsolete

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:03:48 +0000

Try reading 3 books on your laptop without a recharge. And how heavy is your laptop? How long does it take to boot? The ebook reader is awesome for anyone who loves reading books.

By: John Biggs

John Biggs — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:54:46 +0000

Oh, I get all that. But there are screens now that are equally easy on the eyes – we use them every day and they’re called laptops. We stare at our computers for 8+ hours a day with few ill effects. Besides, screens are getting so bright and thin that it will only be a matter of time before e-ink is redundant.

By: bobby J

bobby J — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:31:38 +0000

The whole point is that you are not reading from a normal TFT screen, which is not exactly easy on the eyes.

E-ink is supposed to look just like paper