Amazon Kindle vs. Sony Reader: Cage Match Comparison
Sat, Mar 1, 2008
Some of you know that Schwankenstein is a big fan of his Amazon Kindle. What you don’t know is that Bride of Schwankenstein prefers the Sony Reader. In this showdown, we go husband versus wife in a battle royal comparing the strengths and weaknesses of each device from our unique perspectives. Game On:
I believe in substance over style and the Kindle is a superior device to the Sony Reader.
Wireless. The wireless functionality puts the Kindle in its own class. Wireless is the kind of essential functionality that people will eventually take for granted as eBook readers become more mainstream. “Mommy, tell me again what it was like when you were a kid and people connected their devices to a computer with a cable.” I am a technology junky and even I don’t like the hassle of having to find a cable and plugging my devices into the computer. I can browse a huge library of books and have them delivered wirelessly to my device. The eInk technology that powers both devices is cool, but by itself it doesn’t do much more than a regular book. Wireless connectivity gives Kindle users instant access to Amazon’s entire library of ebooks, which is the kind of technology that borders on magic.
Better Conversion. Amazon makes it easy to get your own content on the Kindle. They give users an email
address linked directly to the device. This means if you email a Word document or a PDF to yourusername@kindle.com it automatically is converted and sent wirelessly to your device. The conversion of PDFs runs an optical character recognition on the document and creates clean crisp text for the book. Amazon also automatically recognizes the table of contents and maps it to the various part of the book. Before I bought the Kindle, I tried putting a few PDF’s on the Bride of Schwankenstein’s Sony Reader, and they were illegible. The Sony was displaying the pages as graphics instead of text, which on the small screen just didn’t work. The Kindle’s high quality conversion means that you aren’t as locked-in to Amazon’s ebook store. A couple days ago I downloaded a science fiction book called Accelerando by Charlie Stross. What’s great about that is that Accelarando is published under a Creative Commons license, which means I can read it for free or even give a copy to a friend. If you are interested, you can download a copy here, friend). Moving Accelarando onto the Kindle was as easy as emailing it to myself. I really hope this kind of functionality helps people like Stross succeed. I am a few chapters into the book and it is outstanding. Sending books to yourself wirelessly costs ten cents, but you can email files to yourusername@free.kindle.com and they will reply to your email with converted files you can move to the Kindle by USB for free.
Sony is Evil. I would prefer to give my money to almost any technology company before Sony. Based on their previous products, the heavy imposition of DRM, and root-kit copy protection, I think it is fair to say that they hate their customers. They have historically tried to lock customers into proprietary formats like the Betamax, minidisc, and now blue-ray. Sony’s ownership of both the content and the hardware has caused them to put out crippled products that are anti-consumer, and I don’t see any reason to expect the Sony Reader to be any different.
Book Cost. One of the downsides of both the readers is that they are tied to the manufacturers’ stores (everyone wants to be like Apple’s iTunes). The difference here is that books on the Kindle cost less. When my wife and I compare prices for the same book, it is typically a couple dollars cheaper on my Kindle. I assume as competition increases, Sony will get their prices in line, although once you are locked into their platform all you can do is hope. Another cost saver is that Amazon will send you the first 20 or so pages of books in their store for free as a sample. The samples show up instantly and give me a chance to see if the book is going to be any good before I buy.
Newspapers and Blogs. The Kindle’s wireless functionality allows me to subscribe to newspapers and blogs and
have them delivered automatically to the device. I am not a big newspaper fan, but there are a number of really good blogs that I am glad to have with me on the go. The best one I have found is Wharton’s Knowledge@Wharton, which has magazine quality and is delivered to my Kindle weekly for $1 a month.
Amazon Cares More. Amazon has invested a lot in the Kindle. It is known to be a personal pet project of Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos. This means the development of the platform will get attention. When Amazon makes improvements to the Kindle software, the updates will be pushed down automatically. The Sony Reader, on the other hand, is a very small part of Sony’s business.
Built-In Dictionary. The Kindle has a built in dictionary (and free access to wikipedia) that allows you to highlight any word in a book you are reading and look it up. I have been using this feature a lot. I thought about giving Sony a pass on this one, since the Amazon dictionary and wikipedia access on the Kindle are tied to its wireless, but lack of wireless on the Sony is no excuse for not including a dictionary. Sony could have incorporated a dictionary into their
reader, but didn’t.
In summary, the Kindle is a superior machine. While it lacks the Sony’s style, it makes up for it with functionality, and the whole point is to read, not just look pretty.
