daniel splittgerber (.com)

Sony’s PRS-505 ebook reader will fail – on wasting the potential of electronic reading devices

12 April 2009 with View Comments

Sony recently introduced its PRS-505 ebook reader in Germany (in cooperation with Thalia, a big bookstore chain). While it actually is the first ‘new-generation’ ebook reader introduced in Germany (excluding some obscure ones with no mass-market appeal), it fails on all counts of what an ebook reader should accomplish.

Theoretically, an ebook reader should accomplish a great deal as a new medium to consume ideas:

ability to carry large amounts of books with you instead of just a select few, so that you can spontaneously choose which book to read instead of having to choose in advance; it’s the ‘whole library in your pocket’-concept
make additional purchases extremely easy; provide users with the possibilities of instant purchases and instant delivery of purchased books, i.e. immediate availability of all books in stock (‘expanding your library’)
reduce book prices; no need for printing, storing or costly shelf space displays, close to zero delivery costs; the book industry will obviously have a say in this but at least in the medium term ebooks have to cost a lot less than physical books
ease the consumption of books as well as the production, sharing, mashing-up of content by the user; admittedly, it will be difficult to provide a superb experience; perhaps tablet pcs and ebook readers will merge someday and make it all easier (‘easier working with your library’)?
ease the reading not just of books, but also provide you with additional reading (newspapers, blogs); basically, an ebook reader should be able to display any idea or concept expressed in words as it’s just a new medium for the display of words, replacing paper.

How does the Sony PRS-505 stack up against these rather basic requirements (if an ebook reader doesn’t even provide you with these, why would you shell out 299 € just for the device?):

PRS-505 has a storage capability of 192mb internal (you may use external memory cards) – Kindle 2: 2GB. Enough said.
No wireless feature. No internet connectivity whatsoever. You have to download ebooks from a website, physically connect your reader to your pc and upload your ebooks to your reader. Are you kidding me? This is what 2009 provides me with in terms of user experience? What about spontaneous purchases? Ain’t gonna happen with the PRS-505.
Books are as expensive as hardcover or paperbacks, no special ebook prices, no rebates. Why would I ever want to buy an ebook for the same price considering that with a hardcover/paperback I get a physical product to display in my book shelves etc.? Being easier to carry doesn’t compensate for the reduced production and distribution costs. Amazon is right about this: you may even lose money with your ebook/Kindle editions for a while (until publishers get it), but it’s no use pricing them as high as physical books. There just won’t be any demand then (we have book price control in Germany; but publishers have a huge influence, they would most certainly be able to push for legislation in this matter).
No sharing, no mashing-up of content. No internet connectivity, remember?
You can just read books on the PRS-505; no magazines, no newspapers, no blogs, no free pdfs. No surprises here given the physical restraints of uploading via pc-cable-link.

If you are a heavy reader and are willing to accept the hassle of uploading books to the device and you spend a lot of money on hardcovers anyway, the PRS-505 might be for you.

For every regular user though, the PRS-505 fails in all accounts of what ebook readers should provide you with: an enhanced reading experience – where you can expand your library on-the-go, pursue interesting thoughts in new and interesting books by purchasing them immediately and share all that with the world.

The PRS-505 is not a good medium to replace paper with when it comes to the consumption of ideas. Technically, this is 2005 at best.

E-ink is great, point conceded. But that’s not worth 299 € when there is a Kindle who just gets it.

AndrewBoldman

Hi, good post. I have been woondering about this issue,so thanks for posting. I’ll definitely be coming back to your site.
KrisBelucci

Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!
jayce

I love my Sony PRS-505. It's the perfect companion during all my travels.
Daniel Splittgerber

Thanks for you comment, Ben, it's appreciated.

Naturally, I don't agree with your arguments, though.

1. Having the ability to expand memory/storage is nice, agreed. That's no excuse for providing you with 192mb internal memory for 299 € though. Given that price, I expect a device to which I am not obliged to add external storage in order to properly use its stated purpose - ie carry my whole library with me.

2. Ebook reader have been around for several years now. Where is the innovation with the PRS-505 when it comes with no wireless connectivity? The whole point of the Kindle (and surely one of the reasons for its success) is that it provides you with a revolutionary new feature. I think connecting your reading to your pc is indeed cumbersome. It's just not the point of mobile reading devices, in my opinion. Everything has gone mobile (email, surfing, mp3 streaming etc), books should be next and thankfully are, due to the Kindle.

3. As I said, prices are for Germany. That's where I'm located and there is no cheaper pricing here.

4. I'm arguing for the ability to share newly produced/amended/mashed-up/etc content. "Remix" some quotes and publish it as a blog post to further the book's points, for example. That would be a really great feature, which even the Kindle does not have.

5. You can get some sort of push-email on your Blackberry and iPhone. Why would I want to plug my ebook reader into my pc just to finally be able to read new blog entries, newspapers etc?

I tend to think only those ebook readers are innovative and therefore worth their purchase price who provide me with wireless connectivity. That's just what I expect in 2009 from an innovation and user-experience point of view.

Oh, and for the sales figures.. I think the Kindle has already outdone all Sony ebook readers and Sony is reportedly working on a new device with wireless connectivity.. guess they get it now.. :)
Ben

Do your research this article is uninformed garbage. The Kindle 2 is a better eReader than the PRS-505 in most ways (not size) but you are writing this on poor assumptions and lack of product knowledge.

1. The expandable memory up to 8GB is cheap and far better than the limited 2GB on the Kindle. What if I want to load some music to listen to on the PRS-505 in addition to my books?

2. Are you kidding me? OH NO! The Kindle is the ONLY reader with wireless and it's really not that big of a deal to connect your unit to a PC to grab a book. For entering a new market this won't seem like such a disadvantage to someone. Especially because people are not typically ripping through books so fast as that they need to have that instant access to the reader. You've given the impression as that connecting your eReader to a computer for all of 1 minute is so cumbersome that having a root canal may be a better alternative.
3. There are constantly special deals and prices on eBooks. There are millions of public domain books through Sony and Google's partnership, Publishers often offer deals and specials on certain titles every month or few weeks and often the eBooks are $2-5 cheaper than their printed counterparts. Where did you get your pricing information? 5 minutes on ebookstore.sony.com? A little from your bum? Does it matter that the Sony units support more formats (like Adobe DRM) than the Kindle?

4. You feel the need to repeat what you said in two. You're not making a new point here except for the wrong one that says you can't share. You can share Sony books you just have to plugin to the same computer and add it as an authorized unit. Kindle's sharing is not remotely as easy as this.

5. You can read a variety of blogs, rss feeds etc on the Sony 505 using Calibre. I won't go into the details though because it involves plugging the PRS-505 in a computer and everyone knows that's a big epic fail and should not be tolerated.

You can claim the 505 is a failure but Sony's sales of the unit would suggest otherwise. Thank you for the very informative, poorly written, and clearly bias article.

Sony’s PRS-505 ebook reader will fail – on wasting the potential of electronic reading devices