Another fence sitter (non-Kindle)

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by Professor

Hanlin V3 is very powerful in format/language supporting, and it has the highest
performance-price ratio. I have compared the devices of each model, V3 is my final choice!

What do you mean by performance-price ratio or rather how are you defining it?

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Professor

Hanlin V3 is very powerful in format/language supporting, and it has the highest
performance-price ratio. I have compared the devices of each model, V3 is my final choice!

I'm curious about a few things with this device. Does it support search, annotation and dictionary lookup? I'm really impressed with the format support and how they seem to be very active in firmware development. I'm looking forward to the V9 and hoping it will have these features.

[Dru]

Thanks for the tip there Professor.

As far as I can tell, there's little to no significant price difference between the 505/Cybook/V3 when you bundle in covers or plans and shipping.

Part of why I waited was I was collecting enough ebooks that I hadn't read but really wanted to (versus kind of found interesting) so that the price of a mass market copy and the ebooks in the library I made covered the cost. I've now reached that tipping point, thanks to the Tor giveaway and other similar programs from authors. Still planning on buying ebooks, just wanted to make sure.

The one question I have is warranty issues: where do the Sony and Cybook models get sent? Make to the retailer or to the maufacturer?

[igorsk]

AFAIK Cybooks are sent to Paris and Readers are sent to San Diego.

[texasnightowl]

Well, since you've been reading, you probably saw my thread below "Wish I could see the future" - so you know I'm struggling with the same decision.

Even though, like you, I was initially against the Kindle - I think it has now ended up in my #1 spot.

I decided against the Cybook from a perspective of price ($379 at BooksonBoard + $14 ground shipping + $60 optional accidental damage warranty = $453); and IF something is wrong or needs repaired, it requires shipping to France.

The Sony reader is very appealing from the price perspective (under $275) but you will be doing an awful lot of converting unless you buy from the Sony bookstore in the Sony proprietary format...though of course, the recent epub format announcement/firmware helps. And the Calibre program is impressive, but you will still have to actually do these conversions.

So, then there is the Kindle. I still think it is pretty unappealing as compared to the slick Sony hardware. But the combination of a large ebook selection via amazon, whispernet, good ebook prices, and "hackable" standard mobi support have I think almost swayed me. I wish the price was 299 instead of 359...something about the "3" number bothers me, but I've about talked myself into it. Plus, apparently so far Amazon has been replacing Kindles whether the damage was customer fault or not...I posted a thread on amazon asking about screen replacement costs so I could compare to the Bookeen cost and that is what I was told.

So, I know you said Not Kindle...and originally I was right there with you, but it does have a lot going for it. Even if I hate to admit it.

[trooper94]

Hi Dru,

I was right with you on the aesthetics of the Kindle but the lure of Amazon's books just made me pull the trigger and I have never looked back.

I was going to go with a Sony because I am no stranger to conversion programs (my first ebook reader was a Palm IIIx). I thought it looked the most modern and the most reasonable priced of the e-ink devices. My brother had also purchased one, but his main complaint was the limited availability of content. Since he is not very technically inclined, I was not surprised he did not know about the conversion programs and other sources of material. What made me want to purchase a Kindle was the amount of material that Amazon had available, along with being able to use my mobi format books (.prc files) from my Palm. The fact that I had 30 days to return it did not hurt either. What looked clunky and outdated on the Amazon Kindle pages looked sleek and modern in my hands. The photos do not do the Kindle justice.
I did not think I would use the Whispernet function all that much but I found myself just browsing what is available while trying not to purchase too much in reading material.
It has helped me get back into my first hobby, reading.

Again if it is a choice based on aesthetics, try to see if you can see one in person. It is an impressive device.

-Simon
---------------------------
A fool and his money... Hey! Where's my wallet?

[Dru]

thanks trooper and texasnightowl... yeah the list availability of the Amazon selection is really amazing (which is why I'm disappointed they're locking to their device), and I can see the attraction and utility of Whispernet.

I've seen and briefly used the kindle, and just not my thing.

I'm still thinking carefully about my decision about these things... pity that all the models aren't available at retailers, eh? Think of how many more sales they would make.

I really appreciate the vigor and enthusiasm everyone has in their units. Now I just have to make a decision and bite the bullet.

[jerryleejr]

Originally Posted by texasnightowl

Well, since you've been reading, you probably saw my thread below "Wish I could see the future" - so you know I'm struggling with the same decision.

Even though, like you, I was initially against the Kindle - I think it has now ended up in my #1 spot.

I decided against the Cybook from a perspective of price ($379 at BooksonBoard + $14 ground shipping + $60 optional accidental damage warranty = $453); and IF something is wrong or needs repaired, it requires shipping to France.

