Hi There ! I am new to this forum, and fairly new to the ebook concept in general.

Like most everyone getting started, I am trying to figure out which "reading device" is the right one for me. So far I have tried using a small laptop as well as a PDA, but have come to the conclusion that neither is really suitable for reading books (I know so many of you are going, "well duh !" at this point ;) )

So I would like to get a dedicated reader :) Based on my reading on this forum (and elsewhere) so far, I have narrowed down my choices to one of the following -- Kindle 2 or BeBook/HanlinV3/EZ-Reader or Sony PRS-505. However, I am having a really tough time making the final decision, primarily because I don't how each will perform in my real day to day environment, given my requirements (see below).

This is where I am hoping some of you would be able to share your experience and help me make this decision :)

Some background on my preferences are --

1) I would like to get the most flexible device with good support for many different formats

2) The quality of the display and formatting of the text is very important to me. If the text is not nicely formatted, it constantly gets in my way of being able to enjoy the content :(

3) I absolutely HATE the idea of DRM and being locked down to a single vendor, and would like to support the vendors that sell DRM-free ebooks as much as possible. However, I do realize that in order to get the best selection, I may have to cave down from time to time :(

4) One BIG advantage I have is that being a newbie to this area, I do not have a large investment made into any particular format at this point. However, once I do start building up my collection, I really would like to have the option of switching to a newer, different, better reader without having to re-purchase the books I have already paid for.

5) I use a lot of PDF documents, and if the reader had good support for this, that would be a huge plus !

6) I am fairly tech savvy and don't mind if I had to manually convert from one format to the other regularly, provided I can still get good formatting at the end using the available tools.


Given the above, here is what my current thought is (and some questions)

1) Clearly, the Hanlin V3 based devices seem the most flexible when it comes to supporting many different formats. But my question is, does it offer the best formatting and display ? So for example, if I buy a book in mobipocket format and view it in K2 or Sony 505 or Hanlin -- will they all look the same ? Or rather, can they all be made to look the same may be with some reformatting ?

2) Purely from a hardware standpoint, I like the Sony PRS-505 the best. But it also seems to be the one most limited in format support. I have read about the conversion tools, namely Calibre, but am not sure how well it really works. Could someone who has a Sony 505 and have done quite a bit of conversion from other formats please comment on this ? So basically, what I am looking for is whether the book will look as good as the original format after conversion ?

3) From a selection point of view, Kindle 2 seems to be the best so far ... but I am dreading the fact that Amazon is really trying to lock me down to their device. Once I purchase a book, I would REALLY REALLY like to "own" it and use it on ANY device that I purchase in the future. Also, in this economy, I am not terribly comfortable with the idea of someone else "backing up" contents that I have purchased and would like to do my own backup.

With this in mind, does anyone know if the AZW files that I purchase from the Amazon store can be backed up on my own PC and converted into other formats in the future ? I am more than happy to get the Kindle 2 for now, as long as I know that I can backup all my purchases on my PC (so in the very rare chance that Amazon goes out of business, or I don't want to work with them any more) I will still have access to MY contents and be able to read them on any other device that I may upgrade to in the future.

Also, if I buy the Kindle and then buy books in other formats from other stores, how well can they be converted to a format that the Kindle will understand ? Will they look as good after the conversion ?

Does Amazon terms of use prevent the user from putting any content of their choosing in the Kindle ? So if I buy a book in another format, convert it to AZW or some other Kindle supported format, and then put it on the Kindle -- can Amazon later wipe out that from MY Kindle with a future update ?

Finally, one last question about the Hanlin V3 based devices. If I go this route, I will either buy the BeBook or the Astrak EZ Reader ... just from the point of view of them being lower cost. But are they EXACTLY the same as far as the hardware is concerned ? Can the firmware from any of these 3 be applied to the other ? I thought this is the case, but what confused me is that on the Astrak website it has the following statement --

All eBooks on this website are powered by Mobipocket eBooks common library and you can read them on your PC, but not on the EZ Reader. This is because the EZ reader currently does not support DRM ebooks. We are working hard on supporting the DRM format, and we will notify EZ Reader users when a firmware update is available (it will be displayed on this website).

