Sony makes low-cost Readers official
updated 07:00 pm EDT, Tue August 4, 2009
Sony PRS-300 and PRS-600
Sony has almost immediately followed up on late rumors with an official update to its Reader line of e-book devices. The new PRS-300 Pocket Edition and PRS-600 Touch Edition readers are less expensive than the PRS-505 was when new but have a similar 600x800 e-paper display and in some cases make significant improvements: while both have just 512MB of memory built-in, either will take not only Memory Sticks for extra storage but also SD cards. They also get a new, native Mac client for loading books over USB in addition to the existing Windows version.
The PRS-300 is the traditional model and meant to be the most portable with a 5-inch display, direction pad based controls and support for both Sony's own bookstore downloads as well as more generic formats like PDF and Word. With the PRS-600, users get a larger, 6-inch touchscreen display that is described as more readable than that for the PRS-700. It no longer includes the side lighting as part of its price drops.
Both Readers ship later this month at prices of $199 for the PRS-300 and $299 for the PRS-600. This will accompany a price drop on bestselling books from $12 to $10 that matches similar pricing from Amazon's Kindle Store and the Barnes & Noble e-book store. Mac users who already own the PRS-505 and PRS-700 should receive both Mac software and Reader firmware to recognize it by the time the new devices are in stores.
PRS-300
PRS-600
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2004
Why
Why would anyone buy book content which (as we have seen with the Kindle) be removed at any time, requires batteries to read and cost more than many print editions?
Hey how about a good old book?
Portable, inexpensive , easy to use and hard to erase.
Just not a fan.