The Sony reader is very appealing from the price perspective (under $275) but you will be doing an awful lot of converting unless you buy from the Sony bookstore in the Sony proprietary format...though of course, the recent epub format announcement/firmware helps. And the Calibre program is impressive, but you will still have to actually do these conversions.

So, then there is the Kindle. I still think it is pretty unappealing as compared to the slick Sony hardware. But the combination of a large ebook selection via amazon, whispernet, good ebook prices, and "hackable" standard mobi support have I think almost swayed me. I wish the price was 299 instead of 359...something about the "3" number bothers me, but I've about talked myself into it. Plus, apparently so far Amazon has been replacing Kindles whether the damage was customer fault or not...I posted a thread on amazon asking about screen replacement costs so I could compare to the Bookeen cost and that is what I was told.

So, I know you said Not Kindle...and originally I was right there with you, but it does have a lot going for it. Even if I hate to admit it.

I only want to comment on the content availablility. Please find me a title that is not available in either lrf, epub, or Secured PDF. I am sure they are out there but it would now be hard pressed to find one. Content was a big issue for me and I was leaning towards a Kindle because of it but now that the Sony Supports a broader format selection I see no reason not to save some money by getting a Sony. And I am not partial to any of the devices I would love to have them all, However in the end it comes down to how much you are willing to spend on a device and is the content you want available.

JJ
P.S. I am still in transit so I can Post (For Now)

[Argel]

Originally Posted by Dru

Non-monopolies interest me more. Breadth of selection from multiple sources... look at what happened with the Yahoo music store.

To be fair, it doesn't seem like with any of the readers, friends and family can give you a DRM'd ebook.

Dru, you hit upon one reason why the choice is so difficult - DRM.

Readers are not cheap but if truth were told many of us could probably afford to replace/upgrade a reader in the same way most of us do with our phones. Given that, while a mistaken choice may be an ‘ouch’, it’s not terminal. Unlike phones, however, we fear being locked into a single reader product line by DRM – especially when there’s a possibility that product line and its associated DRM format may become redundant.

For that reason it’s worth considering preparing for your new reader by becoming familiar with the way material can be shifted from one format to another and even, if you feel it’s justifiable, how DRM can be removed from material to allow such shifting. Many ebook users – including many in these forums - deliberately buy material in formats which are unrelated to their actual reader hardware but which are easily unchained and translated into other formats.

Anyone who is confident that they can shift formats is free to consider the best hardware/firmware for their needs in a new way. I have a Cybook and I’m delighted with it but if Cybook (or even Mobipocket) disappeared tomorrow, my library would be happily nestling in new hardware within a few days, none the worse for the experience.

Anyway, enjoy whatever you finally decide upon.

[Dru]

Argel -

Out of curiosity, do you find enough books available in shift-able formats to have your library available for hardware shifts? Can you find what you want a majority of the time, or does it really limit your purchases? I've been thinking about really figuring it out, but I'd like to find a standard way, so that I could batch and singly backup my purchases against format/device lock.

[Argel]

Originally Posted by Dru

Out of curiosity, do you find enough books available in shift-able formats to have your library available for hardware shifts? Can you find what you want a majority of the time, or does it really limit your purchases? I've been thinking about really figuring it out, but I'd like to find a standard way, so that I could batch and singly backup my purchases against format/device lock.

So far I've not run up against any difficulty - and I'm far less expert than many people here.

I think you'll find that many format shifters buy in the Microsoft Reader format because that is fairly easily unpacked into an HTML file and illustrations. Some strip the DRM from Mobi files they own and just use the unprotected file but you can also extract an HTML version from an unprotected file with tools available here. Apart from one dictionary, I personally haven't run up against a file that can't be translated into HTML .

The HTML isn't always perfect - not least because the format of even some commercial ebooks can be sloppy. Different people tweak in different ways. I am sufficiently ignorant of things HTML that I just use Word and Wordpad to tidy up the format. So far they have done what I needed. Usually I just make sure that chapters begin on new pages, tweak paragraph spacing and adjust headings but recently I bought a commercial edition of a classic Latin text in translation, only to discover that the footnotes were not connected to the text. Half an hour's work with Word gave me a better version than the commercial original.

I use Mobi Reader almost exlusively and have found no difficulty in getting the HTML versions into that format using the free Mobipocket Creator. Others seem to have similarly little difficulty in translating to their favourite readers. I always keep the HTML version, however; firstly because it gives me searchable text and I don't really see the point of etexts if you can't search them and secondly because if Mobireader ever were to disappear I'd just translate the library for whatever new device I buy.

So the answer to your question is that so far my choices haven't been limited at all but that a little individual attention is required for each purchase rather than just processing them as a batch.