Software strategies and more…

So its been almost year since I gave up books. I chose the Sony eReader Touch back in June of last year b/c I was looking for a quality eReader that allowed me to skip pages by ‘flicking’ a finger. I was also interested in expandable memory as well as choice – I didn’t want a Kindle b/c it was too tied to only the Amazon books.

The Sony PRS-600 seemed like a perfect fit. I did not mind the lack of wifi, I liked the metal feel, and I was intrigued by the ability to buy books from Kobo, Sony and others and at the same time rent from the library as they offered more ePUBs.

Since I purchased the Sony Touch Edition, I have been met with many disappointments. If it where just one or two I wouldn’t have written this bog, but its an on-going thing over nearly a year that I think others should consider before buying a Sony eReader.

Note: I have had the reader for 10 months and read over 20 books on it, so this is not a early view or opinion – I have enjoyed the form factor immensely and am a converted eReader person. and have recommended the form factor to others. In short here are some of the comments after long-term use that I have to share:

1. The battery is lousy, it lasts barely a week.
2. The battery is so bad I have had it replaced (under warranty) once already – Sony did a quick turn around, but still the original battery died 6-months in.
3. The selection at the Sony store is crap – thank God for Kobo; I have bought 80% of the books there based on better pricing and better selection. So if you do use the Sony and haven’t checked out www.kobobooks.com you are often paying too much for your reading.
4. The Sony Reader Library software is crap. Seriously its ugly, it connects to a store that lack titles (50% of popular titles are US only and I am in Canada. Yet Amazon and Kobo offer these here and usually at a better price. I have kept hoping Sony would address this, but has they haven’t I question their commitment to being more than a hardware provider.
5. The software that was packaged with the eReader is weak. I gave up on the expandable memory b/c it promised more things like music and pictures, but if you put more than 1GB of music on the card the reader takes forever for the eReader to reboot.
6. The handwriting feature is terrible. I thought when I bought it I would be able to take passable notes and not have to carry a pen and pad b/c the eReader from Sony had a stylus, but I tried for several months to make this work for me at no avail.
7. The sync database (software) get corrupted once every couple months. The software starts reloading all the books over and over causing sync (in the best case) to cease to function.
8. Note taking and comments on the eReader don’t show up on the software – this is really annoying if you are reading books for your profession and make notes and highlights, but then when your eReader is “in the shop” and you cannot access any of these.
9. Library rental function is a load of sh*t, libraries offer mostly the Free Classics that you can get from Google, Kobo, Sony, Amazon and others. Absolutely no benefit here currently.
10. The O/S is very disappointing. I have over 70 books and the way they are organized is by author, title, or date. There is no search. Some times the author is last name first and some times its first and then last name – same author. So digging for a book in the library is a real pain.

Don’t get me wrong. I love eReader form factors. I have just found myself (after 10 months) thinking I would NEVER recommend or choosing to buy a Sony version again. Sorry Sony I’ll keep using your product until it becomes too unpleasant not to, but don’t expect a repeat customer based on my current experience.

And future customers should think twice before choosing Sony products based on my experience.