Sony Portable Reader System
By Rachel Laudiero on Nov 26, 2007 in Featured, Gifts
I told you guys a couple of weeks ago about my reading “technique.” I am considering changing “how” I read. A couple of days ago, a friend of mine mentioned that he thought I’d probably love the Sony PRS500 Portable Reader System. At first, I shunned the thought of not having the feel of the pages, the smell of the ink, so on and so forth
… and it scared the living daylights out of me that without the ability to make notes in the book, maybe I wouldn’t be able to comprehend what I read…I know, it was a silly thought. I started sweating, and could barely talk from the fear, albeit irrational, of this being a possibility. Okay, not really… but it could it have played out that way.
After doing a little research - I’m all about making this purchase!
When I travel, I can’t EVER figure out what book(s) to take. I’m not one of those people that can just buy a book in an airport because I need something to read. IF I had one of these…I could have a ton of choices to pick from based on my mood.
I also like the idea of being able to “cart around” the books I’m reading, WITHOUT a big bag full of several books I’m reading at the time. It never fails, I go to a place where I’m waiting, I want to be able to read something, but toting a bag full of books is a bit of an inconvenience. This little contraption would put an end to the bulky bag!
There are thousands of books that are free online. I probably could save money on books this way. I figure the price of this thing is close to $300.00 and up. If I buy books at around $10.00 a pop, and I can find 30 books online that I want to read, this cool little money saving device has paid for itself… ESPECIALLY since I will not get just 30 books and read them.
Here’s the downfall I can see - I can’t write in the device. Well, okay. I carry a small notepad - still less bulky than carrying around several books at once. And I already carry a small notebook around.
There is one feature to this that can be either a pro or a con….there is no backlight. On the one hand, because there is no backlight you can read it comfortably in the sunlight. On the other hand, you can’t read it laying in bed without a small clip on light….but a small clip on light is still a WHOLE lot less bothersome to the person sleeping next to me than a lamp. This issue doesn’t seem to be much of an issue to me.
Overall, I think this is a GREAT piece of technology, and one that I will be planning on purchasing over the next few months. I will keep you updated.
If any of you have used a portable reader system, let us know what you think about it. What are the pros and cons in your opinion? What made you decide to buy it? I’m really interested in hearing from others on this.
Rachel | Nov 27, 2007 | Reply
Ben from MA sent me an email about this. He said I could share it here. He brings up some interesting points about the direction of digital publishing… I’m curious about what others think.
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Hey, Rachel-
I just read your Sony Reader column. That certainly is an intriguing little device, isn’t it? I’ve had that in the back of my mind as a potential pickup at some time, but I haven’t yet been won over. I suppose I’ll have to actually feel one in my hands and try it out.
Pros: very convenient, not bulky, easily transportable.
Cons: I’m still not sure whether reading digitally is the way to go. It’s not just the feel of the pages, the feel of a book in your hands, it’s the sense of progress through the book as you see that bookmark get from the front to the back. There’s an excitement when you see just a small sliver of pages left behind the bookmark that compels you to read more. Moreso than a digital page indicator that says you have 75 pages left.
Then there’s the ability to flip back and forth. If you need to go back and check something or reread something, it’s easy to flip back and forth to different parts of the book. That’s harder to do digitally, though there might be search and indexing functions that might ultimately (once you get used to it) make that process a faster one. That remains to be seen.
Perhaps the one thing that scares me a little about this is what it will do to the publishing industry if it becomes widely adopted. Digital music has pretty much destroyed the recording industry. Sure, sure, the big labels didn’t help themselves any in this regard, but currently, the ability of an artist to make a living is harder now than ever before. Everyone is trying to find the next business model for operating profitably in this age of burning and ripping music. What’s to stop these types of formats from doing the same thing to the publishing industry? sure, the process will be longer and slower than what happened in music - teens don’t go gaga about making “mix-books” for their friends. But it will happen eventually. You yourself said that there are hundreds of free books online. How many of them are supposed to be free, and how many of them have been illegally ripped?
Sure, you could say, well, it’s the same thing as going to the library, and I suppose you’d have a point. And hey, how about those budding authors who can’t get a book deal with Ballentine? They can self publish digitally! True, true, but eventually, you get so many, and the quality of 95% of them is so poor, that you end up with a needle in a haystack scenario (again, much like what faces musicians these days).
There’s no stopping technology. But I can’t help but see something of a golden age/dark age for the arts of music and writing. Never before have so many been given the tools to create and distribute so freely, but then again, the ability to do so and make a living at it has never been harder.
EdatOHI | Nov 27, 2007 | Reply
Great comments, Ben. I think self-publishing is great, and the diversity and breadth of content is irrefutablely a plus.
Sure, we’re early in the process, and people are still figuring out how to use the technology to create an audience, and certainly the existing publishing companies in any medium have no interest in helping to provide systems for doing it.
But, ultimately, people have learned to tell the difference between CNN and the Colbert Report and Infomercials and how to find each of them.
That will happen with self-publishing too.
The learning cycle is in it’s infancy…like television in the 50s/60s.
More people having less impediments to publishing makes a better world. IMO, it’s an historical development akin to the printing press and being able to suddenly make thousands of copies of something.
Now suddenly and similarly, any man on the street can distribute millions of copies of something.
I’m sure there were many who wondered at the time of the printing press if putting publishing in the hands of people who couldn’t write was such a good idea. lmao
Jeff | Nov 29, 2007 | Reply
Have you looked at the new Amazon Kindle at all? The reviews I’ve perused rated it higher than the Sony one, particularly because (a) it has free WI-FI and (b) it syncs up with Amazon.com for reasonably well priced books that can be bought wirelessly.
This isn’t an endorsement though, as I have never used either. The great value something like that would have to me is to store my philosophy library for quick and easy access. The problem though, is that this library is big, and I am not going to repurchase books. Further, if I got something like the Kindle, I would still want to purchase the books so that books I owned were not confined to a piece of technology - particularly when I might need these books 15-20 years down the line.
What would really sell me on the Kindle is if it let you get a Kindle copy of books you have previously purchased from them and to get a Kindle copy with a purchase of a hard copy. Anyway, if you do get one, I’d love to hear your impressions.
Rachel | Nov 30, 2007 | Reply
Hi Jeff,
It seems to me the Kindle might actually be a better option, however, its more expensive than the Sony Reader. (PS. If you click on the word Kindle above, it will take you to a link for it on amazon.)
I will definitely let you guys know what I think if I get either of these two types of readers, I promise!