I was so excited to get my hands on the Sony Digital Reader, give it a spin and tell you all what I thought of it. When I supervised the media department at a public library after college, we were always talking about the latest technology in video, music and book readers. This was about 5 years ago and digital books were out there in the market but none of them truly felt like you were reading a book. I thought they’d never catch on.
For a few years now I’ve had the scriptures and a few other books uploaded to my PDA and it’s great for quick reference but not particularly enjoyable to use and I don’t want to feel like I’m reading from a computer. I wanted to review the Sony Reader Digital Book so I could tell you how the technology was coming along and all the reasons it wasn’t good enough.
Well, that was a couple of months ago. The reader showed up at my house and I pulled it out of the box and started using it immediately. And it feels like a book. It’s small and lightweight and the screen is such that it looks like paper, truly. The font and spacing feel like a paperback except that you can CHANGE the font size. I like to keep it somewhere between itty bitty Lord of the Rings font and granny-needs-glasses large print.
There’s no backlight, which may seem like a downside, but what book glows? Not this one. It’s really like you’re reading from paper, only it always saves your place, you can fit hundreds of books in one small device, and most importantly you don’t have that lopsided page flipping problem. You know when you’re lying on your side reading and one side is always more comfortable to lay on, depending on how far along you are in the book and whether you’re reading the left or right page? But then you switch to the other page and you have to flip over on your other side or hold the book in some really weird way?
You don’t have to do that with this book. It is never lopsided and there are buttons on both sides to turn the pages.
If you’re looking for an all-in-one digital blog reader and wireless device, this is not the toy for you. But that’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for this. It does also have a black and white picture viewer, an MP3 player, and two storage card slots so you can use it to store and use a TON of media. You can even play music while you read.
It has a long battery life and the screen is viewable even in direct sunlight… like… I don’t know… a book!
There are a few negatives. The books do load slower than I’d like because you know, I like it fast. The software interface for downloading and uploading books is not super user-friendly. I fancy myself somewhat of a techie and I had some trouble figuring out how to get the books on the device the first time. There is no way to use the book while it is plugged in your computer to charge and you have to buy the DC power adapter separately, which I would highly recommend. Sony also doesn’t have the greatest selection of books in the world. They have a good amount of classic titles and a lot of new releases but the selection is not as broad as that for the Amazon Kindle.
However, I prefer the Sony reader to what I’ve seen of the Kindle because I want a book, a real book, but better. I hope they continue to grow their inventory of content.
I waited weeks to do this review because I’m so enjoying using it and because of my advertising contract now I must pass it on to one of you. So weighing in at a retail value of $299.00, I give you the Sony Reader Digital Book. It also comes with 100 free classic titles from Shakespeare to George Eliot.
Now does anyone want to give me one? It’s on my wish list. Oh the joys of carrying my entire library around all the time!
If you’re willing to enter this giveaway, even though the reader is lightly used and has my cooties on it, leave a comment listing 2 non-religious books you’d like to carry around with you everywhere. I know you all love the Bible and the Koran. What else do you love? (I’m willing to ship within the US. Anywhere else, I’ll be happy to send it if you pay the postage.)
I’ll randomly choose a winner Sunday night at 10pm PST. Oh, and Sony wants me to let you know that they’re not responsible if you fall and hurt yourself while reading it or if it self-destructs when you disassemble it to see the little men turning the gears on the inside.
Do you have to pay extra for the books? I’m guessing yes. I would love anything by Jane Austen.
Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mocking Bird. I’d take them both even to a Jimi Hendrix concert.
I would carry around whatever is new by David Sedaris and whatever is new by Laurie Notaro.
Free stuff is good. Free stuff involving books? That takes it to a whole new level! I know it might sound kind of boring, but I’d love to have instant access to a dictionary and an encyclopedia all the time. I’m always coming up with questions I would like a quick answer to or to show someone information about stuff I’ve gotten them interested in.
These Is My Words
and
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
What an amazing bit techno. I’d love to carry around “The Count of Monte Cristo” (without actually having to carry the big,fat book) and “To Kill a Mockingbird”
And if I’m going completely for fluff, I’d have to say “Can You Keep a Secret?” by Sophie Kinsella. Hilarious read.
Two? Only two?
