Cybook vs Kindle Costs of Books

[Jeff Shek]

I'm a voracious reader - but I'm looking at the costs of the Cybook vs. the Kindle. As far as I'm concerned, the initial cost, for either readers is minor. However, given that I can read rather quickly, how much is the cost for future books?

The Kindle's relationship with Amazon appears that it's cheaper in the long run.

May I ask, for those that are using the Cybook, how are the costs? I'm assuming that anyone who buys a ebook reader is a pretty heavy reader in the first place. Are the costs of the books, well, e-books, expensive? Are they the cost of actual book costs?

As of right now, I'm favoring the Cybook; I love the design. The Kindle appears cumbersome, blocky, etc. whereas the Cybook appears that it had at least a design intention. Yet, if the costs of all books are substantially less with the Kindle, it would make sense to favor the Kindle.

I am a student, so not exactly "loaded" with cash.

Has anyone tried the two and could possibly help out?

[AnemicOak]

I own neither, but from what I've observed, it depends on what you read. If it's just the Kindle books that are HC equivalents at the $9.99 price then the Kindle is probably quite a bit cheaper, some other HC equivalents are sometimes more expensive on Kindle than other formats. From what I've noticed of ebooks that are Mass Market PB equivalents Kindle editions are often times no cheaper than other formats & sometimes more expensive.

[Brad]

I think it is a wash overall. But with that said, the Kindle owner might have a price advantage on ebooks if they read lots of bestsellers both fiction and non-fiction. This is because of Amazon's ability to discount top selling titles.

But if you don't read a lot of bestsellers then I think it is pretty close because the Cybook lets you shop around more at all ebooksellers that sell secure (and non-secure) Mobipocket format for best price.

[HarryT]

I entirely agree with Brad - there would only be a price benefit with the Kindle if you were to buy lots of "bestsellers".

There's a whole lifetime's worth of reading, however, that's available free of charge for both. Catch up on your reading of the out of copyright "classics"; eBook readers are perfect for this.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I entirely agree with Brad - there would only be a price benefit with the Kindle if you were to buy lots of "bestsellers".

There's a whole lifetime's worth of reading, however, that's available free of charge for both. Catch up on your reading of the out of copyright "classics"; eBook readers are perfect for this.

Except with the Kindle, don't you have to pay to email your own documents to your device? You can't hook it up to your computer and move files? I think I read that somewhere.
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"Personal Files
Eliminating the need to print, Kindle makes it easy to take your personal documents with you. Each Kindle has a unique and customizable e-mail address. You can set your unique email address on your Manage Your Kindle page. This allows you and your contacts to e-mail Word documents and pictures wirelessly to your Kindle for only $.10. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft Word, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files.
PDF conversion is experimental. The experimental category represents the features we are working on to enhance the Kindle experience even further. You can email your PDFs wirelessly to your Kindle. Due to PDF’s fixed layout format, some complex PDF files might not format correctly on your Kindle.
If you are not in a wireless area or would like to avoid the $.10 fee for wireless delivery, you can send attachments to "name"@free.kindle.com to be converted and e-mailed to your computer at the e-mail address associated with your Amazon.com account login. You can then transfer the document to your Kindle using your USB connection. For example, if your Kindle email address is Jay@Kindle.com, send your attachments to Jay@free.kindle.com. "

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846
----------------------------------

So why do you have to email them? To be converted? It won't read other file types? So if I have my prc or txt files already on my computer, do I have to pay to send it to my Kindle, or can I just put it on there? That's what is confusing me.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Except with the Kindle, don't you have to pay to email your own documents to your device? You can't hook it up to your computer and move files? I think I read that somewhere.

---SNIP---

So why do you have to email them? To be converted? It won't read other file types? So if I have my prc or txt files already on my computer, do I have to pay to send it to my Kindle, or can I just put it on there? That's what is confusing me.

You can transfer your files (as long as they're formats the Kindle can use) via USB, just like you do with other devices. You don't have to use the email stuff. There are two email options. One converts stuff to the proper format for free & emails it to you so you can transfer it with USB, the other costs .10 cents and will send the converted document directly to the Kindle.

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

You can transfer your files (as long as they're formats the Kindle can use) via USB, just like you do with other devices. You don't have to use the email stuff. There are two email options. One converts stuff to the proper format for free & emails it to you so you can transfer it with USB, the other costs .10 cents and will send the converted document directly to the Kindle.

Ok thank you.

