With the introduction of the new digital paper technology, there are now a wave of new digital readers on the market. It seems that digital reader technology has finally thrown down the shackles of immaturity and become a viable way to read. In this article I am going to be looking at the Sony Reader Digital Book and outlining my opinions on it.
A Sexy Little Number
The first thing to notice with the Sony Digital Reader is its stylish design. The reader comes in a number of different colors but mine is of the dark blue variety. The reader is encased in a stylish metal shell giving it a grown-up air and a hint of sophistication. The system also comes bound in an outer case which opens and closes like a book for protection.
Down the side of the screen are the numbers 0 though 9 strategically placed to coincide with menu option locations for ease of menu navigation. Below the screen there is a zoom button and a button for placing bookmarks. A nice aspect to the reader is that there are two sets of buttons for flipping pages; one which coincides with the placement of your fingers when reading a book in landscape mode and one for when reading in portrait. This is a feature that I'm particularly impressed with and that other readers such as the Irex Iliad don't possess. At the bottom of the reader there is a headphone jack and volume control. There is also a USB connector port and a mains connector for charging. The reader can be fitted with two additional memory cards. At the top of the reader there is a slot for both PROduo and SD cards. The device is light and compact, I can't help but be impressed with it's physical design.
Under the Hood!
Ok, it's time to get down and dirty. When you flick the on switch, the reader takes about three second to power up which is very favourable in comparison to the Irex Iliad which takes about 40 seconds. When the system power up you're presented with an attractive menu with 10 options which are as follows:
Continue reading - This is a helpful little feature that allows you to jump straight back into the book you were reading and at the correct page.
Books by Title - Organise the entire library of books by title.
Books by Author - Organise the library by author.
Books by Date - Organise the books by date.
Collections - with the software provided you're able to create a number of categories in which to organise the books, you can then view these categories through this menu option.
All Bookmarks - View bookmarks that you have placed on all books.
Now Playing - It is possible to listen to MP3 music while reading a book, this is where the name of the track is placed and from where you can change track.
Audio - Display the list of audio titles on the reader.
Pictures - From here you can view pictures on the reader. This is a nice feature although the quality of the pictures isn't great.
Settings - Change the various setting on the reader.
The system is quite feature rich but what is it like as a reader?
Reading With the Sony Reader
My initial impressions of the reader is that it's very comfortable, it's lightweight and compact design means that you can easily use the book anywhere at all; while relaxing on the sofa, when in bed, when outside, on the train, bus or anywhere else. It's basically just like a real book. This said, there are a few drawbacks that make reading from an actual book still the better option. For example the device takes a second or so to flick pages - this isn't such a major issue but when wishing to change a number of pages at the same time it becomes a little annoying.
I have been quite impressed with the device's battery life. Having used the device for a number of weeks I still haven't had to charge the battery. This is however dependant on how you use the reader. If you constantly listen to mp3 tracks while reading I should imagine that the battery lasts considerably less time.
Supported Formats
The supported formats for the Sony Reader are as follows:
BbeB Book - Sony's official format. Books of this format can be purchased online from Sony's book store.
PDF - This is Adobe's famous format, the reader does support PDF but there are a number of issue. I will be discussing issues and solutions below.
RTF - A universal document format. The Sony Connect software will automatically convert Microsoft DOC files to this format on uploading to the reader.
TXT - Basic text format with no kind of formatting.
Supported image formats:
JPEG
PNG
GIF
BMP
Supported audio formats:
MP3
AAC*5
What's the Deal with PDF?
When buying a digital reader a lot is made of a devices ability to display PDF files. What firstly has to be understood is that PDF displays content on screen exactly as it will display on the printed page. So if for example a book is designed for on an A4 page, it will loose a little quality and readability when displayed on a smaller screen. This isn't the end of the world however and Sony have added features to make reading a PDF more comfortable. The first of these is the ability to flip the page into landscape mode. This effectively splits one page into two and produced large text size and better image quality. This however is still smaller than an A4 page is designed to be. It's important to point out that the zoom feature does not work on the PDF format so what other options are there?
Making PDFs a Viable Option for the Sony Reader
Thankfully there are a number of free third party applications available for download that convert a large PDF file for viewing on the Sony Reader system. The best of these is called PDF to LRF converter. I have used this software extensively and find it extremely good, it's absolutely essential for anybody with a Sony Reader.
The Sony Reader Software
The system comes with a software package for uploading and managing the titles on the Sony Reader system. Generally I find the software easy to use and well designed although there are some features that I would like adding. The first of these relates to placing books in categories. As mentioned earlier it is possible to place the books into categories to make managing large libraries easier. However, with this software as of yet there is no way to create sub-categories. For me this would be a very handy feature as I read lots of science books. Instead of creating a science category with a number of sub categories covering physics, chemistry etc. I have to create these categories separately. Well, I guess this isn't a major issue but it's something that I'd like to see improved upon in the future.
The software does come with the device though I believe it is a work in progress and you will probably find that at some stage you will be able to download an improved version from the Sony website.
Buying Ebooks
Sony have there own website devoted to selling ebook specifically for the Sony Reader (BBeB Books). This website works very much like Apple's itunes and is accessed through a free software package that can be downloaded from the Sony website.
Conclusion
Using the Sony Reader I have become a real avid supporter of ebook reader technology. The amount of space I'd saved using the Sony Reader is incredible. The good thing about reading an ebook is when you have finished, you can simple delete it where as with a real book it usually sits in a corner collecting dust. Though I didn't think I would be, the Sony Reader has turned me into a really ebook fan and even encouraged me to read more than I normally do. Would I recommend the Sony Reader? You bet I would.
Richard Merry
My name is Richard Merry and I'm a computer studies graduate. I'm currently studying Spanish though my primary interest remains information technology.
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