I thought the latest Hanlin/BeBook firmware does support Mobi formats well, so why doesn't the EZ Reader.

Well, that's all for now ! I hope you all will not alienate me for starting on this forum with SOOO many questions.

:thanks: much in advance :thanks:


P.S. BTW, I am voting for "something else" just so I don't have to click "view poll results" everytime ;)

Finally, one last question about the Hanlin V3 based devices. If I go this route, I will either buy the BeBook or the Astrak EZ Reader ... just from the point of view of them being lower cost. But are they EXACTLY the same as far as the hardware is concerned ? Can the firmware from any of these 3 be applied to the other ?


Yes & yes. Personally, I prefer the firmware you haven't mentioned, the one from lbook http://www.lbook.com.ua/ru/download/lBook%20V3 (note: don't switch to English language, it won't show the download link).

Thanks for the quick response iterati ! This is great to know. I didn't know about the lbook firmware ... will definitely look into it if I get a Hanlin V3 based device.

I hope Astrak updates the message on their website about the EZ-Reader not being Mobi compliant now that the Hanlin firmware support it. That was throwing me off, and I guess will do so for other prospective buyers ...

http://www.mobiebook.com/default.asp

As I am reading more, I am finding that my local library has lots of ebooks of my interest available. Most of these seem to be in the Adobe time limited DRM format. I don't have a problem with this particular type of DRM, since i am not paying to get the book and I don't own it.

Which reader supports the Adobe DRM books best ? From my limited search so far, it looks like the Sony PRS-505 is the only one that natively supports this -- is this correct ?

Well, yes, although the recent program to remove DRM from Adobe and free programs to convert to mobi makes putting library books on the kindle a no-brainer. And I an NOT tech savvy (not even a little!)

PDF files have limitations on being shown on a smaller screen. This is regardless of the liseuse (e-book reader) being used. I am in the midst of shifting to Bebook/Openinkpot (a freeware reading firmware consortium) as my primary liseuse. All the software has implemetation problems/limits, so it is a matter of which set of limits you'er the most comfortable with.

For example, SONY's doesn't support HTML and supports RTF only without pictures. Kindle is very amazon centered, although you can load mobipocket (.prc) files onto it. No HTML or RTF. Bebook has various firmwares available, each with their own set of issues. Openinkpot handles HTML, RTF without pictures, TXT, and PRC, but it's still beta with features being added and bugs fixed. It's stable enough for my use, so I'm converting all my RTF files to HTML, which takes time.

Hope this helps.

Hope this helps.

Yes, this was helpful ! Thanks very much.

PDF files have limitations on being shown on a smaller screen. This is regardless of the liseuse (e-book reader) being used.


Any idea if PDF is the only format with this restriction ? Does the Mobipocket format display better on smaller screens ? Unfortunately my local library has many more PDF books than Mobi.

How about converting from PDF to Mobi ? Does that help with the screen formatting issue ? If so, so you know which tool does the best job of converting PDFs into Mobi ?

I see that Mobipocket Creator (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp) can convert from PDF. Since it appears to be free, I will give this a shot with a couple PDF books I have and see how that works.

How do I verify how it will look on a small screen though ? When using MobiReader, can I restrict the screen size on the PC to "emulate" a 6 inch screen ?


I am in the midst of shifting to Bebook/Openinkpot (a freeware reading firmware consortium) as my primary liseuse. All the software has implemetation problems/limits, so it is a matter of which set of limits you'er the most comfortable with.


Yes, this is sadly becoming more and more evident to me :( Hence trying to find a hardware/software solution that will pose the least issues with my needs.

I know OpenInkPot doesn't support DRM formats right now; do you know if there are plans to do that in the future ?

