Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition Silver PRS300SC
The Reader Pocket Edition features a 5″ display and an elegant, lightweight design that’s easy to slip into a purse or jacket pocket for convenient, on-the-go reading. Not sure which books to bring on your trip? With the Reader Pocket Edition, you will never have to make that choice again. 512MB of onboard memory lets you carry up to 350 of your favorite books3 at a time. Enjoy access to a wider number of books from a wider number of places. By supporting both industry standard formats, ePub and PDF, you can access books at Sony’s eBookstore, check out books from public libraries, access over 500,000 free public domain titles from Google, as well as sharing sites, online aggregators and personal publishers. The Reader Pocket Edition utilizes EInk screen technology to deliver an amazing, paper-like display that’s more like ink on paper and fully readable in direct sunlight. Intuitive eBook Library software makes it easy to download eBooks, manage your collection, and transfer titles to your Reader Pocket Edition. eBook Library software works with both PC and Mac. Enjoy up to two full weeks of reading (7,500 continuous page turns) on a single battery charge. The Reader Pocket Edition offers you the ability to resize text. Choose from three adjustable font sizes to improve readability. Two full weeks of reading on a single battery charge 3 adjustable font sizes to customize your reading experience USB 2.0 data and power connection Read in multiple formats, including ePub and PDF Quick page turns and high contrast ratio Display – Screen Size – Vizplex 5 inches Resolution – 800 x 600 pixels Gray Scale – 8-levels gray scale Power – Battery Type – Rechargeable Lithium-Ion (battery – DC 3.7 V) AC Power – DC 5.2 V Battery Life (Approx) – 7,500 (BBeB Book) Media Formats Supported – Unsecured Text – EPUB file (Non DRM/ Adobe DRM protecte
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Durable PRS 300 (Pink)
I have had my Sony Digital Reader for about two weeks now. I researched this and the Kindle. The biggest turn off with the Kindle was the price and strict limitations on where the books could come from.
I finally decided to try the Sony Digital Reader. The construction of it is awesome. I have dropped it twice. The first time while stanind on a linolium floor. No problems and it wasn’t in a case. The second time I dropped it (in the case it came with), it fell on concrete. It reset to the prior setting. Meaning, the prior download of books I had. It wiped about 50 books off. There was an extremely small dent in the right front corner. No other problems what so ever. I simply re-downloaded the books wiped off.
A negative for me is the Sony e-library. It freezes and is a pain to get the titles or authors just right. Suggestion: If the downloads are from another source, simply rename the title or author as you wish so that they will display alphabetically.
The reader displays even better than the page of a book in just about any lighting situation. Laying down reading with one hand or eating and reading with one hand is much easier than holding an actual paperback.
I use Calibre to organize my reader. This takes longer as the reader does not automatically sync with Calibre, but, it does with the Sony E-library.
I am concerned that the battery is only supposed to last for two years with a replacement cost of $125. Sony needs to get on the ball as I use my reader every day at least two hours a day.
I have christmas requests for readers from two family members and scores of people I meet in stores or restuarants.
I absolutely love my reader. The cost is high to me, however, it is worth it. If I go back to school I will get the Touch. I do not like restrictions, so Kindle won’t do it for me.
Also, the formating. I have mostly read PDF’s, which do tend to put a word or two together on each page. Yes, there are only 3 font sizes, however, they are sufficient for those with average sight.
I give this reader 4 stars due to the battery issue and the software issues. Other wise, it would be perfect.
5 Stars Fantastic “Reader”
I was given the Sony Digital Reader Pocket Edition-Silver (PRS300SC) recently as a birthday gift from my husband. I was a little disappointed at first as I was “eyeing” the Kindle for quite some time and waiting for the price to go down a little further. Boy, am I glad my husband picked this Sony eReader. I love it. The quality is great, and so easy to use with great features. It’s small enough to put in any pocket/pocketbook. It’s the same size as a paperback. Keep in mind that it does not have as many features as the Kindle but is THE GREATEST AS A READER and some of the books are cheaper e.g. Stehpen King’s “Under The Dome”. You can also get Google books. One of the reviewers who gave it a low score said it was a “rip off” and the customer service was awful and the representative couldn’t speak fluent English. I contacted Sony customer service for help from the very beginning as anything technical intimadates me. The service representative was FANTASTIC. He helped me from beginning to end and stayed on the phone with me until everything was in order including moving my books from the Library to my eReader and HE SPOKE FLUENT ENGLISH. If you want this product to do “hand stands” as some of the readers who gave a low score this is not the product for you. DO YOUR RESEARCH PRIOR TO PURCHASING. To reiterate – love, love, love this Reader.
1 Star Get ready to pay a Ton more.
It took me quite a while to get accurate information from Sony but they finally admitted that the useful life of the battery is just over 2 years. This is what the battery industry considers normal for Lithium Ion batteries and is measured from the date of manufacturer.
Now comes the “ka-ching”. The Sony battery is not user changeable and the price Sony gave me to replace the battery is close to $125. So get ready to pay for this thing all over again in two years. Oh, here is the bonus. The charger will not power the unit when the battery dies. Can you say… “recycle heap”?
5 Stars Great For Recreational Readers, Students / Researchers Should Get the 600
I never thought I would ever embrace digital books, but I think this reader has forever changed that. Every concern I had about an eReader was addressed.
