Help choosing an ebook reader

[Mariusg]

Hello there,

Been looking around at ebook readers. Really like the look on the Sony Reader Pocket edition. How's your experience with it? Got some books already. Many of them are .pdf, but in most case they are plain text, and not a picture of the page (Can mark the text).

Would like something not to big, and would like to read those books without being annoyed in any way. Would the Sony Reader do that? How's the page changing time? Any other readers you could recommend? Tho keep it within the max 300 dollar. And I do not mind converting, so kindle 2 could be an alternative?

Hope you can help me out.

Cheers,
Marius

[emonti8384]

First of all, welcome to the forums!!! This place is like a godsend for information. To be honest I don't have a PRS-300 (pocket edition) but I have a 505 which is basically like a 300 except the screen is 1" smaller, it plays musics, and you can put pics on it. I am by no means tech savvy and I find Sony readers very easy to use (so far) and in the last 8-9 months have not encountered any real problems.
The screen is very clear and looks like you're reading a page thanks to e-ink. It can also read PDF's and epub, so you're in luck there. I don't believe the Kindle can (?) read PDF's tho I hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong. Before you buy anything you should buy an SD memory card, download your PDF books onto it, and take a trip to your local Sony store/Borders/Best Buy and pop it in, see what you think. Although you didn't say where you are from, so I don't know the availability of the devices where you're at. The cost for the 300 is $200, but for $50 more you might be able to find a 505. I like the bigger screen on the 505 personally. Page changing time isn't too bad at all, it does a quick "flash" when you hit the page button, which is the screen clearing and reloading. When I first picked mine up and started reading it was a little weird but 10 pages later it didn't bother me in the slightest.

It also depends on what you read. I have my readers strictly for pleasure reading, no school work or job related issues to factor in for me. If you're going to go up to $300 I'd say spring for the PRS-600. Only b/c I love mine so much, but there might be more going on with that thing that you need. Once again, it depends on if it's for school work or just kicking back and reading a book. If you're just kicking back and you don't need all the bells and whistles I'd say go for the 505 or 300. Also, depending on where you're from, you can borrow books from the library. There are also tons of free books out there, check the forums here and see what there is to offer.

Just my 2 cents, and good luck! Let us know what you decide!!!