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Old 09-27-2012, 12:28 PM   #1
EricaJean
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Overwhelmed

Hi All,
I have an older Sony ebook reader and would like to upgrade but I don't know anything about the current ebook market and am overwhelmed.

I would like a reader that can also connect to the internet, has color, and is lighted. I realize this means a Tablet might work too, and that's why I'm overwhelmed - too many choices.

Also, one thing I like about my Sony is I can buy books from lots of different sites... and it seems with the Nook and Kindle you are limited to their bookstores - is that correct?

I mainly read fiction, but would like to branch out to non-fiction books with color illustrations and comic books - thus the need for color. Also, I'm in the USA and read in English.

Any help or suggestions to narrow down my choices?

Thanks,

Erica
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Old 09-27-2012, 12:48 PM   #2
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If you want color, you have no choice but to go to a tablet. The ipad3 with its high resolution screen makes the text look nice and crisp. I can't speak to the smaller tablets like the kindle fire and such. I am sure they are great as well.

If you are up to removing the drm on a book, you can use software called calibre to convert the book into any format you need; so you can then read a book from any bookstore on any device.

Calibre will not remove the drm for you out of the box, but there are plugins you can add to calbre to do this.

The nice thing about a tablet (ipad anyways) is if you are not up for removing the drm, you can get a kindle reader app, you can get a kobo app, there is apple's own ibooks. So, you can buy books from amazon and read them on the kindle app, buy books from kobo and read them on the kobo app, buy books from the apple bookstore and read them in ibooks.

Last edited by foghat; 09-27-2012 at 12:51 PM.
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Old 09-27-2012, 01:19 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EricaJean View Post
I would like a reader that can also connect to the internet, has color, and is lighted. I realize this means a Tablet might work too, and that's why I'm overwhelmed - too many choices.
As foghat said, these requirements mean tablet.

Personally, I could not stand reading a book on a backlit LCD, but YMMV.

Quote:
Also, one thing I like about my Sony is I can buy books from lots of different sites... and it seems with the Nook and Kindle you are limited to their bookstores - is that correct?
Not strictly correct. Both the Nook and Kindle are well integrated with their respective stores, but there are many sources of non-drm books for all of them.
And even if you are talking only about the handful of mass-market DRM ebook stores, the limits are not quite as limiting as some claim.
But in any case, you are talking about getting a tablet, which means you could run various reader apps on it, and buy from any of those stores.

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Old 09-27-2012, 01:29 PM   #4
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The Amazon store has just about every book available in e-format, so it really doesn't matter that DRMed books are limited to the Amazon bookstore. You can also buy from Baen, Smashwords, Fictionwise, and other non-DRM stores.
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Old 09-27-2012, 01:51 PM   #5
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Quote:
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Personally, I could not stand reading a book on a backlit LCD, but YMMV.
Exactly. I have no problems reading for hours on my ipad 2 and it does not even have the hi-res screen. Reading with my wife's ipad3 is just a treat.

Of course for outdoors and on the bus, my prs-t1 rules.
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Old 09-27-2012, 03:07 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EricaJean View Post
Hi All,
I have an older Sony ebook reader and would like to upgrade but I don't know anything about the current ebook market and am overwhelmed.

I would like a reader that can also connect to the internet, has color, and is lighted. I realize this means a Tablet might work too, and that's why I'm overwhelmed - too many choices.

Also, one thing I like about my Sony is I can buy books from lots of different sites... and it seems with the Nook and Kindle you are limited to their bookstores - is that correct?

I mainly read fiction, but would like to branch out to non-fiction books with color illustrations and comic books - thus the need for color. Also, I'm in the USA and read in English.

Any help or suggestions to narrow down my choices?

Thanks,

Erica
The Nook supports not only the B&N DRM, but also the regular Adobe DRM. So your Sony books can be read on the Nook, and you can buy books from any bookstore using the Adobe DRM (basically every bookstore except Amazon and Apple).
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Old 09-27-2012, 03:34 PM   #7
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Sony also makes an Android app (not sure about iOS), which works very much like the Reader devices (minus a dictionary and annotations other than highlighting). The latest versions of the Sony Reader app let you sideload books, so you should be able to read anything on it that you were able to read on your Reader device whether it was purchased from Sony or not. While the Sony app doesn't support a built-in dictionary, it will let you lookup words and phrases on Wikipedia or Google as long as you're connected to the Internet.

