Re: [tlug] [OT] eBooks

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2009-10-12 09:13 +0100 (Mon), Godwin Stewart wrote:

> > First, the 505 and 700 are now out of production
> 
> That's interesting. The bookstore I usually deal with has only recently
> started selling them....

Well, mention that you're in the UK, and not in the, er, uh, "center of
the free world," next time. :-) The 505 certainly is out of production,
and probably you guys are just in the process of clearing out the
distribution channels. Not that that's important either way.

> The 600 is only on pre-order as yet. But I did have a chance to try both
> side-by-side at a bookstore in Preston and the 600 was just not up to
> scratch. The "paper" was far too dark meaning very low contrast.

Hm. Oh dear. Well, all I can say about this is, 1) you get used to
the low contrast, if not the glare, if you've got nothing to compare
it with (as I've not for the last few months while my brother has had
my PRS-505), and 2) the better speed of the post-505 models makes a
noticeable difference, especially if you're carrying around books
numbering in the hundreds rather than the tens.

But, as you say:

> Precisely, which is one of the reasons I'm fixed on the 505. It is an
> extremely good looking device with a great screen.
> ...
> I won't be using it to read PDF files.
> 
> This is strictly for recreational reading.

If you want the best screen quality, and it's for only novels and
similar material available in .lrf (the non-DRM sony BeEB format) and
PDF formatted for that screen size, you've made the right choice.

> > The 600 improves things considerably,
> 
> Not the price tag... It's 40% dearer than the 505 over here (£250 vs. £180)

BTW, consider the 300, too. Why? Because, for your type of reading

    1. the smaller display won't be an issue, because though it's
    physically smaller, it still has the same number of pixels (though
    if you have certain vision impairments that make you want "big
    fonts," this does not apply);

    2. the low memory capacity with no external storage is certainly
    not an issue, because you'll go insane on any of the models if
    you try to keep more than a gross or so (more or less that order
    of magnitude--less is better!) loaded up anyway, and the internal
    memory of the 300 is capable of that;

    3. the possibility (probability?) that the 300 has a CPU with muscle
    (or lack thereof) more long the lines of the 505 rather than the 700
    isn't such a big deal when you just read .lrfs and you don't keep a
    lot (i.e., <100) of books on the machine.

Though if you find out that the 300 doesn't look as good as the 505, let
me know. (I'm terribly tempted to buy both, myself.)

> Depending on workload and other factors, I get through about 25 books a year
> on average. I also live in a house where space is rapidly dwindling and I
> really can't afford to keep filling it with books, which I like to keep once
> I've read them.

I understand where you're coming from. I'm about 100 books a year,
myself (and that includes the math and comp. sci. ones, which means I
don't want you even to think about what my compensatory consumption of
Raymond Chandler and other pulp fiction looks like), and an ex-hoarder
myself. I had my "buy lots of Billy bookshelves" time in my life, but
moving to Japan cured me of that (or at least, restrained me somewhat).

But, keep in mind the DRM issue: as Zune owners found to their dismay,
having bought something in electronic form doesn't mean you can access
it a few years later.

On 2009-10-12 21:37 +0900 (Mon), Alan Busby wrote:

> Connects via USB as a mass storage controller to anything, and takes
> unencrypted books from a number of sources. Nice thing with the Kindle is
> beyond Amazon.com, just about every online book publisher supports it.

Not nearly so much as the Sony ones, actually, which have supported
reasonably open formats from the start. One of the wonderful things
about the Sony: if worst comes to worst, I turn something into a text
file, drop it on an SD card, and it reads quite happily and clearly.

> I looked at the 505 for 6 months before the Kindle came out, but I
> wouldn't trust anything Sony puts out for a number of reasons.

I think you're missing the schism in Sony. On the hardware and platform
side, they tend to be very open, and the Reader is from that side.
Another example would be the PS3, where they have (surprisingly enough,
for some) a very nice interface for ripping CDs. Insert a CD, and
immediately it contacts CDDB and grabs title and artist information, and
then simply chose the "rip" option (well, they don't call it exactly
that in the menu) and it's ripped to your hard drive, in the format you
chose from the setup menu, whence you can copy it at will.

On 2009-10-12 13:44 +0100 (Mon), Godwin Stewart wrote:

> Unfortunately the PRS-505 has been pulled from Waterstones today. They're no
> longer selling it online and are pushing the PRS-600 instead. I see there's
> a silver version of it that looks less horrible than the black one, so I'll
> probably go for that even though it's significantly dearer than the one I
> wanted.

Err....given all I said above, can you go for the 300?

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974
           Functional programming in all senses of the word:
                   http://www.starling-software.com