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Old 12-02-2010, 03:39 PM   #21
Harmon
King of the Bongo Drums
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Before you decide on which EBR to get, you need to spend some time thinking about the "ecology" it will become a part of. What I mean by "ecology" is the electronic environment established by your other eGadgets: computer, tablet & phone.The ecology will point you to certain EBRs, and away from others. For example, there is an Apple ecology which includes the Mac, the iPad, & the iPhone or iPod. In this ecology, you use iBooks and do not have the option of buying a dedicated EBR. However, if you have this trilogy, you can add a Kindle and turn it into an Apple/Amazon ecology, able to access all your books on all four devices IF you download the Kindle app & buy your books from Amazon. If, otoh, you were to attempt to add a Sony to the Apple ecology, you would find that you can't do it - there's no Sony app for the Apple devices. However, you could get a Nook, and establish an Apple/Barnes&Noble ecology. The point is, whatever your electronic ecology, you need to know how well it will integrate with whatever eBook you might be thinking about.

You also have to establish your tolerance for messing about with things like converting ebooks to specific formats, relying on your computer to buy & transfer books, &c. Sonys seem to require more of this than other EBRs.

Finally, you have to reveal your innermost consumer being: are you the kind of person who is willing to pay what it takes to get the book you want right now, or are you the kind of person who likes the concept of "free" and is willing to search the net for DRM free public domain books, or connect to a public library which lends out ebooks? If the former, you want an EBR which is connected to an online bookstore. If the latter, you want an EBR which reads the epub format & works with the Overdrive software which interfaces with the public libraries - in this case, Sony comes out ahead of the Kindle. Or you might want to get an EBR other than one of the name brands if you are not interested in the relatively costly eBooks the majors carry.

In short, buying an EBR is like buying a pair of glasses. It's not just a matter of the lenses. You have to choose the style, and get the frames sized correctly.
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