The Sony Reader vs The Amazon Kindle - A Comparison
Filed Under E Book Reader | 1 Comment
At a time when reading seems to be going the way of the dinosaur, thanks to the likes of Paris Hilton, Reality TV and Sony Playstation – don’t get me started - a glimmer of hope for us bookworms has emerged in the form of the Sony Reader
The difference this time around would seem to be a remarkable new display technology from a company called E Ink. The way this works in short is that rather than an irritating back lit screen, the pages are displayed in a way that actually looks like ink printed on paper. In fact, when I first saw the product I actually thought I was looking at a display card rather than a working reader. These ingenious devices only require power to turn the page, allowing for a battery life so long you can read War and Peace many times over on a single charge. I personally own the Sony Reader, and I’m really not trying to over hype these things here, but I absolutely love it. Much like an Ipod, it allows you to take your entire bookshelf with you where ever you go, and while Amazon’s Kindle offers several unique features of its own, the Sony Reader allows you to read PDF’s and Word documents, a feature that was invaluable for me.
However, these devices are not cheap, and all devices are not created equal. So if you are going to become one of the many recent converts to digital books then there are a few things you should know first. Below is my personal review of the top digital book readers on the market.
Top 2 book Readers
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#1:Sony Reader - “The Paperless Paperback”
Best Place to Buy: http://www.amazon.com Recommendation: Titles Available: 20,000 Holds: 160 books Pros: Looks great, compatible with PDF and text docs, best price. Cons: No wireless capability, fewer titles. Price: $299 My Review: The Sony Reader is my personal choice. Call me vain but I just like the way it looks compared to the Kindle. While there are fewer titles available for the Sony Reader than there are the Kindle, most major releases are available and at 20,000 titles and growing, something tells me you won’t have any trouble keeping entertained. But the feature that sold me is the fact that it can read PDFs, word documents, and most other popular text files, making this perfect for anyone who would like to be able to review documents or ebooks not formatted specifically for digital book readers. But perhaps the biggest advantage is that unlike the Kindle… it’s available. |
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#2: The Amazon Kindle
Best Place to Buy: http://www.amazon.com Recommendation: Titles Available: 100,000 Holds: 200 books Pros: Wireless Downloads, large selection, newspapers and blogs. Cons: Not compatible with PDFs or text docs, lacking asthetically, more expensive than the Sony Reader, long wait time. Price: $399 My Review: The Amazon Kindle has got a lot going for it. The wireless feature allows you to download books, newspapers and blogs from anywhere. That, along with its very large selection of available titles may make this the reader for you. Personally I am not a fan of it esthetically; its white plastic frame leaves something to be desired. And its high price and long back-order time may make the Sony Reader a better option for some. The bottom line is that if you are looking for a digital newspaper the Kindle is the way to go. If you want a device that will allow you to read PDFs or text docs, then I would pass on the Kindle and go with the Sony Reader. If you decide to go with the Amazon Kindle I strongly recommend ordering now. The demand was higher than expected and that has caused a long back-order time.
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