Today's charity shop bargain...

[ffutures]

(and I really mean bargain)

...was a Sony PRS 500 eBook reader complete with cables, box, software etc. For £25. It's clean and looks virtually unused and seems to be working well so far, but I haven't tried putting books on it yet, since I need to go out again.

I know this is a fairly early model, but I think it will meet my eBook reader needs for now. And save me from lusting after anything else, at least until its limitations begin to annoy me.

Comments

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

[on friends-of-friends list]

This caught my eye as my dad just bought a leather sony e-reader case for 49p in Waterstones. We can't believe that either. The packaging was a little bit foxed but it seems okay inside. Just to make this sillier, the price sticker said £1. It's waiting for my uncle to re-materialise with his e-reader. (My geeks have kindles, which they showed my uncle until he felt as sick as parrot)

ETA: my geeks also highly recommend Project Gutenberg (for public domain books) and are reading over my shoulder.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's got the case - like I say, it's the complete kit. I think the only thing missing is the UK mains cable (a standard figure 8 lead) and possibly earphones, not sure if they came with it or not. I have both anyway.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Mine is a pocket edition, a model or two back. It doesn't play audio, so no earphone. I guess I have an AC adapter, but I usually charge it by connecting it to the computer, so if you have the cord for that, you're pretty much ready to go.

Project Gutenberg is great. So is the Australian PG. Google Books gets me a lot of free stuff, often indifferently scanned and not proofread, though a cut above archive.org's books. Somehow, archive has recently contrived to make their books harder to get — they think they're a library and books must be checked out for some period of time. Wretched nuisance. Borders has a conduit to free books as well. Maybe they're google books.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

This is the 6"(?) screen one, slightly smaller than a DVD case but much heavier.

It seems to charge better from the charger than the USB lead. If my understanding is correct this isn't exactly a frequent need anyway.