They +don’t make them like that any more: Sony PRS-500 e-reader
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I bought my Sony PRS-500 on the very day it appeared in shops in the +UK. This was September 2006, I recall, at least a year before the first +Amazon Kindle hit the UK’s shelves.
+The PRS-500 was a revolutionary product. In a review at that time, I +wrote:
+++It’s about time somebody produced a gadget which combined the +advantages of computer technology (high storage capacity, rapid +searching) with the advantages of real paper books (easy on the eyes; +straightforward user interface; low power consumption).
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Leaving aside the rather odd implication that printed books had “low +power consumption”, I think I captured the novelty of e-ink e-readers. +Of course, e-ink displays are two-a-penny these days. You can even get +e-ink badges for conferences. It’s just not an exciting technology in +2024.
+But, as a person who read novels on a Palm Pilot, I found the PRS-500 +remarkable. It was the first device I owned with a screen that worked +even direct sunlight, so I could read in the back yard, or on the beach. +E-ink screens uses no power to maintain the display, only to change it. +So the PRS had a battery life of about one full novel to a charge. This +was a radical improvement over any backlit LCD display, then or since. +It is mostly these features – daylight-readability and long battery life +– that continue make e-readers attractive nearly twenty years on.
+But the PRS-500 had something that modern e-readers lack: real +buttons you could push.
+The basic format and capabilities of an e-book reader have scarcely +changed since 2006: even if you weren’t born then, you’ll recognize the +PRS-500 as an e-reader, just from its construction.
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You’ll see from photo that, unlike a modern Kindle, the PRS has a +heap of physical buttons. Kobo e-readers still have a couple of +page-turn buttons, but the latest Kindles have no buttons at all. It’s +possible to operate the PRS one-handed, and the modern Kobos can at +least turn the page, but I’ve never figured out how to do even this much +with a modern Kindle. I’ve been told that the generally-accepted way to +turn the page on a Kindle, when you’re holding it one-handed, is to tap +the screen against your nose.
+Of course, the PRS-500 had to have physical buttons, because +touch-screen e-ink panels did not exist at the time. Nor did +front-lighting, which is commonplace in modern e-readers. If you wanted +to read the PRS in the dark, you had to use a flashlight.
+The PRS-500 had an SD card slot, which turned out to be crucial, and +(naturally) a slot for Sony’s proprietary memory cards. It was almost +the same shape, size, and weight as the contemporary Kobo Forma. In +fact, the weight was academic, because we all kept our e-readers in +stout protective cases that weighed more than the devices. Twenty years +ago, we wouldn’t have risked using these expensive devices without a +case.
+The PRS-500 wasn’t Sony’s first e-reader, although it was the first +to have any kind of commercial success. Sony so crippled its forerunner, +the Librie, with DRM and copy protection that it was almost +unusable. To be fair, the early Kindles had the same problem; but Amazon +got away with it, while Sony didn’t, because they had such a huge +catalog of books. Kindle owners didn’t have to seek out and install +books from other sources.
+While Sony did have an on-line store-front, it offered far fewer +titles than Amazon’s. Restricting the Librie to Sony’s limited catalog +was not a winning strategy.
+The PRS-500, however, moderated Sony’s DRM policy; a good thing, +because Sony’s store-front did not even extend beyond the USA for the +first year after it released the PRS-500. Owners could install DRM-free +books in several different formats, including RTF and plain text. This +made the whole of the Gutenberg collection available, as well as content +scraped from websites and converted. It continues to amuse me to see +Kindle owners paying hard coin for public-domain books by Dickens and +Austen, when they could just get them from Gutenberg.
+Unfortunately, as a Linux user, I found the PRS unsatisfactory in a +number of ways. It used a proprietary USB protocol for installing files +so, although the PRS could handle documents in several formats, you +couldn’t get them onto the device. Linux users could still copy files +onto an SD card, and then install the SD card in the reader; but this +approach came with certain limitations. In particular, we couldn’t +organize files on the SD card into collections. There was also a general +suspicion – one that I was never able to test fully – that using the SD +card for storage reduced battery life.
+But the most bizarre problem for a Linux user was that it never +became possible to charge the PRS over USB from a Linux computer – some +secret code was needed to enable the internal battery charger. Only +Sony’s Windows software could provide this code. This wasn’t a +show-stopper because Sony supplied the PRS with a separate battery +charger, but it was a limitation that had no business existing, even in +2006.
+The PRS had an internal memory capacity of only about 100Mb, but that +was sufficient for text and RTF novels – a user could fit more books +into memory than the device could manage, given its clunky user +interface.
+At the time of launch, the PRS-500 attracted mostly negative reviews. +A year later the first Kindle, despite being a less capable device, with +all the same technical limitations and more, was mostly well received. +Partly, I think, this is because Amazon had the content-purchasing part +of the ownership experience all worked out. Sony’s store was fiddly to +use – even where it was available – and never had even close to the +number of books that Amazon’s had. But I suspect that, by the time +Amazon released the Kindle, consumers had become more receptive to +e-readers in general. Even the latest and greatest e-readers are poor +substitutes for a real, printed book, but we now see the advantages. In +2006, reviewers saw mostly the disadvantages.
+Like all early e-readers, the PRS-500 suffered from ‘ghosting’, where +a page turn leaves a faint after-image of the previous page. This +continues to be a potential problem with e-ink technology, and the +Kindles didn’t handle it any better than the PRS.
+A bigger problem, perhaps, was that the PRS-500 had a quirky user +interface, and navigating within books was pretty awkward. I suspect +that some of the apparent illogicalities of the user interface resulted +from Sony’s attempts to accommodate the limitations of the e-ink +display. Redrawing the screen took a second or more, which made it +difficult to implement a conventional, menu-based interface. So, even +though the PRS included an audio player (with a headphone jack), I was +deterred from using it by its hostile user interface.
+Sony did go on to release new PRS models, with larger, +touch-sensitive screens and back-lighting but, in fact, none of the +models had much commercial success. The PRS-505 fixed the stupid +limitation in USB charging, so it could be charged from any USB port or +charger. This version also made it possible to copy document files +directly to the internal storage, rather than forcing users to grapple +with the proprietary Windows software. The PRS-505 was the first +e-reader that was straightforward to use with Linux.
+By the time Sony had released these improved models, they were in +direct competition with Amazon, and before long they also had to compete +with Barnes and Noble and Rakuten Kobo as well. With hindsight, though, +I have to wonder whether Sony really had its heart in e-books? They +certainly didn’t seem to fight very hard to keep that line of business. +Amazon did have its heart in the battle, and pushed its Kindle +products agressively.
+The PRS appealed to geeky readers for the same reason that the Kobo +readers do today: you could find and install your own content, without +using the vendor’s store-front. The PRS-505 was compatible with Linux, +even though the PRS-500 had been problematic. But reading is a +relatively mainstream activity, and I doubt that ‘geek appeal’ alone +would have kept a product alive – not in the face of such intense +competition. What was needed, and Sony never had, was an extensive range +of affordable books, and a straightforward way to buy and read them. +Barnes and Noble had that; even Kobo had (and has) it to some +extent.
+In the end, Sony pulled out of the e-book market in 2014, after only +eight years. They abandoned a technology that they had made +comparatively mainstream without much fuss or notice.
+These days, the original PRS-500 isn’t much use to anybody, but the +PRS-505 remains a useful e-reader, which can be picked up second-hand +for a few pounds. There’s no on-line store-front, but it remains +possible to copy DRM-free books to it in many formats, including EPUB. +But, best of all, the physical buttons are just so much nicer to use +than an e-ink touch-screen.
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