InsaneJournal

My shiny toy
So, I got an uber shiny toy for my birthday - the Sony Reader PRS-505/SC!

It was from my parents and although my birthday was back in November I haven't really had a chance to talk about it before now.

It's great.

The no backlight thing means I can sit reading from it for hours and hours just like I do with real books (which was one of the reasons I wanted one of these - the bright screen is part of why I can't read whole eBooks at my computer as I get headaches).

The battery life is amazing and I can read for hours and hours.

I have about 20 books on it at the moment and it takes up no more room in my bag than a small notebook...but at the same time the overall size and the cover let me feel like I'm holding a small book when I'm reading it. In fact a few people have thought it was just a small book when they've seen me with it in the staff room. So it's great for the travellings which is pretty much the biggest reason I wanted one (I rarely take less than 5 books when I go away for two weeks and that can take up serious space and add an annoying amount of weight). It was amazing how much extra space I had in my suitcase and my carry-on in December/January.

I can read all those classics I wanted to read but didn't really want to buy due to the limited space I have for books at home. Also, most of the classics I want to read can be had free in electronic form...and quite a few are on the CD-Rom of 100 classics that came with my Reader.

I can finally make good use of the CD of eBooks that A. gave me that has literally thousands of titles on it and more than a few of them ones that I've wanted to read for a while (Robert A. Heinlein's stuff for example).

I can buy more of the prolific writers that I like without worrying where I'm going to put it all (P.D. James, Wilbur Smith etc).

I can buy Laurell K. Hamilton's books without the shame of having them on my bookcase (it's sad that was a selling point, but true). After the last book (Blood Noir) she got moved off the big bookcase on to the smaller one out of my line of sight, but I am unfortunately hooked enough that I want to find out what happens in the end.

Things I don't like:

Multiple formats...It's not like your MP3 player where you download an MP3 file and you can stick it on any MP3 player out there and it will play. No, that would be too convenient, and I'm sure they have there reasons but it's annoying that not all eBook formats work on all eBook Readers. Mine won't take LIT files (Microsoft Reader), for example which means I have to convert all my LIT files (all the ones on the CD A. gave me) to RTF. I have a really nifty freeware programme for doing this so it only takes a few seconds, but it's still a pain that I have to do it at all. Also it means that you have to be careful when you're buying eBooks that you get them in a file your Reader supports and sometimes means that you either have to (A) search around for a site that sells your format, (B) go without, or (C) convert (which DRM prevents you from doing anyway so you mostly only get option A or B)

DRM...bah-humbug says I. Actually the findings of a particular case might make things interesting when it comes to DRM and eBooks in the future but for now it exists and most of the eBook files you buy come with it because without it we might loan other people our eBooks, or give them away, or resell them...*gasp*

Yes, I get that copyright is a huge issue, something that should be protected, and I really don't want authors or artists to be done out of their rightful share, but I don't understand why we can't lend or give away our eBooks as we freely do (and have always done) with the physical copies. *sighs*

Finally (and this is the thing that bugs me most) eBooks (assuming they aren't public domain) are no cheaper and are often more expensive than their physical counter-parts...I don't get it! If you buy music in electronic form it's usually cheaper than, or about the same price as the CD, but that is so not true for eBooks (unless you want Mills & Boon romance novels, and I don't)...I mean whyfore exactly do they want me to pay £15.19 for Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell in ebook format when I can get the hardback for £13.29...or £9 if I go to ASDA for it? What's more it'll be even cheaper when it comes out in paperback and what happens to the eBook price when it does? Will it drop to be closer to the paperback price even though nothing about the format will change as it does when you go from hardback to paperback...or will it stay the same thus proving the people who decide these things are actually crazy? Urgh.

Is it just greed or is it really just about the publishing industry not really wanting eBooks to take off, which is a theory I read on the Mobileread forum?

Actually, why are books in general so gosh darned expensive?

*sighs*

Anyway, to sum up...I like my Sony Reader. I really, really do...but it's never going to take the place of having physical copies of books for me. In January I bought 6 new books and no eBooks. The eInk display is nice and all and it looks bookish, but the Reader just doesn’t feel the same or smell the same and I don't get the same satisfaction from downloading a new eBook that I get from picking up a new (or used) book. Of course, I'm a confirmed bookworm and bibliophile (although I hardly ever place content above form).

However it does exactly what I wanted it to do...let's me read eBooks (almost) the same way that I read regular books and makes travelling with books so much easier. Also, it is shiny...did I mention that?