noobie requesting your thoughts and opinions

rabt · 08-11-2009, 12:49 PM

Hello all,

I would like everyones thoughts and opinions on e-readers and what would best fit my needs (or if there really is a fit). First a little about my reading habits and type of books I read.

I am an avid reader. I read roughly 30 to 40 books a year (mostly fiction and sci-fi/fantasy). I like to re-read books and I never get rid of a book. I am quickly running out of space to keep the nearly 500 books I have. I am also a part-time student in college and have heard that text books are possibly going to be offered in ebook format soon (the sooner the better as far as my back is concerned...lol). I also need to reference numerous guide/manuals in PDF format for my job.

Needless to say in my research into e-readers the first e-reader that seems to come up is the Kindle. I have thought seriously about the DX (I figured it would work best for those text books) but I did not like the idea of the battery being sealed into the unit and having to send in the whole unit to replace a bad battery. Not to mention the fiasco with the removal of 1984. I also noticed that the ebooks offered through amazon seem to be cheaper than most other ebook sites (although why an electronic copy costs almost as much as a physical copy still does not make sense to me but I'm sure that has been beaten to death in previous posts...lol).

So please let me hear about your experiences with e-readers as well as ebook sites and what you think I should consider for my first ebook reader.

zelda_pinwheel · 08-11-2009, 12:59 PM

hi rabt, and welcome to mobileread. you've come to the right place for advice about choosing a device that meets your needs ! i recommend you take a look at our wiki (notably the excellent ebook comparison matrix) to get an idea of various technical specs, and also take a look at some of the other discussions which might help you out.

since you say you read a lot of science fiction, have you heard of baen books ? they sell ebooks at very reasonable prices in multiple formats and without drm. there are also lots of other ebook sites, fictionwise and books on board to name two. regardless of the device you choose you're never limited to one bookstore. and, we've got thousands of free public domain books right here in our ebook uploads section (click on the "e-books" link in the blue nav bar at the top of the page) formatted by our members.

i'm going to move your post to our "which one should i buy ?" forum where you'll get more help.

choosing is the hard part

but i'm sure you'll love whatever device you end up with.

PBee · 08-14-2009, 11:25 AM

Early this year I tried both the Cybook Gen 3 and Kindle 2, Cybook having a 14 day return policy and Kindle a 30 day return policy. I liked both and after much back and forth in my own mind decided to keep the Kindle.

Now begins the hassle with Books on Board, they refuse to respond to numerous email requests and phone calls asking for an RMA. I returned the Cybook without an RMA and my credit card company had to get involved and reverse the charges.

wallcraft · 08-14-2009, 12:00 PM

If you want to read books, then probably any 6" EInk device will do. Practically everyone except Amazon is switching to Adobe ePub, which means that the reading experience is going to be very similar on all of them. It is still too soon to tell if there is actually any important differences between ePub on (say) a PRS-600 and a EZ Reader (Hanlin V3).

The new 5" EInk devices are interesting, because this might be a more convenient form factor. However, the software is identical to the 6" devices.

For letter/A4 PDFs, 8" EInk screens are much better than 6" screens and ~10" screens are better still. This is because pan and zoom does not work well with the slow refresh rate of EInk. The Kindle DX has crippled PDF support, and I can't recommend it (although it does demonstrate than this screen size is going to be very good for PDFs). The DR1000S is very good but very expensive. The new iRex 8" device, Mainstream iRex 8.1-inch reader for 400$ (rumor), looks promising since iRex has good PDF support today. It is likely than several companies are working on 8" and 9.7" devices, because these are standard PVI panels, but are waiting for "plastic" PVI screens vs the glass screen probably used by the Kindle DX. These screens should be available this fall, but they have been delayed before so who knows when they will actually come out. I would still recommend waiting for them, becuase they are all going to support PDF better than the Kindle DX.

If you must read letter/A4 PDFs on a 6" device, then it is likely that the PRS-600 is your best option. All the Adobe ePub devices also use ADE for PDFs (including Adobe PDF ebooks), but the PRS-600 (follow-on to the PRS-700) is the only one currently with a touch screen and a PDF zoom mode as well as a reflow mode. However, the zoom was not very practical on the PRS-700, and we don't yet know if has been improved on the PRS-600.

HarryT · 08-14-2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

If you must read letter/A4 PDFs on a 6" device, then it is likely that the PRS-600 is your best option. All the Adobe ePub devices also use ADE for PDFs (including Adobe PDF ebooks), but the PRS-600 (follow-on to the PRS-700) is the only one currently with a touch screen and a PDF zoom mode as well as a reflow mode. However, the zoom was not very practical on the PRS-700, and we don't yet know if has been improved on the PRS-600.