Oooh ! I just downloaded the Mobipocket Creator and see that it comes with an emulator ... I am still installing this, but has anyone tried this ? Does it give a realistic depiction of how the created/converted book will actually look like on the actual e-reader screen ?

Any idea if PDF is the only format with this restriction ? Does the Mobipocket format display better on smaller screens ? Unfortunately my local library has many more PDF books than Mobi.

The issue with pdf is that is pre-structured in pages and it requires either that page to fit in the whole screen or zoom in/out. Think image. Another limitation is that you have to stick with the font that the pdf maker chose for you.
True/plain text is totally dynamic, think notepad, html, rtf. There is the option to change font size and family and therefore adjust the volume of the text that appears on the screen of the e-reader.
Mobipocker is mostly OK.

If you check out my devices, you'll note I have a little of most everything. That said, my favorite reader is the EZ Reader with the OpenInkPot (OI) firmware on the SD card. Any of the Hanliin family's frimware updates can be used with the hardware which, to the best of my knowledge, are all identical. Only the firmware differs. Having the OI firmware on the SD card instead of flashing it to internal memory allows you to use the original firmware if you want to but switch to OI when you prefer it. I stay in the OI mode unless I want to try something with DRM, e.g. DRMed Epub, otherwise I mostly deDRM and convert to Mobipocket. I have only had one bad experience with the formatting when doing that (Note; I rarely get PDF ebooks.)

I'm like you in that I want the availability of many formats & hate DRM.

You asked about the Kindle formats. There are two, the AZW & the AZW1 (aka Topaz). The AZW is just a Mobipocket format with the file extension renamed. Of course Amazon won't tell you what the Kindle's PID is but if you read the forums here that is easy to find and then easy to deDRM. AFAIK the AZW1 can not be deDRMed.

PDF is an odd format in that it can be purely images (sometimes of text), purely text or a mixture. If it is purely text and appropriately formated (not too often the case) then Mobipocket Creator does a good job of converting it. It does a very poor job with images of text, or other images. The main reason is that PDF is designed for a page layout function, i.e. to be printed on letter sized paper. This results in the 8.5x11 page being reduced to the readers 6 inch screen. All this is the reason I stay away from PDFs unless it's the only thing available.

The Adobe DRM can not be removed, see other threads for this. Therefore you don't have to be able to read that format since you can deDRM and convert it.

Bottom line for me is the Hanlin familty with OI on the SD card is the best option for me. I'd sell both my PRS-500 (works but has some damage) and my Cybook ( very good shape and does have some excellent features, e.g. dictionary lookup) if I had a buyer but haven't tried to do so yet. The Kindle 1 that I bought on Ebay is so I can buy those Amazon books that I want and because they were just getting so cheap. My Palm TX is still too useful as a PDA to sell it and I do ocassionally read on it. It's nice for fitting in my pocket and for low light conditions too.

Oh and welcome to MR.

Oooh ! I just downloaded the Mobipocket Creator and see that it comes with an emulator ... I am still installing this, but has anyone tried this ? Does it give a realistic depiction of how the created/converted book will actually look like on the actual e-reader screen ?

I wasn't aware of an emulator. What version of Creator do you have?

Thanks Slayda :)

I didn't realize that the OI firmware can be loaded directly from the SD card without having to flash the device. That is a HUGE advantage ! This tilts the scale quite a bit towards the Hanlin devices.

Your explanation of the difficulty with how the PDF was created makes perfect sense. Most of the PDF books I have seen so far allows me to copy-paste texts from them, so I am assuming they are basically formatted texts and not images (of text). But I will play with Mobicreator some to see how it works.

By the way, I have been reading some issues with the Mobi font support on the Hanlin devices. Even with the latest firmware, the smallest font size for Mobi books is still too big. Do you have any experience with this ?

