My Sony Reader Diary: Box Fresh

It is here.  We were just setting off for our Saturday stroll into town when Ethan spied the postman at the other end of the street.  We stopped him and signed for our exciting parcel.

Then I had to contain myself for a couple of hours while we popped to the deli, bought the Elbow and Laura Marling CDs from HMV, watched the band go by for the changing of the guard and did a few other chores.

But we did finally make it home and here is what was in the jiffy.

Nice box.  Not too flash.  But what about the actual reader?

Here you go.  Unassuming.  Small. Thin.

Slips in nicely between the other books.

Here is the main menu.

And this is what the first page of Lust, Caution looks like.

First impressions: it is cool, neat, fun and fascinating.  I am now off to read the instructions, load up my 100 free classics and see what the blighter is capable of.

More anon.

Comments

[alex]

I'm thinking of getting one for my father who has very poor sight indeed and so I'd be interested to hear what the higher pt size looks like, how easy it is to read at screaming 72pt, etc.

This is the most green with envy I've been for a while.

[John Lenahan]

It should be great for reading submitted manuscripts.
JL

[jem]

I'm too old fashioned for this kind of gadgetry. Its the whole experience of the book that's important to me, the cover, the page quality, the smell, the creases, bumps, dents, stains etc. I'm the same about CD's - I could never give them up in favour of downloaded albums. I hope I'm not a dying breed.

(but have great fun with your new toy anyway - and the Elbow album is fantastic!)

[John Self]

I'll be interested to know if you can make marginal notes etc on it, as that would assist me greatly in reviewing books. At the minute I just make a pencil line in the margin for a notable passage, and have to try to remember what I wanted to say about it when I sit down to write a review.

[Rob]

John, have you tried those little sticky Post-It bookmark things? I've got a pack I intended to use for reviewing, but it's always at the wrong end of the house when I'm reading.

That's a finely alphabetised bookshelf, by the way, but does the Reader belong under "r" for Reader, or "c" for Chang?

[DJ Kirkby]

I want one...really, really WANT one...

[Scott Pack]

Alex - the large font still retains readability and looks pretty large.

JL - I have already loaded a bunch up, it is going to revolutionise my work reading.

Mr Self - You can digitally bookmark a page or turn the corner but cannot make notes, as far as I can tell.

Perhaps I will set up a Q&A post as there are bound to be loads of questions.

[David Belbin]

Very curious. Much as I love paper books, I have serious space issues, so this could help a great deal. I do worry about the price of downloaded books tho'. They seem to be barely less than the cost of a physical book on Amazon, which seems dear. My question: does it play/show pdfs or other file types?

[friend of rachel worth]

please please dont include in your review the sentence "not the ipod moment for books" which seems to be the standard broadsheet journalists "arent i clever to come to this conclusion" response

[rashbre]

I've not seen this one before though I have seen eBook readers on iPaq and similar. Theres a few big libraries on the internet with lots of classics in them (often free - worth checking out). Here via that black box thingy!!

I saw Laura Marling a while ago at St James Church. Excellent gig. I love that album and have the 'boxed' version. The iTunes live gig is good also with the other version of Alas I cannot swim.

Best rashbre