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RedArgo -> e-book readers (11/20/2009 1:20:13 PM)

I've kinda been looking at the variety of e-book readers that are available now and I'm just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts (and I know you do.)

Besides regular books, I think they would be great for all those digital download game manuals that we have to print out now and also I already have one magazine that is released weekly in PDF. So far, it looks like Sony would be the best fit for me, since it can read PDFs, but there are a bunch of new ones coming out in the next few months, so it may be better to wait anyway. Hopefully, the price will come down too.

I have an Ipod Touch now, which I really like (been playing through Doom Classic), but I don't think it can handle PDFs and the screen is rather small to do a lot of reading.

Thanks for your input.



TR -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 2:17:48 PM)

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top



Greybriar -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 3:01:04 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: TR

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top


I was so hoping for a list of recommendations for e-book readers and instead got "Top 100 EBooks yesterday — Top 100 Authors yesterday — Top 100 EBooks last 7 days — Top 100 Authors last 7 days — Top 100 EBooks last 30 days — Top 100 Authors last 30 days"

*sigh*



Lützow -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 3:25:15 PM)

Didn't you read about the incident some time ago, when Amazon subsequently deleted books from their Kindle ?

I would rather refrain from purchasing an ebook reader which uses any kind of DRM sheme.



Hanal -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 4:27:06 PM)

Ironically I am shopping for an ebook too and just picked up the brochure for the new ebook that is coming out from Barnes and Noble. It is to be released on Nov. 30th....

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/



Shawkhan -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 6:05:03 PM)

Get the Sony Reader. I got it at BestBuy, the expensive one, for $300. Kindle uses a proprietary format which means you only get to download books from Amazon. The Sony Reader comes in two models, with the expensive model using a touch screen and having voice options for handsfree operation. The wife and I like this feature as we can listen to it while driving.

Of course next year there will be better models at a lower cost, but that is the reality of modern electronics.

Over a million books already available for download. Step into the future, the paper book is dead. Great advertisement there, huh?



Hanal -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 6:20:24 PM)

You know, I did not think of the pdf aspect to an ebook, and as mentioned by RedArgo, the idea of being able to read a game manual on an ebook while playing the game, would be appealing...



Jevhaddah -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 6:24:10 PM)

Does anyone know of any 'Back Lit' E-book readers?

Cheers

Jev



Hanal -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 6:41:39 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Jevhaddah

Does anyone know of any 'Back Lit' E-book readers?

Cheers

Jev



The B & N Nook makes the following statement:

"The 16-level gray scale display offers great contrast with no glare or backlight."

Not sure if they are implying that it will be easy to read in any lighting situation.....




RedArgo -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 6:51:33 PM)

I was looking at the Sony PRS-600 (the $300 one), but the Nook looks pretty similar and cheaper. Maybe there will be some black Friday deals or after Christmas deals.



Hanal -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 7:04:30 PM)

Here is a Discussion Board regarding the NOOK...

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/eBooks-Help-Board/bd-p/eBooks_Help



Hertston -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 7:51:49 PM)

Don't rely on a book reader for game manuals if and until their authors start producing versions intended for reading on them. With a minority they are fine; but in most the print is too small for comfortable reading. Sure, you can increase the font size but then the formatting frequently gets screwed, and in both cases flipping back and forward to places of interest is a pain in the backside. Likewise with most academic and technical texts.

Book readers (I have a Sony PRS-505) are super bits of kit for what they were designed to do, but what they were designed to do principally was host novels, 'popular' history and biography, and such.

Look wider than Gutenberg and such, too. Some publishers, such as Baen, are making a lot of their stuff freely downloadable presumably just to 'hook' readers who will buy new novels. You can get all of David Weber's 'Honor Harrington' series for free, for example (absolute must-buys if "Hornblower in Space" is a phrase that appeals!)



Capt. Harlock -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 8:17:04 PM)

I've been using my Palm PDA as an e-book reader. Granted, the screen is really too small (reading glasses are almost a necessity), but there is freeware for both Palm-format books and pdf files. And, you can use the PDA for a lot more than reading e-books. If you're on a limited budget, I'd recommend getting a Pre, and you'll have a smartphone and e-book reader in one.



