Sony - Reader Pocket Edition Digital Book - Silver
This item is no longer available in new condition.
See similar items below.
Other
- <a href="javascript:winopengld('1087340534723','pcmcat38200050027','cat12080')">Total Built-In Memory</a>2GB
- Expandable MemoryNo
- <a href="javascript:winopengld('1087340566303','pcmcat38200050027','cat12080')">Screen Size (Measured Diagonally)</a>5"
- Connection PortUSB
- Supports MP3No
- <a href="javascript:winopengld('1087340511518','pcmcat38200050027','cat12080')">Display Type</a>E-Ink
- Stylus EntryYes, stylus included
- <a href="javascript:winopengld('1087340507174','pcmcat38200050027','cat12080')">Battery Type</a>DC
- System RequirementsPC: Intel® Celeron® 800MHz processor or later; Windows XP, Vista or 7; Mac: Intel®, PowerPC G3, G4 or G5 processor; Mac OS X 10.6.3 or OS X 10.5.8 or OS X 10.4.11 or later; 128MB RAM or more; High Color (1024 x 768) monitor; USB port
- ConnectivityNot Available
- NavigationTouchscreen
- UPC027242805125
Customer rating
Rating 4.1 out of 5 stars with 14 reviews
(14 Reviews)Search
Rating 4 out of 5 stars with 1 review
sleek and tuitive
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendOverall my experience with the Sony Line of eReaders has been wonderful. I have tried nearly every eReader on the market since Sony’s PRS505 and have found myself the most satisfied with Sony's new PRS350. Why? Well it's the most practical in terms of taking notes, navigating books (page numbering), looking up words and portability (user interface). My second favored device to the Sony lineup would be the Kindle3; it seems to be the closest in comparison for such a cut throat market. The Kindle3 has wonderful customer support, screen quality, wireless options, pricing (books and eReaders) and whispernet. However I have to knock the Kindle3 for all the key pressing for any need to navigate or markup text and look up words. It's also difficult to keep track of where you are reading if you are looking up entries and words due to Amazon's page numbering scheme. The Nook, well it doesn’t seem to be competing too well and I don't care for the interface, battery life or the contrast of the screen in comparison to the newer devices that just hit the market. These main pitfalls to the Kindle3 and Nook are why I choose the Sony over its distinguished competition. I'd have to say the only pitfalls to the PRS350 is Sony's higher pricing in regards to their competition, the bookstore software has lackluster performance and can definitely be given more of a Sony focus/touch on aesthetic quality and design (user interface), and the lack of wireless on the device. I’m an active duty Soldier in the Army and would at least like to have wifi on the move when given the opportunity so it can stand alone from a computer. However, I just make sure to stock up my library with books I know I’ll read, particularly series to offset the lack of wireless. One other note on this device is that the screen is fairly small for my preference, but that comes with the cost of portability. However the higher contrast screen does a pretty good job of offsetting the smaller font sizes. If you are ok with the premium pricing and lack of wireless, I think Sony has finally distinguished themselves with their beautiful new line of readers. Overall I'm a pleased customer and have been satisfied with both the product and customer support I have received from Sony and the Sony Style store.
Rating 5 out of 5 stars with 1 review
The Best Reader Available
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendI've had experience with several e-Readers, including the big three- the Kindle, Nook, and Sony Reader. This product is by far the best one I've ever used. A lot has been made about Sony's two smaller readers not having wi-fi or 3G like the Kindle or the Nook, but when it comes down to it, this is not as big of a deal as most people make it out to be--the experience of purchasing a book is a very small percentage of the time one will spend with a reader. Where the Sony Reader wins out is the experience of reading itself. The PRS 350 is very light, very portable, and extremely comfortable to hold. The Nook feels like a brick compared to it, and even the Kindle 2 seems over large in comparison. I was worried about the touch screen, since the last generation of Sony's really failed in that department, but the technology is wholly different this time around, and the screen is remarkably responsive to even a light touch. The display is crisp and clear thanks to the Pearl e-ink screen (another new technology in this year's iteration--same as the latest Kindle), again, a vast improvement over the last generation of Sony readers--the ink is now unmistakably black instead of grey, and there are far more levels of greyscale for images. Page turns seem faster this time around too. It will be a tough call for some between this one and the Touch edition with a one-inch larger screen, expandable memory, and sound playback, but the size of this one is what won me over. This thing is literally pocket sized; even smaller than last year's Pocket edition. The improvements in this year's model are well worth spending the extra dollars. Everything is as advertised with this Reader, I had no trouble at all setting it up, transferring my library, checking out a book from the Carnegie Library for it, adding pictures, etc. It was all a breeze. Obviously I would recommend this reader to anyone!
