Pros: Ergonomically designed for long reading sessions; well designed, simple menu system.
Cons: Not 100% Mac compatible; requires a computer to download and install books.
The Bottom Line: If you are comfortable installing software and using the computer the 505 is the best designed book reader now available. For everyone else take a look at the Kindle 2.
Thanks to the excitement generated in 2007 by Amazon.com’s Kindle, eReaders are quickly becoming mainstream. The Sony PRS-505 (505), which actually pre-dates the original Kindle, shows how unfamiliar the product category was to the general public before the Kindle’s entrance. In fact, the 505 is Sony’s 3rd generation eReader. But while the 505 is older than the original Kindle it still competes well even with the just redesigned Kindle 2 (K2). Perhaps “competes” is the wrong word; “complements” is more accurate.
There are dozens of eReaders on the market, many of which you would have to do some serious research to discover. Clearly the K2 and Sony 505 are the most known of the readers because large companies are behind them and they each have a dedicated bookstore, which is both a good and bad thing, but more on that later. And while there are many similarities between the K2 and 505, I’ve concluded that each eReader is best suited to particular demographics. (That is not to say people outside the respective demographic won’t enjoy the other reader.)
Having used the K2 for several days now, and owned a 505 for over a year, my conclusion is that the K2 is perfect for those who like to use their computers as little as possible. On the other hand, if you are as comfortable with using your computer as much as, say, a TV remote, then you will probably enjoy reading with the 505 more.
The 505: A Wonderful eReader With No Extra, Extra. Read All About It.
The 505’s charm comes in its elegant and svelte form. It not only looks better than the K2, it has a superior ergonomic design too. When you hold the 505 your thumbs, regardless of whether you are right handed or left, naturally rest on the page turn buttons. There is even a tiny ridge on the right edge for your thumb to rest. Your hands naturally mold to the case. It feels solid and there is never fear for it slipping out of your hands. Turning a page backward or forwards is effortless. The other key controls are close by as well: the bookmark button, something the K2 misses, the font size button (there are three available sizes), and the menu button. Simplicity. If not for the brief flash when flipping pages it would be easy to forget you were reading from a machine.
The 505’s menu system is equally well done and intuitive. In stark contrast to the K2’s 5-way joystick, an extended nub that forces your thumb to conform to it, the 505 incorporates a recessed direction pad that conforms to your thumb. This makes for a more comfortable experience as you navigate. In many cases tedious up-down, left-right navigation isn’t required because Sony had the good sense to put direct input keys on the right side of the screen. So if you want to browse by author you could use the direction pad to scroll down to that option or simply press the button beside the “authors” option. If only the K2's menu system was so simple.
If you are wondering what the sort options are they are:
1: Continue Reading 2: Books By Title 3: Books By Author 4: Books by Date (i.e., when you installed them on your reader) 5: Collections (You can group books by collections if you like)
All of these options are always available simultaneously from the main menu unlike the K2, which requires the user to navigate to a separate menu and then toggle to the desired option. Additionally the K2 does not offer a “Collections” option.
Both the K2 and 505 have 6-inch e-ink displays. This is a special technology specifically to reduce eyestrain when reading large amounts of text on a screen. It’s not backlit, so just like a book, if you read in low light you’ll need a book light. While most screens in electronic devices today have the ubiquitous LCD screen, do not confuse the two, either in function or price comparison. It may seem odd to pay a premium for a grayscale screen, but when is the last time you were able to read a book for an hour or more on your computer screen without your eyes screaming for mercy?
Visually the K2 and 505’s screens uncannily mimic a paperback book. It is both comfortable to the eyes and familiar to the brain. The background has that grayish newsprint look while the text pops out at you. Still, while text is crisp, I look forward to the day the screen will resemble a fine hardback or even a color screen. Make no mistake. eReaders are still very much an “early adopter” product.
