Does this have expandable memory or just the 512 included megabytes?
Wow this is a great price.
$174.00 online at the Sony Outlet for refurbished.
I have a similar Sony Reader product–it’s a slightly larger model, but they use the same user interface.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. It’s relatively easy to sort the books you have in memory, find the right page, keep your place, etc.
I would hope that this model has a bit of a faster CPU, though. Mine can take a little while to turn pages if it has to read and then resize a PDF. Sometimes it’s 3-4 seconds (but not often) and I start to wonder if I did press the button… then I press it again and suddenly find myself two pages ahead.
The simple USB connectivity is great–it just appears as a removable disk and you don’t need any special drivers to add or remove books.
If my Sony Reader is any indication, this should have good battery life for just reading, as do most of these kinds of products. I’ve never used mine for audio playback.
Most of the libraries where I live (Suffolk County, NY) subscribe to an OverDrive.com-based service called SuffolkWave (http://www.suffolkwave.org) that provides free eBooks and audio books. When people ask me about the service, I specifically recommend these newer Sony Readers because they support a good number of formats, including the Adobe DRM formats used by OverDrive.
IMO, $110 for one of these readers is a very good deal.
I got my husband this for Hanukkah (and I certainly didn’t get it at this good of a price!)
This is a great e-reader. It will work with multiple formats, meaning you can shop at Sony’s store, an e-book store like Books on Board, or even nab free books from Feed Books.
The weight is good and it is easy to operate.
If you’ve remotely considering getting an e-reader, I’d bite. This is a good deal.
Many library systems do allow ebook downloads to be “checked out”. Depending on the system used, you typically don’t get to “keep” the ebook, but it is nice to have those books all in one place, like your laptop, netbook, or digital reader.
$80 more on this site for the same thing…
[url=]http://www.clearanceclub.com/products/11214-PRS-300BC-Digital-Reader?ad_ref=x2froogle
woot price and shipping are better!
No.
I’ve had one for about six weeks. I love the fact that I can “borrow” books from my local library via their website. The Sony Reader, unlike the Kindle, can also use any of the Google Books. This provides a vast source of free and public-domain books, including many primary sources.
The eReader Store is pretty easy to use and tends to have the book that I’m looking for.
There is no WhisperNet for wireless purchase of books, like the Kindle. Uploading books is much like using an iPod. The preloaded software (no CD required) acts like iTunes: purchase, organization and uploading of books through the computer’s interface.
And yes, it is OS X compatible.
Memory:
* Memory Size: 512 MB
* User available capacity: Approx. 440MB
Not expandable
More than true. Most, not just large city, libraries have a download section on their web site. They purchase the rights to a certain number of the book.
You jut sign up with you library card.
It is like checking out a paper book. If the book is available you get it for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks it disappears from your memory, no matter where you have moved it to.
If not immediately available you can place it on hold and when your turn comes up it gets downloaded to you.
This one doesn’t seem to have any expansion slots. The larger Sony model I have supports SD and Memory Stick.
Still… 500MB is a lot of PDFs.
You may have been beaten but the link makes it look so much less cluttered and a lot less of an eyesore. I’m not sure why more people don’t do make URLs clickie.
So, are there new book releases available for this reader and, if so, from where ?
Two words: Usenet.
I have been researching these and the kindle and one thing to keep in mind is that Amazon has been known to pull books back at the author’s request. You don’t actually own the rights to the books you purchase. With a Sony that won’t happen.
Oh, and if you have never seen e-ink, please save your comments about how you don’t like reading “on a computer screen.”
This is nothing, nothing, like any computer screen you’ve ever seen.
It is absolutely as easy on the eyes as paper, and is not backlit.
(So, for those who like to do a little night time reading, may I recommend the Mighty Bright Book Light?)
Hey fellow wooters, I was wondering how this reader is with scaned documents placed into a PDF? Alot of my profs scan textbooks so that we the students don’t have to buy the whole book when we only need a chapter. Any help will make this wooter happy! Thanks and gig’em.
Sure enough, if the library has subscriptions to NetLibrary or Overdrive. Most use the ePub protocol.
Calibre is a great free program to manage your eBook library, and can convert various formats to be compatible with the Sony reader. Also grabs metadata and cover art, which is handy. I use it with my Kindle, and my friend uses it to manage his Sony (the newest one, with the touchscreen).
Also, it’s compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux.