Sony PRS-505 eBook Reader

A couple of weeks ago Borders bookstores had a sale on the Sony PRS-505 eBook ready. I decided to pick one up. I didn’t need one but I’m starting to get a couple of eBooks so for the price, I though it would be worth it to check out. After opening it, I didn’t realize how light and thin it was. The device felt sturdy and the text are easy to read. The battery life on it is great as well. Mac users can use Calibre to transfer books to the device or use a SD card/ Memory Stick with a card reader. So far everything seemed good. Here’s where it started to become impractical for me.

I wanted to use this with my small collection of eBooks – most are in PDF format. Everyone has noted that PDF files do not display well but you can convert them to other formats like EPUB, LRF, or MOBI which Calibre can do for you. I’ve tried it and noticed some improvements but some sentences wrapped too early. It’s not a big deal though but STRIKE 1.

Most, if not all my eBooks are reference books. I didn’t realize that there is no search feature on this model. Reference books are useless if I can’t search for things. Granted it has bookmarks, it’s less efficient if I can’t search – STRIKE 2.

I recently bought 40 Years of X-Men on DVD and thought wouldn’t this be great to have on the PRS-505. Again, the files are in PDF. The pages would not get larger as I increase the font size because it’s a comic book (images). I even tried to convert them to another format. The text in the bubbles were hard to read and the watermark on the pages didn’t help any either – STRIKE 3.

I’m not saying that it’s a bad eBook reader. For $200, it’s a great basic one. If you can still get one at that price, I would recommend getting one if you are looking for one. For what I need it for, it just won’t work.

Luckily, the Borders where I bought it from was kind enough to return it.