Comments on: Sony PRS-600 Touch Edition Reader Review

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:19:11 +0000

@Lance H I’m so glad you like your Sony reader. When you get ready to upgrade, I know you’ll like the Sony PRS-T1 even more than the 600, because the screen glare is gone and the touch screen is even more responsive. And I’m glad you are back safely from Iraq.

By: Lance H

Lance H — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:49:14 +0000

I love my Sony. My wife bought it for me before I went to Iraq several years ago. The only problem (big) I have ever had is that I did not charge it up for a month or two and had to get a new battery.

This reader is not an Ipad, it is not the answer to world hunger, but it does let me read books in a form that I like. I will buy from Sony again.

By: Chris Carter

Chris Carter — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:26:35 +0000

Hi Janet, Thanks for the info re Sony releasing newer e-readers since 2009. Given that I have wasted serious money buying the Sony PRS-600, which is completely unusable and not supported by Sony, I would never under any circumstances buy another Sony device.
Mr/s papadopoulous.zwh, I agree with your sentiments entirely.

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:26:01 +0000

@papadopoulou This model was released in 2009. There are two newer Sony readers released since the PRS-600 was released.

By: papadopoulou.zwh

papadopoulou.zwh — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:02:49 +0000

sony prs-600. a useless piece of junk. total crap. having owed it for 6 months, i ‘ve met all the above mentioned problems and my patience is out. i wonder what kind of people dare to put out such good reviews, leading people to throw away a lot of money for nothing. sony? never again!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:48:53 +0000

I have to admit I bought the prs600 on the basis I could carry my library around with me. While I know I don’t need thousands of books all at once it was nice to be able to pick out different ones as I chose without needing to be tied to my computer, so I am more than a little disappointed that storing many books using an sd card is pretty much impossible as the reader indexes all the books each time yet add more or remove the card etc. VEry disappointed especially as the usb port on my ebook is broke so I can only ever add books via the sd card

By: Chris Carter

Chris Carter — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:14:46 +0000

Since I contacted you in August I find that it is not just a problem of the few books I downloaded, but the PRS-600 I bought seems to be a heap of junk. I can’t even read the downloaded books it came with; the screen freezes and no amount of tapping, swiping, pressing will get it going again. I am embarrassed I paid good money for something that cannot be used and is not supported by the manufacturer in Australia. So no more Sony products for me.

By: Andie

Andie — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:25:13 +0000

Having owned a PRS600 for over 18 months now, I find it a mix of frustration and satisfaction. For the most part, I can use it to do its advertised job – Read ebooks. But its inability to properly display PDFs (some do, some don’t) is irritating. Only found out about that issue when I opened the box and found a Sony yellow errata sheet giving a spin about it. Thanks, Sony.

The other bad features are slow screen updates (including the fact that sometimes it just doesn’t change pages despite button-pressing and finger-swiping. It just locks up, then suddenly, zippo, it will flick two pages in succession), the reflective screen (which you noted) and, for me, the death of the SD card interface in the Reader suddenly, after about 14 months. It just died. No warrantee support, of course.
And the PC software is just tired, clumsy and lacking in features. It actually makes Apple’s iTunes look powerful, user friendly and feature-rich. Which, by the way, it’s not, by a long shot.
Would I buy another Sony ereader? No.
What would I recommend? Not the Kindle, due to the lack of epub file support, and the intrusive Amazon file management policy that can steal the very books you’ve bought legally (Read about Orwell’s 1984 book experience on the Kindle). I’ll probably either buy an iPad (despite the known pdf issue and the awful iTunes software) or, most likely, a lightweight Android tablet.

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:48:21 +0000

@Chris Carter I think your problem probably occurred while you were creating the EPUB files. I don’t know anything about that, but someone might be able to help you if you check over at the Mobile Read site. http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=100

By: Chris Carter

Chris Carter — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:18:17 +0000

Hi Janet, I am so glad I stumbled on this articule, even though you wrote it 2 years ago. I have just bought a new PRS-600 on Ebay, without realising it was a Canadian model. When I had some problems I contacted Sony here in Australia and they advised that they didn’t support this model. I was able to get the info I needed using e-support sony, but I couldn’t get a user manual because I had an Australian IP address and I was bounced back to Australia, which didn’t support…….blah blah.
You have helped me so much with your article, the photos and making the user manual available. Are you able to help me with one problem: I have obtained a few out of copyright books online, loaded them to my PC, converted to EPUB and loaded to the ereader. BUT they don’t fit the screen format, the RHS does not appear on the screen. I would appreciate any advice.

