If dont buy a kindle am I lock out of amazon e book content?

[bob1xxx]

Sorry for such a newbie question but I can not seem to find a straight answer . I'm a first time e reader buyer and honestly I like other e book readers better than the Kindle 2 . Honestly I want reader with expandable memory, smaller overall size (5" screen just fine) , have zero problems with load books by usb cable or on too sd card so I can live without wireless and keep the price between $150 to $200 usd . Readers like Ectaco jetBook Lite, Aluratek "Libre" E-Book Reader Pro , or Astak 5" EZ Reader Pocket at the high end have cought my eye . So the question is if I go with these non kindle readers do I lose the ability to purchase and read books off amazon or B&N because unfortunately there seems to be alot of amazon exclusive e book , newspaper and magazine content out there and would I be locking myself out that e reader content? Or are there other resources to find and download the same content to these non kindle e readers. Most of the time I would be reading free ebooks and epub content but it would be nice pick up the newest murder mystery or historical biography on my e reader. Again sorry for such a Newbie question but information Im getting is confusing and I find user forums the best place to go to find answers quickly , thank you in advance for any helpful information.

[HarryT]

That is correct; Amazon content can only be read on a Kindle, or on a PC or an iPhone/iPod Touch, using the Kindle application for those devices.

Pretty much every device on the market EXCEPT Amazon uses the ePub book format; Amazon use their own format (essentially Mobipocket format).

It is possible, with a little effort, to convert Kindle books to other formats, but it's a lot less hassle to just be able to buy a book and read it straight off.

[poshm]

Ditto what Harry has said but also that you will be able to read Amazon ebooks on the forthcoming iPad via the Kindle app - whether that would use the whole screen of the ipad or not I don't know. But it will be another option.

Plus there are Kindle apps for some Blackberry phone models too.

[bob1xxx]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That is correct; Amazon content can only be read on a Kindle, or on a PC or an iPhone/iPod Touch, using the Kindle application for those devices.

Pretty much every device on the market EXCEPT Amazon uses the ePub book format; Amazon use their own format (essentially Mobipocket format).

It is possible, with a little effort, to convert Kindle books to other formats, but it's a lot less hassle to just be able to buy a book and read it straight off.

Ok thanks what program do you use to convert amazon ebooks is farily easy too use? Honestly Im not a apple fan, new Ipad is too big and with its flash crippled internet its not what I looking for. Please keep the ideas comming.

[banjobama]

It is true that you can't read Amazon ebooks without a Kindle or Kindle app.

I have a Sony Reader and I am still able to find the books I want in a format it can read. Have you browsed the Sony site? It's http://ebookstore.sony.com. You can see if they have the bestsellers you're looking for. Also check out www.kobobooks.com.

[HarryT]

I'm afraid we cannot discuss the subject of DRM removal here, but suffice it to say that it's easy to do, should you decide that's the route you wish to go down. But personally I'd just get a device that supports ePub (ie anything except a Kindle) and use the many ePub bookstores that there are out there.

[bob1xxx]

Ok so it seems it quite rare these days that amazon would have exclusive deals on retail e book (ie not free) and that there other pay ebook sites that you could purchase the same books with the adobe drm protected e pub formate. If I'm I understand this correctly. If so beside the ebook retailer mentioned above could form members list some other ebook retailer . I guess the next question is of the three e book readers I mention in my starting post ones are compatable with the drm adobe epub formate.

[wallcraft]

The Ectaco jetBook Lite supports DRM-free ePubs but for DRM-ridden ebooks you need to buy eReader ebooks. The Aluratek "Libre" E-Book Reader Pro and Astak 5" EZ Reader Pocket Pro support DRM-ridden and DRM-free ePubs and PDFs.

B&N ebooks can either be eReader or ePub with a DRM scheme incompatible with most ePub Readers. So you can't reliably buy from B&N for any of the three Readers you list. Two popular stores for US ePubs are Sony and Books on Board, but there are now many US ebooks stores offering ePubs. Almost all UK ebooks are ePubs. It is also possible to strip DRM from Adobe ebooks (see the same blog as for K4PC), and these ePubs are then usable on the jetBook.

You can buy Kindle ebooks via Kindle for PC, strip their DRM with unswindle.pyw, and format shift to DRM-free ePub using Calibre. This approach is viable for all three Readers, and is probably legal in the US for personal use of ebooks your bought. The only thing to watch out for is that some Kindle ebooks are in the TOPAZ format which is significantly more difficult to format shift than the AZW ebooks handled by unswindle.pyw.

[bob1xxx]

Ok so based on what Ive read hear so far I really give up nothing in the e book reading experience if I don't go with a kindle or a nook because the vast majority of the pay ebook content can be found elsewhere in the drm protected epub format for sale. Plus the thousands of books available for free though a variety sources. So my next task a hand is to decide which e reader to buy.It looks like there a lot of good choices among e readers are there any that do good in low light situations like a dimly light starbucks at night or would all e readers needed external illumination ?

