Sony has the distinct advantage of being the first to use the e-ink screen technology that has enabled a huge improvement in ebook readers. Sony's decade long experience with walkmans and other small mobile electronic devices also helps. Their first popular model the PRS 505 (seen on the right) is already the 3rd generation device. The first model was only available in Japan and was called the Librie. About a year later Sony introduced the PRS-500 in the USA. The model PRS-505 is a further improvement of that. This model was introduced in the UK September 3rd 2008. It is therefore also currently the only e-ink based ebook reading device that is available in the USA, Europe and Asia. The latest Sony model is the PRS-600 and PRS-300 discussed further down.
And most importantly the latest firmware of the PRS-505 adds support for DRM-PDFs (like the one you can read with Adobe Digital Editions) as well as the ePub format. It also supports PDF reflow making better use of the screen area.
This means that overall the PRS-505/300/600 is the best mobile ebook reading device available on the market today. It is sturdy, lightweight, appealing look and feel, good support of secure and unsecured formats, and strikes a good compromise between size and reading area. It is also one of the cheaper ones and can be had new for around $200 for the PRS-300 and around $300 for the PRS-600.
So what are the cons? We have to distinguish between generic problems stemming from the e-ink screen technology, which all other e-ink devices (Kindle, Iliad, Cybook, Mentor, etc.) suffer, too, and deficiencies coming from deliberate design choices by Sony.
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