Sony offers ePub, Adobe DE support to PRS-500 owners… for $200
Let’s start with the good news: owners of the older Sony PRS-500 Reader can now get support for ePub and Adobe Digital Editions. The bad news is: they won’t get it on the device they currently own. Instead, Sony is offering customers that own the first-gen reader a chance to upgrade to the newer PRS-505. Folks have to buy the new device and turn in their old one. You’ll see a $100 credit on the purchase of your new PRS-505, which MSRPs for $299.
So let’s recap: spend around $300, send in your old device and get $100 back… all for ePub and Adobe Digital Editions support. Hmm… I suppose even a bad option is better than no option at all. Thoughts? Anyone going to take advantage of this?
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Well, I’m pleased to see that Sony has, at least, thought about its customers of the first generation Reader device. However, I will take a pass on this offer. The deal just isn’t sweet enough and my need for ePub and Adobe DE not strong enough at this time.
This is a bold move by Sony! If I had the original Reader, I’d go for it. You get better eInk, better casing, more memory, and the ability to now borrow eBooks from many local public libraries.
You think amazon would pull this will Kindle? yeah, just ask all those stranded DRMed MobiPocket ebook buyers what amazon offered *them*.
One other thing (aside from pointing out a typo in my Comment: will = with!), did Nokia offer 770 bleeders any trade-in path for their Slab of FAIL?
“You gotta be kidding me” category for this should be “Applause” instead!
Looks like Sony is the one that’s truly taking advantage of this offer. But I do like upgrade options from the manufacturer. If someone was thinking about upgrading I can see this pushing them over the edge.
The original Reader has been out for well over a year. How pristine do you think those units are? How much life left in that LiOn battery? This is a great move by Sony.
I’ve actually been thinking about upgrading since the new firmware came out but I can’t see trading in my PRS-500 for only $100. Most of the PRS-500′s on ebay are going for $130-140 at the moment so it seems like I’d be better off just selling it there. That said, I appreciate that Sony is doing this, definitely a great move and I hope it works out for them.