E-Book Readers: Give Opinions on Different Models to Help Inform Me

J

jzerot1437

CAG Veteran
I'm moving to Shanghai in a few months and can't take my books with me; this is pretty tragic considering I read like I breath. It helps me relax, I have more books than I'll ever be capable of reading in a lifetime, and I just generally enjoy the feeling of buying something I know I'll enjoy--should I ever get the time to sit down and read it.

My mom's decided to buy me an E-book reader to make up for this; I wouldn't buy one at the moment because it's still a pretty fledgling industry with some kinks to work out, but if she's going to do it for me, I'm not going to argue. The problem is, I'm not very well educated on these devices. The Kindle is the only reader I know anything about, and it just doesn't fulfill my needs. It lacks expanded memory options, is DRM protected, and is generally bad at convert PDFs. Further, I can't buy an e-book online outside of Amazon on my laptop and transfer it to my Kindle--and I certainly don't want to be locked by device when I purchase a book. Do you guys have anything positive to say about the Kindle?

And what about Sony's entry into the reader realm? From what I understand, their second generation device was better than their first--although I'm not entirely clear on why other than screen size and brightness. What do you guys say about this?

Any recommendations? Any warnings? I want to make sure I get the best device for my (mom's) money so that I don't get stuck spending thousands of dollars on a library I already own on a device that does a poor job of storing and reading books.
 
Have you looked at the new Kindle? It's got 4GB of internal storage and the ability to read PDF's natively now. I'm not sure what you mean by "generally bad at convert PDF's." Do you have any proof to back that up? I've heard no complaints from a few people I know that own the device.

I've actually heard nothing BUT positives from everyone I know that has a Kindle, so much so that I'm considering getting the new one myself.
 
If you're getting one and money is not a concern, get the Kindle DX for sure. Everything the Kindle is, plus a 9.7" screen w/ 1200x824 pixels (as opposed to 6" and 800x600) and native .pdf capability. It also now has 3.3 GB of usable space to hold up to 3500 books. And the .pdf option means that you can basically use books from any source now. And like mtx, I have heard nothing but good about the Kindle. And the DX has no drawbacks and only more positives than the original.

If you're getting an e-book reader anyway, there really is no reason not to get the DX.
 
You're going to be locked in with brutal DRM on the Kindle. If something happens to your kindle/or with amazon, you're fucked.
 
I don't have them on hand, but I've read a lot of user reviews saying that the Kindle PDF conversions tend to jumble the document--especially if formatting is abnormal or there are images involved. I'm referring to the Kindle 2 and not the DX--since I'm using my mom's cash, I'd rather limit it to the least amount possible. Even though it's only $100 more, that's a ton of cash for something that's probably going to be outdated by an even newer model in a year or two--and something with the brutal DRM protection already mentioned.

Does anybody have experience with the Sony product? I realize that Amazon is most likely going to have the best device--their dedication is evident in the fact that they advertise the Kindle at the very top of their home page in a huge block. But I still don't know that the device is developed enough to justify a $400-$500 purchase (taxes included)--especially when they seem to have initially focused more on security concerns than customer needs.
 
The PDF conversions are a non-issue with the DX.

If you got a year or two out of it, consider yourself lucky. Electronics are out of date almost immediately after purchase. Look at the netbooks. They've gone from $300 to under $150 within a matter of months. Companies are always going to release newer products. How do you think those people feel who just bought the Kindle2 not even, what, 3 months ago?

What kinds of books are you reading? If Amazon has the books available for you for a cheaper price (best sellers are under $9.99 most of the time), then the choice should be pretty obvious.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']You're going to be locked in with brutal DRM on the Kindle. If something happens to your kindle/or with amazon, you're fucked.[/QUOTE]You can have up to 6 Kindles linked to the same library/Amazon account and you can deactivate devices from Amazon.com.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']You're going to be locked in with brutal DRM on the Kindle. If something happens to your kindle/or with amazon, you're fucked.[/quote]


The DX reads PDF natively so DRM is a non issue with a little work on your part. Your "if something happens" comment is a moot point. You can apply that to anything....like if you buy an iphone and if something happens to it/apple/att....
 
my buddy at work has the sony e reader. I think he has zero problems reading books on it. And I'm pretty sure not everything he reads on it is stuff he paid for.

I got a kindle 2 for my sisters birthday. I played around with it and was really impressed at how much I liked it. I don't expect her to want to do too many things with it beyond buy books off amazon. I would buy one for myself but they still cost too much and I don't read that much.

