01-10-2008, 11:13 AM | #1 |
Literacy = Understanding
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Consumer Reports Review of Reader
Consumer Reports reviewed the Sony Reader in December. Here is a link to the article (and hoping it will work for everyone): http://tinyurl.com/2dssk8.
CR also reviewed the Kindle in November: http://tinyurl.com/2ybqrw. Last edited by rhadin; 01-10-2008 at 11:16 AM. Reason: To add Kindle review link |
01-10-2008, 11:58 AM | #2 |
Wizard
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Link works. Cracks me up though.
Clearly the reviewer has no clue the physical screen is identical to the Kindle (excepting grayscale levels), that font size varies by book, that other book formats can be converted, and that there ARE size limits with the memory cards. They didn't live with it long enough to ignore the page flash, which happened for myself and my wife quickly. Why don't they ever get real experts to write these reviews? Oh well, better than no publicity at all. |
01-10-2008, 12:14 PM | #3 |
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The reviews were very helpful for me, especially where CR says the Sony is NOT for the visually impaired. Sony specifically advertises their PRS-505 for the sight-impaired, and I am personally dealing with them on that issue.
Does no grayscale on the Kindle affect the reading of an eBooks OR is that only a consideration when viewing PDF files? |
01-10-2008, 12:21 PM | #4 | |||||
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So it sounds like they played with it for half an hour & decided to write a review.
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01-10-2008, 12:23 PM | #5 |
Sir Penguin of Edinburgh
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01-10-2008, 01:39 PM | #6 |
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A reasonable review, no complaints that I haven't heard from others.
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01-14-2008, 10:38 AM | #7 |
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View of Consumer Reports Plummets
My view of Consumer Reports has plummeted after skimming the article.
Did they mention Sony's RSS feeds? I don't believe they did from my quick skim, and for that reason I can't believe it. I'm not sure they mentioned other ebook sites like Gutenberg. Wow. |
02-23-2008, 08:20 PM | #8 |
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I love that they call in an "e-book."
Here I said as much. It indeed seems that many reviews of these things are done by not so savvy people with a very limited exposure to it. Of course, that could be the case with all gadgets, and we are simply a bit sensitive of our lovely e-ink babies. ;- Last edited by Cthulhu; 02-23-2008 at 09:27 PM. |
02-24-2008, 04:09 AM | #9 |
Now you lishen here...
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02-24-2008, 04:38 AM | #10 |
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No, you don't need a conversion. Fictionwise offer Sony LRF in their "mulltiformat" items, which includes the magazines.
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02-24-2008, 08:22 AM | #11 |
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Harry's correct about the Multi-format books, but you can also purchase .lit format books, even DRM .lit files, and use software mentioned in other threads on this forum to remove the DRM and then convert the .lit file using libprs500.
Fictionwise is a terrific site, especially for authors who are fun to read but who haven't been able to crack the vicious world of the big publishers. |
02-24-2008, 09:14 AM | #12 | |
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This can lead to amusing side effects. One author friend reported doing a random "vanity" Google, and discovering he had a book out he wasn't aware of. He has short fiction available through fictionwise. His contract with them permits them to assemble a collection of his short work and issue it as a collection, and they did so, They just hadn't mentioned it to him. ______ Dennis |
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02-25-2008, 02:47 PM | #13 | |
Now you lishen here...
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But I will keep the EB-1150, I still love that thing! |
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03-20-2008, 05:37 PM | #14 | |
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The review is fair, because you have to remember that most people do not have the understanding of computers to use software like libprs500. A review in something like consumer reports is intentionally designed to address the "average" consumer, not people with technical expertise. In that sense the Kindle currently comes out a bit ahead for the average consumer, since by default it has more functionality then the PRS505. Sure, almost all of that functionality can be duplicated on the 505, but I wouldn't expect my grandmother to be able to do it. I bet she could figure out how to get newspapers on the Kindle though. The criticisms are fair though also, since for technical people a lot of the issues they raise are really non-issues. If you're computer savvy you'd be better off reading a review someone posted here. The page turn thing is a bit silly, but maybe some people would be annoyed by that. It never bothered me at all, not for a second. My only thought was that it was interesting that they reset the entire screen before re-displaying, and wondered if there would be artifacts if they just updated the to be updated pixels. |
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03-20-2008, 11:28 PM | #15 | |
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