Should I Purchase a Reader?

kcr · 10-08-2006, 09:05 PM

This is actually a series of questions, questions that I so far have not been able to find answers to.

I am an avid reader. I have more books stacked on top of books and more books stacked away in the attic. My wife is almost as bad as I am, and our kids are turning out to much the same. Needless to say, the prospect of having our books on one device instead is very appealing. I also program for a living -- having all of my technical references available all the time is equally attractive.

Having said all that, I am very under-whelmed by reading on laptops and reading on Palms and phones. The eye strain and the screen sizes are deal breakers for me. : thus my interest in the Sony Reader. But the reader is expensive, and I am not sure it fits all of my needs.

For personal use, I want to be able to buy from Amazon and Fictionwise instead of just Sony Connect. I know that some of fiction wise’s content is DRM PDF and txt, so the DRM would probably prevent me from reading these books and magazines on the Reader. However, I cannot seem to find much about Amazon's DRM or lack of DRM. And Fictionwise also sells non-DRM'd PDF and txt, so those should be readable. My favorite tech book publisher offers html versions of their books, and there are plenty of HTML to PDF or text tools around. So I guess my question boils down to this:

1. Is there an easy, efficient way to convert PDF to the page size of the Reader?

2. What percentage, roughly, of Amazon and Fictionwise texts are going to be readable on the Reader?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Bob Russell · 10-08-2006, 10:27 PM

I'm not sure yet about #1, but if you scan some of the other threads here you will find some information about it. No definitive easy solutions yet, but people are having some success already.

#2) I'm guessing 0% of the Amazon (which are basically only MobiPocket format now) or Fictionwise (which are no available in a usable format either, as far as I know).

kcr · 10-10-2006, 11:02 PM

Bob

Thanks for the information. It helped a lot -- not sure I can talk myself inot the amount of money they want for the limited options the reader seems to have.

10-10-2006, 11:02 PM	#3
kcr Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: None	Thanks Bob Thanks for the information. It helped a lot -- not sure I can talk myself inot the amount of money they want for the limited options the reader seems to have.

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10-08-2006, 09:05 PM	#1
kcr Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: None	Should I Purchase a Reader? This is actually a series of questions, questions that I so far have not been able to find answers to. I am an avid reader. I have more books stacked on top of books and more books stacked away in the attic. My wife is almost as bad as I am, and our kids are turning out to much the same. Needless to say, the prospect of having our books on one device instead is very appealing. I also program for a living -- having all of my technical references available all the time is equally attractive. Having said all that, I am very under-whelmed by reading on laptops and reading on Palms and phones. The eye strain and the screen sizes are deal breakers for me. : thus my interest in the Sony Reader. But the reader is expensive, and I am not sure it fits all of my needs. For personal use, I want to be able to buy from Amazon and Fictionwise instead of just Sony Connect. I know that some of fiction wise’s content is DRM PDF and txt, so the DRM would probably prevent me from reading these books and magazines on the Reader. However, I cannot seem to find much about Amazon's DRM or lack of DRM. And Fictionwise also sells non-DRM'd PDF and txt, so those should be readable. My favorite tech book publisher offers html versions of their books, and there are plenty of HTML to PDF or text tools around. So I guess my question boils down to this: 1. Is there an easy, efficient way to convert PDF to the page size of the Reader? 2. What percentage, roughly, of Amazon and Fictionwise texts are going to be readable on the Reader? Thanks for everyone's help.

10-08-2006, 10:27 PM	#2
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	I'm not sure yet about #1, but if you scan some of the other threads here you will find some information about it. No definitive easy solutions yet, but people are having some success already. #2) I'm guessing 0% of the Amazon (which are basically only MobiPocket format now) or Fictionwise (which are no available in a usable format either, as far as I know).

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