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This is the coolest gadget for a book-maniac
My husband bought me this for my birthday. I am not usually one to embrace new technology right away, but this Sony Digital book is so simple to use that I was reading it that very day and every day since. You can go to the Sony Website to get the full details on the features. My review is that it is awesome.

The storage is phenomonal; I downloaded 100 classic books from the Sony e-book store, added a few pdf files of e-books from the internet, (including a physics textbook over 1000 pages long), and I still have half the memory unused. For sharing the reader, each person can have a "collection" of books to keep his bookmarks and notes, without having to actually have more than one copy of the book stored. That is a plus if you have to share.

Also the Sony bookstore stores your list of downloads so that if you accidently delete a book, you can download it again, free of charge.

The pdf files I downloaded worked very well. Sony warned that some pdf font types would not enlarge, but everything I have tried so far zooms perfectly. It keeps the page numbers intact for indexing. The reader is a little slower with page-turning and options when working with a pdf file, but only a little.

The screen is very readable, with a nice light grey background and crisp black type. I read my books on medium type, and I can read them without my glasses. The touchscreen page-turning is a blast; it feels so much like reading a tradidtional book that sometimes I catch myself licking my finger to turn the page! The battery lasts forever if only used for page-turning (over 7000 page-turns, according to the manual.) If the light is used, it runs down in a day. The light feature is not that great; I like to use my own booklight for it.

I got the leather cover for mine, and I would highly recommend it. It looks stylish and protects the screen. I like to stick the Reader in my purse, so the cover keeps it from getting scratched or dinged. I also got the AC charger to use instead of charging through the USB on my computer. I recomment it because it charges faster and it doesn't tie up the computer port for hours.

If there is anything to complain about, it would have to be the Sony website for ordering books. It is so slooow to navigate around. (They say they are working on it.) But the download time is fast. My reader came with a coupon for 100 free classic books, with hundreds to choose from. I downloaded about 50 of them in just a few minutes.

I feel like I have stepped into Star Trek Next Generation with this reader. I'll be glad when the price comes down some more, so I won't have to share mine. Won't it be awesome when the schools can afford these for textbooks. No more middle school kids ruining their backs hauling backpacks full of heavy textbooks.

So bottom line, if you like to read, I highly recommend it. It is no more tiring to your eyes than reading a traditional book, it takes up so little space, and holds so many books. A+

Shiny E-book
It's an incredible little machine. Easy to read in full sunlight or near complete darkness thank to the side lights. Holds several hundred books just in its internal memory and several thousand with an SD card. The touchscreen is reasonably responsive without being touchy and the battery life is fantastic (less so if you need the lights).
It's a great size and weight, giving the illusion of holding a real book, and if your eyes aren't great you can turn it sideways and ramp up the font size - Show me a book with adjustable font!

My only recommendation is that if, like me, you are an international customer who couldn't wait for them to be released in your country, DON'T buy one yet. They're great, but the number of additional costs in frankly mad - several hundred NZ dollars.

Reader that excels in many conditions
First of picking an eReader was not easy since all the available models had pros and cons. For instance, I liked the wireless connectivity of the Kindle, but hated it's style and build quality. I loved the design and style of the Sony PRS-505 but it's didn't have a back-light for use in low light conditions. However, the style, price and the superb contrast of the PRS-505 almost sold me when I decided to take a look at the PRS-700.

At first glance the PRS-700 has some key problems that make it seem unattractive. The touch screen comes at the cost of a lower contrast screen and one that has a little more glare than the others. So, let me start by saying that under bright conditions the PRS-700 is probably the worst performer of either the Kindle or the PRS-505. However, in a brightly lit environment, the 700 by itself (if you were not comparing it to any other eReader) is very good. I've not had any trouble reading a book. The main problem is that the background below the text is not white but slightly off white. As a result the black text does not stand out as much.

Given that it passed the bright light environment. I now looked at other factors. Here is where the PRS 700 really stood out and presented to me the best value among all eReaders today, including the new Kindle2.

1. This reader can be used in all lighting conditions since the backlight is integrated inside the screen. So it works great whether you are on a threadmill or on an airplane or reading on the couch with the TV on in the background.

2. It was the only one that came with a cover and the cover closes neatly on the screen using small magnets so it does not fly around and is excellent when reading (no distracting buckle or hanging closure staps etc.

3. It has the highest capacity of all readers and holds almost 2x as many books as the PRS-505.

4. The touchscreen is excellent for flipping pages, adding bookmarks and such. Makes it much more usable overall. The benefit of flipping a page with your finger is great!

5. Battery life is excellent, but I am not sure how it compares to other Readers. The optional AC charger pretty much charges it up from empty to almost full in 20-30 minutes. Charging via USB takes much longer.

6. Includes 5 preset font sizes which is a breeze to select. Depending upon the situation and reading conditions I often adjust the font.

7. The screen has an anti fingerprint coating and hence stays pretty clean. Again, not sure if other Readers also have this coating. Some of the glare could be due to this anti fingerprint coating on the screen.

8. The build quality is just superb. You have to see it to appreciate just how well built it is.

9. It came with software that allows me to playback books purchased from the Amazon store as well as Sony. The Sony ebook software is nothing fancy, but very easy to use. Reminds me of how itunes used to be. Simple and to the point. No gimmicks of any kind.

Overall, I think Sony has done an excellent job in building a product that can be used effectively in all types of reading environments. On the one hand all other eReaders are better in bright conditions, but all other eReaders are worse in low light conditions (even when you account for an external reading light). In a nutshell, this Reader has the best user interface, the best build quality and the best suited for low light conditions. Other readers are excellent in good light, but terrible is low light. This reader is excellent in low light but good in good light.

Price wise if you consider that the cover in included, that the backlight is included (you can't buy any external light that can compare with a built in back light) that it has the highest capacity and has the most solid build quality one can easily make a case that the touch screen comes for free!

I've owned many products (many of which I have reviewed here), I can easily say that the eReader is one of the most addictive products for me. I prefer it to my itouch now (did I mention that you can store music to external cards if you want?)

Good, but not perfect
Pros:
-good screen size
-PDF support (not native to kindle 2)
-touch screen (not on kindle 2)
-lots of book on something small
-battery life

Cons:
-PDF scaling
-responsiveness
-no text to speech (supported on kindle2)


Overall it's a handy product to have. Currently I am a student and have most of my textbook on my Sony Reader which greatly reduces the weight I care. The battery life is longer then a laptop or PDA so I can know that it is charged and ready to go when I need it without careful planning. The screen is good enough. For me PDA support is a must and this is will supported as long as you don't need to zoom in or increase text size. If that is the case try to zoom will rarely be centered were you want it and increased text loses all formatting. The touch screen and interface is a bit too unresponsive, even if you are somewhat forgiving about this sort of thing. The biggest thing missing for me is a text to speech feature (which is supported well on the kindle).

Good, but not worth the price
Although I'm pleased with this purchase, there are a few problems :
It comes with a stylus but you can only use it to highlight sentences from books and save them as notes, but you can't write anything with it. The stylus is almost useless.
As oppposed to Kindle, the Sony isn't equipped with wireless.Also, there is no adapter-it has to be charged through your computer.