JamesM -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 8:32:22 PM)

I have an I-Rex illiad ebook reader, it reads both pdfs and mobipocket format books.  It is not cheap (more expensive than the kindle), but it has a large screen size, adjustable text size. the ability to make hand hand written annotation and it has multiple memory card inputs (SD, CF and USB) plus a small internal memory.  I had one problem but that was solved with a software upgrade.  My first one was an ebookman by Franklin, but that one seemed much more fragile than the illiad, but it was backlit. 

http://www.irextechnologies.com/

http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix (I found this particularly useful when I was researching)



Hanal -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 10:46:01 PM)

I have a basic question for ebook owners....are maps, illustrations, and photos, that might for example be in a history book, included in ebooks?



Hertston -> RE: e-book readers (11/20/2009 11:17:07 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon

I have a basic question for ebook owners....are maps, illustrations, and photos, that might for example be in a history book, included in ebooks?


Yes. Note what I said earlier though.



Adam Parker -> RE: e-book readers (11/21/2009 2:13:48 AM)

The iPhone imo is the best e-reader I've ever had - and it seems the market is agreeing.

From PC world Magazine November 3rd:

"Apple's iPhone is quickly becoming the ebook reader of choice for many, and could steal market share from Amazon's Kindle, according to a report from market research firm Flurry.

The iPhone and iPod Touch turned into a popular handheld gaming platform over the last year, as most of the apps released for the devices were in the games category. Even Nintendo acknowledged that iPhone games were among the reasons its DS portable gaming machine under-performed in sales.

And now it appears it is the Amazon Kindle's turn to take a beating, as book applications for iPhone exceeded the popularity of games apps in the last four months, according the Flurry report. In September, iPhone books (some running on Kindle for iPhone) overtook games for the first time, while one in every five new apps in the App Store in October were books."

PC World iPhone as an eBook Reader

Personally, the iPhone is doing it all. EBooks when I want them and Audio Books when I want to rest my eyes. The iPhone's clarity and resolution makes me wish I'd never bought a PDA all those years ago. Not to mention its ease in reading PDF's like war game rules.



Hertston -> RE: e-book readers (11/21/2009 2:25:12 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker
Personally, the iPhone is doing it all. EBooks when I want them and Audio Books when I want to rest my eyes. The iPhone's clarity and resolution makes me wish I'd never bought a PDA all those years ago. Not to mention its ease in reading PDF's like war game rules.


Depends on the PDA. My iPAQ 214 (210 in the States) is superior to Mrs Herts' iPhone in that respect, as it is for video. In neither case, though, would I consider the kit ideal or even really functional for meaty game manuals; maybe you just have better eyesight and/or more patience than me. Whatever the clarity and resolution (640x480 in the case of the 214) they just don't 'work' on a screen that size IMHO. Novels are fine on either.



Adam Parker -> RE: e-book readers (11/21/2009 2:39:42 AM)

Yep Herston, there's going to be a compromise in some way with functionality no matter what people use.

Personally, I'm into good 'ol paper books and build 'em yourself bookcases!



Fallschirmjager -> RE: e-book readers (11/21/2009 3:02:24 AM)

I have a Kindle and love it. I don't live in a major metro area so getting the Washington Post and WSJ each morning in a paperless format is huge.
I can also get The Economist in a paper format and a little bit cheaper.

I read it mainly for daily and weekly periodicals and consider the books to just be a plus but they are really are nice to have in such a compact form.

Yes the format is proprietary but as long as you own the Kindle you can access and own the content. And the device and service is here to stay so I don't have much fear of ever losing my content.


EDIT: I forgot to mention how easy the virtual paper is on the eyes. You can stare at it for hours and not feel eye strain or get a headache.



Larac -> RE: e-book readers (11/25/2009 4:12:42 PM)

I have used a Sony 500 for the last 3 years, and it works great.

The newer models are much better with PDFs now.

The Newest Sony and B&N Nook, seem to be the top right now, both allow Epub, TXT, and RFT docs, and allow PDF without conversion.

Kindle is ok but has it's own format, and that has caused issues, also they did pull a book from it without warning.

As for Backlights, EREADERs do not have them, the screen is very non glare.




RedArgo -> RE: e-book readers (11/25/2009 4:25:35 PM)

Well, I logged on to Amazon yesterday and didn't notice it was my wife's account and when I went to check out there was a Sony 600 in the basket, so I may be getting that for Christmas. I wasn't snooping though, I was going to get her something [:)].

