What to get for my son?

[kgn]

I have a Pocketbook 302 and I think it is a great bit of gear. I use it every single day and it has never played up once. One of my better purchases!

A friend of mine has the Kindle 3 and I think it is pretty poor. Very hard to get books onto it with the right organisation, even with Calibre. It does not have a touch screen. Very poor software - next to the PB302 it is a basic toy. I would never get one for myself.

The thing is I have a son (28) who is coming out of hospital for what will probably be months of recuperation in bed, and I want to get him an ebook reader of some sort. If I was made of money, I would get him the PB302 (or perhaps a newer model), but realistically I have a pretty tight budget.

I have thought of a tablet, but the battery life on those is so short I am thinking it really has to be an eInk device. But then again, he will always be close to a power outlet (lying in bed), so perhaps it is not out of the question. I will not be connecting to any online stores - all books will be copied over from a PC. Don't even need WiFi or 3G. In fact, would prefer not to have either.

The Kindle is my first choice and here in Australia it is less that $200, which I can handle. But I am thinking there must be something better out there...

[David58117]

Sony t1 would allow him to check out library books and download from various sources directly from the device, atleast here in the us.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

I'm enjoying the Kobo Touch. Nice thing about it, apart from the touch screen is that it supports .ePub, the most common ebook format - which the Kindle does not. They use .MOBI, a proprietary format. That's the thing with Kindle. You're kind of stuck with them unless you want to deal with conversion and DRM stripping.

I'd recommend an ereader that reads ePub's. I like my Kobo Touch. Apart from the touch screen feature, it is quite basic, which suits me fine. It does have wifi though, if he feels compelled to use it.

[Laura81]

Problem is if you want a device that you can buy in Australia from an outlet, you're basically stuck with the Kindle or a tablet. You can't buy the Sony or Kobo (anymore) from any outlet - that I know of. At some stage I think the Kobo is going to be available from an outlet store again but no idea when or where.

I checked and you're supposed to be able to get the Kobo from Collins bookstores now http://www.collinsbooks.com.au/ I couldn't find anything on their website but if you're interested in the device you could always give them a call.

[pidgeon92]

I still think the Kindle is the best bang for the buck. Collections are easy enough to do if you take the time to go through the instructions carefully, and Calibre plugins can be a big help. Ultimately, I think you should ask your son which device he might prefer.

[kgn]

Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors

I'm enjoying the Kobo Touch.

Thanks for the heads up. I had a look around the reviews for this item, and it seems mainly negative. Screen is too responsive and locks up a lot. Poor software. Seems a good price though. Unfortunately, here is Australia there would be no warranty, so I would need a more reliable reader than this one seems to be.

[kgn]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I still think the Kindle is the best bang for the buck. Collections are easy enough to do if you take the time to go through the instructions carefully, and Calibre plugins can be a big help.

I agree that the Kindle is well within budget. But I disagree that Collections are are easy enough. They most certainly are not. I setup my friend's kindle, and it was hopeless. Perhaps the Calibre plugin had a few bugs, but it was plagued with problems - the most obvious one being that a lot of books were simply left out of collections. Calibre makes the Kindle usable, but only just.

[susan_cassidy]

Books only go into a Collection if you put them there. Many people forget to change the Sort option, so that books are displayed both on the Home Page, and in the Collection. If you sort by Collection, that doesn't happen.

[kgn]

Originally Posted by Laura81

Problem is if you want a device that you can buy in Australia from an outlet, you're basically stuck with the Kindle or a tablet.

I don't care. I bought my Pocketbook via this forum, for example. I buy from ebay all the time. A local outlet would be nice for warranty purposes, I agree, but it is not essential.

[Laura81]

Originally Posted by kgn

I don't care. I bought my Pocketbook via this forum, for example. I buy from ebay all the time. A local outlet would be nice for warranty purposes, I agree, but it is not essential.

Maybe see if you could buy a Pocketbook second hand via ebay? I'd love a pocketbook, but too expensive for me. My next reader will be a Kindle 4 NT.

Here's a link to a Pocketbook 360 plus. Not a bad price actually. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PocketBoo...ht_2079wt_1139

[pidgeon92]

Originally Posted by kgn

I agree that the Kindle is well within budget. But I disagree that Collections are are easy enough. They most certainly are not. I setup my friend's kindle, and it was hopeless.

