Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600

A similar size to the PRS-505 reader but with a few more interactive features and a built in stylus to operate the finer points of touch screen control. You get a set of software and a USB cable and a soft case, while screen covers, Silicone rubber splash resistant cases, mains adapters and car adapters as well as leather covers and even night/flight light systems are all available. The unit is considerably more clever than the 505 in that you can make notes and even draw your own sketches into the device. The screen is not as high contrast as the 505 but can always be positioned to make the viewing clear and readable, even under strong sunlight because of the flicker-free e-Ink display system used. You can turn the page with a gesture across the screen as well as use the page turn keys.
– Holds around 350 electronic books (e-Books) or 13,000 with extra memory cards
– Smaller than a typical paperback, 9.8mm thick without any casing
– Easy to read six inch eInk® ‘Electronic Paper’ Vizplex„¢ touch screen, 800×600 pixels per inch.
– High resolution and 8-level multi-shade grey scale give fine detail on text or black-and-white photos, illustrations, etc.
– Five options of text font sizes
– Unlike a PC, screen has no backlight or flicker to give the experience of reading a paper page
– Easy to use menu and simple, intuitive controls
– Add bookmarks, or even notes with concealed stylus pen and turn page by a swept finger tip
– You can highlight sections and look up words on inbuilt US/English dictionary with a simple double tap
– Automatically find the page you were last reading
– Call up your stored books quickly: by Author, Title or Date or by search keyword
– MemoryStick„¢ MS DUO and SD Card slots allow you to optionally increase capacity up to around 16GB or 13,000 titles
– Compatible Formats:
Unsecured/Free; e-Books & text files; EPUB e-Book, BBeB Book, Adobe® PDF, Microsoft® Word, TXT, RTF
DRM (Secure/Purchased) e-Books and text files EPUB e-Books (Adept) BBeB e-Books (Marlin)
Unsecured Audio files mp3, AAC (not most DRM audio)
Image & Photo files JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
– Very low power consumption of Lithium Ion battery allows 7,500 page turns from a single battery charge
– Can be fully charged in 4 hours from a laptop or PC via supplied USB cable
– Two hours charge time using optional UK/continental mains Adaptor (ACS-5220E) 3.7V DC
– Uses the EPUB standard: the most widely used e-Book type. But can also read other very common text documents.
– Can also display most common image and photo file types. NB images are black and white, not colour.
– Use with headphones to listen to music while you read (mp3 or AAC files).
– All necessary software (e-Book Library) plus quick start instructions and USB wire supplied.
– Comes with soft Neoprene carrying case. Other cases available as optional accessories Black or Silver finish
– Weight 286g
– Dimensions: 121(w)x174.3(h)x 9.8(d)mm
Review by Adam Rayner
A little bit thicker and a tiny bit weightier and now available in a world where suddenly, instead of very few e-ink reader devices around, there are loads and loads and already Amazon have done a job on public awareness with some folks referring to the very genre of device, as a ‘Kindle’ just because of the coverage they have got. This is one of a family of products from Sony and is one of the best ones.
I honestly cannot improve on the intro I wrote for the PRS-505, so I reproduce some of it here
I may be more qualified to review this item than just about anyone! I don’t normally harp on about my antecedents but I am the son of author Claire Rayner, who at peak had more than eighty books in print and has ninety-one books to her name, let alone the zillions of other words in a fifty year career as a household name (like Harpic, as she used to say.) Also, I am of course obsessed by all things mobile and being brought up soaked in books and writing and being a mobile sort of a guy, this is absolutely the sort of thing that I adore.
This is one of those products that we all ‘knew’ about for years without ever worrying about what it would be. It has been there in the digital clause in copyright statements about ‘technologies yet to be developed’. The key here is eInk. This is a new display technology that needs flap-all current to allow a ‘page’ (screenful) of text to be displayed with no flicker or even looking like we imagine any kind of ‘display’ to look. As a result there is no such thing as viewing angle. If you can see the screen at an angle enough to have read it if it were paper, you can read the Sony Reader PRS-600.
As well as Digital Rights Management (DRM) protected works, the system can be used with out-of copyright e-Books and best of all, unlike iTunes, the Sony system has by deliberate and enlightened choice been made as an open codec.
So, the basic concept is still new to a lot of people but one thing that has happened is lovely. I have made a contact in the world of serious digital publishing and my parents have come out of retirement in their eighties (well it is Mama’s eightieth next birthday) and while Pa has been cutting deals with publisher (MP Publishing and LOVELY people of course!) and Claire has started writing again after retiring seven odd years ago and is busily typing away at another of her Dr. George Barnabus medical sleuths only this time I gather there are some really nasty bits in there (Mama says it’s something about getting ever yet older and more outrageous ‘I SHALL WEAR PURPLE!’ quoth she..) and best of all, there are now forty-four of her titles (fiction) all published electronically. So far in the UK, only 28 were available at time of writing but as soon as the sandal wearers have got their act together, the whole lot will be on UK e-book websites.
I went to BookFair at Earls Court (a bit quiet because of the flight moratorium at the time) and filmed Mama getting her Reader Touch Edition and also the signing of the new contract with MP publishing. My dad can be heard in tehbackground being rude, suggesting with the font size enlarger ‘One word at a time’
The reader product itself remains a top item and a top player but scores lower on the VFM scale these days as prices have of course tumbled and this is a premium product. It works well, with user reviews saying it does what it says on the tin and I enjoyed playing with it.
I was a bit flummoxed by what a bit of palaver actually buying and downloading e-books is at present as the Digital Rights Management stuff makes it a tad complex and as yet you cannot ‘gift’ an e-book title directly, other than by buying a voucher and offering the loved one the right link to go use it.
But it’ll save the folks many pounds avoirdupois on holiday luggage and would have been brilliant years ago as my folks would disagree over that payload with mum wanting to take a yard of books per week away! As is, a slew of new stuff will be getting taken away with them this year I just have to go visit me mum and give her a lesson in download shopping. However, I did manage to make a bit of a blue of filing the books that I bought I have a file on the PRS-600 labelled as her books, but didn’t manage to put them in there and in playing with the PRS-505 I have here, I have triplicated my free classicsso I have to learn a bit more and it IS a tad less easy than iTunes.
But then I could be better at using that too..and now, despite all the fresh competition that is around versus when we tested the PRS-505, the PRS-600 Sony Reader Touch Edition easily scores enough to be heartily Talk Audio Recommended.
Build Quality 10.0
Appearance 8.0
Ease Of Installation 8.0
Effectiveness 10.0
Value For Money 9.0
Overall rating 9.0

This is the page on the Waterstone’s site that sells the reader and its accessories:
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/navigate.do?ctx=10030