If I owned a Kindle, the Whispersync feature would be pretty sweet. But I don't own a Kindle; I own the Sony PRS-505 and have a fair sized library of books for that already. Looking at the Amazon Kindle store, they seem to have a pretty similar library to Sony's -- at least for the genres I tend to read. The books Sony doesn't have are the same books Amazon doesn't have, as it's the publishers that are blocking them. So dumping the Sony Reader in favor of the new Kindle 2 is a pretty hard sell for me...
The hubby uses the 505, but he wants a Kindle 2. He's had problems with the desktop syncing software not remembering passwords and since he's using my account (I used to use a 500), he has to ask me for the password almost every time he buys a new book. I never liked trying to find something in the Sony e-book store. And I have the uneasy feeling that if Sony doesn't meet its goals for the Reader product, that they'd shut down the store. I feel a lot less wary of Amazon's e-book store.
The main thing I love with my Kindle 1 is the wireless syncing. I have never had to connect my Kindle to my computer for anything. It's so great. And the book downloads are really fast. The second thing I love is that Amazon's book prices are consistently lower than Sony's. I feel hard-pressed to spend more than $9.99 for an e-book on Sony's e-book store, since the Kindle store's "default" pricing is $9.99 and lower. There are some books that cost more than that, but in my experience that's been the exception, not the rule. Whenever I browse Sony's store I'm baffled at how high their prices are compared to Amazon. But of course, it all depends on what you read. I just feel like Amazon seems more committed to filling the Kindle Store out since Amazon is in the book business. Sony doesn't seem like they're in the book business.
And yes, having the Whispersync between my Kindle iPhone app and my Kindle 1 is pretty awesome. I love knowing that I can buy a book from the Kindle Store and be able to use it on a couple different devices, as well as share them with the hubby without having to buy another Kindle (though we both want the K2).
I agree that Sony's store software is absolute, unmitigated shit. It's sad that the only viable way to really look up info on books from Sony is to look them up on Amazon's website. And it's buggy and unreliable. It deliberately will not remember your password as a 'security feature', which gets annoying. On the other hand, the Sony Reader hardware itself is extremely well done. It slaps the Kindle 1 around silly, and while I haven't had a chance to really play with a Kindle 2 yet, I would still give the nod to the Sony Reader over the Kindle 2 for aesthetics and ergonomics.
Sony has been adding a lot of books to their store. They used to be much further behind than Amazon. And they are onto their third version of the hardware, which would indicate some level of commitment. They also support the ePub format (although not on your 500, unfortunately) which should give it some life even if they end up closing their store. And the Adobe Digital Editions support in the 505 & 700 means you can use digital library rentals with the Sony Reader -- something you can't do with the Kindle. However, it is a very real possibility that they will throw in the towel, since Sony as a company overall is hurting pretty bad. I don't have a massive library of books purchased for the Sony Reader, so if I was to switch over, now would probably be the time to do it. But as I said before, for the stuff I read, the Amazon store is nearly identical to what Sony offers. And while I could buy Kindle books and read them on my iPod Touch, the actual reading experience on the iPod Touch blows chunks compared to an E-Ink screen. So to really make the switch, I'd have to buy a Kindle 2 which makes the cost of switching considerably more expensive. Even if Sony's store is a buck or two more expensive than Amazon's for the books I read -- that's a lot of books to make up the difference in paying off the Kindle 2 hardware...
One thing I really don't like about the Kindle software is that there is no way to organize books. You can only sort by title or author. I use the collections feature of the Sony Reader heavily. Many of the things I read are books in a series (e.g., The Wheel of Time series -- which neither Sony or Amazon have in their stores since Tor won't release them in E-book format). Collections are great for this, as not only do they group the books together, but allows me to group them in series order. Even with my paltry collection of books on the Sony Reader, if it wasn't for collections, finding books would be a royal pain in the arse. Hopefully Amazon will add some way to organize books to the Kindle.
The other thing that suggests Sony is serious about the Reader is that they've now launched it in multiple countries. You can get it in the US, UK, Germany, France (I believe) and I just saw an announcement about the upcoming Swiss launch.
For the longest time we've been saying that Sony should provide the hardware for Amazon's Kindle. Sony is awesome at hardware design. They totally suck at software. And I know they're beefing up their e-book store, but I just can't shake the feeling that at any moment, if their higher-ups deem e-books to be not worth it, Sony would up and shutdown their store, even if they've put a lot of money into expanding the title selection. They've done similar things too often in the past for me to let it go. :P
And yes, it is annoying that you can't organize your books. I really don't have that many, but it's irritating not to have a better way of sorting them. I can't imagine what people who really read a lot on their Kindles do to navigate their sizable libraries.
As for reading on the iPod touch/iPhone as opposed to the Kindle, I don't personally mind the difference. I don't get bothered by backlit screens, and I like being able to read in the dark without needing an external light. And since I've been reading on small screens for a long time, it doesn't bother me. In fact I finished up a book on my iPhone yesterday. I don't know how many Kindle pages it would've been, but it was a fair amount of reading.
I hope Sony stays in the e-reader business. The Kindle needs competition, at the very least to help keep improving the hardware. I hear lots of great things about the K2's hardware, but I agree that Sony does it better.