The Bookeen devices (Gen3 and Opus) have a "zoom and pan" mode for PDF display which works pretty well.

wallcraft · 08-14-2009, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Bookeen devices (Gen3 and Opus) have a "zoom and pan" mode for PDF display which works pretty well.

This means that Bookeen's mobile ADE implementation (on the Opus) is better for PDFs than Jinke's on the Hanlins. I still assume the standard Netronix ADE is similar to that on the Hanlin (based on the Elonex 600EB manual, which does not provide many details). The major complaint about the PRS-700's zoom mode is that you can't set it up to read multiple pages with the same zoom. So it is ok for zooming in on an image, say, but not for reading a long article.

08-11-2009, 12:49 PM	#1
rabt Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ohio, USA Device: none	noobie requesting your thoughts and opinions Hello all, I would like everyones thoughts and opinions on e-readers and what would best fit my needs (or if there really is a fit). First a little about my reading habits and type of books I read. I am an avid reader. I read roughly 30 to 40 books a year (mostly fiction and sci-fi/fantasy). I like to re-read books and I never get rid of a book. I am quickly running out of space to keep the nearly 500 books I have. I am also a part-time student in college and have heard that text books are possibly going to be offered in ebook format soon (the sooner the better as far as my back is concerned...lol). I also need to reference numerous guide/manuals in PDF format for my job. Needless to say in my research into e-readers the first e-reader that seems to come up is the Kindle. I have thought seriously about the DX (I figured it would work best for those text books) but I did not like the idea of the battery being sealed into the unit and having to send in the whole unit to replace a bad battery. Not to mention the fiasco with the removal of 1984. I also noticed that the ebooks offered through amazon seem to be cheaper than most other ebook sites (although why an electronic copy costs almost as much as a physical copy still does not make sense to me but I'm sure that has been beaten to death in previous posts...lol). So please let me hear about your experiences with e-readers as well as ebook sites and what you think I should consider for my first ebook reader.

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08-11-2009, 12:59 PM	#2
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	hi rabt, and welcome to mobileread. you've come to the right place for advice about choosing a device that meets your needs ! i recommend you take a look at our wiki (notably the excellent ebook comparison matrix) to get an idea of various technical specs, and also take a look at some of the other discussions which might help you out. since you say you read a lot of science fiction, have you heard of baen books ? they sell ebooks at very reasonable prices in multiple formats and without drm. there are also lots of other ebook sites, fictionwise and books on board to name two. regardless of the device you choose you're never limited to one bookstore. and, we've got thousands of free public domain books right here in our ebook uploads section (click on the "e-books" link in the blue nav bar at the top of the page) formatted by our members. i'm going to move your post to our "which one should i buy ?" forum where you'll get more help. choosing is the hard part but i'm sure you'll love whatever device you end up with.

08-14-2009, 11:25 AM	#3
PBee Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle2	Early this year I tried both the Cybook Gen 3 and Kindle 2, Cybook having a 14 day return policy and Kindle a 30 day return policy. I liked both and after much back and forth in my own mind decided to keep the Kindle. Now begins the hassle with Books on Board, they refuse to respond to numerous email requests and phone calls asking for an RMA. I returned the Cybook without an RMA and my credit card company had to get involved and reverse the charges.

08-14-2009, 12:00 PM	#4
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	If you want to read books, then probably any 6" EInk device will do. Practically everyone except Amazon is switching to Adobe ePub, which means that the reading experience is going to be very similar on all of them. It is still too soon to tell if there is actually any important differences between ePub on (say) a PRS-600 and a EZ Reader (Hanlin V3). The new 5" EInk devices are interesting, because this might be a more convenient form factor. However, the software is identical to the 6" devices. For letter/A4 PDFs, 8" EInk screens are much better than 6" screens and ~10" screens are better still. This is because pan and zoom does not work well with the slow refresh rate of EInk. The Kindle DX has crippled PDF support, and I can't recommend it (although it does demonstrate than this screen size is going to be very good for PDFs). The DR1000S is very good but very expensive. The new iRex 8" device, Mainstream iRex 8.1-inch reader for 400$ (rumor), looks promising since iRex has good PDF support today. It is likely than several companies are working on 8" and 9.7" devices, because these are standard PVI panels, but are waiting for "plastic" PVI screens vs the glass screen probably used by the Kindle DX. These screens should be available this fall, but they have been delayed before so who knows when they will actually come out. I would still recommend waiting for them, becuase they are all going to support PDF better than the Kindle DX. If you must read letter/A4 PDFs on a 6" device, then it is likely that the PRS-600 is your best option. All the Adobe ePub devices also use ADE for PDFs (including Adobe PDF ebooks), but the PRS-600 (follow-on to the PRS-700) is the only one currently with a touch screen and a PDF zoom mode as well as a reflow mode. However, the zoom was not very practical on the PRS-700, and we don't yet know if has been improved on the PRS-600.