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By Alejandro Sanchez

images.jpgUntil recently, I was like many of my fellow readers, in that I owned a single e-reading device. I made the conscious decision to pass on free public library books to be able to purchase contemporary books at $9.99 and under. However, three things drove me from my happy walled garden: first, I began working on a digital library for my school; second, I began to notice that the initially atrocious quality of Google books has been slowly improving; and lastly, a recent posting over at ireaderreview highlighted the arrival of the $99 reader. I quickly seized the golden opportunity that was presented to me and purchased a Sony PRS 300 at $99 (found at P.C. Richard and Son). I am one of those people who anguish endlessly over whether or not to buy an expensive electronic device and this decision seemed to be one of those challenging moments. I eventually “cowboyed up” and bought a silver unit along with its ridiculously overpriced and underwhelming cover. The most astute of Teleread’s readers may already notice a change in my tone, from one of subdued excitement, to one of slight frustration.
This perception I assure you is not entirely unfounded. When I got home, I realized that Sony was not going to make this an easy install and read process. I have to thank the rocket scientist who decided that a wall charger was an unnecessary luxury; the reader took 2-3 hours to charge. On the bright side, when it did finally charge, at least the much maligned Sony e-book library software did not crash my computer. However, I did face a slightly tougher time attempting to get Adobe Digital Editions to recognize the reader. An inability to interact with Adobe Digital Editions would have decimated my only reason to get this unit, which was as mentioned earlier to read library e-books. I was able to eventually get the reader recognized within Adobe Digital Editions by loading the Sony hardware. Thankfully, I am now able to read library books on the reader. I am also glad that I have some knowledge with computers otherwise I can see how this process can easily become confusing to the less savvy. I am certainly not the first person to weigh in on the needlessly confusing process of installing and using a Sony reader alongside Adobe Digital Editions, but I may represent the future for Sony as its e-reader products begin to come down in price.

Ironically, the market is slowly bringing down Sony’s reader prices as consumers flock to the more endowed offerings of Amazon and Barnes and Noble regardless of Sony’s less than competitive stance. I am willing to meet the Sony PRS 300 on its own terms, but I am admittedly confused as to what those terms may be. Unlike Amazon and Barnes and Noble, Sony’s e-reader strategy can only be defined as “controlled chaos”. I received this unit at a discounted price but am at a loss as to whether or not the unit should come with e-books loaded. I am betting on the side that says that my unit is a refurbished one: this admittedly makes me a little uneasy as to what I’ve bought, being that P.C. Richard and Son has not stated in their advertisement that this is a refurbished unit. I wish I had a definitive answer but as with most things in PRS world there are no clear cut answers. I can’t see Sony being in the e-reading business much longer with the type of service quality that they are offering. I was initially at a loss as to how Amazon can take such a lead in not only content, customer service but also in build quality, that naiveté has been erased by a mere two-three hours with my “new” Sony reader. I guess the silver lining for Sony and its customers may be that there is no where to go but up from here, that is if Sony doesn’t emulate airline flight attendants of late and leave us all stranded at the gate.

 
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