Rating 5 out of 5 stars with 1 review
Great portable reader
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendI bought a Color Nook for the tablet functionality, never thinking I would use it to read books. I read a free book on it and was hooked, however, I noticed that my eyes blurred after hours of use (I work on PCs ALL day, but it still bothered me, yes I increased font size, changed lighting, etc). I showed a co-worker my Nook and I got to see the e-ink of the Kindle, so I thought I would give e-ink a try. Kindle was out for me, I wanted an epub reader. After weeks of research, I settled on the PRS-350. I work in networking and am online ALL day. It is actually refreshing that the PRS-350 is nothing but a pure reader, no WIFI. It's much more pleasant for me to peruse libaries/book stores and read reviews on my laptops, then download it there. Transfer via Calibre is easy and quick. On my Nook, while reading I would be checking email, the weather, Android app updates, listening to music. Nothing wrong with that, unless you really just want to read. I use Calibre to format/transfer books and didn't even bother with the provided Sony software. I LOVE the touch screen (very responsive and useful for me) and the stylus. The memory is more than enough, after 2 weeks I have enough books to last me close to a year and I'm reading about 2-3 books per week. BTW, the transfer time of these books if I timed it would be, what, 2 minutes? For months upon months of reading. Yeah, WIFI is critical, gotta have that. The e-ink is beautiful, but I didn't like the standard font nor the standard size choices. I changed the firmware (easy to do) and the fonts are much nicer now. I use Calibre to increase the size to 11 and set it to medium. Reading is a pleasure, my eyes don't hurt after reading for hours, it's VERY VERY light, TRULY pocketable, long battery life and relatively quick charging. The build quality is excellent and it looks great in silver. The dictionary isn't very useful for me as the font for it is too small and I don't think that can be changed. Overall, I find it very navigable and I like that you can saturate the font. I'm not really a fan of Sony (stop it with your irritating proprietary stuff) at all, but this reader is great and Best Buy had the best price and gave me a free cover. So thumbs up to Best Buy and Sony for the PRS-350. BTW, I still love my Nook Color as a tablet and the occasional reading.
Rating 3 out of 5 stars with 1 review
Good for library books, awful ergonomics
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendMy public library now loans ebooks, most in epub or pdf format with DRM (essentially encryption) by Adobe. Not all ereaders can read these books, notably Kindles cannot. Iphones, pads, pods, etc. can't either, although it may be possible that an application will provide that. (I see that apple is in a dispute to prevent the Sony IOS reader app from loading books except through iTunes, which would indicate that you won't be able to read borrowed library books on apple devices.) These readers can read epubs, but can't decrypt Adobe DRM protected files. I selected the Sony prs350 because it can read borrowed library books, because it was relatively cheap ($130) while on sale, and because the onboard software and touchscreen are quite good. The prs350 uses the eInk pearl technology, just like the 3rd generation kindle. It is very readable when well lit and pages change rapidly enough that you don't feel the wait for them. It is not readable in dim light (nor in my opinion is any other eink device). You must use a computer to load ebooks into the prs350. There are no wifi or cellular connections. If you run out of books while traveling, you'll need your computer to purchase and download new books. Your own computer will be required because you must have two pieces of software (Adobe Digital Editions and Sony Reader Library), and they must be registered with your own Adobe ID, which you obtain (no charge) from the Adobe website. There are many good free ebooks on the web which you can read. These all tend to be older works with expired copyrights. (These you could transfer to the reader with a friend's computer, if you have the right cable with you.) Other than that, you will have purchased books or books borrowed from a library. I am mostly pleased with the software on the reader. Navigating books is easy. Its easy to adjust the font size, or switch the screen between horizontal and vertical orientation. The interface with the numerous built-in dictionaries is great. Books can be grouped so you might have a group for mystery, one for history, etc. I find this to be rudimentary, and feel it should be improved. The reader can hold more than 1000 books but this basic organization will likely be inadequate with far fewer books. To enter a note or jump to a particular page number, an on screen keyboard is used. The touchscreen works well for this. As I wrote at the start, the only reason I purchased an ereader was to borrow from my library. I'm happy with the prs350 for that purpose, except for some of its ergonomics. The slick surface makes it difficult to hold. Dropping it is not recommended. It must be well lit in order to read it. BUT the front bezel reflects a bright glare when it is well lit. What designer thought the front should be a bright reflective metal? (Probably that was sales, not engineering.) SO... How can you use it? Sony sells a cover with light for a mere $50. That's $35 more