Bride of Schwankenstein’s Arguments:
Carrying a Sony reader means not carrying around a piece of crap.
I bought my Sony PRS505 reader a month or so before I had even heard about the Amazon reader.
I thought that I might have buyers remorse once I saw the Kindle due to all the hype I had heard, and after barely hearing anything about the Sony, and so anxiously awaited the arrival of my husbands Kindle in January. I was the one to pick up the package from the doorstop, but was asked not to open it until he got home. So anticipation mounted with doubts flickering through my mind, until… I saw it. I could not believe, and still can’t, that THIS was what Amazon had created!
Size. It is HUGE! Amazon shows the Kindle on its website as being as thick as a pencil. I don’t think so! And once you put it in its humongous case, forget about it. You may as well be carrying a 600 pg novel around with you! In contrast, the Sony IS as slim as a pencil and the sleek leather case adds about only 1/3 of an inch.
Cases. Even the cases are like day and night. The Sony’s is smooth, high quality leather that feels nice in your hand with a good weight to it. It is really a classy looking piece of technology, and is held shut by hidden magnets. The Kindle case is, as I mentioned earlier, huge. It has a low quality grainy leather that bags away from the piece of cardboard that gives it its structure. The tabs of flimsy leather on the inside, which I think are supposed to protect the inner corners of the kindle from damage, bulge out of the case giving it a real half-assed look. And the closing mechanism on this $400 Kindle? A simple piece of elastic. And that elastic on my husbands kindle is already rolling and stretched.
Durability. Now, you have to have a case so that you do not scratch or damage your $300-$400 toy. Well, no one told Amazon that they might want to make it so that when the case is opened, the Kindle wouldn’t just fall out on the ground! There is only a clip in the back of the case that levers the Kindle in place so that it doesn’t slide around. Bad idea Amazon! The thing is constantly falling out of the case when you would least expect it. So one false move and BOOM! Your $400 machine is no more. Honestly I am just waiting for that to happen to my husband. And again, in contrast, the Sony is attached to its case and the only way you can get it out is if you read the instruction manual, but I have yet to find a reason to remove it.
Metal vs. Plastic. On top of the Kindle just waiting to become scrap metal on the ground, the thing is not even METAL! It is white plastic. That was a big shock after using the Sony, which IS metal. The plastic of the Kindle furthers the real cheap, low quality feel of it. So whoa to the individual who opens their flimsy case and lets fall their plastic time bomb. What was Amazon thinking?
Button Placement. Now don’t push that button, I have more to say. What’s that? You can’t help but push that button? You must be using a Kindle. The buttons on the Kindle cover the edges of both the right and left side of the device, you
know, where you like to hold it? When you start to read on your Kindle, you have everything just where you want it… until you move that is. Boom! Next page. Wham! Menu page. Pow! Different book entirely! Kaboom! Screen saver! Where am I? The buttons are placed so badly I have to wonder who was in charge of the design of this thing! Oh wait,
what design. The thing is hideous.
Wireless is Overrated. Alright, I have to admit that wireless is pretty good in this day and age, but Amazon
charges every time you send something to your Kindle, and that can add up. With the Sony, you have to plug it into your computer maybe once a month for some new books (you can have over a hundred books on your Sony at any one time. How often will you really be plugging it in?), for 5 minutes at the most. And it’s free.
Cost. Yes, it is true what they say, books from Amazon are a little cheaper on the average, but remember
that there is an extra charge for anything else you may want to send to your device. Plus, if you add the $100 more you paid for the Kindle to begin with… sucker.
Content is Comparable. I read a LOT, and am so happy that these readers are out there. And yes, it does suck to buy a book that then sits in your virtual library forever due to the fact that you can’t sell it due to DRM, but that is true for both devices. No one is going to make it easier for people out there to rip off the authors that spent years creating these wonderful stories, so we have to get used to this. So even though my husband stated that he downloaded books from Creative Commons for free, authors are not going to give their work out for free very often.
To give the Kindle a fair try, I decided to carry it around with me for a few days and read one of my books. That lasted for about one day. As I stated before, the thing is bulky and awkward, and fell out of the case every time I opened it. My Sony on the other hand slides right in to a small pocket in my purse, and guys, that just isn’t going to happen with the Kindle.
