Should I wait?

sjeffrey · 01-31-2010, 05:59 PM

Hi everyone,
first of all I apologize if someone already started a topic like this. I searched and didn't find anything. It's hard to filter through all the iPad talks

Basically, I'm thinking of buying an eBook reader. I picked up the Aluratek Libre to try i to out (Costco had it for cheap and have a good return policy). What I can tell from this device is that it might do a good job for novels but I will mostly be using this for IT books in PDF format, therefore lot's of pictures. The Libre is just too slow and too small to make the experience enjoyable. And it's not even eInk. So this thing will return to the store.

I played with the Sony prs-600 and 300 for a bit in a store. I liked the contrast on the 300 but couldn't test out PDF (not even sure it supports it). As for the 600, the contrast wasn't great and still a little small, trying to zoom in a picture was a bit of a PITA.

So the Kindle DX comes to mind but it's a pretty big price tag. BTW, I should mention also that I am from Canada. My concern is that Amazon could lower there prices in response to the iPad announcement. Do you guys think I should wait a bit to see what happens or since the international version of the DX was just released then it is very unlikely that the price will change in the next month or so?

mcl · 01-31-2010, 06:04 PM

Given that Amazon has just said they're going to accept Macmillan's terms of pricing ebooks around $15, you may want to consider whether you're willing to pay that much per book, particularly when you can buy new paperbacks for $7-10.

daffy4u · 01-31-2010, 06:06 PM

I think it's more likely that a price drop on the DX will happen in April when the Plastic Logic Que starts to ship but of course, I don't really know.

Ervserver · 01-31-2010, 09:08 PM

Its a tough call but thats the way it is in the tech world, pick your machine and buy, enjoy it.

rmm200 · 01-31-2010, 09:29 PM

Whatever you buy - it will not be the last one you get. Pick a nice one, enjoy it for a couple of years, then upgrade.

Robert

markbot · 01-31-2010, 09:37 PM

I would wait until next Christmas to see if a color kindle comes out. Or perhaps you could buy a cheap used Kindle for now....and wait to see what comes out later.

TallMomof2 · 01-31-2010, 10:35 PM

I love my DX and as long as you don't want to annotate your PDFs you should be in good shape. The only downside is that any color illustrations will be grayscale which can sometimes make charts and graphics difficult to understand.

Slow_hand · 02-01-2010, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I think it's more likely that a price drop on the DX will happen in April when the Plastic Logic Que starts to ship but of course, I don't really know.

Interesting. I initially thought, no, the Que is priced much much higher - almost twice as much for the 3G model. However with the Ipad's pricing, Plastic Logic really needs to re-think their prices. That's probably the device most negatively affected by the iPad. There may be a domino effect on prices down to the KDX.

pboss · 02-01-2010, 02:29 PM

Now that the shit's hit the fan, I think, price drop is imminent. I'd usually say go ahead and buy your gadget now, but this time it might be different.

brecklundin · 02-01-2010, 03:46 PM

I will suggest you ask yourself if your reference manuals and such depend on color. If yes, then you need to wait whether you want to or not, no greyscale panel is going to be worthwhile when you depend on color. If you can live w/o color and the whole lack of annotations thing on PDF's, maybe...but know within the next 3-6 months actual production color devices will begin hitting the shelves, including those based on the PixelQi panel.

But if you need such a large format reader now, the DXi is not a bad choice given the options currently to be had. And remember even if color or something you like better comes out this year, you will not lose much on the resale of your DXi...also, hunt the Amazon Warehouse for refurb'd Kindles. Not sure if it is over but if you also like audiobooks anyway, there was/is a deal where you sign-up for a year of 1-audiobook/month at $14.95 and get $100 discount code for a variety of Amazon devices including both Kindle versions. I had a thread about it in the "Deals, Freebies" section here on MR. It's a nice deal IF you already enjoy audiobooks, I do so I just created a new account and got my K2i for $159...I would have gotten the Audible subscription anyway.

sjeffrey · 02-01-2010, 04:26 PM

Thanks all for the comments.
@brecklundin, I mostly read software books like coding, patterns, designs and software architecture books so I don't think color is a big deal. Thanks for the tip on audio books, although I never tried my patience with an audio book

So I'm reluctant to sign up for a full year to save 100$. Too bad because that is a great deal if you actually use them.
Resale value is an interesting though but if you consider that color eInk will come out later this year then I suspect it will severely hurt the price of current Kindles. I don't think I want to wait that long anyways. I'm very impulsive when it comes to tech'y purchares and with Amazon not having price guarantee anymore I would be seriously pissed of purchasing within days of a price drop. I know it's normal with gadgets but I would at least expect to have 30 days of price matching from Amazon themselves...

I have been reading about how PDF is not all that great currently on the DX. Should I be concerned or is this something that we expect will be fixed in the near future or that we can address using Calibre?

Do you think the the K2 could be big enough for my needs? It's cheaper and if it becomes obsolete by a color device this year then it's only 250$ (+shipping and import fees) rather then 490$ (+shipping and import fees)...

