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April 11, 2007

Review of the Sony Reader

Filed under: Books,Rants/Musings,Uncategorized — cangione @ 7:46 pm

Way back in 2001 I bought my first e-book reader. It was about the size of a paperback book and was comfortable to hold in my hand. They went out of business at least in part because of the restrictions they put on the content you could upload to the device. They went out of business and I was devastated! I have to carry books and magazines again! Horrible.

Finally after years of waiting a new e-book reader has emerged from Sony. I went and played with a Sony Reader today. The reader is slim, sexy, and easy to hold in one's hand. Definitely on my short list of must have tech toys.

Some observations:

  • Price: On the high side at $300 to $349. As a consultant and someone who travels all the time I think I fall into Sony's ideal initial market. I'd be happy at something more like $200 to $250 which was the price of the 2001 reader.
  • Content: Sony at least hasn't made the same mistake as others in this space and allows you to upload PDF, TXT, RTF and Word documents besides e-books. It will even play MP3s.
  • Additional Items: For 350 bucks you would think Sony could give you a nice book-like cover to protect your expensive device. Nope. Buy one on Amazon.
  • Back Light: I wish it had one. I really enjoyed reading in low light situations with my other reader. Just like a real book, the Sony Reader requires that you have a reading light. While not having a back light heps with battery life I think this was boneheaded.
  • Charles Angione

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