e-book readers

My wife and son have decided that I need an e-book reader as a fathers-day gift. OK. Didn't know I needed one, or even wanted one.

I know nothing about them. Googling shows rave reviews of everything.

Any experience or observations or suggestions?

Waste of money. 300 bucks for a BOOK? plus, you can't even get any car books....WTH is up with that?

OTOH, you don't have to worry about storing or trashign paperbacks when you are done.

I, too, have looked into them, but haven't gotten a clear indication of what to get. The classic is Kindle, of course, but to me, close behind is the new one that is offered by Barnes and Noble. I can't recall the name of it, but at least you can go try it, and hold it in your hands at the store.

As for the offereings at Borders- I'm luke warm on them.

There are others out there, but unless the reviews are glowing, I'm not really willing to spend that kind of dough without trying it.

Reading them is kind of cool- the screen is pretty nice on the eyes, but I'm sure that's because of the LCD ink they use. Good contrast, no back light.

One interesting thing about the B&N one- it's got a little color browser at the bottom of it- not that it adds that much, but it's kind of cool. If you do visit B&N stores a lot, you can read all of the books for free while at the store.

Still torn about it, and will be interested in seeing other people's opinions.

Eric

I received one at X-mas. It is handy for reading books from www.gutenberg.org , aside from that I do not use it. It has been sitting unused for 3-4 months now. It seems like an expensive, fragile toy, not something that I would throw in the trunk of the Miata to read at places like the line at the dentist etc. The firm that I work for is getting one of the bigger units to put all of the approach charts for the USA in. It will save 70-80 lbs in the cockpit of the airplane, it makes sense in that type of application.

I'm finding the Sony Pocket Edition and the Kobo to be two most worthy of consideration as I research them. They seem to be the most equivalent to paperback books.

Learned my local library has free ebook downloads to a reader. Perfect! Most books I don't want to keep for life. Checking it out of the library and having it automatically expire would be perfect for me. Especially considering I'm terrible at remembering to bring books back in time.

Finding out that the Kindle and the Nook will not work with my library was enlightening. OK. Those two are off my list!

Equally, thinking about what I really want a reader to do. I just want to read, and I want it to be able to fit in my pocket. Just like a little paperback book does. I don't want to have to carry it in my hand. I don't want it to be heavy. Or hot.

The notion of taking notes and underlining text sound nifty, but I don't do that now with my books. Nor do I want to risk scratching up a screen.

Equally, the notion of surfing the web or reading newspapers via a pocket reader. It's just not important to me. That's what the laptop is for, and the paper newspaper subscription I have.

I think I'll try to stop by Target or Walmart tonight and check out the Sony PRS300. That might be the one.

This web site seemed to have very clear information on the various ones. http://chamberfour.com/ereader-comparison

pilotbraden wrote: I received one at X-mas. It is handy for reading books from www.gutenberg.org , aside from that I do not use it. It has been sitting unused for 3-4 months now. It seems like an expensive, fragile toy, not something that I would throw in the trunk of the Miata to read at places like the line at the dentist etc. The firm that I work for is getting one of the bigger units to put all of the approach charts for the USA in. It will save 70-80 lbs in the cockpit of the airplane, it makes sense in that type of application.

I forgot to add that I have the small sony but it still is to large to be convienient

Since the daughter is going to college next year, we were talking about this ( a Kindle) last night.

Given the "bend over and take it" pricing of college textbooks, it might be a good alternative. Otherwise, we like good old regular books.

Of course...all of this means she'll probably end up getting one for Christmas....just because.

Get the iPad then when you're not reading a book you can do cool stuff. I'd heard the Kindle fanatics swear you'd put your eyes out using the iPad so that made me have to go look at one, that's just about the coolest thing you'll ever find.

I thought it was the answer to a question that had never been asked but it was amazing how useful it was. I'm saving my money right now. The local university has bought them for everyone (profs) as with a dock it doubles a computer.

check out the very recent price drops for the kindle and nook. And the price of a new paperback is crazy at $10+. so it's a trade off, but minus the weight as noted above. If they survive the states' budget cuts, the public libraries are always a better deal.

