Hello from Japan. I just joined this site, and look forward to any info and inspirations you can send my way.

I do not YET own a reader, and thus am here to discern the best one to get, and why. Kindle? Sony? Others? Specifically, I have these questions to pose:

1. Does anyone have any idea whatsoever if the Kindle will be available in Japan? (I deplore the trend here towards cell-phone etexts. (Maybe it is good, though, for the ophthamologists.))

2. I have a Mac, and the concern is how well an interface would work with Windows-specific readers such as those by Sony, etc.

Thank you, and look forward to your thoughts.

MikeU

1) I doubt the Kindle will be available outside the US anytime soon.
2) If you need to purchase from the SonyStore, you'll need to run the Sony software under Windows emulation, while if you want to reflash your device when there's a future firmware upgrade, you'll likely need to re-boot into Windows. On the other hand, for normal day-to-day usage & device management, there's the cross-platform (Python) libprs500 (https://libprs500.kovidgoyal.net/)app that means that the Sony works fine with Macs.

You should also consider the CyBook Gen3. It is completely "platform independent" - works on any system with USB ports.

You should also consider the CyBook Gen3. It is completely "platform independent" - works on any system with USB ports.

As a USA Mac user, the Cybook would have been my 2nd choice, for the above reason, and the availability of books in the mobipocket format. I went with a Kindle since I live in the USA, but I think a Cybook would be a good choice for you. Skim the threads around here; people have posted comparisons.

The Kindle is not good for use outside the USA. So cross that off your list. That said, the ony choices are the Sony PRS-505 and Cybook Gen3. Me, I'd go for the 505. Wait, I did.

... But note that if you buy a Sony outside the US you effectively get no warranty. The Gen3 has a world-wide warranty.

Thank you all for your replies. But I notice no one mentioned the iLiad, which I came across yesterday. Any thoughts? (And apologies for being such a novice around experts...)

Thank you all for your replies. But I notice no one mentioned the iLiad, which I came across yesterday. Any thoughts? (And apologies for being such a novice around experts...)

The iLiad's rather a different beast from the other other readers; it's more of a general-purpose "eInk tablet PC" than a dedicated reader. Unlike the other machines, it's "open architecture", meaning you can install pretty much any Linux application on it, and it has a touch-screen and WiFi, but it has certain limitations as a result of that - basically a rather short battery life (typically 10-15h of use, compared to the other readers which will run for weeks on a battery charge) and a long boot-up time (about 45s).

If you want a dedicated fiction reader, I'd go for the Sony or CyBook; if you need the ability to read A4/Letter PDFs, or are after a more general-purpose system, then the iLiad is certainly the one to get.