The Sony reader is a popular e-reader, available in a number of models and was the favorite in Europe until Amazon launched the Kindle there. Even then, the Sony Reader still has a large following, and many who have used both prefer it to the Kindle. Here are some hints and tips to help you make the best use of your Sony eBook reader.

1. Extend Battery Life

The battery should last two weeks, but many find their Sony Reader losing power well before then. A simple tip to help increase battery life is to turn off the power when you are not using it. It is possible for the buttons to get accidentally pushed and take you to places that eat up the power. Go to Settings>Advanced Settings and then choose 'Device Shutdown'. That will shut your reader down and it will not use power, no matter what keys are pressed accidentally in your bag or pocket. Also make sure you haven't left the audio player on - that's easy to do and can easily empty your battery.

2. How to Set Bookmarks

If you are reading and want to mark where you left off, simply press the Mark button at the bottom left of your Sony Reader and it will 'dog-ear' the page for you.

3. Have you Switched On?

If you aren't sure if you have switch the power switch on all the way, click the 'Mark' button at the bottom left. If a blue light doesn't come on then you haven't! No pages will be marked if you do this.

4. More Mark Button Stuff

If you hold the Mark button down for 5 secs, it will list every bookmark you have set, and you can the easily flip between files.

5. Go Back in History

No need to find the History page, just push the joystick left one click and it will go back one page at a time in your history.

6. Download Google Books

If you want to download free public domain books from Google Books, download the book first to your computer then open and save it as a PDF file. You can use free PDF 995 for this. Then download to your Sony Reader as any other PDF file. According to the article "Is the Future of Books in Mobile EBook Reading", access to Google e-books is a very large range of options to have, particularly if you are carrying out technical research (dbReaders).

7. Illustrations Use Space

If you have the option between an illustrated and non-illustrated version of a book, go for the latter. Illustrations can increase the file size by ten. A non-illustrated book at 1MB can take up 10MB with illustrations.

8. Reader Library Software Installation

If you have trouble downloading the Reader library software to your computer, make sure that you disable any anti-virus software or any firewalls you have running. Than make sure you restart them after the download. The same applies to any downloads. Note that the software is incompatible with 64 bit Windows versions.

9. Resetting a Sony reader

The reset access hole is on the back or bottom, depending on your model. It is under the soft cover on the PRS-500. After pressing it with a needle or paperclip, the screen will remain unchanged. You have to slide the power switch to turn it on again.

10. Charging your Battery

If you charge your Sony reader battery using a USB connector from your computer, it will take about 4 hours. However, if your computer hibernates or goes to sleep, the charging will stop, and your battery will begin to discharge. Make sure you disable any power saving settings to allow at least 4 hours before sleep or hibernation. Using an AC adaptor from the mains, the recharge will take 2 hours.

11. Frozen Images

If your battery runs out in use, the screen will freeze with the last page viewed. Nothing will work until the battery is recharged. That is generally the only reason for a frozen image appearing on your screen.

12. Lock your Sony Reader

If you go to Settings>Advanced Settings> Device Lock, you can select a 4 digit PIN so that your reader will need that PIN to be entered before it starts.

There are many more hints and tips available for the Sony reader, but these are the ones that most people have trouble with. If you read the Sony instructions properly, you might find the answers to many of your problems though most people just play around with their Reader and find these things out by trial and error.

Sometimes that can cause problems, however, and it is useful to know such things as to how to conserve your battery and how to reset your Sony Reader. Most people have to do these at one or another, and when the time comes you don't want to be having to find the right page on the internet. Assuming you are within close proximity to a computer!