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Old 01-27-2008, 11:16 AM   #1
KlondikeGeoff
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Why I'm keeping the Kindle and gave my wife the Reader

I've had the Reader for more than a year and really enjoyed it. However, I was given a Kindle as a gift, and for me, it is definitely better for my needs than the Sony. I can say right out that the Reader is better looking and has better ergonomics, but I favor function over form.

One big reason for my using an ebook is my poor vision, requiring large print to read comfortable. The Kindle lets the owner easily pick any one six type sizes, the largest being 20 pt which is excellent for me. I've bought a lot of books from Sony, and too many of them have the largest type in the landscape mode still much too small to read comfortable. Sony insists that is the fault of the publishers. Be that as it may, they could easily have done what other devices do and let the user pick the font and size of type. I'm not going to waste any more money buying their books when there is no way to ascertain in advance how large the type will be. Of course, if they did what Amazon does and let you sample the book free, there would be no problem, but they don't.

Also, for a company promoting the Reader as an aid to the visually handicapped, their eBook Library software is the absolute pits. Once it is open to look at the books or even worse, go to the Store, it is impossible to read due to the minuscule type size. Unlike Firebox or IE browsers, there is no way to enlarge the size of the pages, so to browse for books, I need a magnifying glass. And, navigation through the site is a laugh, compared to looking for books on Amazon. And Amazon has many, many more user reviews.

Also, once the damned Library is open, it takes over and you can't see the Task Bar or do anything else unless you minimize it. Worst piece of software I've seen in 20 years of using computers.

Just buying content from Sony requires several steps, and once purchased, you have to go back to the Library and drag the books from the Library to the Reader. Pretty ridiculous compared with Amazon's 1-click system, where all you have to do when you find a book you want is click on "Buy" and it is in your device in less than a minute.

While I'd probably not buy it just because of the Whispernet, that really is a cool system for getting books. Oh, yeah, and also, unlike the Reader, magazines, newspapers and blogs. It is extremely easy to transfer my own documents, either via their email system or through the USB connection, where the Kindle show up as a separate folder in Explorer.

Navigating through the various menus on the Kindle is very simple. Some may not like the scroll bar, but it works easily for me and is very intuitive.

As I've posed before, I had the old Rocket eBook for years, and they had numerous great features that Sony chose not to include, but Amazon wisely did. There is a really excellent lookup-dictionary feature, one can search through documents, Wikipedia or elsewhere, it is possible to bookmark as easily as the Reader, but handling bookmarks is much easier. In any document, I can highlight text, save it to a Clipping feature to print out, and there are several other advantages, that while not essential, make the whole thing far better and easier to use.

Had Sony incorporated any of these things, that have been around on other devices, they would have a winner, but for some impossible to discern reason, they chose not to bother.

My wife is happy because she can now use the Reader to read many of the good books I have purchased as well as a whole bunch of the Gutenberg books. I am very pleased because I now have an ebook device that does far more things, easier and quicker than the Reader.

Anyway, to each his/her own, and it is good to have different devices for different tastes.

So, I'll drop by this forum now and then to see what's happening with the Reader, but mostly I'll be looking at the MobilRead Kindle forum.
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Old 01-27-2008, 11:24 AM   #2
Nate the great
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I can't send you a pm, so I have to post this.

Why did you repost this thread? It's over here. As you can see, I moved it. I thought this thread fit better in the "Which one should I buy" forum rather than in either device forum.
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