6 comments so far
If I owned a Kindle, the Whispersync feature would be pretty sweet. But I don't own a Kindle; I own the Sony PRS-505 and have a fair sized library of books for that already. Looking at the Amazon Kindle store, they seem to have a pretty similar library to Sony's -- at least for the genres I tend to read. The books Sony doesn't have are the same books Amazon doesn't have, as it's the publishers that are blocking them. So dumping the Sony Reader in favor of the new Kindle 2 is a pretty hard sell for me...
8 months ago by CAW
The hubby uses the 505, but he wants a Kindle 2. He's had problems with the desktop syncing software not remembering passwords and since he's using my account (I used to use a 500), he has to ask me for the password almost every time he buys a new book. I never liked trying to find something in the Sony e-book store. And I have the uneasy feeling that if Sony doesn't meet its goals for the Reader product, that they'd shut down the store. I feel a lot less wary of Amazon's e-book store.
The main thing I love with my Kindle 1 is the wireless syncing. I have never had to connect my Kindle to my computer for anything. It's so great. And the book downloads are really fast. The second thing I love is that Amazon's book prices are consistently lower than Sony's. I feel hard-pressed to spend more than $9.99 for an e-book on Sony's e-book store, since the Kindle store's "default" pricing is $9.99 and lower. There are some books that cost more than that, but in my experience that's been the exception, not the rule. Whenever I browse Sony's store I'm baffled at how high their prices are compared to Amazon. But of course, it all depends on what you read. I just feel like Amazon seems more committed to filling the Kindle Store out since Amazon is in the book business. Sony doesn't seem like they're in the book business.
8 months ago by jezlyn
And yes, having the Whispersync between my Kindle iPhone app and my Kindle 1 is pretty awesome. I love knowing that I can buy a book from the Kindle Store and be able to use it on a couple different devices, as well as share them with the hubby without having to buy another Kindle (though we both want the K2).
8 months ago by jezlyn
I agree that Sony's store software is absolute, unmitigated shit. It's sad that the only viable way to really look up info on books from Sony is to look them up on Amazon's website. And it's buggy and unreliable. It deliberately will not remember your password as a 'security feature', which gets annoying. On the other hand, the Sony Reader hardware itself is extremely well done. It slaps the Kindle 1 around silly, and while I haven't had a chance to really play with a Kindle 2 yet, I would still give the nod to the Sony Reader over the Kindle 2 for aesthetics and ergonomics.
Sony has been adding a lot of books to their store. They used to be much further behind than Amazon. And they are onto their third version of the hardware, which would indicate some level of commitment. They also support the ePub format (although not on your 500, unfortunately) which should give it some life even if they end up closing their store. And the Adobe Digital Editions support in the 505 & 700 means you can use digital library rentals with the Sony Reader -- something you can't do with the Kindle. However, it is a very real possibility that they will throw in the towel, since Sony as a company overall is hurting pretty bad. I don't have a massive library of books purchased for the Sony Reader, so if I was to switch over, now would probably be the time to do it. But as I said before, for the stuff I read, the Amazon store is nearly identical to what Sony offers. And while I could buy Kindle books and read them on my iPod Touch, the actual reading experience on the iPod Touch blows chunks compared to an E-Ink screen. So to really make the switch, I'd have to buy a Kindle 2 which makes the cost of switching considerably more expensive. Even if Sony's store is a buck or two more expensive than Amazon's for the books I read -- that's a lot of books to make up the difference in paying off the Kindle 2 hardware...
One thing I really don't like about the Kindle software is that there is no way to organize books. You can only sort by title or author. I use the collections feature of the Sony Reader heavily. Many of the things I read are books in a series (e.g., The Wheel of Time series -- which neither Sony or Amazon have in their stores since Tor won't release them in E-book format). Collections are great for this, as not only do they group the books together, but allows me to group them in series order. Even with my paltry collection of books on the Sony Reader, if it wasn't for collections, finding books would be a royal pain in the arse. Hopefully Amazon will add some way to organize books to the Kindle.
8 months ago by CAW
The other thing that suggests Sony is serious about the Reader is that they've now launched it in multiple countries. You can get it in the US, UK, Germany, France (I believe) and I just saw an announcement about the upcoming Swiss launch.
8 months ago by CAW
For the longest time we've been saying that Sony should provide the hardware for Amazon's Kindle. Sony is awesome at hardware design. They totally suck at software. And I know they're beefing up their e-book store, but I just can't shake the feeling that at any moment, if their higher-ups deem e-books to be not worth it, Sony would up and shutdown their store, even if they've put a lot of money into expanding the title selection. They've done similar things too often in the past for me to let it go. :P
And yes, it is annoying that you can't organize your books. I really don't have that many, but it's irritating not to have a better way of sorting them. I can't imagine what people who really read a lot on their Kindles do to navigate their sizable libraries.
As for reading on the iPod touch/iPhone as opposed to the Kindle, I don't personally mind the difference. I don't get bothered by backlit screens, and I like being able to read in the dark without needing an external light. And since I've been reading on small screens for a long time, it doesn't bother me. In fact I finished up a book on my iPhone yesterday. I don't know how many Kindle pages it would've been, but it was a fair amount of reading.
I hope Sony stays in the e-reader business. The Kindle needs competition, at the very least to help keep improving the hardware. I hear lots of great things about the K2's hardware, but I agree that Sony does it better.
8 months ago by jezlyn