I have the kindle, and the e-ink display can't be beat for straight out reading. For multimedia stuff, the ipad will be better at much higher price point. +1 for project gutenberg. And if you enjoy fantasy or science fiction, check out Baen's free library at www.baen.com/library and the rest of Baen's line up at www.webscription.net which work with any e-reader as well.

carguy123 wrote: Get the iPad then when you're not reading a book you can do cool stuff. I'd heard the Kindle fanatics swear you'd put your eyes out using the iPad so that made me have to go look at one, that's just about the coolest thing you'll ever find.

i hate reading on computer screens, so the iPad was out for me.

my wife has a Kindle and loves it. she takes it everywhere with her...on the train, on vacation, etc. we got one of the hard covers for it and it's pretty well-protected. b/c it uses ink rather than light, it's as easy on the eyes as paper and i can use it for hours with no eyestrain. plus being able to download another book pretty much anywhere is a big plus...more than once saved me from being "bookless" on a long flight. rather than lugging 4 or 5 paperbacks down on vacation last week, she only needed to bring the Kindle, plus she was able to have our local paper delivered to it every morning.

edit: one thing to remember is operating costs; the Kindle (and I think the Nook) both have the wireless access built into the purchase price, so there are no recurring costs. IIRC, the iPad's wireless carries a monthly charge ($15/mo, maybe?).

while many people are fascinated by bigger, better, "does more stuff", the e-readers are focused on doing one thing, and they do it really well. in the end i don't see the iPad as a direct competitor to an e-reader.

I've had a Nook for several months now, and Tim and I also bought one for our daughter, Katie, for her b-day just a couple of weeks ago. We're both rather voracious readers, and the main plus is that it saves us trips to the library/bookstore/corner dealer (okay, I made that last part up, but books really are our crack).

Given this, it would be easy to bankrupt yourself with e-books, because the access is instantaneous. Finish a book and have another one in your hand in 30 seconds, which is... delicious. And dangerous.

I love the e-ink display, which is much, much less fatiguing to read than a computer display (which I have to do for magazine proofreading, so I've done lots of pages both ways). Since the text can be resized, it's great for reading in bed without my glasses. Books are cheaper to buy than print (about $10 average for new releases), handily stored, and I probably save 10 pounds off the average traveling suitcase for a trip lasting more than a couple of days.

I like it for Katie because, at 15, she wants to read nothing but trashy novels, but since she has a Nook allowance, economics is steering her to the free classics I could never get her to read on a simple recommendation.

You can't read "everything" in the B&N store full-length, but you can sample the 1st chapter or so of all the books while you're in the store. In addition, many of the books available for purchase can be "lent" to another Nook.

Wireless access is built-in and free, and there's a rudimentary web browser, though I have to confess I don't really want the "real" world following me into my books, so I haven't done much with it.

e-readers are dedicated tools for hardcore readers, period. If this is you, you'll love it. If you're looking for more of a multitasker, then you probably wouldn't be happy with it.

Margie

I've had a Sony reader for a bit over a year and a half. I take it with me EVERYWHERE. I read all the time. Voracious, as Margie put it. My reader is probably never more than 5' from me.

I like the Sonys for a couple of reasons. One, they're much more flexible on file types. The DRM wrapped around the Kindle books is too much for me - not only can Amazon "recall" a book (ironically, this happened with Orwell's 1984) or change it after you've downloaded it, but there are limits to how many times you can download it. The Sonys are much easier to deal with. They have their own store (thanks to the success of iTunes, everyone wants to be the content provider) but you can also simply load files into it through a USB cable as if it were a flash drive. The biggest weakness on the Sonys is the store software, it's pretty ornery.

Second, the Sony battery life is ridiculously long. This is due to the nature of the e-ink screen, which only uses power when you change pages. The battery life is long enough that, even with me reading at every possible moment, I still only charge the thing every 2-3 weeks. The Nook has to run that little color LCD screen, which kicks up power consumption. The Kindle has to run the wireless. Battery life is a big downside for the iPad in my mind, but since it can do other things I accept that - but that makes it a weaker reader. So I like the Sonys for that.