So what file types does it read? Are all the mentioned file types converted to azw files to be read on the Kindle? It looks to me like they all have to be converted. Is there another way to convert besides by mailing the files to Amazon?

That quote says "unprotected" file types, so if a person had purchased mobi or pdf files, they won't work on the Kindle. They'd have to re-buy all their books in azw. Yes?

Can you save your purchased books on your own computer? Can you read your purchased books on your own computer?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Ok thank you.

So what file types does it read? Are all the mentioned file types converted to azw files to be read on the Kindle? It looks to me like they all have to be converted. Is there another way to convert besides by mailing the files to Amazon?

That quote says "unprotected" file types, so if a person had purchased mobi or pdf files, they won't work on the Kindle. They'd have to re-buy all their books in azw. Yes?

DRM'd PDF's won't work on anything but a computer at this time. DRM'd Mobi won't officially work on the Kindle, but there is a hack that lets you read them. Non-DRM'd Mobi files work on the Kindle without doing anything to them as will plain text files. HTML, DOC (Microsoft Word) & PDF (not sure about RTF) can be converted either using the email conversion to AZW or by using Mobipocket Creator (if you have Windows) to convert them to Mobi/PRC files. LIT files can be converted by breaking the DRM & using Mobipocket Creator to make a non-DRM Mobi file (non DRM LIT's obviously don't need the DRM broken, but can also be converted).

Can you save your purchased books on your own computer? Can you read your purchased books on your own computer?

Yes you can save them. No there isn't a reader program for use on a computer.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Ok thank you.

So what file types does it read? Are all the mentioned file types converted to azw files to be read on the Kindle? It looks to me like they all have to be converted. Is there another way to convert besides by mailing the files to Amazon?

The Kindle's "AZW" files are nothing more than MobiPocket files. Any tool which can create MobiPocket format files (MobiGen, Book Designer, MobiPocket Reader, etc etc) can be used to create files for the Kindle. Just create the Mobi file, rename it from ".prc" or ".mobi" to ".azw" and there you go - a Kindle book.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

You can transfer your files (as long as they're formats the Kindle can use) via USB, just like you do with other devices. You don't have to use the email stuff. There are two email options. One converts stuff to the proper format for free & emails it to you so you can transfer it with USB, the other costs .10 cents and will send the converted document directly to the Kindle.

You can also convert files to a format that Kindle can use using the Mobipocket PC application. It does everything that send a file to Amazon does but does it locally. As a matter of fact, sending a file to Amazon for automated processing is probably the same thing as I suspect they use the same basic program to do the conversion. After all they own Mobipocket.

Dale

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

You can also convert files to a format that Kindle can use using the Mobipocket PC application. It does everything that send a file to Amazon does but does it locally. As a matter of fact, sending a file to Amazon for automated processing is probably the same thing as I suspect they use the same basic program to do the conversion. After all they own Mobipocket.

Dale

Right, see my post above about using Mobipocket Creator.

[Ordinaryuser]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Right, see my post above about using Mobipocket Creator.

Since some of the comments involved software conversion, I hope that this is not off topic.

I was getting ready to buy a Palm TX and use it for the e-books that I already owned when further reading about Palm indicated that the software does not work with Windows Vista. (I think this is Palm's fault not Windows because they certainly had enough advance warning).
My question are there ebook readers that have software that will not work with Vista. I would hate to buy an ebook reader and discover that there was a software connection problem?

[HarryT]

None of the eInk readers on the market today require any PC software - they connect to the PC via USB and simply show up as an external drive to which you copy books.

The Sony alone needs custom software to buy books from its "Connect" bookstore, but this runs fine under Vista.

[Ordinaryuser]

Originally Posted by HarryT

None of the eInk readers on the market today require any PC software - they connect to the PC via USB and simply show up as an external drive to which you copy books.

The Sony alone needs custom software to buy books from its "Connect" bookstore, but this runs fine under Vista.

Thanks for the answer!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ordinaryuser

I was getting ready to buy a Palm TX and use it for the e-books that I already owned when further reading about Palm indicated that the software does not work with Windows Vista. (I think this is Palm's fault not Windows because they certainly had enough advance warning).

What software? You do not need to use a Windows machine (except maybe just when you buy the device if you need to upgrade the firmware) to use a Palm TX. You can take backup to an SD card and transfer the books using the SD card or using the WiFi. I have not connected my Palm T5 to a Windows machine in years.