You also gave me a great idea about possibly buying a K1 for cheap just so I can buy the books from Kindle store, and then buy a Hanlin device to read them on :p I just might do that if I can pick up a K1 for cheap (hopefully more people will migrate to the K2 and at least some will dump the K1 at a reasonable price).

Does Amazon's terms of service prevent reading a Kindle content on another device ? It will be really sad if they did, but this is one of those cases where I don't mind converting the content I bought anyway even if Amazon doesn't want me to, since this is a perfect example of "fair use".

I wasn't aware of an emulator. What version of Creator do you have?

version 4.2 build 4.1 that I just downloaded from here.

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/DownloadCreator.asp

The page says --
The Mobipocket Creator is a free software.
It includes the Mobipocket Emulator to test and preview the eBooks that you create.
Haven't tried this yet though ... so I don't know if they are talking about emulating an actual ereader device -or- just test how it will work on another PC.

I tried the Mobipocket device emulator, and unfortunately it does not have any of the "real" readers supported yet ... just few older Windows CE and other devices ... not a single e-ink based reader listed. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Purely from a hardware standpoint, I like the Sony PRS-505 the best. But it also seems to be the one most limited in format support. Actually, that distinction belongs to the Kindle. The only native formats it supports are TXT and non-DRM'ed mobi.

From what you've said, I'd say Hanlin. The only thing that prevented me from voting for that, was its lack of DRM'ed PDF support, which eliminates the whole library lending thing. My vote went to "other", and if you really need absolute breadth and flexibility, I say Tablet PC.

Or you can trim down your requirements. I changed my requirements from stuff that was more like yours and pared it down to: "be able to read free books on the device; be able to read newsfeeds and/or downloaded content from the web on the device; pdf support". That trimmed-down list let me focus on the fun part of deciding: picking form-factor, user-interface, and color--rather than agonizing between a bunch of readers, none of which that did exactly what I wanted.

And I think software availability is an important consideration. If Caliber didn't exist, it would have impacted my consideration of certain readers.

So can the DRM'd PDF be converted to something that either the Hanlin or Kindle can read ? May be by maintaining the same PID of the device, so that I am not not really removing DRM but making it work for my situation ;)

So can the DRM'd PDF be converted to something that either the Hanlin or Kindle can read ? May be by maintaining the same PID of the device, so that I am not not really removing DRM but making it work for my situation ;)

That works for reading mobi's on the Kindle, I think, because Kindle's native format is basically a slight variant of mobi. This wouldn't work if the Kindle didn't support a DRM'ed variant of mobi.

With the Hanlin, I don't think you can just change a PID in the file, because the Hanlin has no support for the DRM used in PDF's (which I'm 99% sure is different than the DRM used in mobis). I think the only way to go here, would be to strip the DRM from the PDF entirely. Then you'd be able to read it fine on the Hanlin or any number of devices with PDF support. That is generally not legal, of course.

And of course, the Kindle can't even read PDF's, so even if you stripped the DRM entirely, the Kindle wouldn't know what to do with it.

Answers:
1. BeBook (Hanlin) probably supports the most formats.
2. Quality depends on the type of ebook. Different ebook readers have different strong points. BeBook offers an overall good quality.
3. Buying an ebook without DRM, very unlikely. Either you buy an ebook with almost 99% certainty it will have DRM, you download a pirated copy or you download from the overwhelming abundance of freely (legally) available ebooks. There are some emagazines that do not have DRM, see point 5.
4. A bit naive. If you buy a Sony, buy lots of DRM'ed ebooks and than think of switching to another brand and still be able to access all your legally bought ebooks, I am afraid that if the current situation continues you are going to be very disappointed in near future.
5. If by PDF you mean A4 or Letter sized ebooks or emagazines none of the ones you mentioned qualifies. Buy an iPod Touch or double your budget and go for an iLiad. But ask someone with an iLiad to test some of your PDF ebooks (largest page size, smallest print, ...). Some very helpful people on this forum.
6. The only conversion I have done is from TXT, RTF and HTML to optimized PDF using OpenOffice Writer. Very good.