than it should cost, in my opinion. Reviews of this cover complain that the reader attaches by two plastic tabs that break within a few months (for some reviewers anyway). I have not used one and don't know if glare is a problem with it. Why, oh why, hasn't Sony considered how a person will hold and light this reader? I guess they have, and they expect, having bought the reader, the consumer will have to fork over another $50. OK, I bought a small photo album for $2.50. I pulled out the album pages. I bought velcro with adhesive backing for $2.50 and applied to the album and the back of the ereader. I now have a perfectly fine cover for $5. The cover is slightly taller than the prs350 which provides space for a clip on light. My cover with a better light than sony's cost less than $15. I applied painters blue masking tape to the bezel of the reader to get rid of the glare caused by the reflective metal. (Tape cannot cover the black between the screen and the silver bezel, or it will interfere with the touchscreen.) Since it's held in by velcro, I can remove the ereader from the cover. On the back of the reader, I used duct tape to attach a rubber O-ring, just a bit of the ring is held. The O-ring is large enough that my middle finger can pass through it. A sliver of duct tape goes through a portion of the ring but that piece is reinforced with more duct tape to hold it to the reader. When I want to use the reader outside of its cover, the ring folds out, my finger goes through it, and I can hold the reader comfortably and securely. I tried different locations on the back of the reader and I have one that works whether the reader is in a horizontal or vertical orientation. When the ereader is in the cover, the O-ring folds flat against the back of the ereader and fits in the offset created by the thickness of the velcro. Finally, one last rant. The price of ebooks is absurd. I have priced them at several different stores. I find them to rarely be less than the same title in paperback and often more. Surely they could be priced less by the cost of printing, paper, and distribution. For now, the market is willing to pay more, though I don't know why. If I buy a paperback, when I'm done with it I can loan it to someone, or I can donate it to my library, a nursing home or someplace else where it will be appreciated. I can take a paperback to a paperback exchange store and use it to partially pay for my next book. With an ebook, you can't loan it, you can't donate it, you can't exchange it, you can't resell it, and, should you get lost in the woods, you can't burn it. Shame
Rating 5 out of 5 stars with 1 review
Superb eReader
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendI love the touchscreen. It really gives you more of the book feel since you can "turn" the page. The screen is slightly smaller and has a little more glare than the Kindle's, but the eInk is pretty much identical. It uses the ePub version of books which allows me to shop around online for a better price than just being bound to purchasing from Amazon. In my line of work, I've used many different touchscreens. The touchscreen on this reader is one of the best I've used. It doesn't always register small movements, but I've yet to use a touchscreen that does. I like how you can change the saturation of the screen for differently lit environments. I think it's kinda neat how you can set a picture as your screensaver when you have it in "sleep mode". It really suprised me how well it renders pictures in grey scale. It doesn't have all the "bells and whistles" like the Kindles and Nooks do. It doesn't play music and you can't surf the web with it, but last time I checked I was purchasing an electronic book not an iPod or Netbook. The only thing I really wish it had is wireless capability. You actually have to plug it up to the computer to transfer files. Sony also didn't include an AC adaptor with the unit. You have to buy that seperately otherwise you have to charge using the USB with the computer. I'm not too awfully fond of the Reader Library. It works, but I prefer to just drop the files in manually instead of messing with syncing. I don't read the books on my computer so I don't care. All-in-all, I love this little unit. It fits perfectly in the inside pocket of my jacket. It's visually appealing and very solid feeling. Much sturdier than the Kindle. I've been recommending this to anyone whose been looking for an eReader. Great job Sony, you've got me hooked.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars with 1 review
Love my reader
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendI love my Sony Reader. I have had it for a month. It is small enough to take with me everywhere I go. I purchased one book and downloaded many more from my local library. One complaint, it sometimes "freezes up." I have to push the reset button. Overall I am very happy with my purchase.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars with 1 review
A Very Nice Reader
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendI like this Sony Reader Pocket Edition a lot. The screen is crisp and clear, the touch capability is nice, it's very light, and the build quality is superb. This last differentiates it from the Kindle and Nook, which are of lesser quality in my opinion. The lack of wifi is a slight hindrance, but it takes only a few minutes to download books onto the device, so it's not a huge issue. The $179 list price is steep, but at $119 it's a great deal !