I haven't spent much time reading from the Nook for Android app, so I can't comment on it other than it will let you sideload and has dictionary support. I know the Nook devices support the same DRM as Sony (although B&N uses a proprietary DRM for books purchased from them), but I don't know if the app does.

The Kobo app for Android lets you sideload as well, but doesn't have dictionary support although it does let you annotate (highlight and add notes) as well as sharing passages on Facebook. I personally don't like reading much from the Kobo app because it doesn't paginate like the Sony (each chapter/section is paginated separately) and the annotation interface is a little awkward.

Kindle also has an app for Android, but as others have pointed out, it uses a completely different format from the others and you'd have to download your books in its format or convert (which isn't perfect, but works). I've not spent a lot of time reading on it either, but I'm pretty sure it supports sideloading and a dictionary.

If you decide to go with an iOS device, most, if not all of these apps are available there as well, but I can't speak for feature parity between the Android and iOS versions.
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Old 09-27-2012, 03:38 PM   #8
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The Nook supports not only the B&N DRM, but also the regular Adobe DRM. So your Sony books can be read on the Nook, and you can buy books from any bookstore using the Adobe DRM (basically every bookstore except Amazon and Apple).
Are you talking about the eInk devices or the Nook Color/Tablet? I know the eInk ones do, but I don't know about the others and Erica wants a color screen.
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Old 09-27-2012, 03:46 PM   #9
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Are you talking about the eInk devices or the Nook Color/Tablet? I know the eInk ones do, but I don't know about the others and Erica wants a color screen.
All B&N devices, both the e-ink ones and the tablets, support Adobe DRM.

Today B&N also added the Overdrive app to the Nook app store for the Nook Color and Tablet, to borrow library books from your device, without needing a PC.

Last edited by geertm; 09-27-2012 at 03:49 PM.
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Old 09-27-2012, 10:37 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by geertm View Post
All B&N devices, both the e-ink ones and the tablets, support Adobe DRM.

Today B&N also added the Overdrive app to the Nook app store for the Nook Color and Tablet, to borrow library books from your device, without needing a PC.
Thanks. That's useful information. I'm not looking, but I have friends who ask for my advice.
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Old 09-27-2012, 11:06 PM   #11
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I'd suggest a tablet as well.
The ipad is always a good choice for quality and capabilities but for me the size is a deal breaker. I just don't like the large size. I prefer a reader that I can drop in my pocket and for that reason chose the Samsung Galaxy Player5.

Samsung also makes a decent 7" tablet and it sure seems that there is going to be a 7" ipad soon...I very interested in that.

I've tried reading with an ipad2 and find it to be too large and uncomfortable for me.
Head over to your local big box and handle some and make the decision for yourself.
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Old 09-27-2012, 11:46 PM   #12
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I think your best choice would be google Nexus 7. Its one of the best for its price and its not disabled in any way so you can install an app of any bookstore you want to use. So you can download a Nook app, Kindle app, Sony app or even apps that are not available in google play like comic reader mobi a good app for reading comics on a 7inch screen
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Old 10-04-2012, 02:57 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by foghat View Post
If you want color, you have no choice but to go to a tablet. The ipad3 with its high resolution screen makes the text look nice and crisp. I can't speak to the smaller tablets like the kindle fire and such. I am sure they are great as well.

If you are up to removing the drm on a book, you can use software called calibre to convert the book into any format you need; so you can then read a book from any bookstore on any device.

Calibre will not remove the drm for you out of the box, but there are plugins you can add to calbre to do this.

The nice thing about a tablet (ipad anyways) is if you are not up for removing the drm, you can get a kindle reader app, you can get a kobo app, there is apple's own ibooks. So, you can buy books from amazon and read them on the kindle app, buy books from kobo and read them on the kobo app, buy books from the apple bookstore and read them in ibooks.
Thanks Foghat, I think a tablet sounds good too... and I was completely unaware of calibre and that tablets can use different reader apps...

Very useful info...

Erica
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Old 10-11-2012, 03:28 AM   #14
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Or wait for a few days and see how the iPad Mini fits your requirements.
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Old 10-20-2012, 10:11 PM   #15
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Hi Everyone,

Thanks so much for your replies & advice, it has been very, very helpful.

I think I'm going to go with a pad or pad-like device such as the Nexus, Galaxy or so forth.

I am really into touching and trying things before I buy them, that's part of the reason I picked the Sony originally - I could try it out ahead of time.

I'm going to start visiting stores and see what I find.

Thanks again for all your help!

Erica

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