What you have to do is make a list of "I want to do X with my device". Once you have a list then find out what product does those things. And if none of them do it, just get a netbook and read off that.
 
I need to research the Sony model to see what its DRM control is like. It feel lame repurchasing books I already have the copyright for, but don't have a problem with it since they are in a different format. I don't like being device-locked to the Kindle, however, and that why I'd prefer to have something less...secure.

I'm beginning to think buying a netbook may be the most sensible option. They're about the same size at this point, and they're more versatile...
 
netbooks aren't a replacement to an ereader. yes you can read pdfs on a netbook, it also has horrible battery life by comparison & makes your eyes bleed vs e-paper.

kindle2 seems like a good device, just wish it was slightly lower in price. the pdf conversion isn't a big deal. There is 2-3 really good converting programs for windows. The only annoying this is having to email each file to your kindle..(not sure if you can do it via usb). The device drm is just like iTunes....which I hear is doing pretty well.
 
[quote name='gamehunt']I hope they go down their price next months..[/quote]

Why would they? The kindle is selling briskly and you can bet the DX is going to sell nearly as well. If they tie in with major universities then there would be absolutely no reason for them to lower the price.
 
I been thinking about getting a E-Book Reader but do any of them have a backlight? I really want a kindle and that is the only thing stopping me. Hoped the DX would..
 
I never would've bought an actual Kindle, but I downloaded the Kindle iPhone app out of curiosity, and love it. Even if I didn't have an iPhone, I'd recommend buying an iPod Touch over a Kindle, since it can do more things.
 
[quote name='lmz00']I never would've bought an actual Kindle, but I downloaded the Kindle iPhone app out of curiosity, and love it. Even if I didn't have an iPhone, I'd recommend buying an iPod Touch over a Kindle, since it can do more things.[/quote]


Small screen + limited battery life + staring at what is basically a light to read something = not good

also the Kindle can download stuff to read anywhere there is a cellular signal..the ipod needs wifi
 
With DRM issues, it's by no means limited to Amazon. Sony's book store also has DRM. So does fictionwise (they're now Barnes and Nobles I believe). Pretty much any book you buy is going to be DRM.

With devices, the difference is the Kindle only supports the Amazon DRM format. So you can only read books you buy there, and books that aren't DRM'd--say free public domain books from places like Feedbooks. Some of the other readers support multiple differenet DRM'd formats.

For me, I went with a Kindle as the Amazon store had better selection and better prices than the other stores when I was reseaching and I love the convenience of the wireless store. DRM sucks in general, but I seldom re-read books so it doesn't bother me much.

And of course it's pretty easy to strip DRM off the DRM formats if you so choose, and then you can convert between formats with free programs like Calibre.

And I'd agree with Malik that stuff like the iPod touch, palm pilots, netbooks etc. arent' nearly as good for reading. The backlit screens are rough on the eyes--ok if you're just reading for an hour or something, but it gets tough after that. Especially if you're at a PC all day for work etc. The eink screens on the Kindle, Sony and other readers really are amazing and no harder on the eyes than real paper. Not to mention the outstanding battery life.

Lastly, if PDFs are a big need, then I'd hold off and wait for reviews on the Kindle DX. None of the eink readers out currently do a very good/consistent job with PDFs. Especially with the letter sized full page ones.
 
I take it I'm the only one that appreciates the iPhone's backlit screen. If it weren't for that, I'd have no use for it.
 
I have the Sony PRS-505 and I love it. I use Calibre to convert any book that I come across that isn't in the native format and it always converts them perfectly. For me, the ability to manage and read books that were available in more than one format on my own put the Sony at the front for me. I've read that the newest version (the 705 I think) has a touchscreen and a back light but is hard on the eyes. The 505's memory can be expanded up to several gigs but with Calibre, I don't ever have more than a few on the device since I just keep them on my computer in my itunes-like ebook library.

I've had successes converting pdf's, lit's, html's every time I have done it.
Battery life is excellent
Design is top notch (light weight, no odd button placements)
Screen is perfect - feels like reading a real book

I've never owned a kindle so I cannot compare it to that but I like my Sony reader. :)
 
[quote name='lmz00']I take it I'm the only one that appreciates the iPhone's backlit screen. If it weren't for that, I'd have no use for it.[/quote]


I dont think the backlit screen is a big deal to most people considering there are no backlit books
 
Exactly. Back lighting is needed for something you're watching videos on, playing games on etc.

But not for reading. If you're going to read for a few hours straight, the back lighting is terrible on the eyes. E-Ink screens are great as they don't tire your eyes out any more than regular paper. Of course you need a light source, but that's no different than reading a real book, magazine, newspaper etc. so it's moot for most people.
 
