Sony Reader Touch

The Sony Reader Touch is a great ereader device developed to rival competing brands such as the Amazon Kindle and indeed the Apple ipad. If you are someone whom has been watching and waiting for the market to develop then now is a great time to think about purchasing a sony prs-600 reader touch edition given the market prices have dropped considerably in recent months.

You may also have been waiting to see whether any of the devices features would be superceeded by any new verisions but true to it's word, sony have delivered a device that has stayed up to date and continues to provide an excellent reader device. After all, purchasing an ereader is not something that you want to do every year and once commited you want to know that your purchase will stand the test of time and advancements in tech.

Many people (as sales have shown) have preferred the Sony Reader Touch vs the Kindle device and although both e-readers are good devices in my view, the Sony remains the leader in the field. This is partly due to the Kindle having a restrictive leash in terms of DRM issues which the Sony Reader Touch versions do not (thankfully) suffer from.

The sony reader touch edition prs600 versions are extremely easy to use and within a few minutes you will be edpt at transcribing, formatting and utilising MS Word documents and PDF files for use on the reader.

The Sony Reader Touch fully supports the ePub reader format meaning you are in a position to easily utilise publications from Libraries and other distributors. As always with these features, do bear in mind they are local to your vacinity therefore always check out what facilities you have in your local area first. Putting to one side the issues with the DRM authentication problems which also have recently manifested itself in the removal of purchased books from some ereader devices (NYT article here), the Kindle device along with the upcoming Nook also are looking to house a simular system and the ability to communicate with servers etc.

The other aspect to this of course is that most people tend to purchase e-reader devices to frankly, read and not have reams of marketing material pushed through to their devices.

Back now, to the Sony Reader Touch device itself which is very easy to grasp and is espeically suited to those whom already own smart phones in light of the fact the systems utilised do tend to operate in a simular fashion. Once you get started the learning curve is really very easy and within no time you will be reading your first book, novel or even magazine.

The included e-reader software is also very easy to handle and completes most of the tasks you require with only a few clicks. Support is provided for third party applications and softwares such as the Calibre work very well and as an added bonus can provide more detailed and advanced features. That said, if you do not have the Calibre software this is not a problem given the supplied software works very well for most users needs.

The prs-600 touch edition comes complete with the exclusive e-ink tech that provides a clear and bright display to read your books from. You do however need adequate light I have found when using the device but for most purposes the backlighting functions well. You can also change the size of the text displayed quickly and on the go with a few mouse stokes making the text either larger or smaller to read and the text displays itself very well at pretty much any rendered sizings.

Worth mention that the e-ink technology is a great feature in terms of preserving the battery life of the device. This is because once the page has been displayed it does not consume anymore battery power. Meaning with or without an associated reading light the battery life is very good. To give you an idea of battery life I have been using my Sony Reader Touch for about 2 weeks for around 4 hours a day and I have yet to charge it!

Some comparable device (not in price though) have Wi-Fi connectivity which the Sony Reader Touch does not have. This is not a stumbling block for most given the array of ways in which you can download ebooks.

As with any piece of electronic equipment it is never perfect;

The time it takes for the screen to refresh is fairly quick but not as quick as say the ipad. You will immediately notice how thin and lightweight the Sony Reader Touch is in your hands - it is not bulky compared to compititors, but for me anyway, I like lightweight devices like this and it certainly does not cause me any concerns.

Here is a video showing the PRS-600 which displays well its look, feel and useability.

I have been very happy with my Sony Reader Touch reader, it has all the gadgets I need from an ereader device and a whole lot more should you wish to play around with it's many functions. As I mentioned earlier, there certainly are more e-readers in the marketplace now and the majority of which are signficantly more expensive than the Sony - for my opinion (for what its worth) this is a great reading device, competitivly priced that functions exactly as I want it to. It has a good clear display, plenty of expandable memory to store more ebooks than I could ever read. and not forgetting the very low price tag now being offered the Sony Reader Touch is an affordable and worth while ereader investment - that's what I wanted (I have the sony digital reader touch edition - black).