Any pointers for a sub-$100 reader ?

[smallhagrid]

For a while there were some great deals on $69 readers...but I've seen none lately.
(Should have grabbed a Jetbook or similar at that $ when I could have...)

Is anyone seeing any great deals these days ?

Thanks for any pointers !

[Dulin's Books]

check the used market.

[smallhagrid]

I don't post unthinkingly - I checked this entire forum BEFORE asking.

[jbcohen]

From Border's web site a brand new never before used Kobo is $100. Check the liquidation sales you might be able to get one for less than that.

Do you have a cell phone such as an android, blackberry or iphone? If you do have one your readers will cost $0.

[smallhagrid]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

From Border's web site a brand new never before used Kobo is $100. Check the liquidation sales you might be able to get one for less than that.

Do you have a cell phone such as an android, blackberry or iphone? If you do have one your readers will cost $0.

My phone is ancient and shall stay as it is until it is 100% dead...

I might consider the Kobo but I also checked the places I knew and found some for sale on fleabay, which I am watching.

I do not know which 'liquidation sales' you are referring to - please educate me ?

I will hold off spending $100 and see if I can get one for under that because it is to be a secondary one for me as my existing reader gets used alot and is kept with the pleasure book I am reading - this is for reference reading.

[jbcohen]

I think the most cost effective way to get this done is to address the phone issue instead of the reader issue rather than the ereader issue. Go to your cell phone provider and buy a new smart phone and the readers are free. This way you kill to birds with one stone.

Border announced some months ago that they are going into chapter 11 bankrupcy and as a consequence they hired a liquidation company who is liquidating their entire stock for typically 20% off all items.

Is there a Borders in Vermont? Try walking into one and see if they have any readers left.

By addressing this issue via the cell phone you can kill two birds with one stone. Pay for one cell phone and get the phone issue corrected and get the readers for free and save the $100. Please understand that this is the most cost effective method IMHO but it has problems, small screen and you will be cosntantly scrolling. But you can get readers from Amazon, Borders, Barns and Nobles and Mobi Pocket and buy from several stores not just one. Stand alone readers are typically prorpietary for a specific store.

Here is an article from Prime Bankruptcy:

Borders Announces Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Another one bites the financial dust, this time it is the big name bookseller Borders. The company announced its decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week as its efforts to refinance its debts failed miserably.

When the company failed to persuade its creditors and publishers to convert payments owed into interest-bearing loans, Borders realized that it had to take drastic measures. This is in spite of the $550 million loan it will receive from GE Capital, as well as securing additional financing to support itself during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

Year of declining profits and management turnover meant that the move for bankruptcy was not a surprise to its publishers. In a desperate attempt to keep some cash on hand Borders stopped paying its publishers altogether in December of last year and would miss another scheduled payment in January of this year. It is now up to the individual publishers whether they will continue to ship books to Borders.

[natasha_fawn]

As jbcohen mentioned, some Borders stores are closing, you can find out if any of those near you are on the list by using the store locator at Borders.com. There is also a list of closing stores here http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/do..._20110216.html At the stores that are closing, people have been finding Kobos for $79. See this thread https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=123770 Whatever other readers they have still in stock are likely to be 20% off as well, I think they carry Sonys and Velocity Cruz, and they used to have one of the black and white lcd readers but I don't see that on their website now.

Barnes and Noble has been selling refurbished wi-fi nooks for $99 on ebay, http://cgi.ebay.com/Barnes-%26-Noble...68660.m2000036 which is a pretty good price.

Other than those I haven't seen any good sub-$100 deals.

[jbcohen]

Natasha is correct that referb nooks are available on ebay. However I do not recommend them since they have suffered failures once and are lible to get into your hands and suffer the same failure. IMHO I like the Borders route better becuase you don't need to compete with others to get that price.

[fjtorres]

It really depends on what you're looking for in a reader.
For eink, the Kobo is rock bottom today.
You might find a Sony 300 in the same price range but odds are not much else new.
Keep an eye on ebay for Nook refurbs.
If you do a web search you'll find the Sharper Image literati at $69 which isn't bad (essentially a Kobo that trades off the virtues of eink for those of color LCD). Not the $39 of last month but it's a fair price for a competent enough connected reader.
If compact size matters more than format support, the Jetbook mini is often found in the $80 range.
Things should improve by late summer if the K4 materializes and pushes prices down lower but right now...

[natasha_fawn]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Natasha is correct that referb nooks are available on ebay. However I do not recommend them since they have suffered failures once and are lible to get into your hands and suffer the same failure. IMHO I like the Borders route better becuase you don't need to compete with others to get that price.

It's important to keep in mind, though, that these refurbished nooks have exactly the same warranty that the new ones have (1 year), so even if it were to fail you'd have the same options as if you had bought a new one. Pretty good deal. I think it's unlikely that you'd get the same failure as first occurred anyway, since whatever failed has been replaced and the entire unit has been tested before it could be resold. And it's likely that many of these are simple returns, as stores can't sell opened electronics as new. My worry with Borders is that many of these closing sales have been going on for a couple of weeks now, so they may not have much left. But different folks have different priorities. The refurb nook would be an acceptable risk for me, but I understand people who don't want to deal with it.

Oh, I remembered another deal. Best Buy and Bed Bath and Beyond (of all places!) had been selling Sharper Image Literati for $40-$80 last month. It was a little while ago, and they were being clearanced out, so there's a good chance none are left. It might be worth a few phone calls to check, though. (Hah, fjtorres beat me. Clearly I need to type faster,)

[fjtorres]

Newegg has a couple of deals on jetbooks both lite and (black) mini.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by smallhagrid

For a while there were some great deals on $69 readers...but I've seen none lately.
(Should have grabbed a Jetbook or similar at that $ when I could have...)

Is anyone seeing any great deals these days ?

Thanks for any pointers !

Jetbook Mini at Newegg for $69.99, free shipping

Jetbook Lite at Newegg, open box, for $66.99 plus shipping

[jbcohen]

The only thing the Kobo has that the Jet Book mini and lite don't is the Kobo is simpler to operate since it has only one button. So is simplicity worth the extra $$s?

IMHO I still recommend the smart phone route since it kills two birds with one stone.

[demingite]

Cheapest price yet on the JB Mini. Just make sure that it will do what want it to do:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...018-_-03082011

[jbcohen]

Can't be cheaper then the phone route since the readers cost $0.