Get a Sony Reader PRS-505 for $199.99
Want an Amazon Kindle but can't stomach the $359 price tag? (Me, neither.) This might be the next best thing: Borders has the Sony Reader PRS-505 for $199.99 shipped. (Apply coupon code SONY505READ at checkout to get that price.)
Like the Kindle, the Sony Reader is an e-book viewer. Though it can't download them wirelessly, Sony's eBook Store does carry about 100,000 titles as well as half a million public-domain works from Google. Alas, most of the commercial books are priced a few bucks higher than Amazon's.
Before jumping on this deal, you'll definitely want to read David Carnoy's review of the PRS-505. You can also see his video review up above.
Much as I'm liking this price, my e-book reader of choice remains my iPhone. I've gotten a surprising amount of flak for this (notably in this post about freebie books--many of which are still available, by the way), for reasons I don't fully understand, but I still can't see buying and carrying a separate, single-purpose device when I can read comfortably on the device I'm already carrying.
What do you think? Is $199 a good entry point for an e-book reader with a nice, big screen? If so, act fast: I'm not sure when this code expires, but probably quite soon.
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
A drop in price is nice, but that is far from the only thing keeping me away from ebook readers.
1. Reading device manuals (if the PDF is readable on it)
2. Reading documents (especially things like legal documents and laws/bills)
3. you can use torrent sites or download sites to download the books. Someone is going to say "But that's illegal" well yes and no. It's illegal to upload the file, not illegal to download the file, and owning the file is 100 percent legal if it is a back up copy of something else that you already own. Example by law I'm allowed to own a back up Rom of any NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, or any other video game I own. This is the same reason why you're allowed to copy a cd to your computer. It's a backup copy. A lot of computer books even have text and PDF files.
If I had a girlfriend I'd buy this ereader in a nanosecond. Why do I need a girlfriend? Well I need a justification for buying the device, and I'd need someone to remind me to read books, or use the device instead so that I don't waste the money, or just to enjoy reading next to when I'm laying in bed next to her...
So... Without someone important to share this with... I'll just try to remember to read crap on my PSP. I never do... Which further illustrates the "don't want to waste the money" aspect of it. I probably would never use it in the long run.
For having books always with me, without having to remember a separate device, I'm quite happy with iPhone books.
No...just buy the books you want. It's stupid to buy an entire library over again, particularly if you can just pick up the physical book and read it if desired.
"you can't mark all over your book, and you can't sell it back"
There is an annotation feature with the Kindle and presumably the Sony e-readers. As for selling it back, boo hoo. How do you sell back any software you downloaded digitally?
"This isn't at all like music where you can rip your old cds, so I can't really take my entire library everywhere."
Yeah, you actually have to pay for the books. Sucks. Pirate Bay won't necessarily work for you in the e-book world. You can't download a physical book either.
"A drop in price is nice, but that is far from the only thing keeping me away from ebook readers."
Apparently you're not a college student.
The major thing is that no ebook should be more than like 10 dollars. There's no print cost, there's no ink cost, there's no distrobution cost (as the files are so infinitesimal by comparison of anything else. Even on the PS3 it only costs a company 9c per gig for people downloading) so... there's no reason these books should be more than that. I'd say they should be selling books for like 5-10 dollars and the ereaders for about 150. Making this stuff mainstream will make everything so much easier.
For now it's a luxury item for those with plenty of extra cash. We need it mainstream affordable overall for it to catch on and at 5-10 dollars trading it in isn't even an issue.
Even searching the Borders site doesn't turn up the PRS-505, only the newer (more expensive) PRS-700.
Thanks for another great deal Rick!
- by Smathleen July 9, 2009 12:16 PM PDT
- I purchased the Sony PRS 505 through this limited time offer at Borders and have been thouroughly pleased.
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(13 Comments)It is important to me to be able to read and upload .pdf files and documents with out having to pay a fee. Also the Sony PRS 505 syncs with Adobe Reader allowing me to check out books online from my local library.
As a member of the New York Public Library I have instant access to a variety of titles that I can check out for up to 3 weeks at a time. The Kindle cannot offer me that.