i have a new gadget
a few months ago, i bought myself a sony prs-505, also known as the e-reader.
to be quite frank, it's excellent. i bought it for going away to not have to carry around enough books to keep me entertained on holiday.
it came with a nice protective book jacket, but i found the first thing to do was take off the protective book-jackety thing, after marvelling at the magnetic clasp that holds it on.
the text is really easy to read, easy on the eye and it's as light as a paperback and lighter than most hardbacks. it honestly is as easy on the eye as paper, and the brighter the light, the clearer the ink. i find it sits nicely in the hands and unlike hardbacks when reading in bed, i have yet to let my fingers slip on the book so it comes down and smacks me in the face, which i do with most hardbacks.
the protocol for storing books is nice and condensed (LRF) and i've got over 200 on there now without denting the SD card.
the only slight frustration is sony have an ebook store in the states, and use waterstones in the UK. I find I can't buy ebooks from the states with a UK credit card, and waterstones don't seem to have quite the same range. not a problem - there's a happy industry out there putting books out on bit-torrent. so far, i've managed to get a lot of my books that i have on paper on to the reader now, and it's great to have the library in the pocket (it is pocket sized).
finally, DRM. it comes with some, and I just don't bother. I use calibre which is great at converting between book formats, convieniently losing the weak DRM on the way.
so, i love it. it's shiny and pocket-sized. pity it doesn't vibrate.
to be quite frank, it's excellent. i bought it for going away to not have to carry around enough books to keep me entertained on holiday.
it came with a nice protective book jacket, but i found the first thing to do was take off the protective book-jackety thing, after marvelling at the magnetic clasp that holds it on.
the text is really easy to read, easy on the eye and it's as light as a paperback and lighter than most hardbacks. it honestly is as easy on the eye as paper, and the brighter the light, the clearer the ink. i find it sits nicely in the hands and unlike hardbacks when reading in bed, i have yet to let my fingers slip on the book so it comes down and smacks me in the face, which i do with most hardbacks.
the protocol for storing books is nice and condensed (LRF) and i've got over 200 on there now without denting the SD card.
the only slight frustration is sony have an ebook store in the states, and use waterstones in the UK. I find I can't buy ebooks from the states with a UK credit card, and waterstones don't seem to have quite the same range. not a problem - there's a happy industry out there putting books out on bit-torrent. so far, i've managed to get a lot of my books that i have on paper on to the reader now, and it's great to have the library in the pocket (it is pocket sized).
finally, DRM. it comes with some, and I just don't bother. I use calibre which is great at converting between book formats, convieniently losing the weak DRM on the way.
so, i love it. it's shiny and pocket-sized. pity it doesn't vibrate.