Over at SonyInsider, there’s an interesting article about two new Sony Readers set to launch soon, the PRS-350 and the PRS-650. Both are upgraded versions of the current 5 and 6-inch models.

Given Sony’s history of releasing new ereaders at this time of year, expect an official announcement within the next few weeks.

According to sources, the Sony PRS-350 and PRS-650 will both feature touchscreens, will both be thinner and lighter than the current models, and will likely have improved contrast and faster page turns. Hopefully Sony will opt for the new Pearl displays with 50% improved contrast like the new Kindle 3 and Kindle DX; they would be stupid not to.

The PRS-650 will have WiFi and possibly free 3G like the PRS-900 Daily Edition, while the PRS-350 is not expected to have any wireless capabilities.

For the PRS-650, it looks to come with 2GB of internal memory instead of the standard 512MB of the previous models. The PRS-350 may have 2GB of memory as well, but it’s not certain.

Aside from adding WiFi, improved contrast, more memory, and a touchscreen to the 5-inch model, the user interface is said to be updated for both models with a new homescreen, and both will have note-taking capabilities as well.

That’s all the information available on the two new Sony Readers for now. Stay tuned for the latest updates.

Filed under: News, Sony | Tags: prs-350, prs-650, sony reader | 2 Comments »

BooksAMillion is not only giving away Sony Readers this month, they are also selling the PRS-505 for just $99, or $89.10 for those with a club card.

They have the silver model and the red one pictured left.

The Sony Reader PRS-505 is one of if not the most popular Sony Reader of all time. Even though it was first releases nearly three years ago, it is still the benchmark that everyone uses to compare with new readers.

It has a 6-inch screen that uses the same Vizplex E Ink technology that all the current ereaders use expect the new Kindle DX—that shows you just how slow progress has been with this technology; it took them all this time just to improve the contrast by 50%, and still no color.

The Sony 505 comes with 256MB of internal memory and has an SD card slot for SD, SDHC, and Memory Stick Pro cards. It measures 6.9″ x 4.8″ x .3″ and weighs 9 ounces. It supports the following formats: Sony’s old format LRF and LRX, Adobe PDF and EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, MP3, and AAC.

$99 is a good price for any dedicated E Ink ebook reader, and the Sony 505 is definitely worth every penny.

Filed under: Sales and Discounts, Sony | Tags: prs-505, sony reader | 1 Comment »

Books-A-Million, one of the nation’s leading book retailers with 227 stores in 23 states, is giving away a shiny new Sony PRS-505 each day this month to promote their new ebook store.

In order to win the Sony Reader, you have to purchase an ebook from the Books-A-Million website to be entered into the daily drawings. Or you can send a self-addressed stamped envelope along with your email address to Books-A-Million (the address is listed on the contest rules page).

An interesting note from the contest rules, entries are not carried over to the following day. Meaning you have to enter the contest each day to win. Better odds of winning, but more ebooks to buy or letters to send.

It’s a bit odd that they are giving away an ereader that Sony stopped making about a year ago, but the fact is the Sony PRS-505 is still a highly-coveted ebook reader; many people will probably enter the contest just to try and get one since they are no longer sold in stores and are way over-priced on the web (right now a new 505 is going for $249 on Amazon.com, while the newer 600 with several more features is just $165 on Amazon through Buy.com).

A quick look at the prices for Books-A-Million’s ebooks reveals that quite a few are higher priced than competing ebooks stores. A lot of the main-stream bestsellers are the same price as Amazon and B&N, but some of the general titles appear to be more expensive. However, they have some sort of club to join where you get more $$$ off purchases—not sure if it applies to ebooks or not.

Also, their ebooks are in Adobe EPUB format. And most say they are only available to US and Canadian billing addresses.

Filed under: eBooks, News | Tags: free, sony reader | 1 Comment »

Sony issued a press release on Tuesday, June 29th—Library Advocacy Day—announcing the Reader Library program, a new initiative to help promote and expand ebooks in public libraries.

