Do you feel any loyalty to your reader's 'brand'?

[ficbot]

With all the talk of new gizmos coming out left, right and centre I am wondering---do you shop strictly for features, or are you loyal to any particular 'brand'? I am interested in features, but I have to admit, I do feel a pull to the Sony brand. My first 'ebook reader' was a Clie, when I was marooned in a foreign country in a small rural community with no bookstores. I later moved onto other things, including an iPod Touch (and if the Apple tablet ever comes to pass, I admit I would be sorely tempted!)

But Sony has also won my heart a little because I live in the jungle hinterlands of Canada where there are few ebook readers to be had (we have the worst cell phone companies in the world, plus tricky territorial considerations which are beyond stupid but will remain a problem until After the Revolution Comes). And the Sony is one of the few players to embrace Canada. We can use the Sony store. We can get the same freebies, including the Google Books, and now on Macs too. My public library has several hundred epub and PDF books available for download. I even bought the reader retail!

I also feel that Sony, as a major player in the admittedly still-emerging ebook market, has a proven track record of sticking with this for the logn haul and of trying to offer a competitive product. If Amazon or BN or whomever comes out with some killer new feature, I expect that Sony will try to match it eventually, so I feel like I can stick with them and be okay.

An Apple tablet would tempt me, as would a reader with both a search function and with dictionary support in more than one language (I would dearly love to read in French more, but I need to have a dictionary!) But wifi I could take or leave. And honestly, I am a little resentful that poor old Canada has been so ignored---by everyone but my good buddies at Sony!

So in some sense I am mindful of the features issue. But if something killer did come out, I think I would observe and wait to see what Sony says about it. I do feel that by offering such good support to Canada---and being the only ones to really do that----they have scored some customer loyalty off me. I can't say whether this was a strategic part of their business plan or just a happy side effect of everybody elses utter incompetence in failing to provide for the Canadian market But, much as it all comes down to 'does it do the job or not' for me, there is definitely an element of 'I am loyal to Sony' too.

So, how about you?

[geneven]

"Whomever" in the poll question is a classic "in order to be correct, it has to sound really awkward, so I'll pick whomever here" mistake. "Whoever" is correct and sounds a lot better.

[tech_au]

In all things electronic I look for features and build quality at a price I want to pay.
I never buy the cheapest one with dubious build quality or the top-of-the line all singing all dancing version as that is usually a waste of money

[Sweetpea]

I chose other.

If there are two equal devices, with equal (or comparable) features, I'll go for my preferred brand. Some brands I'll avoid like the plague, Apple is one of them. Sony used to be one of them, until they stopped to make their own standards and followed the accepted standards.

If there is a device that is from another brand, but that has almost everything I want/need, I'll go for it. But, unless it's a well-known brand, I'll be more critical.

[sherkanner]

I consider features but prefer to buy from a certain brand, even if it means waiting and seeing

I bought a cybook, no other choices than to wait and see
Stupid chauvinism

[EowynCarter]

I'll go for whatever reader have the features I need and i can easily get my hand on.

[Format C:]

Other.
What I look for is, in order of priority:

1. Avalaibility in my country
2. Searchable dictionary
3. Price tag
4. Screen size
5. Operational speed

The first two points made my buy an iLiad, the other ones a Sony 505.

If one single device sold in Italy for a fair price had the DR800 screen (or better), the Sony speed, a Calibre driver, a search function, an input device (stylus is better), I'd buy it right now.

[M0zza]

I'll always look for an eReader that can handle EPUB from now on.

After that it is whether I can get it in my country, price and to a lesser extent aesthetics.

Although my next reader will be for academic books and so a large screen size and being able to handle PDFs well will be paramount.

[Crowl]

While I might in theory prefer a certain brand, the things I require from a new device now I have had my sony for a while are support for ePub with adobe drm and actual availability in my country, with that latter condition seeming to be a bit tough for most hardware companies sadly.

[John F]

I'll only buy one if it is called a liseuse, comes in fuschia, and only displays PDFs that have been approved by typographical experts.

I voted for "I consider...", I usually trust a name brand more then a no-name brand.

[PhishStyx]

I pay more attention to features and quality than anything else. I won't buy Device X that doesn't do what I want just because it's from a company that I like. Moreover, I have no expectations that a company will produce devices with features that I am particularly looking for.

[dmaul1114]

I'm mildly loyal to Amazon since I have a Kindle and like it, and the books are tied to it.

That said, I generally only buy books I'm pretty sure I'll never want to re-read, so I can switch down the road.

As I've said many times, I want a tablet device for work that I can read and mark up PDFs etc. on. If something like that comes out and has a form factor (size, battery life etc.) that's also good for leisure reading I could ditch the Kindle line. Or maybe such a device could access the Kindle store ala the iPhone--that would be a big selling point for me as the selection and prices on Amazon are damn good.

Outside of that, I had no loyalty going into e-reader shopping early this year or shopping for any device. I buy whatever had the right price and features at the time.

[Lemurion]

For me brand is a factor, but not the only factor. In fact it's usually either a negative or a tie-breaker more than the one factor that makes me choose a specific device. For example, there is a brand of cell phone I will not buy. I worked a warranty exchange desk for a cell company and one brand had such a return rate that I'll never touch their products.

All else being equal, I'm more likely to buy Sony hardware at a given price than another brand because I have had good experiences with their hardware build quality over the years. Features are more important, because I won't spend anything on something that doesn't do what I want - but once I've got the required features down I'll worry about other things more than optional features.

[benham]

I have always had Palm so if I had to replace the TX it would probabl be another Palm, although they seem to be getting away from the Handheld market in favor of phones.
If they were still producing the 505 it would be an almost forgone conclusion that I would buy one for my wife for Christmas. The next logical option would be the 600. The 900 might be really cool but who knows for sure when it will be available. The new IREX looked like a really good unit but the $450 orice tag is limiting. So that brings us to the Nook and for something that will be released in a month there seems to be very little info on it. Right now it looks like the 600 is going to win out.

[cvkemp]

I go where I can get the most for my money and the features I want. For me WiFi and
3G is not something I care about. I want the best I can find in PDF support in a eink device. LCD monitors are killing my eyes.

chuck