I have written 2 reviews, one for BeBook and one for the iPod Touch.
http://blog.johan-mares.be/ict/gadget/ipod/using-the-ipod-touch-or-iphone-to-read-ebooks/
http://blog.johan-mares.be/ict/gadget/bebook/bebook-one-month-review/

Hope this helps.

Johan

Are there any other features that matter to you besides format support? For instance, dictionary lookup, content search, the ability to load your own fonts, content organization, or annotation.

Are there any other features that matter to you besides format support? For instance, dictionary lookup, content search, the ability to load your own fonts, content organization, or annotation.

Thanks for asking that ! I missed covering this earlier.

Dictionary lookup is not terribly important for me, but I would find ability to search the content to be quite useful. If absolutely necessary, I can live without content search, but would really prefer to have it.

Ability to load my own fonts would be VERY nice ... especially if people have tried many different fonts and there are some recommendations for what works well and what doesn't.

Content organization is also another really nice things to have ... but if I had to live without this, I could.

Annotation is not important for me.

To summarize, here are the list of features in rough order of priority (for me)


Content availability -- more the better :)
Support for a large number of formats (with PDF and Mobi support pretty high on the list)
Ability to "really own" the books I purchase and be able to read them on multiple devices (current and future generation)
How the books "look" on the device (this includes both how the display quality is, as well as the formatting of the contents)
General usability of the device -- button placements, stability of firmware, regular bug fixes etc.
Weight of the device
Cost
Ability to search contents
Battery Life
Size of the screen (bigger the better, upto about 8-10 inches)
Touch screen support (but not at the cost of clarity of display ... I understand none of the devices I am looking at right now will support this)
Ability to load customize the device (custom fonts fall under this, plus the more ways I can customize the device, the better)
MP3 playback


Things which are nice to have, but not very important

Dictionary lookup
Annotation
WiFi support
Ability to purchase content right from the device ... I am perfectly happy to hook up the device to the PC once a while to get content



Thanks again !

hey

I'm reaaally new to the whole e-book concept myself but love to read and figure this can really only do wonders for my reading life. Still kind of undecided on what is best for me as far as what device to get, but just out of curiosity: is the kindle the only ebook device that allows for subscriptions to newspapers and magazines? I don't really care about the blog subscriptions though I guess if you get the former the latter will likely be available?

is the kindle the only ebook device that allows for subscriptions to newspapers and magazines? I don't really care about the blog subscriptions though I guess if you get the former the latter will likely be available?

The short answer is: yes, the kindle is the only device that subscribes to newspapers and magazines. The subscriptions cost a couple dollars per paper/magazine for a month, I believe.

The long answer is: not exactly, because with non-Kindle devices (well, and also with the Kindle) you can use a desktop application (Caliber, for one) to grab RSS feeds (and accompanying full articles) free off of the web.

I'm sure the Kindle experience is probably a bit more slick, since it automatically shows up on your device, and is custom-formatted by the content provider. Caliber does a nice job formatting, but its formatting is more homegrown. It's not "as intended by the publisher". In some cases, perhaps many cases, you might actually like Caliber's formatting better.

I know I've been preferring caliber over normal RSS feeds :)

I also find myself in the same boat, not sure which device to buy. I'm not terribly excited about any of the Readers but I have pretty much decided on the prs-505, with a used Kindle 1 a close second. If I find a cheap one I might just grab it.

My main goal is to read free books and to convert my collection of .LIT books with Calibre. That's it. Since that's 95% of my goal I'd prefer to ignore the other features and spend as little as possible :)

The Kindle is a close 2nd only because I could easily see myself buying a book now and then from Amazon. The temptation to impulse buy is scaring me a little. The fact that it's a little goofy looking is a minor annoyance with me. I imagine I'll make some enemies with that statement but oh well.