The Reader Library program provides public libraries with educational material about ebooks and digital reading devices. The program educates librarians about ebooks and ebook readers, and gives library staff digital devices to use.

The press release says that the Reader Library program is open to public libraries with robust ebook lending programs and that the program components include:

• A training program for library staff developed by Sony. This one-time web-based session covers digital reading formats, an overview of sources for digital materials, and training on Sony’s Reader digital reading devices.
• Sony’s Reader digital reading devices for use by library staff. Educational materials to provide readers background materials on digital reading devices. Sony will begin the program with a handful of libraries nationwide to tailor educational materials that reflect the content and features of each library’s digital collection.
• Bi-annual update sessions designed to keep libraries and their staff current with latest developments in digital reading content, format and devices.

Sony has been using free library ebooks to promote their ereaders since the Sony Pocket and Sony Touch came out last year. This program takes it a step further by getting Sony’s name and products in libraries for people to see and use in person. Whether libraries will start lending dedicated ereaders is unclear, but its an intriguing possibility.

Filed under: News, Sony | Tags: reader library program, sony reader | No Comments »

1. The 6″ Astak Mentor is marked down to $129 at Newegg, the lowest priced E Ink ereader ever!
2. Sony Touch continues to remain on sale for $199 at Best Buy and Sony Style, and also comes with a free $30 cover for purchases through June 19th.
3. Amazon is offering free 2 day shipping on the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX in the US for Father’s Day. Amazon also has refurbished Kindles again: the Kindle 2 is $219 and the Kindle DX is $415.
4. Barnes and Noble is throwing in a free $50 gift certificate with all Nook purchases until July 3rd, and Best Buy is offering a $50 ebook card for B&N.
5. The Sony Daily Edition is still on sale for $299 at Amazon, Sony Style, and Best Buy..
6. The Aluratek Libre is selling for $119 at Newegg.
7. PocketBookReader.com is running a 4th of July promotion for free shipping for any ereader in the US.
8. The Cybook Opus is $173 at BH Photo.

Filed under: Sales and Discounts | Tags: cybook opus, libre, sony prs-600, sony reader | No Comments »

With the launch of the Apple iPad, which starts at $549 in Canada, Sony seems to have decided to permanently drop the prices of their ebook readers there.

Sony Canada has been running sales for the past couple of months on the
Sony Touch and the Sony Pocket, and now it appears as if they’ve dropped the “sale” and have lowered the manufacture suggested retail price from $349 for the PRS-600 down to $249, and from $239 for the PRS-300 down to $199.

This coincides with the recent US price drop of the PRS-600 to $249 from $299, while the MSRP of the 300 has yet to change, although it’s been selling for around $150 for several weeks now from various retailers.

It’s aboot time they stopped jacking up the price for Canadians when the exchange rate for the US dollar and Canadian dollar are practically the same these days.

Filed under: Sales and Discounts, Sony | Tags: canada, sony prs-300, sony prs-600, sony reader | No Comments »

Sony’s readers are always on sale lately, and this time the PRS-900 is down to $329 at Newegg.com with free shipping. The sale ends 5/31/10.

Filed under: Sales and Discounts, Sony | Tags: sony prs-900, sony reader | No Comments »

Yesterday, Sony issued a press release regarding their plans to make their line of Sony ebook readers more widely available in Europe and Asia, including Japan, China, and Australia.

Here’s the key information from the press release:

In each country Sony intends to leverage its relationships with local retailers, publishers and distributors to introduce the Reader along with a host of local content to help ensure the best possible reading experience . . .

. . . Today, the Reader is available in eight countries across the world, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. Sony’s Reader Store is currently available for users in the United States and Canada.

Sony will announce general availability, local pricing and pre-order dates for the Reader in Japan, China, Australia, Spain and Italy at a later date.

Unfortunately, there’s still no word on when Sony will make the PRS-900 Daily Edition available to markets outside the US. That should be one of their priorities. Even if they can’t get wireless providers on-board with the 3G, they should at least make a Wi-Fi model an option.

Filed under: News, Sony | Tags: sony reader, sony store | 4 Comments »