Sony's PRS-500 e-book reader in the wild

Speaking of the future, we always thought that by the 21st century we'd all have digital pads to read stuff on, instead of these old-fashioned analog "books." Well, that's what Sony's betting on with its PRS-500, anyway, which has just been spotted in the wild for the first time -- in the hands of none other than Phillip Torrone of MAKE magazine (and Engadget) fame. We'd previously reported that this $350-ish e-book reader was going to be delayed (again), but that somehow it would be shipping in time for "the holidays." Given Sony's other problems of late, though, we wouldn't be surprised if the company was referring to our next summer holiday. Remember, regular ol' books may be low-tech, but at least they don't explode. Keep reading for another snap, and then head over to MAKE for the full lowdown...

[V.Stefanyuk @ Mar 19th 2008 5:23AM]

Resize/prepare A4 pdf for your Sony Reader

www.pdfcropper.com

[Joel @ Sep 12th 2006 11:05PM]

Looks like an old PDA that someone found in their junk drawer from the 90's.

[Illustrator @ Sep 12th 2006 11:10PM]

Man, I hope this thing has great battery life. I wish they'd lose the audio/pictures/art stuff because they need a more powerful processor. I just want the reader for articles and books.

That Amazon one interests me as well.

[Uetani @ Sep 13th 2006 12:04AM]

Yep -- 'cept this one will stay powered one and screen visible for months on a couple of AA batteries.

[virtruvian @ Sep 12th 2006 11:42PM]

and who makes these displays?? ahem* our company...'scuse me...

[Woolly Mittens @ Sep 13th 2006 12:00AM]

Will it allow you to read anyting other than Sony's own DRM'ed books? Because that's what their last reader didn't.

[Ayrkain @ Sep 13th 2006 1:25AM]

Read the article Woolly:

"One quick thing to mention, the reader loads in plain ole' text files wonderfully and they look great..."

I'd rather get an Iliad, but it's just out of my price range. [sigh]

[ManekiNeko @ Sep 13th 2006 2:48AM]

Black and white? Eeeeew! What is this, 1996? I thought we were past this already!

JR

[Axel Roest @ Sep 13th 2006 3:23AM]

I thought the screen of the Irex iLiad (http://www.irextechnologies.com/) was smallish, standing at A5 (half US Letter for non-conformist folks out there). This Sony screen looks even smaller. How can you comfortably read an A4 sized PDF on that? Even on the iLiad I have to remove the margins of other people's PDF files to make them readable on the iLiad.
Many, many PDFs are still formatted to be printed out, so are in the A4/US Letter size. A nuisance, until screen resolutions step up.

[Maff @ Sep 13th 2006 5:23AM]

you want multi-coloured text in your books, manekineko? Confusing! How about animated words too?

[shadekh @ Sep 13th 2006 6:13AM]

manekineko, as this book contains the eInk technology, it will have incredible battery life and could be used without a backlight (though it might have one for night reading). That alone easily makes up for it not having a color screen. Its an ebook, how many novels out there have color illustrations? I do not want it to be a photo viewer or something, and i would prefer black and white with high contrast over color anytime for this use.

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 13th 2006 7:20AM]

My opinion of Sony has gone up lately.

Now I wouldn't trust them above a FORTY dollar set of earphones.

[jp @ Sep 13th 2006 7:33AM]

It will be very interesting to this compared to Amazon's surprise eBook reader - I mean the Amazon thing has frickin' EVDO?!

[Jonathan @ Sep 13th 2006 8:47AM]

I wonder how well this would handle podcasts? Would be awesome if you could easily transfer podcast subscriptions to the device for listening (and reading with RSS feeds) later...

[PJK @ Sep 13th 2006 10:42AM]

Yes, great , lovely. LET ME BUY IT already. I mean not only is this thing hopelessly delayed in the states but there is no sign of it being available in Europe at any stage.

[OldSkool @ Sep 13th 2006 10:32AM]

I used the iRex and found it to be extremely slow; however, I'll give the Reader a shot. Maybe ARINC will pick it up and create the eBoatBook to compliment their overpriced eFlyBook. Interestingly, a company called M-edge (http://www.buymedge.com) is making cases for the Sony Reader, iRex, and eFlyBook.

[boynamedsue @ Sep 13th 2006 12:46PM]

Sony has mastered the art of delaying products.

Now they just need to think up a great ad campaign like.

"Black people can't read this." and put the reader next to it.

And then afterward they can explain they thought it was okay, just a cultural misunderstanding.

[Jimmy @ Sep 13th 2006 1:27PM]

@boynamedsue

HAHAHA! You, my friend, win Post of the Day.

[BigB @ Sep 15th 2006 5:11PM]

Yea... great stuff I think... I'd like to get one too... But living in Europe (Germany) means not getting the coolest gadgets.. (Sony Reader,PS3, or Mylo)

Or is there any chance that Sony will open a German Online Book Downloadservice and sell the Reader in Germany? I fear, they will not...

[Christy Hartman @ Oct 2nd 2006 1:52PM]

I got my Sony ebook yesterday and I love it. I've been waiting for a product like this for a long time! To read in bed while laying on your side or stomach and not have to be a contortionist is a major plus. And I always seem to finish a book while traveling, and now I won't have to worry about having a backup book, or worse, resort to airport literature!
I�ve been holding off on buying an ereader until the eink technology came out and I must say, aside from the response time, I�m very impressed. I won�t be viewing many pictures on this device, but I�m still impressed at the level of detail the eink technology provides.
I hope it does well in the market, as I can see a whole host of upgrades in it's future; but I'm not willing to wait for them. I rushed to the store and bought three (two as gifts) about an hour after it was unloaded off the truck! (yes, I'm that big of a book/tech nerd).
I have a feeling my ebook will become as essential to me as my ipod and Treo.