Sony Reader PRS-505

Nicky Osborne10 August 2009

This is a fantastic bit of kit for someone who loves to read but who doesn't have the space to keep lots of books. My ebook library is already jam packed with classics, many of which are free to download, but also with lots of newer books, these however tend to be a similar price to hard copies. I've just downloaded a book and sat reading it for two and a half hours and no eye strain. We're also going on holiday in a few days and it's going to be so nice just to carry one small light piece of kit rather than 3 or 4 novels.

Robert S10 August 2009

I have been using this device for two months now, here are some thoughts: Their are two main drawbacks to this gadget - first it can only really handle small paperback size books, the screen ( slightly smaller even than a paperback) is just not large enough to handle anything bigger, so any hopes you have of it replacing large textbooks or graphic novels you should forget about it. Secondly - and this is not Sony's fault - buying a new release novel for the reader costs exactly the same as the printed version despite the fact that your no longer paying for the physical format - I mean come on, with no printers costs something off the price shouldn't be too much to ask. However what makes this little device worth its weight in gold and which will make you love it like you did your first ipod is how it lets you access and use all the thousands upon thousands of free and legal ebooks available online (for a great example see project Gutenberg with its staggeringly vast collection of out of copyright books). This Sony Reader liberates this content, making it practical in a way just not possible before - with the same quality as printed paper, mammoth battery life, expandable memory (with SD cards), small size and light weight its an instant classic. Its the coming of age of many ideas and the start of something good. It's also delightfully single minded – no iffy wifi or bluetooth, no dodgy video, no poor quality picture capturing. It just reads books and does it brilliantly. It’s a device I have used everyday since I bought it and with all the books on it, that without it I would have had to buy, it has now paid for itself. Right, I'm off to read Jules Vern, then maybe some Austin - or should I go for Alexandre Dumas? or Dostoevsky? or Julius Ceasar? or Virgil? or......

geoffpacker11 November 2009

e-book is brill but DONT buy one CHECK OUT THIS SITE FIRST http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1380993 the cost of the data is to high after all what are you paying for no paper no postage no stocking at the supplier. You are better off getting the paper book from ebay and saving loads of cash. 5Gs for the idea -10Gs for the cost of data.

allison20 December 2009

I got my sony reader as a christmas present from my bf in 2008,its the most fabulous present ive ever had-i just love it,i have read some of the 100 ebooks that came with mine,i have purchased ebooks from waterstones and whsmith and downloaded loads of ebooks from the hundreds of ebook sites. I like to transfer pdf docs from the net or my pc to my sony reader,word docs that have all my important names,phone numbers,addresses etc,also photographs and music too. I take it with me everywhere,it recently came in very useful when i had a stay in hospital Pity they werent available when i was at University,would have been alot lighter than carrying loads of books about

mike09 March 2010

I have the PRS-500 and have used it for years. The lack of ePub format is now solved by either upgrading via Sony (about 100 quid) or using a free convertor called calibre that converts the epub format for you into original sony format.

automat09 May 2010

I purchased a 505 over a year ago........ and that's almost exactly how long it lasted! It threw a fit a couple of days after the warranty expired and when I hit the reboot button the screen went entirely black, which kinda gave me a clue that it had gone to silicon heaven. During the time that it did function it needed frequent recharging, it would often 'lock-up' and refuse to do anything until rebooted and it would display words and sometimes entire sentences as a jumble of meaningless, random characters. Frankly, I was almost relieved when it bit the dust so as I no longer had the agg of wondering what the rotten thing was going to do next so as to ruin my next supposedly relaxing hour or two of reading. I don't know if anyone else has had similar reliability issues with the Sony or whether mine was just unfortunately a 'Friday night special,' but given the trouble I had with my one, then my advice would be to wait until the tech is a bit more developed and perhaps something with a proven track record that will give the UK buyer a decent deal comes along.

jman21304 September 2010

these look great but how much are they, where can i get one and how many books does it hold because if its less than 60 then its pretty pointless coz it would be cheaper to be the actual books

Nick Timms aka TargetP14 October 2011

Can you tell me if this supports multiple languages, specifically English and Russian????