It is very rarely I would say that a company like Sony may feel so generous and offer a firmware upgrade to a product that has been discontinued years ago. And this is pretty much what they are offering for current owners of the US Reader PRS-500 model that captured a lot of heart’s of the reading population here in the US and prompted lots of imports to Europe and other continents because it was not available there back then. Since newer and shinier Sony Readers are happy reading this ePUB format, PRS-500 was left behind like many other older Sony products that would be so happy if were upgraded to live on. I’d love for Sony to keep up and offer new updates/developments for such products as VAIO Accessories (VAIO Digital Frame VGF-CP1 saw a new update in Japan, but left behind everywhere else…VAIO Server VGF-HS1 – same story (WHY??); Sony Entertainment Server HES-V1000 has a network and Internet ability, but has never seen the light of BD-Live Upgrade; even certain older gen Bravias, how great it would be if those Internet widgets were added to the XMB via firmware upgrade? I am sure customers would be happy enough to see Sony being proactive in this case and not forget to bring new features to their beloved products, which in its turn boost customer’s confidence in Sony as a brand.
Anyways, I am happy for current PRS-500 customers as they have an option to do just that and have a new breath of life added to the device. Sony is even offering a trade in option, if you are willing to part with your Reader and get a fresh new one, like the Touch edition! More info on this subject matter can be located here.
