Sony Reader PRS-505 Review

The Sony Reader Digital Book (PRS-505), better known as just a “Sony Reader”, is a dedicated eBook reader capable of reading EPUB ebooks, both free and commercial, and with or without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

The Sony Reader was the first ebook reader to use the E-Ink screen technology; a paper-like screen which is very easy going on the eyes and provides a natural reading experience.

Another major feature of the reader over most other electronic devices is its fantastic battery life, with over 7,000 pages turns – or up to two weeks of power – on just one battery charge.

It’s also the first ebook reader to use Adobe’s Digital Editions (ADE) as its book rendering system. This allows users to read books in the EPUB book format Adobe’s DRM encryption; making available bestsellers from many different online ebook stores.

Reading books on the Sony Reader PRS-505

There’s two different ways to get EPUB ebooks onto your eReader, either via the dedicated Sony Library or using ADE. If you’re using Digital Editions then you just need to add the book to the ADE Library and drag to your PRS505 reader icon.

Navigating around your library on the Sony Reader is very simple, although perhaps a little too simple if you happen to have hundreds of ebooks. Still, the menu system is pretty straight forward and once you open a book, the buttons for page turning are nicely placed.

Like all E-Ink devices, the screen is very crisp and pleasant to read on, even in the brightest sunlight and Sony has chosen a good default font style.

Many of the ebooks found here on epubBooks.com have footnotes that are accessible by just clicking on them. If there’s more than one footnote on a page you can use the small four-way button to move between each link. When clicked, you’re then taken to the appropriate note on the footnotes page. Selecting and clicking again on the footnote number will take you back to the original page.

All epubBooks.com ebooks include a Table of Contents, although as the Sony Reader remembers the last page you were reading, you shouldn’t need this too often.

Conclusion

All in all the Sony Reader PRS-505 is a great reader that’s been designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind and although it doesn’t have the WiFi abilities of other devices, it’s still well worth considering.