First eBook reader since the death of my Palm Pilot (what can compare?)

[Shaitan00]

For the last 6 years I've been using a Palm Pilot for all my eBook reading and honestly never complained (suprised?), it suited all my needs at the time and served me well, but a few months ago it died - now I have drummed up the courage to purchase a new eBook reader and am having a pretty hard time choosing...

First, the Palm had a few things I loved that I can't seem to find anywhere
- AC recharger, I found this very useful when the battery dies at the bus stop, but all I see now is USB recharing (which sucks)
- Ability to show all my PDF books (I will be honest, 99% of my eBooks are torrent downloaded PDFs - as long as I can read them I am happy)
- Some other usual formats like LIT, TXT, HTML (rarely), and DOC would be great (the more the merrier - converting sucks but is always an option)
- Ability to read in my bed with the lights off (backlight), but I assume this is horrible for my eyes and I should stop (but I love it so)
- Portability as I read 99% of the time on the bus/metro and when time permits, rarely in a lounging comfortable environment

I don't really care much about the rest, Wireless is useless (I do not mind PC-connection), touchscreen seems overkill, expandable memory as well, etc... I just want to be able to read all the eBooks I want (legit or not) as I did before (or as close to).

Sadly, from what I have been reading, there really isn't anything that fits my "hopes" ... now I am looking at compromising as little as possible.
What do you guys think?

I would like to get away with spending under $200 as I just want a simple eBook reader...

Any advice would be much appreciated...
Thanks,

[nomesque]

Almost sounds as though you might be best off with upgrading your mobile phone, instead? Seriously. Just check that it reads PDF first, or that you can install something like Stanza?

Depending on your tastes, you might find FeedBooks.com worth a look, btw.

[Shaitan00]

True - not a bad suggestion ... still I usually like to keep my phone and reader seperated and Smart Phones have really small screens (at least those I have seen) - I mean I would consider an HTC Legend or iPhone (I am with Bell) but can you imagine reading a book on those?

[wayrad]

I recently made the switch from PalmOS (Tapwave Zodiac, an amazing device for its time and a nice ergonomic ebook reader) to an Android phone (Droid Incredible), and so far it's working out OK. New Android devices, some with even larger screens and better specs than mine, are coming out constantly. Your .pdf requirement is likely to be problematic unless you buy a very large-screen device though - .pdf's probably won't look much better on a phone than on your Palm. From posts I've seen around here, I gather they don't even look good on most e-ink readers.

PS. The Dinc has a 3.7" WVGA screen; I don't think you would find it more restrictive than that of your Palm.

[Shaitan00]

If it can render PDFs as good as my Palm could then I could be more then happy, never had any issues with my Palm or had to do any side-scrolling or anything ... everything just worked when I imported it into the Adobe Palm Reader software (coverts it and stuff automatically) and then tada.

So if I can keep status quo I wouldn't complain...

[maxbookworm]

Maybe an iPod Touch? I went from a Palm to a Touch and it's a pretty similar (but better, imho) experience. Plus, if you were using your Palm for calendar and other PDA stuff, you can continue to do that.

You can also buy an AC charger for iPods for really cheap on eBay.

[wayrad]

Hang around here a bit and (for a variety of reasons) you'll probably start wanting to replace those .pdf's anyway. By the way, welcome!

maxbookworm: I almost got an iPod Touch myself!

[HarryT]

I didn't know that it was possible to read on a Palm Pilot. Didn't it have about 2k of RAM?

[wayrad]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I didn't know that it was possible to read on a Palm Pilot. Didn't it have about 2k of RAM?

In the US at least, the term is often used to refer to any Palm device (up to the Treo maybe), especially by or when talking to people who might be unfamiliar with them.

[maxbookworm]

I actually used to read quite a bit on my Palm V. It was definitely a small screen, but I had no problem fitting several full length novels on there.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by wayrad

In the US at least, the term is often used to refer to any Palm device (up to the Treo maybe), especially by or when talking to people who might be unfamiliar with them.

OK, thanks. That's not the case in the UK - Palm were forced to drop the "Pilot" name when Pilot pens sued them for trademark violation and won. That was many years ago. I've read on later Palm devices myself.

[wayrad]

They had to sstop using it here too, but the term lingers - I've even been known to tell people on the phone that I needed to write something in my "Palm Pilot", rather than say "Zodiac" or "PDA" and have them go "Hunh?"

[dorino]

I'll second that iPod touch is probably what OP is looking for. A good update, and since he's used to such a small screen, the backlighting, etc, it shouldn't be much trouble.


All the Sonys allow for AC charging, and support PDFs. 300 is lousy at it, but no worse than a palm ___! lol

[wayrad]

How do you get .pdf's onto an iPod Touch, though? When I was looking at them, I wasn't thinking about pdf, but it looked like transferring my own books was going to be a complicated business with the Calibre server and a wifi router. Doable, but certainly not as simple as plugging in a cable.

[dorino]

Originally Posted by wayrad

How do you get .pdf's onto an iPod Touch, though?

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-r...300298606?mt=8


For ebooks non-pdf, stanza.