$205 first-gen Sony Readers: Refurbs
Those new $99 Sony Readers from a year ago have long since sold out.
But at least as of this nanosecond, you can buy refurbished, first-gen Readers from Overstock.com for just $204.99. That’s quite a discount from the nearly $300 charged for the second-gen models.
Caveats: The controls of the PRS-500U2s aren’t as easy to use as the newest PRS-505s, and the screen contrast isn’t quite as good. But if you want a cheaper E Ink gimzo in place of the $360 Kindle, this is one option.
Even better—if you can find one: Sony itself was selling 500U2s for just $149.95, but they’re apparently out of stock now. (Spotted via Dr. Ellen Hage’s blog.)
Tower of eBabel angle: Read a buyer’s complaint about an insufficient variety of books available in the Sony format. Yes, you can do conversions. But you shouldn’t have to. Not to mention all the copyrighted books locked up with DRM–and thus illegal to convert in the U.S..
Also of interest: Blemished but refurbed Palm Z22 PDAs for $74.99 as of this writing. I suspect they’ll work fine with Mobipocket e-reading software even if the resolution is only 160-by-160.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Ebay is a great source for used PDA’s. I haven’t checked for ereaders there but I would imagine that after a few years it will be a good source for those as well.
Used PDA’s in the less than $100 range are plentiful and you can get something much better than the Z22 although it won’t be ‘refurbished’ and carry any kind of extended warranty.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Adam, would be able to recommend any particular PDAs? I’m currently reading on a Z22 but am looking to upgrade to something else. I still don’t understand the expensive e-ink screen thing (and couldn’t afford it if I did), but I’d really like to hear some advice or insights on other PDA-ish devices.
July 7th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
You can usually get a refurbished PRS 500 from a Sony Factory Outlet physical store if there’s one in your area. I picked up a couple of them back in March for $150 each.