[quote name='jzerot1437']My mom's decided to buy me an E-book reader to make up for this; I wouldn't buy one at the moment because it's still a pretty fledgling industry with some kinks to work out, but if she's going to do it for me, I'm not going to argue. The problem is, I'm not very well educated on these devices. The Kindle is the only reader I know anything about, and it just doesn't fulfill my needs. It lacks expanded memory options, is DRM protected, and is generally bad at convert PDFs. Further, I can't buy an e-book online outside of Amazon on my laptop and transfer it to my Kindle--and I certainly don't want to be locked by device when I purchase a book. Do you guys have anything positive to say about the Kindle?[/QUOTE]

Most of your thoughts about Kindle are wrong.

Kindle 1 has a SD slot. Although I think you are overestimating how big book filesizes actually are. I have a Kindle 1. It has 256MBs of memory on board. On it, I have 108 books (and a few collections such as the complete works of Lovecraft, the complete Sherlock Holmes series, the complete short stories of Hemingway count as one "book"), 6 magazines and 2 book samples. I have 41MB still free. The Kindle 2 has 1.3 GBs onboard and Kindle DX has 3.3 GBs. That means they can both carry a 1000+ books.

DRM is a given regardless of which reader you choose to get (Sony or Amazon) when you deal with the "official" stores.

Any device that isn't the Kindle DX is going to have issues with PDFs since they aren't reflowable. You do have a few choices when it comes to PDFs. The PDFs that are converted by Amazon's service aren't perfect but they are usually readable. If it's an image based PDF, you can use an OCR (I use ABBYY PDF Transformer) to covert it over.

Here's a PDF Amazon converted. As you can notice, it's readable but it loses most of it's formatting.



Here's an example of an image based PDF I converted with ABBYY PDF Transformer. Looks really good but I had to manually remove the title/page number from the top of each page (and with a 700+ page book that took me two hours)



The Kindle felt like a revolution to me. If you are going to be completely legit, it's one of the simplest things you will ever use. If you are going the shady route, it's possible but it will require more work.

Also there is a ton of free/cheap content out there.

http://www.feedbooks.com/
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42973
http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1237575...&keywords=mobi&rh=i:aps,k:mobi,i:digital-text

[quote name='jzerot1437']And what about Sony's entry into the reader realm? From what I understand, their second generation device was better than their first--although I'm not entirely clear on why other than screen size and brightness. What do you guys say about this?[/QUOTE]

Sony's devices are sexy but not only are you locked to their store but most of their items are more expensive than their Kindle counterparts.

PRS-505 is their best reader.
The PRS-700 is their newest but thanks to the extra layer for the touchscreen, the screen isn't a sharp as the 505. Also the backlight isn't that good (it's led lights around the sides) and is a battery drain.

[quote name='jzerot1437']Any recommendations? Any warnings? I want to make sure I get the best device for my (mom's) money so that I don't get stuck spending thousands of dollars on a library I already own on a device that does a poor job of storing and reading books.[/QUOTE]

Get a Kindle.

Books are tied to your Amazon account. If your mom gets one, you can tie hers to your account and share books. If you ever upgrade to a different Kindle, you can retain your library.

Kindle 1 is fairly cheap (I bought mine used for $205 after the Kindle 2 announcement but I think they are around $250 now). I imagine that Kindle 2 used prices should start dropping soon when users decide to upgrade.

Although since you are going to be out of the country, the wireless won't work and you'll have to purchase Amazon giftcards and than buy books with those (or at least that's what I heard if you don't have an US credit card)

[quote name='Michael Scott']I use Calibre to convert any book that I come across that isn't in the native format and it always converts them perfectly. [/QUOTE]

Same for me (except I convert to mobi)
 
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I think it's a wise choice. The Whispernet is great, as are the selection and prices in the Kindle store vs. the competition.

With the DRM issues, again if you're going to buy new release books, you're going to deal with DRM regardless of what reader/store you use.

And Amazon is the most likely to stick around in the Ebook business I'd think, being a long established online book store (among other things) so you could feel most comfortable that you'll still be able to read the books you buy years down the road vs say Sony's store--assuming of course you stick with a Kindle or that Amazon licenses their DRM format and allows other companies eReaders to use the Amazon ebook store.

But again, with a quick google there are easy ways to strip the DRM and then you don't have to worry about it as you can then just convert it to ePub or the various other formats another reader can display in a program like Calibre.
 
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