Monthly Archives: September 2006

It appears that Sony’s next e-book reader will soon be available. The PRS-500 features an “electronic ink” display with higher resolution and contrast than the typical liquid crystal display. There has been a lot of noise on the Web about this device–those who are eager to see digital distribution of books succeed have been excited. Unfortunately, the PRS-500 is another entry on the long list of e-book failures. No, I have not used one. How do I know, then? Here are my top five reasons:

1. Price–the PRS-500 costs $350. I usually borrow books from public and academic libraries. When I do buy books, I buy hardbacks that have been out for a few months from Amazon. With the breaks involved, such as no tax, free shipping, and a large discount, I spend about $12 per book. I can spend $350 and have twenty-nine nice hardback books, or I can spend $350 and have a Sony Reader and zero books. Don’t mention Project Gutenberg’s e-texts. As much as I love Project Gutenberg as a resource, I find that many of the texts are quite sloppily converted. All of the files are also plain text, which can be read by virtually any computing device, which brings me to the next point.
2. Digital Restrictions Management–Sony’s software tells one what one can do with one’s books. One cannot lend them to friends or give them away. One cannot (at least easily) sell them. The files become worthless, in strictly monetary terms, the moment one acquires them. One has no guarantee that one will even be able to access one’s books five years from now. What is the use of going to great expense to build a library that might one day disappear in a puff of bits at someone else’s whim?
3. Display–the display still is not good enough. It is getting close on the contrast front, but it still only manages half the resolution of the cruddiest page. It has no backlight. One of the few things that I enjoy about reading on my Palm is that I can do it late at night in bed without involving other gadgets and without disturbing my wife. The Sony Reader’s display is also apparently marred by artifacts; one can often see the faint remains of the previous page.
4. Tether–I hate being tied down. When I have to take my laptop somewhere, I do. Otherwise I want nothing to do with wires and outlets when I am on the move. The Sony Reader requires a Windows PC (rather expensive dongle, that) to run its iTunes-like e-book store software. It also requires wires and adapters for charging the battery, a task that takes from four to six hours. That’s just too fussy for a book.
5. Selection–there just are not enough books available in Sony’s format. There is no standard e-book format, with e-Reader, Microsoft, Adobe, and Sony, at the very least, all selling incompatible formats. Many publishers opt out of the digital distribution game, and many more ink deals with a single company. The result is a frustrating patchwork of availability, restrictions, and interfaces.