Final words, I, as an avid reader, appreciate the Sony’s sleek style and comfortable design. If I wanted one, I would have a Kindle, but the only thing that I can see that is fueling the need for the Kindle is the advertising Amazon has allotted to it. When I carry around the Sony Reader I get comments on it all the time. When I carry the Kindle, people are afraid to ask about the unwieldy monstrosity in my lap. The Kindle is not a good conversation point, until that time when it slips from your hand and smashes on the ground. Then you will hear plenty of painful groans from the people around you who just witnessed the destruction of your wasted $400.
Let us know which device you prefer, and if you post questions we will each chime in with answers.
[UPDATE: Today the New York Times speculated that Apple may be getting into the reader business, something that both Schwankenstein and Bride of Schwankenstein could get behind. Pure speculation, but interesting none the less. I posted more information about it here.]
Tags: Consumer Electronics, eBook, Gadgets, kindle, Sony
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I’m a kindle owner - and so far, I definitely love it. I can’t speak to the Sony, never having used it, but I can tell you that using it without the wireless would completely change the experience.
Even if it holds 100 books at a time, does that mean you know the next hundred books you’re going to read - and buy them all in advance to sync them down? I get new content on my kindle more than daily, which is clearly not possible on a reader you’re syncing “maybe once a month”. Also, the only time you get charged for syncing content is when it’s your own content, and you’re getting it converted through their service - and you’re charged 10 cents. There’s no delivery fee for the books you buy from Amazon. So the whole cost thing is a wash - saving $2 a title on books, say, means it probably won’t be that long before the $100 is evened up.
The Sony reader is slicker looking, no doubt, and I’m sure that appeals to some people. Personally, I don’t buy books to be slick, but to read them, and from what I’ve heard, getting and reading books is much easier and better on the Kindle, so I’ll stick with that.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Having a Kindle is like having a bookstore with me where ever I go. To me, it’s all about the selection, the prices, and the wireless aspect. I never considered a reader before the Kindle because of the cost of the books and the selection available. Having a keyboard and being able to look up words in a built-in dictionary or wikipedia are now a must haves in any future reader I buy.
It fits in my purse. I also dropped it on a tile floor–it wasn’t in the case–no harm befell the Kindle, not even cosmetic.
While I don’t think the Kindle is ugly, don’t want it to be black, and don’t have a problem with the buttons–thinner/lighter would be nice. I even agree about the cover not being attractive. I bought an M-edge cover for it. That being said, I wouldn’t switch to a lovlier reader unless it had all the features of the Kindle. If the books I want to read aren’t available at a reasonable price–it doesn’t matter what other features it has or how cute it is.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
First I want to make a slight correction to “the Amazon dictionary and wikipedia access on the Kindle are tied to its wireless” while that maybe true for the wikipedia I use the dictionary function all of the time with the wireless turned off. The dictionary is not tied to the wireless it is build in.
Based on this comment you can tell it that obviously I am a Kindle owner. I did however try out a Sony reader at Borders prior to the arrival of my Kindle. But there are so many features it lacks besides the wireless, besides the dictionary, there is no search for a specific word or phrase on the documents on your device like the Kindle has (correct me if I’m wrong but I didn’t see it). Does the Kindle have the ability to add more than 100 books (actually 200 is more like it) yes with SD cards it can hold about 1,000 per GB and right now they have just begun making 16 KB cards so that 16,000 books you could take with you. Even I can’t fantom having that many books at once. And while people complain about the buttons and the cover of the Kindle I much pref having the ability to change the page unconsciously on the Kindle than having to either search for the page forward and backward button on the Sony or glue my hands to one spot so my thumb stays on the page forward button so not to be distracted by every page turn. Then there’s newspapers, blogs and magazines. Blogs aren’t exactly my interest but they are there and there’s even a way to sync them from your computer for free via usb if you are too cheap to spend the buck or two per month fee. Meanwhile I get a couple of magazines a month and the Boston Globe (just added last week) every day - some lend themselves to ereading better than others to be sure.
Speaking of computers the Sony isn’t even compatible with Macs (which I happen to be writing this comment from) so automatically any Mac owner is out of the equation unless they want to fool around with emulation such as Parallels).
While the Sony is pretty the Kindle is perfectly fine looking and here’s the thing: Pretty is as pretty does and right now the Sony doesn’t do much when compared to the Kindle.
Paul L
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Nice comparison. I am a Sony Reader guy, and an expat / traveler. One other difference I would like to highlight between the two machines is battery life.
With constant use, the Sony Reader’s battery easily last me through a 2 week business trip without a re-charge.
Even if you remember to turn the wireless off, what will the Kindle last 4 or 5 days? Much less if you have the wireless tuned on?