I only use the book for reading, not for taking notes or doodling or surfing the internet. Mine will take notes (I think). It's a single-use tool, but it's extremely good at being that tool so I don't mind at all.

I'm a bit of a tech nerd though. How about people who aren't power users? Well, both my wife and my mother-in-law have the current Pocket Edition Sony, and they're both addicted to them. My wife travels for a living and that little slim reader carries dozens of books for her so she can satisfy her need for vampires living in Washington and Lousiana at any time. There's no way she could carry dead trees around to read. We also keep recipes on them so we can quickly look up ingredients when shopping.

I'd hate to think how many pages I've read on my reader. Tens of thousands. And I love the thing.

Keith wrote: Second, the Sony battery life is ridiculously long. This is due to the nature of the e-ink screen, which only uses power when you change pages. The battery life is long enough that, even with me reading at every possible moment, I still only charge the thing every 2-3 weeks. The Nook has to run that little color LCD screen, which kicks up power consumption. The Kindle has to run the wireless.

not true...you can turn the Kindle's wireless off when you're not actually downloading content, and the battery will last for about 2 weeks.

It's easy to get distracted with the notion of doing other things. Especially after looking at the nook hacking that can be done. But then, do I really want to surf the web on a itty-bitty black and white screen? Probably not.

I am a voracious reader myself. There are books in all my cars, and usually one in the back pocket of my jeans. I am cheap though, I favor pawing through those piles of 10 cent paperbacks at the yardsale.

So far, without holding one in my hand, I'm finding the following interesting.

Nook. All the pro points are also con points. Sony PRS-300. All the reviews on it are great. Kobo. Not enough clear information about downloading from the library.
Opus. Interesting, but the most expensive and the flakiest.

Thanks for the clarification, Buzz. Makes sense that you'd want to turn it off most of the time.

foxtrapper, go check a couple out in person. Borders has the Sonys, as does WalMart. B&N has the Nook. You'll see pretty quickly that the refresh time on the screen doesn't lend itself well to things like web surfing anyhow.

There are free ebooks out there, a few sources have been mentioned. It's also worth checking various publisher's websites. Sometimes they'll give away the first book in a series for free (for example, John Birmingham's Axis of Time series) to get you hooked on the next ones. It takes a bit more digging than simply clicking "BUY!" on one of the various stores, but then again, so is looking for 10 cent paperbacks!

Marjorie, actually, if you're in a B& N, you can read any book there for up to an hour a day. If you're going in for coffee anyway, I think that's pretty righteous.They've just marked down the Nook to $199, with wifi and 3g access. For $149, you get just the wifi only one... that's the one I want

Doing a text book on an e-reader? Eh, the screens are much too small unless you go with the ipad. As far as being able to download free books from the library,I know Nook is looking to allow that also. Version 1.4 has just arrived, haven't downloaded it at the store yet, but it will be interesting to see what the update covers.

Me, I've been in the book business for 25 years, e-readers are nice and convenient, but I still like books, in my hands, the best. Marjorie's right, it's just too easy to download another book in 30 seconds.

They all do pretty much the same thing, but what you're for looking for is available titles for purchase and how many of those are free. The nook has over 1 million titles available and 1/2 million for free.

Peace, Mark

Sony PRS-600 was the winner. Just ordered it from Sony. Which if you're going to get one, I'd suggest doing instead of buying from a store. They have refurb machines for $149. Plus they have a 3-year "stupid user" warranty for $50. Normally I skip those sort of warranties, but I can see me sitting on it, and I don't know how well that touch screen will survive several years of drawing and writing on it. Besides, I couldn't find the red one anywhere but online.

Size matters. That's a huge usefullness difference between the 5" and 6" screens. Far more than I expected. Far more! This ended up eliminating the Opus and several others that I thought I might want.

Touch screen. Oh yea! That's a big plus, a BIG plus. Yes, the Nook has a "touch screen", but by and large it may as well not be there for all the help it is. Lets bring up our list of books as an example. On the Sony the list comes up, and you touch the book you want to open. On the Nook the list comes up and you slowly scroll down, one at a time, until you get the cursor beside the book you want, then you tap it to open it.