Surfing over to Sony, buying a book with my credit card then syncing my device is so "2007." I cannot believe how whiny that sounds.

Other random thoughts/reasons/justifications...

I'm a professional network geek working at a large telecom. I have a huge library of technical ebooks/pdf's that I'd prefer to just leave on my computer. They're indexed and searchable where they are.

The PRS-700 and Kindle2 are too expensive for my needs.

Newspapers and magazines... I'm happy reading those on my laptop. Or even on paper while they're still printing.

A prs-505 with light wedge case is ideal for night reading. Almost all of my reading is done at night, so this is a big deal for me.

Mp3's - everything seems to play music these days. I have 2gb of music on my phone I never even listen to. I'll stick with the ipod for music. All I want to do is read on the thing.

I'd be interested to hear what you end up getting. Now I'm looking for a prs-505 or Kindle1. If anybody has one to unload just PM me :)

Greg in Seattle

Thanks to all the suggestions here ! I have made up my mind (for now at least ;)) and I am going with a dual reader solution. Picked up a used Kindle 1 (from the flea market here) for $200 and was able to buy a new Sony PRS-505 for $210 (had a coupon).

So for a little bit more than what a Kindle 2 would cost, I *think* I have a solution that needs most of my needs for now.

I am relying a lot on the conversions I can do with Calibre, and am expecting I will use the Sony device more on day to day basis.

Having the Kindle 1 will give me access to the Kindle store, so I will be able to buy books from there ... and hopefully be able to convert them so I can read them equally well on the Sony.

Thanks for ALL the responses here (as well as the many other threads where I picked up more info). You people are truly fantastic :thanks:

Now wish me luck ;)

Good pick. I love my 505, and wouldn't have upgraded to the 700 except for the note taking and search functions. I use my Touch for anything I find and don't yet know how to convert to my reader. The Touch makes a suitable reader for those few instances.

Using third party free software, such as Stanza and Calibre, almost any format can be read on any of these devices by a very simple conversion process that takes only a couple of minutes. I own both the latest version of the Sony PRS-505 and the new Kindle 2. If I had to chose between them I would prefer the Kindle by a wide margin.

Compatibility simply isn't much of an issue and remember, the Kindle has that 240,000+ library that continues to grow by leaps and bounds. For me it's a no-brainer. Another consideration is that Kindle books can now be read on the iPhone/touch with no additional cost--and with two way sync.

Having the Kindle 1 will give me access to the Kindle store, so I will be able to buy books from there ... and hopefully be able to convert them so I can read them equally well on the Sony.

You will be able to convert non-DRM Kindle volumes, but not those you buy from the Kindle store.

That was a good price on the PRS-505. Be sure it has the latest firmware when you get it. This will allow it to read EPUB files which is a big plus.

I don't know how you feel about fully justified text, but I hate it. I like left justification, and for this reason I prefer RTF files on my 505. Also, I often save an entire book in boldface to improve the contrast.

Good luck!

I wanted a 505 but ended up with a Kindle, I picked it up used today. The market is currently flooded with used K1's, mainly from people buying K2. I saved a lot of dough and I'm very pleased with this Reader.

I'm secretly a little happy I can zap a new book to my Kindle from Amazon. When I walk into a book store I do not browse the hard-bound books. I figure there are millions of paperbacks I've never read so why pay a premium? But $10 isn't a big deal for a new release in digital format.

I've run a few conversion tests so far with Calibre...

First off, the Linux version crashed almost instantly trying to import my e-books. I may have to work on that one. So I rebooted in Vista and it worked much better. I hate Vista but oh well.

So far - I have a .LIT book converted. I have the hardbound book, .LIT and Kindle (MOBI) side by side. They are virtually identical. The conversion was very fast too. I suspect .LIT is a well defined file format and easy to convert.

