hi, was thinking of getting the sony reader but then saw that the bookeen will be avaiable soon.
will the bookeen be better then the sony....any thoughts?

i will mainly be using it for jpg manga/comics

hi, was thinking of getting the sony reader but then saw that the bookeen will be avaiable soon.
will the bookeen be better then the sony....any thoughts?

i will mainly be using it for jpg manga/comics
Go to the MobiPocket website and have a look and see what they have available for Manga. The Sony doesn't really have much available for sale in Manga.

hi, was thinking of getting the sony reader but then saw that the bookeen will be avaiable soon.
will the bookeen be better then the sony....any thoughts?

i will mainly be using it for jpg manga/comics

Welcome on board, loci. There hasn't been much first-hands experience with the Bookeen yet (I think Hadrien was the only one who already had a chance to play with it), but from its specs, the Bookeen looks like a good pick. Currently it uses the newer E Ink generation, but it's very possible that Sony Reader devices being manufactured from now will also feature that new generation.

Welcome to MobileRead, loci! :nice:

For JPG manga comics I don't know how much it would matter. The displays are the same size, though the Cybook is supposed to use Viziplex, and the Sony is still using the previous version of e-ink. You might prefer the slightly lighter weight of the Cybook. But you might also prefer the metal casing of the Sony.

The other differences mostly don't apply to JPG/Manga, I wouldn't think. The Cybook's swappable battery and expected larger number of supported formats don't make much difference.

The question might come down to what you can get hold of most easily, but I'd think each would be about the same as the other for that purpose.

I would suggest that you handle one if it all possible before you jump (and take a sample file along with you on an SD card) -- that way you'll have the best possible idea of what to expect. :cheesy:

Well! My choice would be based on where I live. Europe would be the Bookeen as US would be the Sony. Anywhere else depends on availability.

Where are you from?

Speaking from both the manga and Sony side, you would really need to convert the JPG stuff to make it easier to handle and read for the ereader. You can check out the work done on the Sony subs here. Some very good work. (Actually some very nice work in the Iliad area also that pertains.)

If this was one of your major criteria I would wait for the releases that are coming out in the next couple months. Promised brighter screens all around and general second generation electronics.

Heck, if there was no hurry I would wait anyway a month or two anyway. Lots of change seems to be coming around in the world of ebooks and readers soon. (Better batten down the chickens and gather the kids, Martha!)

OK, a couple of things comes in mind.
Manga on sale is a joke for the Sony Reader. There are no serious titles out there to buy, and even if you do get them, the quality is less than desirable.

You're left to converting scanlations yourself.

As for screen quality, I bet Bookeen would be better than the Reader. The size are the same anyway, but a better screen.
Question is, will it have enough tools available to convert the manga you want?

I'd wait till it's out anyway, unless you got a lot of money to spare to buy both a reader and a bookeen.

well im in no hurry, so guess i will wait.
im in uk yvanleterrible.
so i will need to convert scanlations! i thought the sony reader displayed jpg...why would i need to convert?

It does handle JPG, and I think the Cybook does too, so you ought to be fine once you get that far with the things. :nice:

I think the conversion part was pointed out as many magnas are sized far larger than the 6" screen on both devices. This would result in the image being squeezed down to fit and losing a lot of details. There are many products that allow you to break up a full page and view parts of it at a time thus allowing you to see the details.

hi, was thinking of getting the sony reader but then saw that the bookeen will be avaiable soon.
will the bookeen be better then the sony....any thoughts?


There will always be something "better" available in 6 months time. Life is short and you'll be dead for a long time. Get what's available now and enjoy it.

I am waiting for these
http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/newpro.asp
Expected Release Date:2007-08-31
large screen, large enough to use a4 pdf. And they got 3 diffirent versions of it that might implicate that the simpliest version could be pretty afforable. And it supports rar, which could mean that it support the pretty wide spread comic format .cbr. But it is expected release date, it could very well not be released this year. But they got a turkish reseller that shipps in all of europe (i think:))

But this might be a bit OT because it isn't a sony or bookeen, if those are the only options I would choose the bookeen.

if those are the only options I would choose the bookeen.

But you can't buy a CyBook - you can't even order one yet, and goodness knows how long it's going to be before they actually start shipping - if the original CyBook (which I have) is anything to go by, I wouldn't assume it's on the announced date.

As I said before, to my mind any "real" device is better than "vapourware", no matter how wonderful the spec of that vapourware might be. It's irrelevent how wonderful a new CyBook sounds if you can't actually read books on one.

