eReader Part VI - A Slight problem

I ran into my first negative experience with the Sony eReader. Do you know the part of books that really makes them amazing? The climax and the subsequent rapid descent to the conclusion. With fun mysteries this is often just the last chapter or last few pages. With good novels this is often the last twenty pages. With great novels, like Edgar Sawtelle this is the last hundred pages. Which brings us to our dilemma: Sony claims that the eReader can go 7,500 page turns on a single charge. That is amazing! But, way off the mark! I'm in Vermont, away for the weekend with a fully charged Sony and Edgar Sawtelle and I'm devoid of laptop, internet, and USB charging cable (it is Vermont...right?), and I just crested the beginning of the climax with one hundred pages to go to ride this gem of a book into the beach - when bam! eReader informs me I am low on batttery and ten pages later, with me grasping for more as the story cranks up the pace, the screen goes dead. I started with a full charge and I set the font large giving me 1527 pages to read continuously over the weekend from start to finish of the novel. Now, here it is Sunday morning, great reading ahead, no way to recharge and no other reading material. Sony clearly overstated their claim that you can turn 7,500 pages. In the fine print it does claim that battery life varies with usage and I'd be happy to except somewhere in the range of 5,000 plus - but less than 1,500? A bummer, truly. A standard, wall AC adapter is probably in my future - and really should be included in the box. But for now, Edgar will have to wait until tomorrow and much to my Father's pleasure...I'm headed to the store to pick up the Sunday New York Times...

eReader Part V - Edgar Sawtelle

The eReader experience is better than I expected. I did not think that I would enjoy reading off of "another" computer screen. However, the Sony device with eInk technology is more pleasant than I expected. Every computer or cell phone I have ever used has been backlit - which after time always tires out my eyes. Not true with the eReader. Although not quite the quality of true paper and ink it is really good! Navigating through the menus is simple, largely because there is not much on the device. Some might want all sorts of bells and whistles on an eReader, I do not. I've always like the simple stand alone book and thus moving to this device I am not looking for a replacement for my iPod or PDA (although the Sony does play Mp3s). I am not even looking for a dictionary or web access. I equate the user interface with a great Garmin GPS - no frills - but it gets you where you want to go. I love where Sony placed the two page turners - one on the right side of the device and one on a circular button in the lower left hand corner. This makes reading easy in both standard styles perfect. For the one-handed Mass Market paperback style you use the lower left and for the two-handed traditional hardcover style you click to the next page with the right button. Pages change very quickly with a slight blurring of the eInk - this blurring change gets tiring after more than an hour of straight reading but the same happens to me after an hour of straight reading on normal pages. Because the eReader is so much lighter than the hardcover version of Edgar Sawtelle the nod has to go to the Sony for novels of this length. I read longer because there is so little involved in holding the book or changing the pages. I also love that you can change the font size up or down - I find I love reading in almost large print. I read fairly fast, but the bigger size, despite having to change pages more frequently, make me even quicker. The one other control is a bookmark function that allows you to virtually turn down the page. Having multiple bookmarks in a novel or in various novels allows you to read multiple books at once and also allows another reader to read the same book. These functions are the same as a book with multiple paper markers - but nice just the same. But enough about the eReader - the beauty of this experience still goes almost totally to this great novel. From the moment I began I was hooked. This moving story about a mute boy and the dogs that his family breeds catches the reader with beautifully structured sentences, poignant, sparse description, and characters that you can't wait to learn about. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel - a masterpiece and one of the best novels I've read in the last couple of years. Buy it and read it in whatever format you like, but don't delay, it's that great! I think regardless of eReader or regular book format I would have finished this book quickly - but the experience of a great book and the eReader made for a good start to this device's review. I've written enough for the night, but next time we'll go into the first negative experience with the eReader...

eReader part IV - First Book

My Sony eReader has arrived! Without much fanfare I opened the very small package and immediately was impressed. The device was enclosed with a small tan faux-leather case which the reader snapped into with ease. First impressions? It is a very sleek and appealing device. It has nice lines and is slim and lightweight. Much thinner than many cell phones and total weight would be about three times the size of your normal PDA/Blackberry. Weight is clearly a great advantage for the eReader. Short of actually weighing each device (which I may do at a later time) it feels about the same as a mass market paperback, a little lighter than a trade paperback, but significantly lighter than a new hardcover. Aside from the reader and it's case there is not much in the box. One USB cable, a CD for your PC, and a very small manual. Sadly the desktop software which is necessary for using the eReader is only compatible with PCs. I find this a bummer as I predominantly use a Mac laptop at home. Luckily we have one very old PC laptop that we use solely for logging into our store accounting program. I loaded the software in moments, plugged in the eReader and we were up and running in about 10 minutes total. Very easy set-up! The eReader comes with some free classic novels and a few new novel excerpts. The text is not quite like paper - but pretty damn close. A bit scary - but nice. I quickly opened the software and accessed the Sony software. Very similar to Apple iTunes - not quite as slick or easy - but a pretty good copy. I selected The Story of Edgar Sawtelle to download, plugged in my debit card, and for a discounted price had this large and recent bestseller on my computer and on the eReader in about 10 minutes. We'll get into the reading experience in the next post - but ease of use out-of-the-box is a winner for Sony. All but your technology Luddites will have no problem with the speed and ease of downloading a book and getting it on your screen. Looking forward to reading and fooling around with the user interface in the days to come - not to mention reviewing Edgar Sawtelle.