Too bad he's so far away, I would be happy to assist.

[crich70]

The Kindle 3 is good and now they are coming out with new Kindles one of which might be the right choice for you depending on availability.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kgn

I agree that the Kindle is well within budget. But I disagree that Collections are are easy enough. They most certainly are not. I setup my friend's kindle, and it was hopeless.

I suspect that you were doing it the wrong way - there's an easy way and a hard way to set up collections.

The hard way - choose the book, and then decide what collection to add it to.

The easy way - choose the collection, and then add/remove books.

[SmokeAndMirrors]

Originally Posted by kgn

Thanks for the heads up. I had a look around the reviews for this item, and it seems mainly negative. Screen is too responsive and locks up a lot. Poor software. Seems a good price though. Unfortunately, here is Australia there would be no warranty, so I would need a more reliable reader than this one seems to be.

What's weird about that is that if you check the stats in the Kobo section (there's a thread about overall satisfaction) around 80% of people are totally happy, about 18% are still looking for a couple more improvements, and only 2% are unhappy and regret the purchase.

And that's pretty much why I decided not to pay too much attention to it - all this noise is being made by a very small minority of people. And if you look at the proper reviews, they're fairly positive. I've seen this before in other markets, with other products - I call it "the underdog effect," and it has reasons why it exists. Underdog products usually have fewer features, less availability, less compatibility with different ways of use, and oftentimes (on the marketing end) a poorly-defined target audience. All these things are true of the Kobo.

So instead of looking at it like I look at a Kindle, I look at it like what it is: an underdog product. I asked myself a few questions that are essential with underdog products, and that most people never bother to ask.

1. Who's it for? Answer - it's a simple e-reader. Don't let the touch screen and the wifi fool you. This is designed for READING. That's it. It has some modest social features, but it's clear that this is not a priority of the reader. You may say "so are all ereaders," but with the Kobo, this is even more true than with most. You think the Kindle is simple? The Kobo is even more simple. This suits me fine. My ereader is my escape device. I don't want more features. Hell, I don't even use the wifi - I'm in airplane mode all the time.

2. What usage scenarios has it likely been subject to, and what hasn't it been? This is important. Smaller company means smaller pool means smaller degree of accommodation. And what I mean by this is, what programs are you going to use with the product, what file types, are you someone who is consistent? For example, I knew exactly how it was going to be with me: I was going to do the set-up, and then never touch the Kobo Desktop again. I was going to go to Calibre and stay there. I was going to use ePub's for everything. I am a creature of habit. Because I knew my use pattern would be consistent, I also knew there was little to no risk of me having significant problems.

3. Why am I looking at an underdog product? If you are an "below average" user of technology, you may want to rethink it. Underdog products can be imperfect. They often have gains to be had that make up for that, but they require you to understand what they are and what they're for at the very least, and do some cautious diagnosis at the worst.

I am someone who tends to buy underdog products. The reasons why I buy them are pretty much universal.
1. They are usually unique from other products in some way that is appealing to me.
2. The companies are often more ethical and responsive.
3. They are often more open/free - they have to be to compete with proprietary products.
4. If all of the above are true, then they need more support from users to go from underdog to centerpiece, and when underdog products go mainstream, it's almost always a good thing for everyone.

All of these things are true of the Kobo. What's especially interesting about Kobo is where they are on the scale right now. The ereader market is still unfolding and it could unfold in some great directions with the right support. I am perhaps more willing than most to put up with the foibles of underdog products because I care about these things.

But to be honest, I haven't had any problems with the Kobo. Neither do most other people. I suspect that if your use pattern is reasonably consistent, neither will you.

[amyk0202]

I would recommend a Pocketbook 360 or 360+. They are both within your budget. I agree about the Kindle collections. I set up my husband's & it never did work out for me. The Pocketbook I just create a folder on my PC & cut & paste the books to it however I want--easy. I use my PB360 every day for hours & get great battery life. There is no touch screen or wifi, it's just a basic reader but it will read nearly any format & I bought it to read not surf or chat. It is pretty quick, but my daughter's Pocketbook 360+ is a little faster in menu navigation & page turning. You can get a PB360+ on ebay or a PB360 on Amazon.