Wired has compared the features of the new Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader. They don’t give a definitive verdict yet, but point out the $400 Kindle’s biggest drawback: lack of “format neutrality.” Labeled as a “portable DRM bookstore”, the Kindle won’t be able to read open formats like Acrobat PDF. We agree. You will be the judge but, while the $300 Sony Reader may not have always-on Internet connectivity, looking at the specs it seems like a better option. At least on paper:
AU: I take back my ‘I want one’ from yesterday. Having seen the fact they want to charge you for everything, even your own files, I’m thinking this is going to fail. It’s a less than elegant device design, too. Hmmm.
The Sony allows you to read virtually any format. It may not have the huge commercial titles selection that the Amazon gadget has, but you can read any PDF, TXT, RTF, DOCs, Blogs and RSS for free. On the other side, PDF, RTF and DOCs are all out of the question with Kindle. And inexplicably, you will have to pay $1 for each blog and $1 for each RSS you subscribe to. Maybe not a huge investment, but is it really necessary to do pay for this when you are already getting this information in your smartphone?
The Sony also wins in one important area, which is often overlooked by most manufacturers: design. The Sony is simple, clean and looks more similar to a book. With its cheapo UMPC-like keyboard, the Kindle looks awkward. If Jeff Bezos wants this to be the iPod of books, he better hire John Ive. Amazon argues that they wanted to make it look like the Vessel of Culture, but the fact is that something doesn’t have to be ugly to appear serious.
And while some will love the idea of electronic mail and web browsing on the Kindle, gadget history has taught us that frankendevices more often fail than succeed. Of course, the rules are meant to be broken—as the convergence of telephony and computing has taught us—and this could turn out to be the device that kill the pulp forever. But personally, I have a difficult time seeing this happening with this version.
If I had to choose a device I will get the Sony Reader. What about you?
[Wired]
Ian
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 8:49 AMYeah, when seeing the concept shots, I always thought it was one of those ‘joke’ shots that Giz pop in there! When they launched it, I almost fell off my seat!
Are they for real!? What an ugly hunk of junk! Oh and I think they’re doomed with their ‘pricing’. I think I’ll stick with the analogue version ;)
Alex
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 10:38 AMDefinitely the Sony Reader if I were to even consider dropping paper. Mind you, my Bible gets wrecked after being carried around in my bag, each year I need to get a new one cos the old one falls to bits. So maybe an Electronic reader isn’t such a bad idea…
Jacqueline George
Sunday, June 15, 2008 at 7:09 AMAmazon want to control the hardware and content, just like a mobile phone company and we all know how much that benefits the consumer. They used to sell ebooks in a variety of formats – now it’s Kindle only. No Kindle, no ebook – at least from Amazon. I resent being muscled like this.
CaptainReality
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 10:42 PMAmazon are clearly lining their customers up for some DRM laden price-gouging. Thanks, but no thanks. I’d prefer to stick with paper books for ever than lock myself into one companies technology.
While Amazon take this approach, the Kindle is doomed. Sure, it’s selling it faster than they can make it now, but only because they choose to make 10 per year.
Tom White
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 11:24 PMI’m not sure that the bookstores for the Sony Reader have fewer books than for the Kindle. Most books on amazon.com aren’t available for the Kindle anyway. Now that Sony supports the ePub format, you can purchase eBooks on hundreds of websites.
And with Calibre, an open source software package, I can convert most ebook to either BBeB or ePub. And it will automatically download newsfeeds from hundreds of websites (including the option to add my own) for my Sony Reader as well. I really don’t see the appeal of being stuck with paying for all of that.
@Alex for a bible you’ll want something with search capabilities like the Sony PRS-700, or possibly their new daily edition might do that also.
Ancestor
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 2:26 PMMac uses need the Sony 600 which is compatible with OSX. For the reasons many above gave, the Sony wins hands down, although overseas bloggers criticise the placement of the buttons and the headphone jack. The Sony 600 handles these formats: 3 DRM text formats; MP3 and AAC audio; ePub, BBeB, PDF, TXT, RTF and MS Word in open text formats. Slots for SD card lift memory to 16GB.
Only problem is the Sony e-Reader is not available in Australia!