So, why am I writing about an ebook reader? It’s because I like to read. Yep, I enjoy reading. All kinds of stuff.

Even guys like me who do photography like to read. Yes, I read about photography. In fact, I probably read four or five photography articles a day. Sometimes those articles give me a clue about how to improve my stuff. Most of the time they repeat what I read in another article, but once in a while a gem appears that is worth my time.

Reading has gotten to be a major issue with me. Books are expensive, they take up enormous amounts of space in my house, they are dern difficult to carry around when traveling, and after a few years they grow strange stuff inside them. For example, I pulled a book out of a back bedroom bookcase recently and after about five minutes of re-reading a great sci-fi book I started sneezing. Yep, all that dust and stuff had affected me.

Ebooks are different. Not just the aspects of being digital, easy to store on a hard drive, but the fact that one can amass lots of books on all kinds of subjects and then convert them into files that one can read on a ebook reader. And, there is an unlimited number of books available for free on the Internet. In fact, pages on the Internet itself can be saved and read on an ebook reader. There is software available that allows one to convert html, text, and other formats to a format that a reader can display. Although I have yet to find software that will render and resize Adobe PDF files effectively. Text files (.txt) are by far the easiest to download from the Internet and use on an ebook reader.

So, I started looking for an ebook reader. It was a long process. And there are lots of choices.

After lots of research I finally focused on three.

The Amazon Kindle.

The iLiad.

The Sony Portable Reader System.

I sorta liked the features of the Amazon Kindle. Kinda cool that you can download a new book wirelessly from Amazon. But then I got upset about it being proprietary. I hate it when a new product comes out that looks cool, then the dern vendor decides I have to use THEIR system to do stuff. It’s like what Apple did with the iPhone. Dumb ideas. But, I guess the companies which do this make money. Not from me.

I really really really liked the iLiad. Way cool. It had all I wanted in such a device, but it is expensive. Around $700 or so. Too much.

Which left me with the Sony PRS-505.

So, today I went down to Borders and bought one. Paid $299 for it.

Four hours later, here is what I have learned and done with it.

1. I downloaded from libprs500, free mac software (I am enlightened) that would allow me to interact with the PRS-505 to load ebooks, convert ebook formats, and place MP3s in the music folder.

2. I went to Manybooks.net and downloaded some books. Ones I had not read, but should have. Ulysses, for one.

3. I looked around my camera gear and found a 2GB SD card and put it in the reader. Yep, the Sony PRS-505 allows you to use a 2GB SD card for additional storage. Nice for stuff like MP3s, which it plays. So, I moved some MP3s to the card.

4. I opened up a song by Hayley Westenra, started it playing, then opened up Ulysses, and started reading. WOW! I was in heaven.

I could not believe how easy the display was on my eyes. The Sony was simply clear, dern easy to read, allowed me to change sizes of the fonts, and moving from one page to another was smooth, although a tad slow. Bottom line was I could read the book easily. The display was awesome.

The Sony uses the eInk technology. And what that means is that battery life lasts for flights across the Atlantic. In fact, I can view 7,500 pages on a single charge. More than I can read in a couple of days or so.

What I forgot to tell you is that the Sony PRS-505 is very well made. It exudes quality, if you know what I mean. It’s attractive, the right size, and the quality is superb.

What I like:

1. Very well made. Ergonomics. It’s the right size. Just right in the hand. Light.

2. Excellent display.

3. Fantastic sound from the MP3 Player (it lacks playlists, impossible to group files into folders, does not sync).

4. Simple and easy to understand and use. Books. Easy to load, good range of formats.

5. External storage means I can carry around 1,000 books the size of Ulysses! That’s a lot.

What I don’t like:

1. No MAC interface. Bad. Bad. Bad.

2. Expansion slots. Only supports SD (2GB), not SDHC. It does have a memory stick duo card slot that can go up to 8GB.

3. Reading PDF files on the device is impossible unless the files have been resized for the device. One can rotate the screen display and that helps a little. The libpro500 software will convert some PDF files effectively. It is rumored that Sony will release new firmware for the reader which will convert PDF files natively. It’s about time.

[Note: There is a good work around for PDF files if one only wants to read the text from a PDF file. First, open the PDF file in Preview, click on the text tool, then Edit, Select All, then Edit, Copy. Open a text editor such as TextWrangler, paste what you have copied into a new document. Then save the file as text (.txt). Then open up Libprs500, add a book to your library, then convert the document to the Sony ebook reader format. It works quite well. And, the document is much faster to read.]

In the meantime I have lots of reading to do and I am pleased that now I have a good tool for taking books with me without carting around all that paper. And even though I like how books look on bookshelves, well, my house will be a lot less cluttered with fewer places that dust can settle and microbes can grow. It will be a joy too to listen to music as I read. And, given the battery life, I should be able to read while on long flights across oceans and between continents. I like that very much.

And during my readings, such as my current one, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, I hope to find thoughts like this one that will enhance what I do with my photography: “All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow.” Yes, indeed, it’s the light that dances.

Given the current choices, I am pleased with the Sony PRS-505. It could be better, a lot better, but then I wanted a device now, not next year.

Resources:

1. Libprs500 — Free software for the Mac that helps move files to and from the device, makes format conversions.

2. Project Gutenberg — A source of thousands of free ebooks.

3. Manybooks.net — Lots of free ebooks.

4. E-book.com — A great resource for finding ebooks on the Internet.