Unlike any paper book, you can change the font size on the fly. The K2 has six levels, a bit of overkill I think, while the 505 has three, which is often akin to not having a choice. A fourth size would be nice. Typically I find the small font size requires a microscope while the large size is so gargantuan barely a couple paragraphs can fit on the entire screen. Even still it’s nice to have choices and the medium setting is very comfortable to me. (The usefulness of the font size settings is wholly dependant on the native font size set in the file by the publisher.) That said, reading a book on either reader is a pleasure. The fact I don’t have to fight errant pages or schlep a five-pound book around is the real pay off.
The 505 has a few other tricks, all of which I find as useful as getting my dog to roll over on command. Most notable is its ability to play non-DRM encoded MP3s. The first thing you may think of is putting some tunes on it and leaving the iPod behind. However, ripping your audio book CDs to MP3 might be a better use for this feature. Since the 505 does not have internal speakers you have to plug in headphones or a self-power speaker to hear audio. Regardless of how you use it or not, it is there. The K2 also can play non-DRMed MP3s.
The other function the 505 offers is a picture viewer. Given the screen is grayscale I really can’t come up with a great use for this function. I hardly want to show people my family in 8-level grayscale. Creatively I can imagine uses, but they just seem too contrived to even mention. Truly this is a feature that is in the 505 because it is; just like your appendix.
Finally a brief size comparison. The K2 weighs in at 10.2 ounces and has dimensions of 8” x 5.3” x .36”. The 505, as mentioned, is more compact at 6.9” x 4.8” x .3” and weighs 9 ounces (without cover). While Amazon likes to note the Kindle is thinner than a pencil, the 505 is slimmer and shorter than the K2 and approx 10% lighter too.
All Booked Up: Getting Content Onto The 505
Now you are familiar with 505’s basic functionality. Simple. Intuitive. Elegant. Well mostly. Yes, there is a catch. While using the 505 is a beautiful experience, getting content on to it is mundane as best. This is where one’s love of, or at least ambivalence towards, computers enters. Frankly it is what separates good 505 user candidates from those better suited to the K2. Allow me to explain.
There are hundreds of thousands of titles for both the K2 and 505, though more for the K2. Some free, most not. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unavailable authors and titles too. John Grisham is an example of a popular writer whose works you will not find in digital form. Academic and intellectual titles also can be impossible to find. Take F.A. Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom,” for one. And regardless of what you are looking at the Sony eBook store (http://ebookstore.sony.com/) expect to pay a few dollars more than you would at the Kindle store for the same exact title.
Most commercial books contain DRM, or Digital Rights Management. This is code written into a file so it can only be used with a particular reader. You may be familiar with this when downloading music. Thankfully DRM is on its way out in the music world. No such luck with eBooks yet. What this means to you is that if you buy a K2 you are mostly limited to buying books on Amazon’s Kindle store, and likewise, if you buy a 505 you are well chained to the Sony Book Store.
The 505 comes with software, unfortunately Windows only, that connects your reader with the Sony bookstore via your computer. (If you have an Intel-based Mac you can install Windows via BootCamp in OS X 10.5). It’s like most other eStores. Search for a specific title or just browse. Once you find your reading material buy it and if your 505 is not plugged in to one of your computer’s USB ports do so. Now just sync and your book is on your reader. It’s not brain surgery, and you are probably familiar with the procedure if you have a digital music player like an iPod, but it is more complicated than the K2’s wireless, computer-free, method.
If you are more into the classics or up and coming writers there is good news thought. Sites like FeedBooks and MobileReader have tons of “public domain” and “creative commons” books, all free of charge and DRM. They have formats for both the K2 and the 505. And if you are a Mac user there is a great free application called Calibre that will let you sync these non-DRM’d books onto your 505.
On a positive note the 505 is compatible with more DRM-free formats than the K2. The 505 is compatible with: LRF (BBeB Book), TXT, RTF, ePub, & PDF. Additionally it is compatible with DRMed LRX, ePub, and Secure PDF. It does not directly support Word files but you can convert those to RFT inside Word for use on the 505. The 505 supports the MP3 and AAC audio files as long as they do not contain DRM. It also supports JPG, GIF (but not animated GIF), PNG, and BMP graphic formats.