Okay… here are two I really liked and would read again and again
The Secret Life of Bees
A Thousand Splendid Suns
I read ALL the time, but am one of those goofy readers who takes a bit longer to finish a book because I have to “create” the voices and faces of all the characters in my mind before I can continue. When I read your blog, I have even given you a “voice” ~ What a whack-o I am!! LOL!
Enter me!!
~HeatherJ
Wow. . . two books, huh?
Lance Armstrong’s Biography “It’s not about the bike”
and
“Beauty” by Robin McKinley
I think. I don’t know!!!
Only two? Oh man, that’s a tough one. Okay, here goes:
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom
Hmm…books I would carry….”The Secret LIfe of Bees” and “Crossing to Safety”. The Digital book looks very cool! Thanks!
It’s so hard to choose just 2 books! I would have to go with Tuesdays with Morrie and The Wednesday Wars.
My two books would be Jane Eyre and Ken Jennings’s Trivia Almanac. Mmm, trivia…
Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories (to read to my son when we’re waiting for something)
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell (for me)
Figures I want to leave a comment on the post with 161 other comments.
I’ve never really craved a digital reader before, but I have to say the side-reading thing had me. I really hate the way books make it tough to read lying down unless you flip back and forth with each page.
Two books I’d like to see digitalized? Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy seems appropriate since the reader reminds me a bit of the guide (does it also tell you to bring your towel along?) …and …maybe Princess Bride (but they’d have to include the map too!)
This looks like an awesome toy! I could read it easily one handed while nursing!
OK, two favorites are really hard to narrow down, but I’ll say Pride & Prejudice, and The Time Traveler’s Wife. I may change my mind in 5 minutes though, so can I enter again? Pretty please?
What a fun toy – is it toddler proof? – because I have three of them!
Choosing only two books is hard, but I will have to agree with the masses for the first one – Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. It’s a classic that gets better with every re-read. Book two would be The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum (and the other two in the series, though not quite as good as the first). The movies were good, even though there are few similarities past the character’s name and his memory loss, but the books are so much more detailed and interesting.
p.s. I enjoy the blog – I found it through parenting.
OH baby sign-a me-a up-a I would love to carry around less bulk and stroage.
The two books I would like are…..
Persuasion
and
The fourth book of Stephanie Meyer Twilight series!
Only two? Fine, I suppose your limit is acceptable. Only because of the whole giveaway thing.
1. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
2. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
How about:
1. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as someone mentioned above, it seems appropriate
2. Good Omens, will it show the foot notes? Gotta have the foot notes.
You are very generous!
1.) The Complete Novels Of Jane Austen (in one paperback!)
2.) The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Pride and Prejudice and any P.G.Wodehouse novel.
Thanks for this great giveaway!
I would want
1) A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
2) Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
I would choose Jane Eyre and Les Miserables. This device would be a dream come true!!!
Hi, I’m a first-time commenter, wanting to read the classics.
Pick me, pick me, pick me
The formidable task of choosing only two…okay, these will really for sure seal the deal on how dorky I am but I feel that at times like this, it is worth it..!!! The two books I would carry with me at all times, and usually DO have them with me for that rare moment of readibility, are the Dramatists Play Service copy of “Steel Magnolias” and “Bitter is the New Black” by Jen Lancaster because there are some times I just really, really need a good laugh.
It’s very hard to pick just two. I’d choose Pride and Prejudice and The Hobbit.
I would have to choose:
These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
I just loved the book “Same
Kind of Different As Me” by Denver Moore and Ron Hall
(especially chapter 22)
and also
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
I have a house full of readers, this would be so cool to share!
2 books to carry with me? I’d have to say A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and anything written by Lloyd Alexander, Robin McKinley, or Katherine Paterson. Or one of hundreds of other choices! Asking me to choose one or two favorite books is like asking me to pick my favorite child! lol
Anyway, hope you pick me!!!
Two books?
The Ladies of Missalonghi, by the lady who wrote the Thorn Birds. Why can’t I remember her name?
And I just love The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison. The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell is my current favorite.
Seriously? Hilariously awesome sci-fi.
It’s my birthday this week so this would be perfect!
I would love to have some Jane Austin with me at all times and maybe Gone with the Wind.
I would love to have this!