Rating 5 out of 5 stars with 1 review
Take a Sony to school
Posted .I would recommend this to a friendWhat a great device for use in high school and college. Store your text books and reference books on it. ( when you buy a text book from now on, you should get both the hardbound edition as well as the E-book in an ePub file. Put the pressure on for this to happen.) Write your own PDF files and read them on the Sony. Write notes by hand or as virtual text copy using the Sony apps. And finally, store the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, etc., downloaded from Gutenberg.org as free books. (ePub files copied to media files on the reader.) Did I mention the remarkable collection of dictionaries already installed? Oxford English, Oxford American, and several others. These are really useful as you read. Throw away your backpack. Carry a Casio Prizm, Sony PRS-350, and an IPod Touch, and you can have all you need with you at all times on campus.
Q: QuestionCan i get books from the library?
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer Yes, we have provided a Library Finder tool that can help you locate a public library near you offering many titles including those from the New York Times Bestsellers List. Just like you would borrow a book from your public library, you can do so with an eBook. You will need a library card to borrow books. You can access the Library Finder from two different locations:From within the Reader™ store: or Directly from the Web: The Library Finder can be found at: http://sonysearch.overdrive
Answered by SonyListens
Q: QuestionWould any of the kindle ebooks work on the sony ereader?Would any of the kindle ebooks work?
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer Since the Reader is open format, supporting both industry standard formats ePub and PDF, you can access books from other online bookstores and get content from other online sources. At Reader Store from Sony you can download new releases, best sellers, magazines and newspapers from over 2 million titles, plus find links to borrow eBooks through your local public library from the comfort of your home. Unfortunately, the formats used by Kindle are proprietary and are unable to be read by other eReader devices.
Answered by SonyListens
Q: Questionwhat is the font size and can it be enlarged, to large print
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer Yes, you can choose from six adjustable font sizes to improve readability.
Answered by SonyListens
Q: QuestionDoes this have the anti-glare touch screen?
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer Yes, the new Reader lineup uses high contrast E Ink® Pearl technology on its anti-glare touch screen to deliver an amazing, paper-like display that’s more like ink on paper and fully readable in direct sunlight. The screen offers a high contrast ratio with 16 levels of grayscale, ensuring that text and images are crisp and easy to read.
Answered by SonyListens
Q: QuestionIf you find a word in your book you want to look up, what exactly is the process like?
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer I think it's slick. Extremely slick. The reader contains several different dictionaries built in. One american english, one british english, and then spanish/english, english/spanish, plus the same for french, german, italian, and dutch. You select one of these dictionaries when you set up your reader, but you can easily change it on the fly, even for just a single reference. When you are reading, if you double tap a word, an inset appears in the bottom quarter of the screen showing the definition (as much as will fit in the inset) from the currently selected dictionary. This inset also contains additional touch targets. Your choices with the new targets are: 1. Show a page of the dictionary, beginning with the selected word. From here, you can go forward/backward in the dictionary, change dictionaries, return to reading, ... 2. Show a page with the dictionary definition and the on-screen keyboard with the selected word in its entry position, so that you can edit the word and see the definition of that entry. This screen also shows similar words that you previously looked up. 3. A target to leave the word or phrase highlighted and return to reading. 4. A target to search forward/backward for the next occurrence of the word or phrase. 5. A target to close this inset and return to reading. While you are reading you can also hit the options button and touch the dictionary option. This will call up the on screen keyboard allowing you to enter a word to be looked up. When the dictionary screen is shown, the options button will allow you to change the current dictionary.
Answered by westpole
Q: Questionwhen I want to download a book do I need to be attached to a computer?
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer The sony ereader has to be attached to a USB port on your computer to receive books. You can use any computer for free ebooks. Free ebooks aren't protected by DRM. For the most part, free ebooks are books that are old enough that their copyright has expired. There are many excellent books available as free ebooks, use a web search to visit project gutenberg, the source for most of them, to see what is available. Books that you purchase or borrow from a library will almost always be protected by DRM. There are several different DRM schemes being used for ebooks. Sony can read epub and pdf files protected by Adobe DRM. You have to register your computer and reader with the same Adobe ID. Practically speaking, you probably will confine yourself to your own computer because of the need to install Sony and Adobe software on it to use your Adobe ID.
Answered by westpole
Q: QuestionCan the reader display UTF-8 characters i.e. asian characters and fonts?I saw the answer about the Russian language but wondering if the Sony or any other reader can display asian characters. Thanks in advance
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer No, The PRS-350 Reader Pocket Edition™ can display any text written in English fonts from many Latin-based languages. So, you can read books in a variety of languages, including German, French, and Spanish, however UTF-8 characters are not supported at this time.
Answered by SonyListens
Q: Questioncan u download school books with this?
Asked by Anonymous.
- A:Answer if your book is in PDF or Rich text format and not Copy Protected from viewing, you may download and play it on any Sony Reader. Consult your School book store or the publisher for rights on PDF permissions.
Answered by SonyListens