Comments on: Review: The Sony Pocket Edition (PRS-300) Reader

By: H.L.Jolly

H.L.Jolly — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:17:54 +0000

My daughter brought me sony reader PRS300 and i was happy to get it. While loading book an error occur ed showing loading continually and i was unable to make it OFF. any how i kept it as it is and screen become normal Again after a week I made it on the same screen appeared with two Arrows with LOADING indication loading underneath the screen Is there any solution to this problem? please forward on my E-mail Address.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:26:05 +0000

Nice review, thanks.
Have you tried reading pdfs on it? One of the things I want a reader for is to do all of my work-related reading – most of which comes in pdf format. I’m a bit concerned about how they display – are they readable or does retaining the format mean the size of the text is too small to read comfortably, or do you have to read a bit of the page at a time?
Thanks

By: Venky

Venky — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:01:26 +0000

Hi Brad,

Nice review !

I am based out of India and I recently had a friend pick up a Sony PRS-300 Pocket Edition from the US, and i had no idea till i opened the box that the Sony PRS 300 is only authorized to work in the US and Canada.

I installed the Reader Library software and went to the Sony Store to buy a book. When i went to buy the book, the library software tells me it has to “Authorize” the device, else, it says, i may not be able to read the book that i downloaded. When i went to authorize it, it rejected throwing up an Error 2027. There was no reference to the error list. Sony tells me i have to call up a US number to get fix.

Secondly, Sony doesnt recognize Non US or Non Canada Credit Card addresses, so its difficult to buy anything from their store with my Indian Card.

Is there a way to authorise the device and also to buy books which are not slaved to the reader software ?

Thanks

Venky

By: Dina (Rosarygirl777)

Dina (Rosarygirl777) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:48:37 +0000

Thank you Brad,

The Sony pocket edition sounds like what I’ve been looking for in a ebook reader. Thanks again for the info

By: Brad Vertrees

Brad Vertrees — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:52:44 +0000

Hi Dina, thank you for your comment.

Yes, generally the text can be read from most angles. The only exception to this is when there’s a glare (from the sun, for example). When I read at night with my itty bitty booklight I make minor adjustments to the angle of my reader to avoid the glare from the light. It’s by no means distracting though.

Just keep in mind that all ebook reading devices have this problem in one way or another. For the Sony Reader Pocket Edition, I would not consider it a deal breaker.

Good luck and thanks again for your comment.

-Brad

By: Dina (Rosarygirl777)

Dina (Rosarygirl777) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:26:58 +0000

A very informative review.

I’m considering buying this model but sadly there isn’t a Sony store in my area. Can the text be read from any angle or do you have to hold the reader a certain way to see the text clearly?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:09:48 +0000

I got a PRS-300 for Christmas ‘09 and am having all sorts of issues with it. The first experience was awful because Sony’s ebook site was down ALL day and night on Christmas. I wasn’t able to load my first book until the next day. It gives an error message saying to check your internet connection. This agravates me because my internet connectivity was fine, but their site was down. Shouldn’t the error message say “Our site is currently down, please try again later.” I wish I would have got a Kindle instead of a Sony, I’ve never had a problem with not being able to connect to Amazon.

The second major issue I have had since I was given this gift is that my pocket reader will not keep a charge. It says it is to last for 2 weeks, mine doesn’t last for 2 days.

I’m very disappointed with the PRS-300 and am planning to try to return it today or tomorrow.

Best of luck to everyone else.

By: Biz

Biz — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:02:00 +0000

PRS-300 looks as a good choice, comparing the price of competition. Pity it does not have support for expansion and dictionary. Still, market of e-readers is far from maturity.

By: Brad Vertrees

Brad Vertrees — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:27:24 +0000

Hey all, thanks for your comments!

I can sympathize with all of you having software issues. I was able to load Sony’s software with relative ease, but since then it has been freezing up and crashing a lot. Very annoying.

As of yet, I have been unable to find a remedy for Sony’s horrible program. Even after they updated it not too long ago it is still just as bad.

@Sheila If you still cannot successfully load the software, you might want to try contacting Sony. I haven’t done this, but it’s worth a shot.

As I’ve said before, the PRS-300 itself is a great device and I’ve never had any issues with it. You can bypass Sony’s ebookstore and use a program called Calibre – it allows you to manage your ebooks and can even convert between the various formats. Then you can buy ebooks on websites like Fictionwise and Smashwords.

As Dolly said, patience is the key to Sony’s ebook software. They really need to fix all the bugs and give us a decent program to go with the ebook readers or they’ll lose customers left and right.

Thanks again for all the comments!

Brad

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:16:56 +0000

Now I am all paranoid that things aren’t going to go well. I got the 300 for Christmas and downloaded the software in minutes and have purchased two books with no problem. I guess I am now goign to be waiting for a shoe to drop sigh. I have been really happy with it thus far.

I do though have a call into the public library cause the site says it supports the 500 but doesn’t list the 300. I am not sure if it will work or not has anyone tried this?