Sunday, June 07, 2009
Kindle vs Sony
To remind everyone, and to tell, apparently, for the first time to those who do not read past the top post on the page, (and, subsequently, miss out, quite often, on many other posts I’ve written...your loss, kids), I did, at one time, purchase a Kindle in the past. In fact, it was late March to early April that I did this. The problem was that I misread that it was being delivered by UPS when in reality it was being delivered by USPS. The USPS does not deliver where I live and would have to go to my mailing address. So the Kindle was promptly returned. In that time, I did some serious research.
I’m writing this and future reviews for anyone who is thinking of getting an ereader. And for my own, personal enjoyment of feeling important. Just like any other entry.
Actually, Kindle did win out but for one reason only. First though, I checked out many reviews on the Kindle as well as on other ereaders, mainly the Sony PRS-505 which I really liked. I reviewed the Sony PRS 700 as well but it looks like the 700 did not have many differences to make it worth it and many reviewers said that the 505 had a crisper screen.
Sure the Sony didn’t have the built in dictionary but I don’t find it worth an extra $60 just to have that on the ereader. I can get a pocket dictionary for way less than that. I know that with the Kindle you just highlight the word and it’s all very simple but really, $60 for that? No.
I liked the look of the Sony, I liked that it CAME WITH a leather cover, I liked the button placement better, I liked the price way better and the reviews on it were good. Even from former Kindle owners.
The Kindle looked clunky and kind of cheap, to be honest. And it really irked me that you have to buy a cover, extra, to protect it. It should come with it. Also, on Sony, I believe you are allowed to share your books whereas with Kindle, you are not.
To me, that’s b.s. Everyone on the Kindle boards were talking about copyright this and copyright that and maybe Amazon might think of allowing it but incurring a charge to do so...bullshit. Books are your damn property once you own them. There is no copyright violation. You OWN the thing and you are allowed to share it. You’re not recreating or copying it for someone else, you have purchased it and are sharing YOUR OWN property. This isn’t like illegally d/l music that you are now sharing with others, YOU BOUGHT THE DAMN THING. That really irked me about the Kindle and Amazon.
If I buy a garden hose and want to share it with my neighbor, there is no copyright violation. GMAFB.
Although I wasn’t too keen on the look of the Kindle, I really liked the new DX. I like that it’s bigger because the less eye strain I put on my eyes as I get older, the longer, perhaps, I can hold off on getting glasses. I don’t need glasses nor am I near needing them but I also don’t like putting strain on my eyes. The Kindle DX just looks better than the 2nd generation Kindle, yes, it’s basically the same but it does look better and I think it would be easier to read. However, it has all these other bells and whistles that I do not need and I just simply cannot justify the price of almost $500 for it. Bigger size, great, but not for $130 more. Three more inches on the screen just isn’t worth it.
The only other differences between the Kindle 2 and the DX are that the DX can hold 3500 books compared to Kindle 2 holding only 1500. But, really, do I really need to be carrying around 3500 books? Granted, I might not know exactly which book I want to read while away but I think I can find something in 1500 books or less. Besides, Amazon stores all your books on their site. So it’s not like you can only buy 1500 books. You can buy as many as you want, you can just store 1500 on the Kindle 2. Not a selling point for me.
Finally, the DX has a rotating screen. I really do not need a rotating screen. For what? To make the pages come alive? Again, I’m not needing it for .pdf or anything like that. If I were a college student or someone who uses .pdf all the time, the rotating screen might come in handy. Coincidentally, the Sony PRS-505 has the capability of reading .pdf and the screen will rotate, I doth believe. So, again, I’m not seeing how the Kindle beats out the Sony on any of the points I’ve brought up thus far.
Further, I know that Kindle has the whispernet and you can d/l books in an instant. Problem? I live in the middle of NOWHERE. And just like with cellphones, the reception is shit out here. (This is why I have satellite everything.) I checked the coverage area on the whispernet map and wouldn’t you know it, I would have to drive 3-6 miles down the road to be in the orange covered area. Shocking. Where I live is covered under the green, national coverage area but that means the service will be intermittent, very slow at best. It’s probably better that I just load to my PC and then load to the reader from there which is what I would do with the Sony. So the whispernet meant nothing to me in my decision.
I almost bought the Sony. I really did. I was ready to sign the Kindle off forever.
What changed my mind? The ONLY reason that I bought the Kindle in the end?
The books. The sole purpose of getting this thing, for me, is to read books. I don’t care about .pdf shit and lights and all that. I don’t care if they ever come out with one that has color. (Seriously, books. I am buying one of these for books only. Books are black and white. Do not need the color.) I care about the books. When I moved in to this place, I had to give up all my books because I have no where to put them. I’ve lost my entire library. That’s a LOT of books.
So I compared the two stores. For awhile, Sony kept up. Yah, their prices were a bit higher but I don’t even care about that, too much. What did it was that, eventually, Sony only had 1 book that Amazon did not while Amazon had many books that Sony did not.
And that was it for me. That’s the only reason the Kindle won out, in the end.
It’s expensive as shit and I hope to God it’s worth it. I’m a little apprehensive about it and I think I have a little bit of time to use it and return it if I find I don’t like it afterall so that’s what I’ve done.
We’ll see what I think and I’ll write a review about it here.