So while the Sony does need to be plugged into a computer if you finish all preloaded novels and texts, The Kindle has to be plugged in near daily to make sure you have its charge up!
Battery, size and form factor give the Sony the edge in my opinion.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
Sony owner: I looked at the Kindle very seriously but I live in Australia. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Australia, but apparently whoever developed the Kindle hasn’t. You see, as soon as you take it outside the US it’s no better than the Sony in terms of connectivity. Ooops.
To be honest, the Sony is a bit on the large side for what it is. I’d quite happily chop 5mm off with width and 35mm off the height. That would make it significantly more portable. As it is the thing barely fits in a shirt pocket or wallet. The Kindle is not even playing this game.
One thing they’re both missing is a touch screen - I want to be able to draw pictures or handwrite and save the resulting images. I suspect that when SoriBook comes out with an English version I will be upgrading the Sony.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:23 am
Hi - Just to correct Paul’s comment re the Sony & Macs, it’s quite possible to use the Sony without Parallels, as it appears as a USB device, or alternatively you can use the free, cross-platform libprs500 app to both manage it’s loaded and/or convert from other formats to Sony format.
It’s true that the Sony eBookStore client is Windows-only & thus needs Parallels or similar, but there’s a lot of non-DRMed books out there that don’t need it, so the device itself is perfectly suitable for use with a Mac.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 am
Hello: I have a Sony reader in the UK (courtesy of a USA friend of mine). The Sony is a great device dispite my extreme distate of Sony’s coporate politics and strongarm tactics against it’s consumers. It’s not small enough to go in a pocket - but neither is a paperback or the Kindle.
The Kindle looks OK to me, but is useless outside the US - as far as the wireless goes, so when you go on holiday/vacation - where is your instant library now?
The content on both devices is DRM protected, but that is not an issue if you are willing to invest a bit of time on your library documents - every book I have will be available to any device I ever buy forever; and this can be the same for both devices. The price of the online books from with Amazon or Sony Connect is a moot point as I would never buy books from the manufacturers shops due to DRM, stopping me from reading my books in the future
It’s a good selling point that Amazon have a system to very easily convery any doc to your Kindle, you email it to them right? In a world where coporates and governments are constantly trying to erode your privacy and freedoms - I have severe reservations about sending a copy of everything I wish to read to an email address (I suppose acess to this is protected by privacy rights, but we all know how long they last when somebody wants info on you….)
A dictionary on the Sony would be useful, but is not a deciding factor for me, though I can see how some people would like it.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 am
I’m a Sony owner and specifically told my wife that I didn’t want a Kindle, that I wanted the Sony. Here’s why. First, the wireless. Amazon’s wireless is great — if you can connect. My neighbor has a Kindle and the wireless is often useless (and we do live in the USA) because the Sprint Nextel network it uses is very limited in our area. An AT&T or Verizon network would have been significantly better (and AT&T uses the worldwide GSM which might have been better for non-US buyers).
Second, I already own a laptop and a desktop and don’t want a third computer. I want an ereader that emulates the experience of reading a book, not working on another computer. Reading is both my business (I am an editor who works all day on his computer editing tomes) and my pleasure (I read 2-3 books — non-work related — a week for pleasure). The Sony comes closer to that experience than the Kindle. I want to get away from the computer, not have it be an appendage.
Finally, I want an ereader to read books, not newspapers or blogs or magazines. I subscribe to all the magazines I want to read in print and hate reading magazines and newspapers online; I have several newspapers delivered daily; I rarely read a blog — I can rant and rave myself so why pay to read someone else’s rants and raves? I guess this comes back to my not wanting another computer as a computer. Why buy an ereader that is so limited like the Kindle instead of a miniature PC that can do so much more and still let you read books if what you are really looking for is another computer?
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:06 am
I have loved to read all of my life. I used to read on my sony PDA, but the font was just too small. My home office book shelves were quickly running out of space, until recently I went to amazon and saw the kindle and I was interested, but I just could not get pass how bulky and ugly it was. I could care less about wireless, or having a keyboard or newspapers or magazines, I get two newspapers and no magazines. But the kindle did lead me to the sony 505 reader and I could not wait to get one. I’ve had mine about one month and I could not be any happier.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 am
The Kindle announcement stirred my interest in eBooks.
I started to compare various models.
The Kindle’s ability to have various magazines (at a cost) delivered automatically was a big selling point. I almost sprung the $400 for that feature alone.
