Sony Dealer trying to con us?

alienandy · 21-10-2009, 8:37 AM

I have been reading review after review of the various ereaders available on the market, with an interest in buying one for the Mrs. After much research I decided to go for the Sony Ereader. (I live in the UK in case you were wondering). So while we were in our local town of Nuneaton yesterday we popped into the Sony Centre to have a quick look 'in the flesh' so to speak of the PRS505S and PRS600. The assistant came over to us to give us his waffle on how we should choose the 600 over the 505. To be honest, we have no intention of purchasing the newer 600 model since reading so much about the screen reflection issues people were having along with the text not being so clear. Plus the bigger cost. But the thing that bothered me at the time was that he told us that the 505 did not use the epub format. Now having read so many articles and reviews on this I was sure that this model DID use the epub format. So I told him that I thought he was talking ****** basically. He looked quite shocked at me and kept on insisting that the 505 did not accept that format and that we should definitely go with the 600. He even tried to sell us the 600 by stating that it had more memory. Well, considering that you can just pop in a large memory card, what difference does it make what 'onboard' memory it has?
Would someone please confirm that the 505 model does use the epub format, before I purchase this for the Mrs?
I would really appreciate this.
Thanks.

General · 21-10-2009, 11:56 AM

See link to sony site - epub is there amongst compatible formats.

PRS-505 (PRS505) : Overview : Reader eBook : Sony

starbase37 · 21-10-2009, 2:48 PM

yes it does..

For the record, I received a 505s as a gift earlier this year. I was very very skeptical about the whole idea of ereaders, especially the slow refresh rate of the e-ink display.

I forced myself to load some books on it and took it on holiday in Aug to try it in anger and I have to say it really works. I would usually go through about 1 book every two or three days when on holiday, so just in sheer luggage space savings alone it was a god send. It was excellent for daily use by the pool, and lasted many days between charges. It will never replace real books, but for holidays and business trips it gets a big thumbs up from me.

I had a quick play with a 600 even though the interface is slicker and more polished I didn't like the screen very much. one of the real benefits of the 505 is the almost matte nature of the screen, very easy on the eyes when reading, whatever the lighting conditions.

*triplea4uk* · 21-10-2009, 4:20 PM

Kindle2 for the win mate far better then the SOny readers and you can get import version which works free wireless world wide for same price as the sony ones.

MrSynner · 21-10-2009, 4:53 PM

The 505 certainly DOES support epub - I've got about 30 or 40 of 'em on mine!

alienandy · 23-10-2009, 7:26 PM

Thanks all. My mrs is now the proud owner of a prs505! I actually went and bought it from that sony assistant today as they were selling it for £149.99. Good value i think!

Croker · 29-10-2009, 3:24 PM

Congrats, Andy - you've made a great purchase.

And yes, for clarity's sake, the guy you spoke to was talking such bilge that you should go back, pull his manager, and complain about the total and utter nonsense that his employee was spouting in order to try and close a sale of the pricier PRS-600. Doesn't support ePub? Gibberish. The 80 ePubs I have on mine would beg to differ.

Also, as you rightly point out, Sony have yet to surpass the screen quality of the PRS-505 - it's spectacularly good, IMO. The (apparently) discontinued PRS-700s, and now the new 300s and 600s all seem to have the same problems with screen reflection that thankfully doesn't plague the 505.

*gavan* · 01-11-2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alienandy

Thanks all. My mrs is now the proud owner of a prs505! I actually went and bought it from that sony assistant today as they were selling it for £149.99. Good value i think!

Excellent - you got a really good deal.

Don't forget, with a little messing around you can use formats like mobipocket and lit too. Google around a bit......

*gavan* · 01-11-2009, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Croker

Congrats, Andy - you've made a great purchase.

And yes, for clarity's sake, the guy you spoke to was talking such bilge that you should go back, pull his manager, and complain about the total and utter nonsense that his employee was spouting in order to try and close a sale of the pricier PRS-600. Doesn't support ePub? Gibberish. The 80 ePubs I have on mine would beg to differ.

Also, as you rightly point out, Sony have yet to surpass the screen quality of the PRS-505 - it's spectacularly good, IMO. The (apparently) discontinued PRS-700s, and now the new 300s and 600s all seem to have the same problems with screen reflection that thankfully doesn't plague the 505.

The 600 and 700 are steps backward. The 300 makes sense as a compact version but they really should have just built on the features of the 505 for their next model instead of going for gimmicky touchscreen.

BlackBear · 22-11-2009, 12:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by triplea4uk

Kindle2 for the win mate far better then the SOny readers and you can get import version which works free wireless world wide for same price as the sony ones.

I've seen. Its screen is certainly as good as Sony's 505. Personally I don't like the little keyboard underneath it and have no need nor want for its wireless function. But that's just me.

BlackBear · 22-11-2009, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alienandy

Thanks all. My mrs is now the proud owner of a prs505! I actually went and bought it from that sony assistant today as they were selling it for £149.99. Good value i think!

Amazing deal! Good job on not listening to the salesperson who told you that it didn't take epub

Enjoy it. Or rather, hope your Mrs enjoys it.