The Kite Runner
Eat, Pray, Love
Only 2 books? I live overseas (Foreign Service spouse), so TV is awful and books are hard to come by. I think I’d choose any book by Bill Bryson and probably a corny chick lit book – maybe Jennifer Weiner’s newest book? Since I have four small kids, I could take DAYS to get through any over-complicated books. Complex plots fly right out of my post-partum brain… so the whole saves-your-place-in-the-book thing? Really, really cool.
Most of the books I reread and love to have on hand are either books from my childhood that I can’t let go of or nonfiction that has truly changed my life and I reread when I start to slip. So my two would be:
1. Affluenza
2. Room with a View
I would love to have “Anne of Green Gables” and “Peace like a River” to carry around with me always. Them are pretty words.
I hope I win!
I’d love to win! Two books… let’s see… how about These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Love ’em both.
183 responses? I can’t read them all. But I can tell you what books I’d like to be able to carry around. Whatever I’m reading right now (that’s such an indulgence to be able to say!) and a book for the kids. I’m reading A Sudden Country for a walking book club that I joined — that’s right exercise for the mind and body. I’m thinking a Dr. Seuss book for the kids. Fox in Socks is my favorite.
if i had to choose only 2 i’d choose Where the Sidewalk Ends and Gone with the Wind. 🙂 can’t go wrong with those two!
Oh–Super Cool!!! I would love to carry around Pride & Prejudice, and Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl. Check it out, it’s awesome!
Garlic and Sapphires? That sounds intriguing. As in way strange. I’ll have to have a look.
That sounds sooooo awesome! I am so glad you reviewed this–I would love it!
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe and Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I would totally carry around _Ring of Endless Light_ by Madeline L’Engle (though my husband says I wouldn’t need to since I have it memorized already) and maybe _Harry Potter_ just for fun (Can you count all seven books as part of one really long one like they did with _Chronicles of Narnia_ ? )
Can I list more than two?
If I could get it, I’d carry around Merriam Webster’s English Dictionary. I’m a word nerd, so a good dictionary is always handy.
I’m constantly referencing some CSS computer books, so it would be nice to always have them around, without having to lug around the physical books.
In terms of fiction, I think I’d carry around a complete set of Charles Dicken’s works. I really love Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. Like the writer above, I totally think these should count as a single entry.
I also would carry around a complete set of Jane Austen’s works. My favorite there is Pride and Prejudice, which I never tire of reading.
My wife wants me to read Little Women, but I haven’t made it that far yet.
Wait, how much memory does the device have again? Because I’m wondering if I can get it all to fit 🙂
Wow. You’re a good man. If you’re already hooked on P&P, you’ll be slurping up Marmie and Joe any day now.
Have you gotten more responses to any other previous post? I can’t hope that I’ll be the chosen winner (however will you decide?), but I have to join the fray and add to your list of multitudinous pleadings. I’d have Harold McGee’s “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen” and Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which I have read and loved over and over. Living in Nigeria, I’ve found pleasure in experimenting in the kitchen because there are almost no prepared foods, so I always have to cook from scratch. So McGee’s book is a good reference, as well as interesting browsing. And also, sometimes living in Nigeria it helps to remember Frankl’s attitude that came from surviving the concentration camp — they can take everything away from you but your free will to decide how you feel about your circumstances.
Well, since I’m currently reading “The Yearbook” and ” A wrinkle in Time”, I guess those would be the books. I’d have to change them when I finished, though.
Boy, thats a tough one, I love to read, but I hate to re-read! LOL!
Though I will say I want to read Twilight! All my friends are, and boy I must be behind the times because I havn’t yet!
They are a way fun way to waste some time.
Never posted before but I’m making a showing for a good cause. My man would love this. I would choose:
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom
How exciting!
First 2 books would be:
The Power of a Praying Parent and
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families.
Wow…looks like my chance of winning is about slim to none but I’ll play anyway. I think if I was going to carry 2 books around with me I’d take a really good joke book (the ones I come up with are silly and lame to say the least), and probably a map. Sad, but yes…its true. I need a map…oh! a notebook! That would have to be a third book…since I can’t remember anything anymore. Oh, and maybe a book to read, like Shannon Hale’s(?) Princess Academy. Read it if you haven’t! :0)
I own it but haven’t read it yet. I’ll have to bump it up higher in my queue.
woo-hoo! sign me up!
my favorite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte