Thanks Sierra and Rob for a great head to head.

The Sony wins hands down in the looks department, especially the second gen model. But the Kindle, while being the fugliest device I've seen released by folks who should know better, wins for the connectivity.

Being a Windows user though, I think I would let style win over (some) function this time and go with the Sony over the Kindle.

In every thing else, even the first gen model, the Sony Reader seems to be about equal to the Kindle save the connectivity. But there's something to be said about the elegance with which Sony has created their reader. It reminds me of a well bound and attractivily packaged hard cover book while the Kindle makes me think of a quick paperback.

Almost every comparison you make is about something that has changed significantly in the newer model of the Sony Reader. Have that young lady in the film here spend some time with the 505 and then report back for big viewership ratings.

The comparison between the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader PRS-500 is 100% a waste of time and bandwidth. The 505 is the current model from Sony and it has changed enough that to compare a the Kindle to the 500 is just wrong. For one thing, the screen of the 505 is the same Vizplex screen used on the Kindle. Basically, if you can't do a proper review, don't do one at all. i do have a 505 and if you'd care to loan me a Kindle, I'll do a proper review for you. Otherwise, this is extremely poor journalism. It's like comparing my Sony 27" tube TV to my 40" Sony LCD TV. Just doesn't work. This is highly irresponsible to be giving such a review. People who do not know wbout the Sony Reader PRS-505 won't know that you've reviewed a unit that is no longer available for sale. You've done Sony a disservice by not comparing the 505 to the Kindle. You've also shot your credibility all to heck. You need to apologize to everyone who have viewed your slanted unprofessional review. Hopefully you'll learn from this fiasco and do something about it like pull the video and do it right with the Kindle and the 505. Or at least put out a retraction video apologizing for screwing it up so very badly. If you were doctors, you'd be in court for malpractice.

Jon

Thanks for the comments. If you would like to loan us your 505, we
would be happy to do another review. We did our comparison with what
we had, which was a Sony PRS 500 and an Amazon Kindle. If we happen to get a 505, we'll do another head to head against it.

Rob Bushway
Managing Editor

Jon

They did mention that the screen in the new 505 is the same as the Kindle. Does the Sony have any other compelling new features? Anything that competes with Whispernet and the Kindle store? Do they have the ability search your books and Wikipedia? Dictionary lookup? Besides the new screen (which as I ssid they did mention) what revolutionary new Kindle-killing feature does the 505 have that these reviewers failing to show have drawn such ire from you. Oh, and newsflash, these folks are here to give opinions. They're allowed to be slanted. That's actually their job. Are you regretting buying your Sony or something because you sound really defensive?

Kindle-killing feature - is the Kindle itself. The hardware is awful. Reminds me of an old calculator about 20 years old that we used in school.

"We did our comparison with what we had" is a very lame and _unprofessional_ excuse. A noob is allowed to make such mistake. However, a site that would like to have some credibility, cannot do it or any review posted on it will be worthless. If you don't have 505 to compare with Kindle, then just don't compare. Post a review of Kindle without even mentioning Sony. People who don't know all the details about ebook readers and see them for the first time will get a wrong impression.

P.S. Almost anyone who bought PRS-505 had a choice whether to buy Kindle or PRS-505. Moreover, anyone who bought PRS-505 after using PRS-500 have done quite a deliberate choice I would say.

Re the Sony: Yes, you need USB, No, you're not restricted to Windows (e.g. libprs500). You can assign up to 6 devices to a Sony account, so can share purchase there too. You can also easily convert from MS Reader (.lit) format to the Sony, so you're not restricted to the Sony Store.

Kindle wireless is nice, but note that you can't use it on the plane, so you can't read the samples & then download the book for reading there & then, as you seem to suggest. Sony can also view newspapers, RSS feeds, etc, although that does require having it connected to download them.

Luckily I don't live on an airplane. When I'm not actually in flight, say in a cafe, in bed, on my couch, in the airport, on the train to work, I CAN actually download content. The rest of the time I could load it on to my Kindle via USB if it were already downloaded which makes it, at it's very worst, equal to the Sony. I do fly quite a bit, but I am not in flight a large percentage of my life so that means I have substantially more functionality the majority of the time. Add to that the fact that I can actually search my books, add notes and look up words at ANY time and there's really not a point at which the Sony has better functionality. I can add six devices to my Kindle account and convert for .lit to .prc, too. I could also get samples of many of those same books for free from Amazon first, though. I don't actually have to pay money to get an idea of what's in ther. With a Kindle I can also download feeds and load them to the Kindle manually if I like, but I have the option to pay a small charge to have them just show up every day conveniently without any effort on my part.

The Sony is nice-looking, sure. The big thing is, it's CHEAPER. It's really WAY cheaper. Yay! That's great!. It doesn't have as many features, sure. I don't know why people get so defensive about it. It's a barebones reader at a really low price. That's fine. It just doesn't have what the Kindle has. It's good that there are devices at different prices. It lets people into the market without having to spend more money. Spending less means you give up some features, though. If they're not important to you, GREAT! Enjoy having saved some cash and not being forced to pay more for stuff you don't want. It just seems silly to argue that it's just as good when clearly it isn't. You look at what the Kindle can do and what the Sony can do and there are just a whole bunch of things more on the Kindle side. That doesn't mean you should want or value those features. It's fine if you don't. It's just silly to pretend the difference doesn't exist.

The difference between Kindle and Sony does exist. However, it doesn't make Kindle a better ebook reader. There is a difference between Kindle and my PC. The difference between my PC and Kindle is vastly bigger than the gap between Sony and Kindle.
Does the difference make my PC a better ebook reader than Kindle?
Kindle is a nice gadged but ebook reader? No way. When you hold Sony in your hands you feel as if you are holding a real book. That is a purpose of a dedicated ebook reader. When you hold Kindle with the keyboard all the time in front of your eyes and under your fingers...what could resemble a book more remotly than that? My PC probably ...:)
People got defensive about unjust comparison of Kindle and old version of Sony. As I said, people who are completely new to ebook reader would get a wong impression. Why not to compare kindle to a papyrus? Why not? You could mention some of benefits of a newer versions of printed books or existance of other ebook readers(without actually showing them), otherwise the comparison would be valid.

I'm in my fourth week as a Kindle owner/user. While I find that it's a bit clunky in appearance, I find it's easy to hold, page forward/backward, and and exceedingly easy to view screen. I have no problems with it regardless whether I'm seated, or lying in bed. The keyboard is relatively easy to enter search terms for anybody who is used to "touch typing" on the standared "qwerty" keyboard.

To me, the Kindle's major fault is that it's too easy to purchase content from Amazon, with the resulting damage to my credit balance. Having said that, I feel Amazon needs to make some improvements on the website:

1. Pricing is too close to the paperback version. I don't know whether to blame Amazon or the publishing house on this one, but it should be cheaper as the overhead of printing costs/supplies does not apply.

2. Amazon needs to post the original copyright date, as opposed to the publication date for the kindle edition. This would make it much easier to purchase/read series in order.

3. I would love a future software update to enable the Kindle to read PDF files directly. However, this isn't so urgent as Amazon will convert PDF's at no charge, or you can use the free Mobipocket Creator software.

4. Amazon needs to support the Mobipocket DRM. While I hate DRM, it's with us at least for the moment. Since Amazon has a "lock" on new Kindle content, you're forced to buy from them. However, "manybooks.net" now formats Guttenburg Project content into Kindle .AZW files.

I think it would solve a lot of problems if somebody just got a Kindle and a Sony drunk one night and locked them in a hotel room. Nine months later, along comes the Kinny. The Kinny would have the connectivity of the Kindle, and the sylish, space saving looks of the Sony.

I haven't, unfortunately, had a chance to use either. I ordered a Sony weeks ago, yet everywhere I find is now sold out online.

It seems to me that everyone is miising an important point here. Both of these devices are ebook readers and one of the more important issues is, 'What are the selections of ebooks available to it?' Any ebook reader is not any good without ebooks to read. The last that I saw, the Kindle had about 90,000 ebooks and the Sony had about 20,000. Of course, for both readers there are other places to get books than just their native stores, but it seems to me that this is another point in the Kindle's favor.

Great Review!! The comments were mostly great, too, except the few who were in a rage state (overwrought?) by opinions that didn't coincide with their own. Yeesh!

I'm still trying to figure out if I can convert Amazon's kindle format to the Sony? Ie., can I download an ebook from Amazon and (with some conversion) read it on my Sony reader? Thanks, again!

Amazon Kindle is built on a concept that you have to spend tons of money after the purchase. Most likely few more hundreds of dollars after the purchase.

Sony Reader is built on convenience. You can potentially spend $0 after the purchase.

Amazon is targeting the audiences that are not as geeky to have pdf ebooks lying around the computer to not spend any extra money.

People purchase Sony reader for these kinds of reasons, not... for connectivity, which to me is a very lame reason to get kindle. And yes, I also don't live on an airplane.

I am looking into buying a e-reader and yes price is an issue. I found the clip and all of the comments informative. What I would like to know is the ease of downloading various types of text saved from your PC to the reader. Which is better or all readers the same? Thank you.

I've just checked the lit conversion for kindle, and realized that Amazon can in fact translate ebooks in lit --> mobi. Judging from the fact that Amazon kindle has a dictionary incorporated (as well as wikipedia n so forth if you live in the US, I'd go for the Kindle.

I am interested in buying the sony reader can anyone please tell me how to covert the books in ms reader (lit format) to the sony reader

I think you guys did an awesome job comparing the two products. I learned so much from this informative video! Thank you!

I'm going to be traveling around the world for a year and I'm very interested in a digital reader. I thought it would be great especially for travel guides, although I'm having a hard time finding travel guides for the Kindle and the Sony. Any Info on this???? The Sony looks good because it won't take up much room in the backpack i'm going to have to live out of but I do like the idea of being able to connect to the internet. Is there much difference in battery life?

I guess you can probably only connect to the internet in the USA?????

I did not find this review useful, because I still do not know how the CURRENT models from SONY and Kindle compare.

I agree that this was not a fair comparison. The unfairness of the review sounded more like a paid advertising from Kindle, Ihope that was not the real inetention behind this video.

I Also agree that it was unprofessional for this site. This is teh first time I visit your site, and based on this display, I am unlikely to return. I am glad I did not use up my precious memory downloading the high res video.