Travel and Leisure

This review is going to talk about some first user's experience with the Amazon Kindle 2 and more in depth information about the Sony PRS-505.

After 10 years digital books and e books finally leave the computer and become readable on external devices, this is in large part thanks to the competition in the market of the portable devices. The 2 main players of the e-reader are Amazon's Kindle 2 and Sony Corp.'s Portable Reader System.

Amazon as usual wants the first place and the dominant position in the e-reader world. The Kindle, in its three versions is obviously aiming even if no one will admit it to monopolies this market and pass from the biggest reseller of physical books to the empire of the eBooks thanks to the Kindle 2.

To better promote this strategy Amazon is building into each Kindle 2 a wireless system that works anywhere cell phone service is available. On the other hand Sony users rely on computers connected to the Internet to purchase and download content like eBooks for their devices. Kindle 2 users are not restricted to a wire.

Almost too easy to buy content over that wireless connection and send it straight to the Kindle 2. Smart thing if you want to find yourself purchasing items you didn't want and having to delete them later. Amazon is making it more convenient every day to seduce the potential buyers and increase market share.

Many readers prefer the privacy of the Sony, after playing around with a Kindle 2 for a couple of days.
Also battery life is better conserved when you can press a button when interested in a internet connection The Kindle is a little "trigger happy" for some. But many others obviously feel the opposite.

Both the Kindle 2 and its competitor are easy to read, even under direct light. The Kindle is a little more robust and a bit heavier. The instructions and quick-start guide have Kindle 2 running first and it has a better written and more detailed user manual Sony takes more time to master for the most.

Fonts represent a significant deference between the Kindle 2 and its rival; Kindle offers 6 and Sony 3. Also larger font sizes are great help Kindle gives older eyes, but formatting irregularities are present in both models. Amazon Kindle 2 has 1 USB cord (to hook the device to a computer) with a small electric power adapter. Sony: two different cords and the AC-DC power is an extra charges.

PDF the current universal standard format for academic is not supported by the Kindle 2 like a True monopolist, unlike the Sony that does, Instead, Amazon offers its users to send the document to their computers and convert the file for free with the automatic document conversion service, and then transfer them back to their Kindles but charges to send converted documents directly to a Amazon Kindle 2.

For people who read a primarily academic, business and government publications should opt for the Sony For the bestsellers and news readers the Kindle is probably better for the moment, even if for now they are limited in their reading options (not every new book, newspaper, magazine or blog is Kindle compatible). Also the larger the PDF file is the more frequent and perceptible are the formatting problems. That's if you deal with lots of Adobe documents. It's OK for word documents, but not as much for leisure reading or rich art, charts, and photos content.

If you want the advantage of a compact electronic library, remember that neither the Kindle 2 nor the Sony can be called cheap, and what about the cost of content. No matter if you travel extensively and you are a e book reader, or simply have to have the latest digital thingy, ebooks remain a luxury in the current economy.

Overall I liked the Amazon Kindle 2 better and I see a better future for it in my life, you.... Need to make up your choice.