"It can't be that good," I told myself.  I was totally expecting to see a slightly clearer version of the old Tiger Handheld LCD screens, but when I held Sony's PRS-505 e-book reader in the Sony Store I was stunned.

It really is as easy on the eyes as paper!

Since I had amassed enough Sony Points to get one for free, I ordered it Sunday night (using a Mother's Day coupon code from Red Flag Deals) and it arrived today.  The first thing I did was plug it in to the computer and copy over the latest pdf copies of Hawkeye's novel and my novel.  Yes, there's software to install, but I didn't.  I have no intention of buying commercial e-books from the Sony book store.. oh wait, I think they gave me $25 credit on there.  Well okay, maybe a couple books then.    But if you intend to just copy your own files over, there's no need for any extra software.

By default, the e-book reader displays entire PDF pages at a time.  However, since Hawkeye and I have been using font sizes expecting 8.5x11 inch sheets, it's kinda tiny (but still legible!) on the screen.  Push the zoom button once and the reader reformats the text with a larger font size.  At this size roughly half a page of text is displayed at a time.  One more press of the zoom button and it goes a size larger.  This size is like children's book text.  Pressing zoom again just cycles back to the original size.

This brings me to the one down-side of the reader.  Reformatting the text when changing font sizes of PDF docs loses some of the layout.  Short, one sentence paragraphs might get appended to the end of the previous paragraph, if there's enough room left on the line for it.  Really only gets noticeable during sections with lots of dialog, but punctuation keeps it understandable.  I intend to just start saving my PDFs in an e-book sized format instead.

So what lighting conditions have I tried reading in?  In my basement, it's kind of subdued lighting.  Easy to read.  But then so is a computer screen (although comparatively tiring for the eyes since it's light being blasted directly into your retinas).  While barbecuing my lunch, I took the reader outside.  It was so bright outside I needed a hat.  Under these conditions, a laptop is pretty impossible to read.  The e-book reader?  EASIER THAN PAPER!  Yes, even paper reflects too much light on days like today to read easily.  The e-book reader is so anti-glare that I could comfortably read it in direct sunlight.

The reader also displays pictures/photos, plays mp3s, and comes in a handy leather bound cover so it even feels like a fine book.  There are no speakers, so mp3's are limited to headphones, but that's a cool feature for reading in otherwise noisy places.

"How's the battery life?" you may be asking.  Since I've only had it a couple hours, I can't verify this yet, but the technology is really battery friendly.  e-ink takes virtually no power to display, and really only sucks the juice when changing the display.  As such, Sony refers to the number of page turns: 7500.  We're talking months of battery life here.  When you do finally run out, it just charges with the USB cable.

The reader can store hundreds of books in its internal memory, but has memory stick and sd card slots which you can use for extra storage (or copying books back and forth without using the usb cable).  It keeps track of your place for each book, so you can pick up right where you left off.

So next time Hawkeye sends me an installment of his novel to critique, I'll be reading it on this!

Summary:
- Awesomely easy to read display.
- Reads a variety of document formats, including PDF and Word.  Not locked in to DRM protected proprietary formats
- Ability to play mp3s and show photos nice bonus
- Tons of storage space available with card slots
- Great battery life
- Loses some formatting when resizing fonts in PDFs