[HarryT]

Decent eInk screens can be read in pretty much the same light level you'd need to read a paperback. Note that with a nook you can buy books from other ePub bookstores, because they support standard Adobe DRM as well as their own mechanism, although there are devices that are perhaps better than the nook.

You have a lot of choice, certainly.

[bob1xxx]

Are the Aluratek "Libre" E-Book Reader Pro and the Ectaco 5" High Resolution e-Book Reader Rechargeable the same e reader distributed by two different companys ? They look almost identical ? Is there software and firmware difference between the two or are they the same ebook readers? And as far as grey scale goes the 8 levels of grey scales is better than 4 ?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by bob1xxx

And as fAre the Aluratek "Libre" E-Book Reader Pro and the Ectaco 5" High Resolution e-Book Reader Rechargeable the same e reader distributed by two different companys ? They look almost identical ? Is there software and firmware difference between the two or are they the same ebook readers?

They are the same hardware, but different firmware. In particular, The Ectaco jetBook Lite supports DRM-ridden eReader ebooks and the Aluratek "Libre" E-Book Reader Pro supports DRM-ridden ePubs and PDFs.

Originally Posted by bob1xxx

And as far as grey scale goes the 8 levels of grey scales is better than 4 ?

The difference is primarily for images which are certainly better with 8 grey scale. With anti-aliasing it can make some difference for fonts too.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by bob1xxx

Ok so based on what Ive read hear so far I really give up nothing in the e book reading experience if I don't go with a kindle or a nook because the vast majority of the pay ebook content can be found elsewhere in the drm protected epub format for sale. Plus the thousands of books available for free though a variety sources. So my next task a hand is to decide which e reader to buy.It looks like there a lot of good choices among e readers are there any that do good in low light situations like a dimly light starbucks at night or would all e readers needed external illumination ?

I have a SONY and a Kindle, I found that I could get “most” books from some combination of ePUB/PDF/MOBI/LIT for the sony, but there were still a good amount of the books that I wanted that where exclusive to Amazon. The bad part was most of the books I wanted where in PDF format, where as the Amazon counter part was either MOBI or Topaz, but both reflowable. After buying the PDF I would have to spend good amount of time fixing the PDF to work on the SONY, since I hated the PDF-reflow implemented on the SONY device. In the end I realized I spent too much time fiddling with the layout.

For the books you listed I don’t think that will be the case, but you never know.

In my experience most eInk devices do not handle low lighting areas as good as regular books. The eInk background is a light green and the fonts a dark black. I find for low lighting I needed to increase the font size to continue to read without any eye strain.

If I recall correctly even though the Jetbook also uses a monochrome screen it is not very readable in the dark.

Have you thought about just buying a PDA or smartphone. You can pickup a cheap BB Storm for about $100. Most PDA/Smartphones can handle multiple DRM like LIT, MOBI, Kindle, eReader, and the new HTC is getting Adobe.

[bob1xxx]

Originally Posted by =X=

I have a SONY and a Kindle, I found that I could get “most” books from some combination of ePUB/PDF/MOBI/LIT for the sony, but there were still a good amount of the books that I wanted that where exclusive to Amazon. The bad part was most of the books I wanted where in PDF format, where as the Amazon counter part was either MOBI or Topaz, but both reflowable. After buying the PDF I would have to spend good amount of time fixing the PDF to work on the SONY, since I hated the PDF-reflow implemented on the SONY device. In the end I realized I spent too much time fiddling with the layout.

For the books you listed I don’t think that will be the case, but you never know.

In my experience most eInk devices do not handle low lighting areas as good as regular books. The eInk background is a light green and the fonts a dark black. I find for low lighting I needed to increase the font size to continue to read without any eye strain.

If I recall correctly even though the Jetbook also uses a monochrome screen it is not very readable in the dark.

Have you thought about just buying a PDA or smartphone. You can pickup a cheap BB Storm for about $100. Most PDA/Smartphones can handle multiple DRM like LIT, MOBI, Kindle, eReader, and the new HTC is getting Adobe.

Yes I wish Verizon would come out with a ebook app for my LG env touch, saddly the apps out for my phone are a joke and no new ones have appeared in months. Wow as soon as I think I have a handle on ebooks it gets more confusing again. Honest one of the major criticisms Ive read of the kindle is poor low light readablity? Honestly what kind of books are on PDF? I am looking for a e reader for text and very light illustrations , have no interest in technical drawings , blue prints , etc..... . And isnt Adobe pdf files in a standard format? Why is need for pdf reflow conversion? I'm getting more and more confused again to the point were it sounds like ebooks are such a confusing muttle with no standards reguardless of the device your going to be stuck doing major format conversions of books on a regular bases no matter what ebook reader device you get.... Blech getting more confused again. Or would a program like calibre easy some of these file format issues?

[nklein]

hi can I read a Kindle format ebook in Mobipocket reader?
thanks