Death match: Sony Reader PRS-505 VS Iliad Book Edition

The complete works of Shakespeare in the palm of your hand

The intellectual debate has been raging for quite some time now, with musty, libraryloving traditionalists sharpening their poisoned pencils to attack the new breed of ebooks. Now as easy to read as the printed page and capable of holding vast swathes of scribblings, ebooks are offering a new level of convenience and portability to book lovers. We freely admit that passing on a media file doesn't quite hold the same romanticism as exchanging a battered, much-loved paperback, but we'd like to see you try and fit 160 paperbacks in your back pocket.

Death match 1: Ease of use

Sony Reader PRS-505

The screen is a decent size and very easy on the eye. The hopelessly hyperopic can hit the magnifying glass to enlarge the text. It's easy to use, although four methods of turning a page seems a bit excessive.

Iliad Book Edition

We love the flip bar for turning the page and the touch-sensitive screen with stylus. It's all more intuitive than the Sony, although some icons are too small and fiddly, and new pages take slightly longer to load.

Winner: Iliad Book Edition

Death match 2: Features

Sony Reader PRS-505

You get a free CD with 100 classic tomes, transferable via the simple eBook reader software. The Reader fixes some classic book problems, remembering your place and adding bookmarks that can't fall out.

Iliad Book Edition

The Book Edition comes with 50 titles. If you invest a bit more and bag the Wi-Fi edition one day in the not too distant future you'll be able to enjoy RSS and news feeds from newspapers and other providers.

Winner: Sony Reader PRS-505

Death match 3: Price

Sony Reader PRS-505

Supporting the open EPUB format, you can buy books from loads of publishers, including Waterstones and Penguin. Prices are similar to traditional books, but out-of copyright ebooks available for nowt.

Iliad Book Edition

Book prices at iliadreader.co.uk are also comparable to the high street. The Iliad is very expensive, but by using cross-platform MobiPocket reader fi les, you're not restricted to one shop.

Winner: Sony Reader PRS-505

Death match 4: Conclusion

The Sony Reader PRS-505 is perfect for holiday reading and commuters and we love the compact size and open format support. We reckon the price is right too. On the Iliad it has great features, smooth interface and an open source format; there's a lot to love. If only it wasn't so pricey...

Winner: Sony Reader PRS-505

Posted by Hannah Bouckley on 2008-10-01

User Comments

By shady

5|10|2008 22:15

"You get a free CD with 100 classic tomes, transferable via the simple eBook reader software. "

Did you use the software? It uses one poorly written application to manage your library, including the loading of the "classics" (several of which have missing pages) and your own files. It uses *another* incompatible piece of software to manage purchased, protected, books - this software works in a very different way. The first seems to be in Java, the second is in Flash (or some Adobe-owned derivative). Despite both of these being cross-platform technologies, and despite the PRS-505 itself running on Linux, both only work on Windows (if you want to use a Mac, you'll have to run Windows on it). The software is far from simple, it's poorly written and badly designed.

"... you can buy books from loads of publishers, including Waterstones and Penguin."

But you can't buy all their books, and the kind of people who read a lot of books, and who therefore would be most likely to use the device, probably need access to a wider back catalogue than is currently available. Also, good luck searching for specific ebooks on the Waterstones or Penguin websites. You can't.

Despite this, it's a decent device. It feels very much as if we are still in the world of prototypes rather than working with a mature design. Ideally, you'd be able to buy books directly over the Internet (which implies both WiFi and a keyboard, as well as a decent bookseller website), have a far wider catalogue of available books, and be able to annotate and cross reference the books (again, needs a keyboard). The winner should on paper be the Amazon Kindle, not available in the UK and about $100 dearer in the US. But the current version of that lacks the "book-like" feel of the PRS-505, which is I think key to the appeal of such a device.

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