But then…
Looking around the Internet I found an eBook forum and saw a few additional free programs for the Sony Reader and one in particular that allowed placing the news from many web sites, such as the NY Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Jerusalem Post, Newsweek, etc. onto the Sony all for free. Yes, you must connect a cable to your computer to transfer the files but that far outshines a monthly bill from Amazon.
I am very happy with my SONY 505 reader.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:36 am
“With the Sony, you have to plug it into your computer maybe once a month for some new books (you can have over a hundred books on your Sony at any one time. How often will you really be plugging it in?), for 5 minutes at the most. ”
Exactly. I have had my Reader since August, mainly to get me back into leisure reading. And it has done exactly that. I’ve purchased several books online (Sony’s bookstore process is fast and glitch-free) and found a on of great free books too. (Manybooks.net is one great site with various formats available.)
I have about 20 books on my Reader in my “queue” and that is more than 2 months’ worth of reading for me. What I like about the Sony is that it is small and serves as a book *replacement*. It turns on almost instantly, picking up right where I left off. This is handy as I use it for short reading stretches on my commute.
Battery life is a non-issue on the Sony too. I don’t want another device I have to charge every day. The Reader battery lasts about 2 weeks or more. Going on a short trip, for a day or weekend? Make sure it’s charged, and no need to bring another charger along. I would gladly take the battery life over the wireless–I don’t need to constantly download new books 24/7. I have a significant line-up on my device waiting to be read. (And a single memory card can hold more books than I could read if stranded on a desert island for a few years!)
Personally, I don’t need a dictionary when I read. I simply read books. The Reader provides that function in a sleek, portable form. If someone really needs a dictionary *(for example, people for whom English isn’t their first language), then the Kindle would be the better choice. For those who just want to read books/novels/etc., the Reader is the most convenient and hassle-free solution.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 am
Another Sony owner here. Bride of Schwankenstein might have missed a few possible zingers.
The primary factor that drove me to Sony was was “sharing.” A Sony e-book can be authorized on up to 6 devices at a time, so I can “lend” a Sony book to five friends simultaneously. The only way to loan a Kindle book is to loan the whole Kindle machine.
Better conversion? OCR on a PDF? Yikes! The only PDF’s displayed as graphics on a readers are those that are scanned in. If a PDF is truly illegible on my Reader (and very few are), just press and hold the magnifying glass to get a larger PDF view. SOny has also promised an update soon to improve native PDF support. Also, it’s pretty simple to use the “save as” function in Acrobat to get my documents into any other text format. Mac OS’s Preview.app lets me copy and paste from all but “protected” PDF content, which is goung to be far superior to any OCR.
Sony is evil? Possibly, but at least they’re consistently evil enough that I know what to expect from them. The Kindle is just plain hypocracy. Remember Jeff Bezos’ famous open letter to the Author’s guild in 2002? “…when someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.” The Kindle stomps on every one of these considerations.
If I’m worried about Sony installing a rootkit on my computer, I can load e-books onto a Sony reader using Mac or Windows from the desktop, OR I can use excellent freeware to convert most other formats out there (libprs500).
Newspapers and blogs can be converted at no cost, using that libprs500 tool. the only disadvantage is that there’s no wireless loading to the device.
In addition, I don’t think the cost argument is universally true. For the first e-book I bought (Hunter’s Run, by George R.R. Martin, et al), the Kindle price is $20.76 The Sony price is $13.96. To be fair, I think the Kindle price was $18 when I bought mine.
I will concede that Kindle wins the dictionary and wireless points, but Schwankenstein’s other “wins” are truly red herrings.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I have a Sony Reader, and I accept all you say about Sony’s attitude to copy-protection. In 1999 I went for the MiniDisc format and now have 250+ discs. I can only move the ATRAC files to a PC by buying the latest Sony MiniDisc recorder. I also once owned a Betamax VCR. Nice quality machine, but …
However, you can easily upload your own files to the Sony, albeit through magic string. There are scads of free ebooks out there (check out Feedbooks.com as well as Manybooks.net), so you don’t have to go to the Sony store for everything. Feedbooks also has files specially formatted for the Kindle, and other devices.
I guess any E Ink reader is a great gadget to own. It’s nice that the debate has now reached the stage of “which one should I get?” rather than “should I get one at all?”
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I wanted a Sony Reader since the first one came out. I chose not to purchase one because of their complete lack of support for Macs. How do you design an estore that won’t allow a Mac to connect to it to download books? Don’t you want as many people as possible to purchase a Reader and the books from Sony Connect? Yes, there are some workarounds, but I wouldn’t purchase (much less install) Windows on my Mac just to download from the Sony store.
