[tomliversidge]

Hi,

I am interested in the use of e-readers for a project I am currently involved in with the University of Manchester. We have developed an online system for students to submit their assignments electronically and for markers to mark these assignments. However, the markers have commented on the discomfort of reading assignments on LCD computer screens, so I am looking into the possibility of using e-ink based e-readers.

I was hoping the community could recommend the best device for working with Microsoft Word documents (.doc). This is the format students submit their assignments in. By the research I have done, it appears that only the HanLin v3 natively supports the .doc format. However, the iLiad seems the most appealing due to the ability to make comments on docs via the stylus. The iLiad seems to need (and please correct me if I am wrong!) either a conversion to the mobipocket format or the installation of AbiWord. Is it possible to batch-convert word docs to mobipocket? Is there a web-service for this? I am wary of the extra work involved in using converter software if it is on a per-file basis. I'm not convinced AbiWord is the solution for this either, as I dont want to give markers the opportunity to edit the word docs themselves. Is there a stripped down version of this program that just displays word documents?

Your help is appreciated!
Tom