I Can Do Anything Better Than You… No, You Can’t…
Brief K2 comparisons run throughout this review. Let me go more in-depth, specifically K2 features absent in the 505. Most notable is the “Wispernet” wireless functionality. This allows the user to download books, newspapers, and magazines without a computer & use the Internet (but only mobile sites like a basic cell phone can).
Initially I thought this was a “must have” feature, which is why I bought the K2. Now I realize it’s merely a “neat” one to have. Since I’ve switched back to the 505 I do not miss it…much. I would much rather download books wirelessly than via computer but I do not read that many books for that one feature to make a bigger impact than the reading experience itself, something which I find the 505 accomplishes better than the K2. As for Internet anywhere, I have that on my iPhone, in color, and compatible with full sites, not just weak sauce mobile ones.
Text-to-speech is another feature debuting in the K2 that is absent in the 505. It can read any text to you in a computerized voice. It gets most words right, but it obviously isn’t smart enough to translate in the right cadence. None-the-less the writer’s guild fears this will take away from audio books so Amazon gives publishers the option of disabling this feature if they choose. Bottom line, this feature may or may not work depending on what book you buy. Regardless it is not something most will want to listen to for more than a few pages.
1.4GB of RAM. That is an extraordinary amount of storage for an eReader. It can hold 1500 books compared to the 160 or so books the 505 can store with it's native 64MB RAM. But here are the truths. 1) will you ever need to carry around 1500 books? And if you are going to use the K2 as a music player 1.4GB isn’t all that staggering. 2) Unlike the original Kindle and the 505 the K2 has no external memory slots. So while you can put a 2GB SD or 4GB Memory Stick in the 505 that is not an option on the K2. In other words while the K2 a generous amount of built-in memory it is limited to that amount as well.
Other features the K2 has which the 505 does not include a dictionary, search text, and the ability to make annotations. These are all handy, though, for my purposes, not a reason to chose one over the other.
What Is In The Box? Not Much.
If you are wondering what is in the box of each reader, well, basically: the reader. The K2 comes with and AC charger cable and a set-up guide. That’s it. A cover is $29 extra and a micro-B USB cable is about $10. A USB cable is only required if you want to install files directly from your computer to the Kindle. Alternatively, you can also email files to the Kindle but that will cost you .10 per file.
The 505’s package includes the reader, available in dark red, dark blue, or silver, a USB sync and charge cable, a case, and a set-up guide. The 505 uses exceedingly little battery (when used only for reading) so it is not a huge inconvenience to charge it via a computer. Typically the battery can go a week or more between charges. An optional AC charger is available though for $25; less if you buy a 3rd party model. I have not found a need for this though. Battery life is so good that even when I’m away without a computer for a couple weeks the 505 is still going strong.
So Are You A K2 or 505 Person?
That is the 505 in a nutshell. I stayed with the 505 over the K2 because it is more compact, feels natural in my hands, and has a menu system that does not make me work at doing what I want done. And while the 505 lacks the bells and whistles of the K2, the K2 did not elevate my reading experience, something I expected given its higher price. As such, I could not justify keeping it. The K2’s extra features are a nice touch. I’m just not willing to pay extra for them when the 505 exceeds the K2 at its core function as an eReader.
The 505 is perfect for me given the available choices. But that does equate to you appreciating it. I know plenty of people, who, if I gave them one, it would sit in the closet because it requires some setup and a (Windows) computer. It is just not their style. If you are shy about, or cannot be bothered by, loading software and plugging things into your computer then the 505 is a poor choice even if it does have better ergonomics, or look nicer. I really cannot emphasize that enough. Yes, the K2 is $100 more than the 505 but that is mostly because it includes the wireless download feature. In the end, if being able to download books without a computer is more comfortable or appealing then the K2 is your best choice.
On the other hand, if that does not describe you then I heartily suggest given the 505 strong consideration. Go to a retail store and play with it. I think you’ll see why I am staying with it for now as my eReader of choice.
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