If you’re in an area that has good wireless coverage, it really makes the Kindle transcend itself. Having the NY Times blog automatically on my reader (and it’s updated throughout the day) is a really nice feature. I’ve also been sitting at the car dealership waiting for my car to be repaired and browsed Amazon and downloaded a new book. I also travel and the ability to download a book or magazine to fit your mood at the airport is a really nice feature also.
Also…I’ve never noticed the “size” of the Kindle to be an issue.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I have a Sony PRS-505 and I love that it’s small and sleek and fits in my purse with zero problems. I also think the contrast on the screen is much better than what you’d get with the Kindle.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
This has been a really interesting discussion and I’ve learned a bit but I also want to make a couple corrections, comments. For to Gwyn Evans, while it’s possible to add some documents to the Sony on a Mac via usb as you describe (something I did not know thanks), the real problem comes when you want more than classics, Creative Commons like and free sci-fi books that are being given away or sold cheaply because they are unheard of authors (which are indeed fun to discover sometimes). When you want actual books like in a normal bookstore that are on the best seller’s list or newly released you really need the DRMed books and that requires a PC or a PC emulator on a Mac.
The second comment I would like to make is to Curt - since I don’t know exactly how the sharing works on the Sony but the Kindle also allows you to have the purchased from Amazon eBooks on up to a total of six Kindles at one time. So it seems pretty similar in that respect - a tie. Just like I wasn’t aware you could do this on a Sony you weren’t aware of that feature with the Kindle I guess.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:26 am
Help me understand something… what would the advantage be of a dedicated ebook reader (non-wireless) vs. a regular old Palm PDA (e.g., T3, or SONY TJ-37 or SJ-33)?
The Palms have touch screen, full PIM functions, thousands of add on programs (spreadsheet, database, astronomy, newsreading, etc.), huge ebook availability, and can play MP3s and podcasts, too.
Plus, some, such as the TJ-37 have wireless, too!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:03 am
The screen - read something about the Vizplex e-ink screen, and you’ll see what the difference is.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:06 am
#17: The difference is the dedicated book readers have awesome, large e-ink screens. These screens are not back-lit and are much easier on the eyes. The experience of reading a book on one of these is like reading a paper (”dead tree”) book. PDAs are ok for reading short messages, e-mails, etc., but they are not comfortable at all (for most people) for reading longer texts for longer periods of time. OTOH, I can (and have!) read books on my Reader for a few hours at a time, and there is no eyestrain. It is just like reading a regular book in that regard. Plus, the larger screen requires much less eye movement than the short text lines on a smaller PDA.
Really, pick one up in a store and check it out–the difference will be immediately obvious, and it only becomes more significant over time.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am
Paul L, I don’t think the Kindle quite meets what I’m looking for. From the “Kindle team answers” page at amazon, I see the following:
“Q: Can I buy a Kindle book, and, instead of delivering to my Kindle reader, push to my friend’s Kindle reader as a gift?
Q: How can I read books that I legally own on my different kindles? Can I? Should I be able to?
A: At this time, you cannot share or give your Kindle books to Kindles that are not associated with your Amazon.com account. If you are the owner of multiple Kindles, or have multiple Kindles registered to your account (i.e wife, husband), your books can be re-downloaded to each of these Kindles, up to a limit of 6 Kindles. Subscriptions to periodicals can only be downloaded to one registered Kindle.”
Unless (and here’s where my knowledge may be erroneous) you can “register” and “unregister” Kindles at will, this does not offer the same freedom as the with Sony. I can “authorize” and “de-authorize” devices (Windows PC’s or Reader devices), at any time, using the GUI in the Windows software. From what I read on Amazon’s pages, in order for me to put a book I purchased on somebody else’s Kindle, they have to unregister it from their account, then I would have to register it to my amazon.com account, essentially “giving” me the Kindle. While they’re reading my book , if they ordered any new books, those purchases would be charged to MY account. This is not my concept pf being able to share ebooks.
March 4th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Can someone please give me a clear answer on which ereader is best when it comes to font sizes. I know the Kindle has more font choices, but which has the LARGEST? I have visual impairment and when I looked at the Sony reader my thought was ” I think the font size (even at its largest) would be too small for me to use with any reagularity.” Does the Kindle have larger font sizes than the Sony reader?
Thanks for your help.
March 5th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Patricia, The Kindle’s largest text setting is about twice as big as the Sony’s largest.