01-31-2010, 05:59 PM	#1
sjeffrey Member Posts: 11 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: none	Should I wait? Hi everyone, first of all I apologize if someone already started a topic like this. I searched and didn't find anything. It's hard to filter through all the iPad talks Basically, I'm thinking of buying an eBook reader. I picked up the Aluratek Libre to try i to out (Costco had it for cheap and have a good return policy). What I can tell from this device is that it might do a good job for novels but I will mostly be using this for IT books in PDF format, therefore lot's of pictures. The Libre is just too slow and too small to make the experience enjoyable. And it's not even eInk. So this thing will return to the store. I played with the Sony prs-600 and 300 for a bit in a store. I liked the contrast on the 300 but couldn't test out PDF (not even sure it supports it). As for the 600, the contrast wasn't great and still a little small, trying to zoom in a picture was a bit of a PITA. So the Kindle DX comes to mind but it's a pretty big price tag. BTW, I should mention also that I am from Canada. My concern is that Amazon could lower there prices in response to the iPad announcement. Do you guys think I should wait a bit to see what happens or since the international version of the DX was just released then it is very unlikely that the price will change in the next month or so?

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01-31-2010, 06:04 PM	#2
mcl Connoisseur Posts: 99 Karma: 608 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle K2i	Given that Amazon has just said they're going to accept Macmillan's terms of pricing ebooks around $15, you may want to consider whether you're willing to pay that much per book, particularly when you can buy new paperbacks for $7-10.

01-31-2010, 06:06 PM	#3
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	I think it's more likely that a price drop on the DX will happen in April when the Plastic Logic Que starts to ship but of course, I don't really know.

01-31-2010, 09:08 PM	#4
Ervserver Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 1008294 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Iowa, USA Device: Nook Simple Touch	Its a tough call but thats the way it is in the tech world, pick your machine and buy, enjoy it.

01-31-2010, 09:29 PM	#5
rmm200 Groupie Posts: 195 Karma: 414 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Bend, OR Device: Sony PRS-600	Whatever you buy - it will not be the last one you get. Pick a nice one, enjoy it for a couple of years, then upgrade. Robert

01-31-2010, 09:37 PM	#6
markbot Guru Posts: 612 Karma: 7511929 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2	I would wait until next Christmas to see if a color kindle comes out. Or perhaps you could buy a cheap used Kindle for now....and wait to see what comes out later.

01-31-2010, 10:35 PM	#7
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	I love my DX and as long as you don't want to annotate your PDFs you should be in good shape. The only downside is that any color illustrations will be grayscale which can sometimes make charts and graphics difficult to understand.

02-01-2010, 02:29 PM	#9
pboss Evangelist Posts: 408 Karma: 646 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: none	Now that the shit's hit the fan, I think, price drop is imminent. I'd usually say go ahead and buy your gadget now, but this time it might be different.

02-01-2010, 03:46 PM	#10
brecklundin Banned Posts: 1,906 Karma: 15348 Join Date: Jun 2007 Device: mine	I will suggest you ask yourself if your reference manuals and such depend on color. If yes, then you need to wait whether you want to or not, no greyscale panel is going to be worthwhile when you depend on color. If you can live w/o color and the whole lack of annotations thing on PDF's, maybe...but know within the next 3-6 months actual production color devices will begin hitting the shelves, including those based on the PixelQi panel. But if you need such a large format reader now, the DXi is not a bad choice given the options currently to be had. And remember even if color or something you like better comes out this year, you will not lose much on the resale of your DXi...also, hunt the Amazon Warehouse for refurb'd Kindles. Not sure if it is over but if you also like audiobooks anyway, there was/is a deal where you sign-up for a year of 1-audiobook/month at $14.95 and get $100 discount code for a variety of Amazon devices including both Kindle versions. I had a thread about it in the "Deals, Freebies" section here on MR. It's a nice deal IF you already enjoy audiobooks, I do so I just created a new account and got my K2i for $159...I would have gotten the Audible subscription anyway.

02-01-2010, 04:26 PM	#11
sjeffrey Member Posts: 11 Karma: 12 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: none	Thanks all for the comments. @brecklundin, I mostly read software books like coding, patterns, designs and software architecture books so I don't think color is a big deal. Thanks for the tip on audio books, although I never tried my patience with an audio book So I'm reluctant to sign up for a full year to save 100$. Too bad because that is a great deal if you actually use them. Resale value is an interesting though but if you consider that color eInk will come out later this year then I suspect it will severely hurt the price of current Kindles. I don't think I want to wait that long anyways. I'm very impulsive when it comes to tech'y purchares and with Amazon not having price guarantee anymore I would be seriously pissed of purchasing within days of a price drop. I know it's normal with gadgets but I would at least expect to have 30 days of price matching from Amazon themselves... I have been reading about how PDF is not all that great currently on the DX. Should I be concerned or is this something that we expect will be fixed in the near future or that we can address using Calibre? Do you think the the K2 could be big enough for my needs? It's cheaper and if it becomes obsolete by a color device this year then it's only 250$ (+shipping and import fees) rather then 490$ (+shipping and import fees)...

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