If I'm right I'll report back after Christmas and let you know how I like it.



Hanal -> RE: e-book readers (12/2/2009 3:47:58 AM)

If anyone has taken the plunge on the Barnes & Noble NOOK, let us know your impressions...at present I'm leaning towards the NOOK over the KINDLE or SONY but am curious if anyone here has given it a go yet..... thanks



Challerain -> RE: e-book readers (12/2/2009 4:19:57 AM)

Looks like shipment of the Nook slipped until December 7th.



Aurelian -> RE: e-book readers (12/2/2009 4:37:05 AM)

I'd rather keep the paper. Much cheaper to replace a book I lost than one of these. And a book won't break if I drop it.

Yeah, I'm a bit old fashioned.



E -> RE: e-book readers (12/2/2009 5:30:47 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shawkhan

Step into the future, the paper book is dead. Great advertisement there, huh?


Someday, Samual T. Cogley will be rolling in his grave over this thread.


quote:

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon

the idea of being able to read a game manual on an ebook while playing the game, would be appealing...


While playing a game?!?!? Game manuals are for the bathroom!!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

I'd rather keep the paper. Much cheaper to replace a book I lost than one of these. And a book won't break if I drop it.

Yeah, I'm a bit old fashioned.


...or splash it.




Aurelian -> RE: e-book readers (12/2/2009 7:29:50 PM)

More than 20 years ago, I picked up von Moltke's book on the Franco-German War published in 1898, and another book, Letters from the Field Marshall I think that one's called. I doubt that would be on an e reader list.



sabre100 -> RE: e-book readers (12/2/2009 9:45:48 PM)

I went from a Sony PRS-505 to a Kindle 2 mainly because of the amount of books Amazon had for sale compared to Sony. I love to read sci-fi book such as Stargate and Star Trek and their selections on Sony Ebook store was not even close to the amount Amazon had. Also Amazon would have much better prices on books, majority of new releases are $9.99 whereas Sony was almost full price. That was a big negative for me I am not sure if Sony changed their pricing model on books now to compete with Amazon or not but buying digital books from Amazon was a huge cost savings over time for me as well as Amazon always has more books available - this is what is currently killing the Sony and Nook IMO. I looked at the nook and browsed BN.com ebook site for books you can buy for nook and they are not even close to how much amazon has for kindle unless they do a mass release once nook is out in general availiabilty for all.

If Sony would add as many books as Amazon and charge same prices I would seriously consider the new Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-900BC coming out end of year but for now I will stick with Amazon. One thing I also like about Kindle is that I have an iphone so I can have kindle on iphone as well and it syncs my pages where I left off on the Kindle or iPhone so I can continue reading on the go without the kindle with me.

Thanks



hgilmer3 -> RE: e-book readers (12/3/2009 12:01:56 AM)

One thing I just noticed, as I am in the market for an ebook and have been comparing and checking and looking around - I know of the Kindle pulling the book deal and don't like it, but I also have been wanting to read some classics - some are not light reading.  I have been wanting to read all of Darwin's books so I wouldn't feel like I didn't know what people were talking about when discussing stuff (I know! I know! No politics.  I didn't stray from just saying I wanted to be more informed!)

And classics like Darwin's, well, some of them are FREE! A lot of the classics are free, like Treasure Island, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and classics like those.  That's why if I take the plunge, I'll probably go that route, because I just checked Sony's ebooks offerings and the classics were all 2.99 to 3.99 that I checked on.



Hertston -> RE: e-book readers (12/3/2009 6:13:27 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: hgilmer3

And classics like Darwin's, well, some of them are FREE! A lot of the classics are free, like Treasure Island, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and classics like those.  That's why if I take the plunge, I'll probably go that route, because I just checked Sony's ebooks offerings and the classics were all 2.99 to 3.99 that I checked on.


Most out of copyright stuff that people still want to read is free somewhere anyway, such as at Project Gutenberg; just hunt around. The whole strength of the Sony is that you are NOT tied into a particular source of ebooks; you can get them from anywhere you can get Epubs, .pdfs or anything you can convert into .pdfs. I haven't bought a book from Sony yet, and have no intention of ever doing so.



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