Speed. The Nook is slow. Real slow. The Sony is no speed demon, none of them are. But the Nook will drive you nuts while you wait for it to do anything. You will become a zen master if you own a Nook.

Fragility. Every Nook I saw on display was broken. All the cases were fractured. Not a single Sony or Kindle was broken.

Bells and Whistles. The Nook has a web browser and games and wireless connections. Sounds nifty, but they just get in the way. Their icons are in the way on the main menu, and the programs themselves are so slow as to be useless. I tried to accept their speeds, but good lord, about a minute between web pages? Never mind. Interestingly, this was the only area I found the colored touch screen on the Nook to be usefull. For you could click on web page buttons on the touch screen and open them.

Sony has bells and whistles also. But I found them usefull. Namely the note taking and highlighting and doodle pad and page dog earing, and ability to turn the unit sideways for portrate mode viewing and such.

Screen glare and clarity. Now this was weird to me. The Sony gets nasty comments about glare because the surface is semi-glossy. OK. But so's the Nook. Both glared about the same to my eyes. And neither were particularly bad. Clarity. The Sony gets panned on poor clarity because of the touch screen film. While I could see it, and it was not as clear as the Sony 300 without a touch screen, it was every bit as clear as the Nook, if not just a little better. By and large, I saw no clear advantages or glaring differences.

So there's my novice review and purchasing decision. A red Sony PRS-600.

Nice review- very helpful.

Gutenberg is spinning in his grave.

That is all.

Yes, I'm sure he'd disapprove of making it easier to publish books :)

Foxtrapper, I know what you're saying about the screens. Mine's a PRS-700, the older touch-screen Sony. It seems to be regarded as having the worst of all screens thanks to the touch screen and some extra side lights that didn't make it to the 600. The result isn't quite as high contrast as my wife's 300 and is a little more reflective. But it's still easy enough to read - it's just like a book printed on slightly glossy paper. Just don't use anything dumb like keys to poke the touchscreen and it'll survive just fine. The cleaner and faster user interface provided by the touch screen ability is really nice, it give a little more elegance to the machine - that's the big downfall of the Casio Kindle to me. The extra screen real estate is really nice although my wife hasn't complained yet about hers!

I know of at least three people donating their Kindle after getting an iPad. Just saying.

pinchvalve wrote: I know of at least three people donating their Kindle after getting an iPad. Just saying.

i'll take one of those...i can't pry my wife's away from her.

we stopped off at target and they've got the kindle (right next to the sony reader thingie)... i hadn't seen one before and i was amazed at the screen... i can see why people dig em... I just have a hard time thinking about spending $10 for an ebook...

I also hate reading things from a LCD screen... sure you can kindle to your laptop or ipad... but there is something i don't like about reading to much info on an LCD :-/

personaly i'd buy a kindle AND a netbook over an ipad.. I'm not kewl enough to own an Ipad... then again I just don't get the overly propritaryness of apple (so says the guy who has MS on everything haha)

Since most of us seem to be glued to a computer most of the day and reading constantly there I don't see the big deal about reading on an LCD screen. If people were going home with headaches from viewing their computers it'd be all over the news with the govt trying to fix the problem but you hear nada.

Now I've never read a full book on a Kindle, only browsed for about half hour on it, but I have read several on the iPad and I absolutely LOVE it! Plus it's much more convenient because I would be more likely to have it around since it does other stuff as well.

It really made me look at my iPhone askance since the same apps look so much better and do so much more on the iPad than on my phone. Of course screen size is the big reason why.

but really how much of it is reading on a computer?... i think the most we read is typically on a forum and thats not to intense of reading... most of it is looking and glancing at pictures, icons and other things catching a word here and there... especially when the font gets smaller it's much more difficult to read on an LCD... there is also the battery life aspect...

but I'm sure some peoples eyes are less sensitive then others... and who knows I might be able to tollerate reading on an Ipad due to it's form factor... but reading with a laptop isn't high on my like to do list