Scott Hanselman describes the “synch software” in the following, illustrative terms:

Here’s the saddest part. The Desktop Connect Reader software is so profoundly bad, so poorly designed, so truly evil that there are not word to full express the breadth and depths of its unspeakable lameness.

It’s almost like Fish at work…

The sad part though is that the Sony e-Ink Reader PRS-500 that he is reviewing is, in part, an excellent product, but it just has a horrendous user iterface. Like, for example, it has ten numbered “soft” keys that allows the user to jump into a certain percentage of the book but not to enter the page number that s/he would like to jump to. Or that the page is turned left or right with a button that goes up or down. Or that the Reader can read RSS feeds but only twelve pre-defined ones (”Wow. That’s so lame it’s really hard to express.”). Or, that the software (lame or not) does not install on Vista — except that it does, but the explanations for that are well hidden on the Sony web site.

But the screen, ah, the screen. It. Is. Wonderful. 170 DPI with four levels of grey (using the same pixel). And, alas, expensive. US$300 for a framework for a book is quite a lot. But that’s because it’s built on e-Ink. Which is cool. Which is nifty. Which makes you batteries run forever, since it only needs power to change the display.

So, improve the usability, drop the price, and we have a wiener. Show me PRS-502 next year