Next I converted an RTF. It took a LOT longer. Eventually it finished (~15 mins?). When I first opened the book it was tiny and unreadable, and wouldn't respond to font resize. I closed and re-opened and it looks fine, and fonts resize too. No chapters, etc., but from an RTF I didn't expect it to.

Next I'll do some PDF's (not optimistic), DOCs and TXT files.

Thank you all for your help in answering my questions. I doubt I'd have bought the thing without the advice, and now I'm glad I came here to ask. Thanks!

Greg.

Any reason you're not considering the CyBook? It has the best MobiPocket support of any device, and MobiPocket is probably the most wide-spread and prevalent format in use today.

Can I jump in? I'm also facing the same choice - thinking about which e-reader to acquire, and contemplating these three options. My priorities are a bit different, though. One important one is that I need the reader to display Cyrillic text. Many of my .txt format e-books are in Russian. Another one is that I own a lot of PalmReader e-books with DRM; can any of the readers display those? (yes, I can read them on the Palm, but the screen hurts my eyes after a while) One of the reasons I really don't want a Kindle is because I don't want any more #&$#$& DRM in my e-books. I already have $100 worth of books that can only be displayed on one device.

Also, do any of the readers have an automatic page-turn feature? I like to read as I practice the piano, and it's very convenient to set the Palm in front of me and set it to auto-scroll. Would be nice to do that with a better screen.

I believe the Ectaco JetBook has automatic page turn feature.

This is regardless of the liseuse (e-book reader) being used.

Actually, you are the eBook reader and the device in use is an eBook display device. It displays the eBook so you can read the eBook. So that makes you the eBook reader and your device an eBook display device. Unless of course you have a K2 in which case it is both an eBook display device and an eBook reader (when TTS is being used). :chinscratch:

I believe the Ectaco JetBook has automatic page turn feature.
The Jetbook is a 5" screen and has the weakest support for formats of any of the other eink devices you've mentioned.

However, since PDF is strong on your list of formats you want to be able to use, you'd be best to wait until a device with a larger screen comes out. I cannot recommend an iRex device as they are just way too expensive.

The 6" devices don't handle letter size (8.5"x11") PDF all that well.

Thanks guys for helping me to make up my mind.

Slayda - are you still interested in selling your Cybook? Mine is dying and I will need to send it in for repairs. So, I am going to replace it since I am leaving town in 10 days. I posted in Cybook Troubleshooting if you would like to comminucate.

Thanks.

U are describing the Irex DR1000s - it has PDF and News.

I enjoy my Sony PRS-700 it's perfect for my needs.

Thanks guys for helping me to make up my mind.

What did you decide on, just out of curiosity ?

For me, Sony all the way. For my retarded girlfriend, K2. :rofl: :iloveyou:

You also gave me a great idea about possibly buying a K1 for cheap just so I can buy the books from Kindle store, and then buy a Hanlin device to read them on I just might do that if I can pick up a K1 for cheap (hopefully more people will migrate to the K2 and at least some will dump the K1 at a reasonable price)

Lol now this is exactly the point where things start to get complicated. Beware the point of no return!

Hi There ! I am new to this forum, and fairly new to the ebook concept in general.


5) I use a lot of PDF documents, and if the reader had good support for this, that would be a huge plus !

6) I am fairly tech savvy and don't mind if I had to manually convert from one format to the other regularly, provided I can still get good formatting at the end using the available tools.



If you intend on using Kindle, calibre is used to convert your *.pdf files or *.lit or some other format that can not be directly read by your Kindle. Then the converted *.prc file can be transferred to your K via USB or email. That is its only connection to Kindle. I have had problems with some conversions looking pretty funky on the Kindle. And the author metadata is not right for the K. Uses first name - last name instead of last name - first name.

Mobi creator does a better job.

Reading both Kindle and mobireader boards. I have seen far better reviews of the Sony Reader than the kindle. I love my Sony kindle and enjoy reading the books anywhere I go. You should also consider what best suits you.

Hope this little information helps.