Readability: It’s ‘just’ like reading on paper. In fact it took me all of about 20 minutes to realize that I actually prefer it to paper. With paper books you get shadows, you have to angle the book depending on which side of the pages you’re reading on, etc. Here, the ambient light is distributed evenly by the material on the screen so the text is easy to read. And there is little, if any, noticeable glare or reflection. Some people dislike the lack of a backlight, but I actually prefer it because its much less stressful on the eyes. The background is a soft white color thats very easy on the eyes. You can resize font to your preference. The 3 sizes available here are plenty. Its especially great for incredibly nearsighted people like me who like to take their glasses off when they read and not have to squint. between all of this, it makes for a very comfortable reading experience. I can read much faster on this device than on paper. I guess if I had to nitpick, the only thing thats distracting is the silver finish of the device itself, which actually reflects more light than the screen. If you think this could be an issue for you, I’d recommend a darker color.
Usability: Its a breeze. Its incredibly easy to use, and everything is very plainly labeled. Turning pages, bookmarks, and zooming are all performed with single button presses. Your library is organized alphabetically of course, so just navigate ansd click. It also remembers your place for you, and in addition you can create your own bookmarks. While in a book you can use the numbers on the side of the screen to key in a specific page number. Its just the right weight, and it feels just right when you’re using it. The software is very iTunes like in both appearance and function. It generally works as it should, though I find it a bit slower than I’d prefer when performing functions of browsing the Sony eBook store. One function I was surprised was missing was the lack of ability to edit file info in the software; if you get an eBook thats incorrectly labeled there’s really no way to fix it in the software.
What I’ve found is that its best to bypass the software entirely…Windows (and probably Mac as well) recognizes this as a mass storage device so you can put all your content on the reader using Windows Explorer or Mac Finder. MUCH faster. You can transfer books via drag n drop in seconds as opposed to minutes using the software. You can download Google books directly from Google (easier to browse) and drag them to the ‘books’ folder.
Content: a TON of it. I find the Sony store to be a bit too pricey though. The bestsellers are pretty reasonably priced but everything else costs just as much as its paper counterpart, so if you’re looking to save money on paperbacks and such buying this…hold off for now until the prices drop, if indeed they ever do. The best thing is the integration with Google Books. Granted, its all ‘older’ stuff but there’s a lot of great classics on there that should be in everyone’s library. It also dispays .txt .doc and .pdf files, so you can make your own content. For example, if you use the Firefox browser and have the PrintPDF add-on installed, you can literally print any page to a pdf and transfer it to the Sony for much for comfortable reading. For example…your local news website or magazines? 
It also supports the epub format and allows digital library checkouts. Unfortunately no library in my area supports this as of yet, but I’m hoping they do soon. This could revolutionize the concept of the library…for better or for worse. As far as storage, again some have griped about there being ‘only’ 512 mb of storage (only 440 mb is usable). When you consider most ebooks are 1 or 2 mb in size, this allows you carry 300 – 400 books around. I dont know about you, but ive never needed access to that many books at once in my life. But if thats an issue, look elsewhere.
So that’s my breakdown of the device itself.
Backing up a bit…the big decision I had to make was whether which model to get; Kindle, the Sony 300 or the 600. The big drawback with Kindle is DRM. It seems like a very controlled and locked down system. Sony supports many more open formats. Plus I don’t care about wireless…it drains the battery quicker and I want to spend as little time charging a reading device as possible. Plus, as I said, 300 – 400 books are plenty for me to carry around. As far as readability, the Kindle screen looks bigger, but the amount of reading space is almost identical between this and the Kindle 2. Kindle uses more screen space for displaying battery life, etc…where as the Sony uses literally the entire screen. I also found the Kindle’s font looked more thin and ‘computer’ like, whereas on the Sony, the font is nice and thick…looks almost identical to the fonts you’d see on paper.
So then the decision was between the touch screen 600 and this model. Without getting too much into it, I’ll simply put it like this: If you are a student or researcher, get the 600. It has a built-in dictionary (the 300 does not), a word search function, the ability to make notes, scribble on pages, and it has greater (upgradeable) storage. The 600 also has mp3 support. While these features are neat, for someone like me who reads for entertainment, I found them kind of pointless or unnecessary. Also, the touch screen model has more glare than the 300, and the screen seems dimmer, probably due to the touch layer. For what I want to use it for, the 300 gives me a better experience and the contrast is much better for easier reading.
I don’t think I will ever give up paper books, but from now on most of my recreational reading will be done on this device. Sony did a fantastic job of blending old with new, and once you start using one yourself you too will be hooked. A fantastic, and revolutionary electronic device!
1 Star AVOID THIS READER
This is the first product that has ever motivated me to write a review. I am doing this in hopes I can spare even 1 person the agony I have endured. DO NOT be fooled and buy this useless horrible product as I was. It simply does not work as advertised. It doesn’t support PDF files if they have any pictures (which almost all do), it does not accept word and text files, it does not accept free ebooks from the internet like Google books, and the Sony Ebook store is a total ripoff. I tried calling Sony customer service and, the person who answered didn’t speak fluent english. Big surprise. This has been a terrible experience. Am in the process of trying to obtain a refund. Again, avoid this at all costs!
Leave a comment