Adventures with Sony's Digital Reader Date: Dec 29, 2007 9:03:18 AM PST Author: LLoni Received just in time for Christmas, I'm learning more about it every day. Off-forum contact: LLoni@LLPublish.com   Reply to this Post

Adventures with Sony's Digital Reader Date: Jan 3, 2008 8:04:53 AM PST Author: LLoni Must admit I'm impressed with this one so far. Learning the button functions was a snap, and so was hooking to my laptop's USB port to charge the battery. But charging that way is slow, so I switched to the optional AC Charger and had everything up and running quick. The software to put on my PC is surprisingly easy to use. It logs into the Sony eBook Store automatically on launch, keeps track of my purchases, transfers texts easily (and fast) between the PC and the Reader, and allows me to read on the PC as well as on the Reader. Best yet, I've already "imported" two large WORD files from my PC, too. I was able to preview one of my files in the waiting room at the doc's office without having to drag out the laptop and juggle it on my lap. Hooray! Full HELP manual for both the Reader and the software are readily available on both the PC and the Reader. Wherever I am at the moment I need it, HELP is easy to find and navigate. But the real treat is the clarity of the reading function. It truly is just like reading a paperback book. The page size is the same; the "look" of paper is the same. So is the need for adequate lighting --- this screen is not backlit like a PC screen. You must have proper room light to read. I see now I will be ordering the optional LED Reading Light to go with it. One advantage is the ability to enlarge the print with a click of a button. I use the larger print most of the time. My grandson who uses the Reader as much as I do prefers the normal print size. Stay tuned for more ---- everyone I've shown it to has loved it, and we all have only one complaint. The cost of eBooks is still too high. But I do believe that will change. Now that we have the ability to import other text than what we can buy at the dedicated store, we should soon see a new host of great material at reasonable prices. Off-forum contact: LLoni@LLPublish.com   Reply to this Post

Adventures with Sony's Digital Reader Date: Jan 15, 2008 7:41:38 PM PST Author: LLoni I'm past the half way point reading "T is for Trespass (Sue Grafton's latest release). I do believe she cheated and threw in an old manuscript, not written to her usual quality. This one makes references to taking place in 1988. I'm not knocking her ability to get away with it. I'm hoping I can do the same because Baylin House is definitely dated 1995. Being able to push a button and make the print bigger on the Digital Reader has me reading steadily again. I've downloaded 27 books into the library, including the King James Bible, and still have room for a few hundred more with the SD card I added. Signing up before the deadline at Sony eBook Store got me $100 credit toward classics at $1.99 each, plus another $50 credit in current sellers. The prices are more than I'll be willing to pay for most new releases, about 25% under hard book shelf prices. Titles available in paperback (at paperback prices) are priced accordingly at the eBook store. That's still too high, considering I won't be able to trade them back in at the used Book store, nor able to loan them to other members of the family. They're all originally issued by big name publishers and I'm guessing that's what's keeping the prices high enough not to kill their sales in the paper editions. Effectively it's same money for less value. Shame on them. I hope even they have to give in soon. If not, I hope smaller name competition can eventually drive down the prices of the eBooks --- and that more people will bypass the big publisher and do business through the smaller ones, both as authors and as reading public. Off-forum contact: LLoni@LLPublish.com   Reply to this Post

More Adventures with Sony's Digital Reader Date: Feb 24, 2008 11:44:36 AM PST Author: LLoni I admit the Digital Reader has ceased to be a new exciting toy. But that's because it has become as familiar and personal -- and essential -- as my keys, glasses, and lipstick. It fits in my purse easier than a paperback; and like the popular commercial says, I never leave home without it. It has enough battery power to last all week even though I turn it on and off multiple times a day. I give it an A+ for portability. The hardest part is actually letting the battery run all the way down to shutoff once a month. I've been told this will preserve the battery life longer. But it makes me nervous to let it get low because I don't want it to run out while I'm away from the recharge access; I've become addicted to always having it handy. Taking one of the grandkids to the dentist wasn't an hour lost watching someone else's TV choice, it was an hour of private reading time! Even better was a waiting period last week when I finished the book I'd been reading and still had two hours to wait before I could leave. Not a problem with the Digital Reader; I just dialed up the next book I wanted to read, and kept going as long as I wanted. There is definitely an advantage to carrying around a couple dozen reading choices and having the whole package weigh less than a pound. Love it! Off-forum contact: LLoni@LLPublish.com   Reply to this Post

Continuing Adventures with Sony's Digital Reader Date: Feb 25, 2009 8:03:49 AM PST Author: LLoni Now 1-1/2 years steady use and the Digital Reader and I are still best friends. I notice the battery doesn't stay charged quite as long as it did when it was new. Neither does my cell phone battery, so I'm not complaining --- just making an observation. There is no degradation in the quality of the display, nor in the speed of operation (turning pages, browsing through the contents, etc.). The unit seems to be holding up quite well. I've made several trips back and forth between Nevada and Georgia in the past year. Can't tell you how glad I was to be able to carry a sizable library in my purse without the weight of a dozen paperbacks. Twice I started a new title shortly before takeoff, and decided to change to another to hold my interest better. WooHoo! All I had to do was press a couple buttons and select from the 80-something titles loaded before I left home. On the subject of titles -- the list of new titles available at the Sony eBook Store is growing fast enough to stay way ahead of me. I saw the notice that they will be adding even more new publishers soon, so I expect that trend to continue. Pricing is still a question, both for the upgraded model Reader (at $399) and for the eBook texts available in the store. There have been a few sales that I took advantage (bundle pricing on popular titles at a discount over per-book prices), but not enough. As my friend Suz pointed out, eBooks don't require cutting trees, or printing paper, or warehousing, or shipping, or display in stores. They should not cost as much as the hardbound and paperback versions that require all of that. Let's see what this year brings . . . Off-forum contact: LLoni@LLPublish.com   Reply to this Post