Bob Russell offers up a thorough and very detailed review of the newest Sony Reader, the PRS-505, and while the device is far from perfect, it seems to be a more compelling device than its predecessor. My two minutes with a PRS-500 had me seeing spots due to the awful screen refresh, but Bob says the new screen is dramatically better. I’d trust Bob’s opinion over mine on this one: he’s got more hands on time with these devices and he’s probably got better eyesight than my uncorrected 20/200 vision. ;) Also improved are controls, usability and support for using the device as USB mass-storage. There’s some downsides too, but I’ll let you hop over to MobileReader for Bob’s great writeup on those.
I still have an issue spending upwards of $300 on a relatively single-use device when I can read digital content on other devices I already own. As exciting as the standalone eBook readers get me, I just can’t get past that and I suspect many consumers are in the same boat. Even excluding the DRM and content format issues, I can’t see mass market appeal until we see hardware prices under $100, but what do I know. The hive mind of jkOTR readers is collectively smarter so: at what price would a solid standalone reader appeal?
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