–Schwankenstein
March 5th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Patricia, font size depends on how the book is formatted. The Kindle does have more sizes available (6 vs. 3 for the Reader) but either one can display large fonts. On the Reader, you can hold the magnify button down to switch to landscape mode, which will display larger text. Not sure if the Kindle does this. And, if you are loading or converting your own files (rtf, text, html, etc.), you can make the font larger in the document before loading the file into the Reader.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Having no previous experience with either, for cheer zing and zest of argument my heart goes out to the Reader (I’d rather try to avoid the S-word, if I may). So the Swindle, err Kinkle is Jeff’s pet project? So, it’ll probably be overfed and prone to go poop on your carpet. No, the Bride makes the much better case, very convincing and hilarious to boot.
March 6th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I’m a Sony owner and I absolutely love my device. Everywhere I go people ask me about it. I have 200 books on the reader (SD card) with plenty of room for more.
I use the fantastic libprs500 software on my Mac to download books and I buy books from any of a dozen stores online that have the latest books at a fraction of Amazon’s cost.
I have used both: without the wireless, no one would buy the Kindle, whereas the Reader is a fantastic piece of equipment, designed with book readers in mind. The kindle is just a another “storefront” for Amazon.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
You forgot one critical item - if you have the sony and you own a MAC computer - the sony is just so much garbage. Apple users - unsupported by Sony - cya!
March 8th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Just enjoyed the review of the two readers. As a Sony prs505 owner, I enjoy the slightly higher resolution and better contrast of the this eInk display. I travel overseas and there is no wireless in Europe, Asia, South America etc. which supports the Kindle. Why on earth chose a dead ended technology such as EvDO when HSDPA going to LTE for radio technologies is the way to go. So - use 802.11 instead as a fill in, everyone has wireless routers at home and there are millions of hotspots around the planet for 802.11. That would have made the Kindle desireable to me.
So write off the wireless, looking at the mechanicals I prefer the Sony slimmer size, usb charging, to the larger kindle. I prefer my ebook to be a book. It’s not so fascinating to have rss feeds, etc or online elements available to me. It’s a book, an ebook, and I treat it as such. It would be nice for wireless but it’s not worth $100 more. When want more I use the wireless on the laptop, download the book to my Sony and read away.
This is the crux of the matter. If you are U.S. bound and have EvDO access(wireless) then the kindle is pretty neat idea (even if the packaging is very very poor. Plastic and button lay out is bad. The Sony has nice layout- two ways to turn pages, great form factor, no keyboard to make notes which is probably a drag - as I would like to annotate my reading with notes(stickies). So with that if you are a traveling person, weight-size concious recommend the sony- if you are in US, don’t mind the larger size and have $100 extra to spend do a kindle -
Remember they booth do one fundament thing- They let you carry around a great library of several hundred books in a small space. That in and of itself is truely amazing and convenient.
Last - conversions of docs into the Sony has been remarkably easier with the 505’s improved software. Second, with Adobe distiller you can set the pdf out put for the Sony’s screen size 3 x 5 inches approximately, and have pdf books, documents etc on the Sony with no problem.
Hope you enjoyed my little observation. Good luck with your choice.
John
March 8th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
To the previous mentioned Mac Comment - not true- I use my G4 for managing the files on the Sony 505. I don’t believe it works in native mode for the Sony prs500. You need 3rd party shareware to see & manage files on the 500.
Second, there is no Max-Sony bookstore interface software so you cannot do it right now with a Mac on OS - Use leapord, 10.4 or higher - run a XP virtual machine - get your books downloaded and then drag em over to the sony 505 reader and you are good to go. A bit more of step or two but the Mac’s advatages over VISTA are just tremendous.
Last- Mac has openly addmitted in problem tickets submitted to them there are NO imediate plans to support Mac for the reader product line, and thus no software to purchase ebooks from the Sony library. Really SAD and DUMB.
My end game is to wait for then next cooler version of Kindle - 802.11, slimmer package, better display and then move to that.
Oh well all the companies in the space just cannot seem to get it right which is so sad.