I think I'd wait... (that's what I'm doing).

There seems to be a significant amount of new e-readers that are close to coming to market. The bookeen has a better display than the Sony (people are saying that Sony will upgrade their display...but that is vapourware also).

The Amazon Kindle is scheduled to be out any time now. That will hopefully address a major shortcoming to the Sony Reader for those of us that want to buy modern best selling fiction by opeining up a major line of ebooks.

Yeah...there is always something better around the corner and you can wait and wait and wait....but these books are in their infancy and we'll see some incredible changes and new devices pretty quickly.

And BTW, I'm usually a very early adopter. I'll be getting an Iphone the day it comes out. However, in this market...I'm waiting for the bookeen or the kindle.

I am waiting for these
http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/newpro.asp
Expected Release Date:2007-08-31There are those still waiting for the Jinke HanLin V2, release date May of 2006. You may have a bit of a wait there. :tired:

The Amazon Kindle is scheduled to be out any time now.I haven't seen a schedule on it yet, if you have do please share! :yes:

That will hopefully address a major shortcoming to the Sony Reader for those of us that want to buy modern best selling fiction by opeining up a major line of ebooks.I'm not meaning to argue, but that statement seems to suggest that you don't consider Sony's Connect Store to be a source for modern best-selling fiction, and I'm curious as to why not. :nice:

I'm not meaning to argue, but that statement seems to suggest that you don't consider Sony's Connect Store to be a source for modern best-selling fiction, and I'm curious as to why not. :nice:

Perhaps they do sell it, but can you find it - that's the question? The Connect Bookstore search engine can, I'm sure you'd agree, be charitably described as "challenging" :grin:

Let me say to the earlier poster, by the way, that despite my seeming negativity towards the new CyBook, I'll be placing my order as soon as I can. Many years of waiting for e-Book devices, however, have taught me the lesson that the perfect device is always "just over the horizon", and it's best to go with what actually exists now and enjoy using it, rather than wait for the elusive "next generation".

Perhaps they do sell it, but can you find it - that's the question?That's a very good question, too, HarryT, but it's also a different question. :wink:

The Connect Bookstore search engine can, I'm sure you'd agree, be charitably described as "challenging" :grin:I think it can better be described as "challenged" -- as in "developmentally challenged" -- if you can stand that pun. :wiseguy:

I am waiting for these
http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/newpro.asp
Expected Release Date:2007-08-31
large screen, large enough to use a4 pdf. And they got 3 diffirent versions of it that might implicate that the simpliest version could be pretty afforable. And it supports rar, which could mean that it support the pretty wide spread comic format .cbr. But it is expected release date, it could very well not be released this year. But they got a turkish reseller that shipps in all of europe (i think:))

But this might be a bit OT because it isn't a sony or bookeen, if those are the only options I would choose the bookeen.
The problem as ai see it is this new Wolf format that we know nothing about. It's something new and from what I read, support is not going to start off being all that great. I'm not happy with any new ebook reader that comes out with a NEW format.

There is an old wife tale about technology.

There was this wise learned doctor who refused to embrace early photography although he had the means and availability. He always said that it was of no good and he'd wait for the next better issue. As he refused to have his picture taken, no one knew what he looked like after he died and was forgotten. And so was his family.

Live now and have fun discovering.

I agree on the ability to display JPGs without problem on the current reader. In fact for the limit of grey scale it shows it is a great picture. But from a manga viewpoint, not so hot simply due to the huge eating of memory, the slow load and lack of navigational ability all compared to converting it to PDFs (which look pretty darn good once you spend enough time learning what style needs what settings).

Around here the manga view choices are Tablet>Iliad (when that lucky weasel is in town)>ereader>laptop.

If it wasn't for your saying that it would be primarily manga I would say get one now. A little difference in background grey wouldn't be that bad. But with manga it can be. A lot would also depend on the style of manga read also. Older or more basic art styles (Touch, Love Roma, Lupin) look and read very nice. More intricate work (Boys Be, Negima) or work with a lot of toning (Ai Yori Aoshi, Eyeshield21) can still be read but can lose a lot if it's a first reading.

Best eink reader for manga has got to be that evil fellow out of most of our price range: the Iliad. The greyscale is fantastic and the screen size is the same size or bigger. But for use around here we just picked up a cheap laptop at half the price and use it instead.