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:32:31 +0000

Hi Mindaugas, I’m glad the review helped you. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to do all you want it to do. It cannot do Powerpoint and Excel files. The complete list of compatible files is found under the Hardware Specifications header in the review. The PRS-600 is a discontinued model. It was replaced by the PRS-650, which also seems to be very difficult to find now. The PRS-650 also cannot read all the files you listed.

The PRS-600 is very small and easy to fit in any bag, even some of my purses. Because it was discontinued so long ago, it might be difficult to find cases for it now.

I don’t know any eInk-based eBook readers that can do all you require. You’ll probably need to look at tablets to see if any of those meet all your criteria.

By: Mindaugas

Mindaugas — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:52:13 +0000

Hey Janet,
I am really glad to find this review, it helped me a lot to make the general impression.
What I would like to ask you is whether it is usable for something outside the books? I am a student and I need this reader to help me study without having to sit near PC ( I actualy can not force myself to study at PC)- that is can it load jpg, powerpoint, docx, exel files and is it comfortable to carry it arround or purchase some sort of a holder for it?
Thank you again

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:15:04 +0000

@Myrthe Liselotte I’m glad you got your collections set up!

By: Myrthe Liselotte

Myrthe Liselotte — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:44:27 +0000

Hi,

Ah, I suppose I missed that line. Now I have a few collections (with books in it. )

Thank you very much!

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:03:07 +0000

@Myrthe Liselotte There’s information at the end of this review that describes how to create collections and put books into them.

By: Myrthe Liselotte

Myrthe Liselotte — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 12:23:11 +0000

Hi,

I have made a few collections, but now I have trouble with putting books in it. I have empty collections now.

Can you please tell me how to put books in my collections?

Yours,

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:12:02 +0000

@Tose I think it should read any PDF file from anywhere. Depending on how complex the pages are, some may be easier to read than others, though.

By: Tose

Tose — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:18:53 +0000

Well I’m considering getting the 600, and it my be kindda a dumb question but, can it read any pdf (by that I also mean pdf’s you may find on sites like http://www.isohunt.com) ?

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:40:31 +0000

Has anyone experienced very poor battery life from the 650? I get no more than 2 days and I’m ready to go back to paper books – a bad investment in Sony, I’m afraid.
N8.

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:14:27 +0000

@Patricia and JJB I discussed the battery life and the misleading use of the number of page turns to discuss battery life in the review. You will not get 7500 page turns from a battery charge in real life. You should be able to get a couple of weeks between chargings. Read the paragraph that starts “Battery life is still great.” It’s the fourth paragraph under the picture showing how reflective the screen is.

By: JJB

JJB — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:38:47 +0000

To Patricia,

I think the PRS600 can’t turn 7000 pages without recharging the battery.
If you turn 5000 page NON STOP without reading (just turning the pages) perhaps the battery will be OK.
If you take the time reading the 5000 pages and/or create some notes or invoke the dictionary, the battery will not be OK.
Worse : If you do a complete shut down (6 seconds on the switch) the reloading, if you have a lot of books, will drain the battery.
I think Sony should give some of their news products to real users and listen to their advices before launching the product onto the market.
Be kind with my english it’s not my language

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 10:15:08 +0000

The battery on mine started to malfunction after about two months. I don’t live in the U.S. so didn’t have the option of sending it in to be repaired, but from what I read on the web the repair service is less than satisfactory. the 7000 page turns hype is just that — hype. It’s a shoddily made product — too bad because I was initially enjoying it a great deal. Now I’m at the point of ditching my investment in e-books from the sony and switching — I’m so fed up with the short battery life and the ‘freezing’ of the screen

By: JJB

JJB — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:18:46 +0000

Many thanks for your answer.

I think Sony shoud modify the product description… see the Prs 650 features.

By: JJB

JJB — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:55:20 +0000

Janet,

Thanks you for your help. Your advice is very usefull.

May be Sony shoud modify the product description, it’s the same for the new PRS 650.

By: Janet Cloninger

Janet Cloninger — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:31:41 +0000

@JJB Books on the expansion cards have to be indexed every time you turn the reader on. This is a slow process, and it uses a lot of battery power. It is not a problem with the reader that can be resolved by Sony support. I think those card slots were intended as a way to add some songs to the reader, not as a way to carry a few thousand books. I don’t understand why having 6000 books in your reader is necessary at all, because it must take a long time to search for the one book you want to open. But if you want to do it, you should try separating your collection onto a set of small SD cards. Only insert the one card you need when you need it, and don’t leave an SD card in the reader at all unless you are using it.