Best regards
John
March 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Kindle owner here- I would not consider buying a Sony Reader unless for some reason, the Kindle stops selling and is discontinued, simply because I can’t go back to paper. Design is of no consequence (I happen to like the Kindle’s design, but it’s a matter of opinion. At least it was designed by someone who wasn’t obviously trying very hard to make it look like it was designed by Apple.)It’s quite durable, there’s even a video of a drop test on Amazon. I must admit, I had to get used to the Kindle. When I first switched over from paper books, I could hardly lift the thing! But I went to the gym a few times and manage to get used to it. I do recommend Sony’s reader for those with poor upper body strength who need to adjust. The Kindle is maybe a little thicker than the thinnest book on my bookshelf (on the thick side of the Kindle) and I can’t find any book with less than 3/4 the total area of the Kindle. Certainly more portable than a paperback thriller I would carry around. I like my Kindle case. I’m an idiot so I ripped out the plastic tab, but until then it worked wonderfully. The buttons are easy to adapt to if you use it for an hour or so. There are plenty of ways to comfortably hold it while reading without pressing the buttons. But really, content is king. You could try to criticize the Kindle based on design, but the criticisms aren’t all that strong and what does it matter if the content better? Last time I checked, the Kindle store has a bit more than the Sony store and this in addition to the convenience of the wireless connection makes it worth the extra $100. I’d take a Kindle over a Sony Reader in a heartbeat.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:15 am
As a Sony PRS-505 owner, there is more advantages to have Sony reader; you can put e-books into the sony from any sources like amazon and all other ebook store. Also, there is many customized shareware, hacking tools for sony reader. You can customize Sony machine if you want; especially you can read all foreign language books with sony after simple customizing its firmware. I think wireless function of kindle is just another redundancy or a marketing tool.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
“At least it was designed by someone who wasn’t obviously trying very hard to make it look like it was designed by Apple.” -mdvp
Is that bad?
That “design route” is simply trying to make a device both aesthetically pleasing and user friendly at the same time.
March 25th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I have had an ereader for over a year. It’s been dropped, kicked, splashed with beer and even lost in a taxi for a week (where it was I believe sat on) as when I got it back it returned with a noticible curviture. I abosolutely love my reader and will be purchasing my new on on Friday. As an expat the living outside the US the kindle offers nothing that the Sony can’t do better.
In addition button placement is VERY important.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Great article, albeit a bit snarky - I just wish we could have a discussion of merits without emotional vomitus, but hey people are passionate about what they love… I’m just glad the discussion has moved to “which is better” from “how can you give up the experience of hold a real (dead tree) book in you hands.” I’m still trying to figure out which is better (FOR ME) eReader, Kindle, or maybe one of those new tiny UMPC/MID things that are coming out now.
I come from a family of readers - growing up we had over 5000 books in the house (I know because we had to count them once for a school assignment, ugh) and I am constantly taking bags of books to the local used book store (often coming home with them full again… for some reason =) It’s my fantasy to just curl up with some e-device that has everything one it, without getting ink stains on my fingers or wrist strain from trying to prop up heavy tomes (even Harry Potter gets heavy after a few hours).
That being said, as a Mac owner, I am truly sick of having to figure out how to “hack” my way around lack of support — I just spent two days getting my address book and some music onto my *phone* (ferkrissakes!) I don’t think most people who “don’t want another computer” will spend the requisite time searching for and performing endless workarounds just to download a friggin’ book!
*plus* having worked in the television industry for years now, I am all too familiar with the EVIL EMPIRE of $ony - lack of support, designed obsolescence, ask any engineer and they will tell you horror stories of trying to find that one tiny replacement part that renders a $30K piece of broadcast equipment into so much dead metal (can you say BetaMAX capstan roller?) If your station has money to burn, sure, buy a new $ony setup every few years, but for me, I will never give then *my* money for something they’ve designed to break [or suddenly fail for support] after 18-36 months.
With regard to wireless, yeah, it’s cool… if you travel or must have daily updates or instant gratification, but like “style” is a personal choice and the decision has to be one’s own (I *like* odd-looking quirky things). If you are outside the US (or coverage area) you *can* still browse/buy content on a computer and USB it to your Kindle (PITA - yes, but possible) BTW although I agree, 802.11 and/or other carrier support would be nice.
WRT cost of DRM (ugh! WHY?!?) content, more choice is definitely better, Amazon will definitely keep adding content, we can hope prices will come down as volume goes up, and if “having 100 books” means the difference of several hundred dollars, I’ll pay more upfront and get cheaper content. The free book thing can be done on both, so is a wash IMHO.
So all in all, great discussion, I’m still not sold on either: the eReader *is* smaller and “nicer looking” (they do make things that are pretty don’t they), I like the Kindle (and associated services) better, but I think I’ll wait for Kindle 2.0.
Actually, I want an iRex, but just can’t see spending $700!!