The point of always waiting, never getting is a good one which is why I usually run on the "2 month" rule for major purchases (especially in electronics). If there is supposed to be something with a major change within that time frame then I wait until the end of that time to make a purchase. Not to decide if am going to get something (since I've already decided to get the item) but to allow any change that was supposed to occur to arrive and see if that affects my choice of WHICH item to get. Two months roll around (or the promised event happens early) then I get what I had planned on getting.

Around here the last week in August is penciled in as "ereader days". 4 people have their money set aside and their first choices picked but are waiting until then to make the actual buys. This would because of the possible release of 3 new readers as well as some strongly hinted upgrades of one established reader. (And just for the count, it's 3 Sonys and an Iliad on the pick charts.)

OK. partly because of this thread, but also because I wanted to do so, i've written a comprehensive review on the Sony Reader's "sequential art"-displayingcapabilities.

http://hightech.afmag.net/reading-manga-and-comics-on-the-sony-reader-the-definitive-review.html

This should help you out a bit. (comments appreciated)

<snip>
I'm not meaning to argue, but that statement seems to suggest that you don't consider Sony's Connect Store to be a source for modern best-selling fiction, and I'm curious as to why not. :nice:
Possibly because Sony's Connect Store is practically unusable? Or maybe because they've locked out anyone who doesn't use Windows? Or because they hide books from their own search function? Or...


I know, I know... You already knew all of that and were just yanking our chains. Right?

Possibly because Sony's Connect Store is practically unusable? Or maybe because they've locked out anyone who doesn't use Windows? Or because they hide books from their own search function? Or...


I know, I know... You already knew all of that and were just yanking our chains. Right?Well, yeah, besides all that. :grin:

i will mainly be using it for jpg manga/comics From [Bookeen] Official answer for battery and some general information (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11675): Concerning images, we have implemented a very good dithering algorithm which renders an astonishing image quality. It will be interesting to see how the Cybook compares to the Sony for jpegs.

It will be interesting to see how the Cybook compares to the Sony for jpegs.

It will indeed. I think personally that the Sony does a pretty amazing job of rendering a full-colour JPEG on a 4 colour grey-scale screen - in many of the illustrated books that I've created for the Reader I'm amazed at how well the pictures are displayed. If the CyBook can do even better, I very much look forward to seeing it.

In my opinion jpeg will be better rendered with the "2nd generation"
of Vizplex screens, the first ones which are gonna be released will only
support 4 level of greyscale (2-bit) whereas next ones will support
16 level of greyscale (3-bit). I've been told that's not an issue with the
screen itself but with the controler.

I remember some discussions (not sure where, I think not here) last fall before I bought my Sony in November that made it seem as if there were about to be many more e-ink devices released any day now that would render the Sony to the scrap heap of history. It has been nine months and I am yet to see anything new that exceeds the Sony.

In that time I've read hundreds of books, saved countless trees (well countless small trees), met some great folks here at MobileRead, learned about BookDesigner and libprs500, and generally had a great time. If I had waited ....

Well, if I had known about ebook devices 6 months ago sure I wouldn't
have waited but right now we are less than 2 month before the
launch of the Cybook, and even if it isn't a REVOLUTION it is a great
EVOLUTION. Even though few people here get it, the support of mobipocket
is quite important since it is owned by Amazon, once more it will be
half a centimeter thinner, weight only 180g and have a better screen.
Not to mention a better warranty which will cover Europe too! :)
It is enough for me to wait 2 months, once more during the while I can
borrow all the books I want at the library, so...

Well, if I had known about ebook devices 6 months ago sure I wouldn't
have waited but right now we are less than 2 month before the
launch of the Cybook, and even if it isn't a REVOLUTION it is a great
EVOLUTION. Even though few people here get it, the support of mobipocket
is quite important since it is owned by Amazon, once more it will be
half a centimeter thinner, weight only 180g and have a better screen.
Not to mention a better warranty which will cover Europe too! :)
It is enough for me to wait 2 months, once more during the while I can
borrow all the books I want at the library, so...
If the Cybook is delayed from it's projected release date, what are you going to do then? I cannot say it will or will not be delayed. But, the NEAB version of the Cybook has been VERY delayed.

If it's delayed, and I don't think so, I'll probably buy a sony reader which will
probably be cheaper and maybe available in europe...

Well! My choice would be based on where I live. Europe would be the Bookeen as US would be the Sony. Anywhere else depends on availability.

Where are you from?

I live in Israel , It doesn't matter much which eBook Reader I'll get I guess.
How can I purchase the Bookeen Reader If I wish ? (I have friends in France also).

You can't buy the CyBook yet - it's due to be released about the end of September, at which time you'll be able to buy it from Bookeen's web site.