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Old 04-09-2010, 12:04 PM   #16
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I chose the Kindle for myself because I wanted a French dictionary and text to speech. I love it. I think it's a little zippier than my Sony was too, for things like changing the font and navigating the menus.
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Old 04-09-2010, 01:23 PM   #17
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is there a pocket that is 6 inch and a newer model?
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Old 04-09-2010, 01:32 PM   #18
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what I think is really interesting in this discussion is that - so far- no one has mentioned one of the "big boys" i keep telling friends/family/anyone that will listen that there are so many good/better readers to choose from than just the Kindle's and Nooks.
That's probably because many of us believe that the big players DON'T make the best devices. Eg, none of the "big 3" of Amazon, Sony, and B&N have devices with even something so rudimentary as folder support, for goodness sake!
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Old 04-09-2010, 03:25 PM   #19
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HarryT, a good quantity of people who post here are capable of at least basic programming like scripts with GUIs for format changes, or hacking their way into a device to extract files. Then there are the laymen like us which profit from such expertise.

Which means, the average user of Mobileread is tech-savvier than a layman.
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Old 04-09-2010, 03:57 PM   #20
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I saw the pdf thread above but it's somewhat outdated. What's the best reader for PDF files that's also not ridiculously overpriced? As a grad student I have an endless supply of journal papers to read and they're always in PDF format. I'm looking for something in the $200-300 range.

Suggestions I've seen so far are Onyx Boox 60/BeBook Neo (from what I gather are the same thing)

anything else?

Last edited by Tomed; 04-09-2010 at 04:07 PM.
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Old 04-10-2010, 11:37 PM   #21
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I agree with EowynCarter. I had a chance to try the Pocketbook 360 and I ended up abandoning it to go back to my moribund Cybook, and then buying an Opus. The Pocketbook has lots of nice-to-have features and useless (to me, obviously, not to everyone) gadgets, but the reading experience itself felt clunky after the simplicity of the Cybook. The last straw was when I started reading a book with a lot of footnotes, and was unable to find a way to go back to the original page after reading the footnote.

I agree with Harry about the absence of bookmarks, but it's only slightly annoying to me.

Also, I agree with surrealmind: it's impossible to know in advance how you will really use your e-reader. In my case, I found I use it pretty much as I would a paper book, except that I can now carry many different books with me, which has lead to my reading many books at the same time. But that's the only change in my behavior, I think. Even the dictionary function, which I had to abandon when I switched to the ePub format, I don't miss all that much.

Sorry Xtt: the absolute best reader doesn't exist, or rather, it is different for everybody
Not to discount your tech skills but is that honestly difficult to navigate using the Pocketbook 360? The previous posters seemed quite fond of it but I see the Opus was mentioned twice as well.

It's fine that there's no absolute best but what do you guys think the best starting one would be then?
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Old 04-11-2010, 02:02 AM   #22
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Not to discount your tech skills but is that honestly difficult to navigate using the Pocketbook 360? The previous posters seemed quite fond of it but I see the Opus was mentioned twice as well.

It's fine that there's no absolute best but what do you guys think the best starting one would be then?
Well, if I needed "tech skills" to navigate the thing, it would be really bad I didn't say I had problems with the navigation (except the no back button thing, which I admit it pretty bad).

I have to admit that my reasons for disliking the pocketbook are not all rational: I was forced to abandon my Cybook, which I loved, because it was malfunctioning, and I didn't choose the Pocketbook (I won it in a contest here at MR). So I started with a bias against the pocketbook. Silly, I know

One thing I can tell you (and it's another reason for my dislike): don't try to read mobipocket books with the Pocketbook. The program it's using is awful. It takes a very long time to open the books, displays chapter headers in the same font as the rest of the text without even a few empty lines to signal the start of a new chapter, and even drops a character once in a while (every 4-5 pages). It just skips a character for no apparent reason (I made comparisons with other readers, and the character that was missing on the Pocketbook was there), so for example "hello" becomes "hell".

If you want a more positive opinion from me (with all the proper disclaimers of course): I think the Opus is the best if you read in trains, buses or crowded situations where you must hold the reader in one hand and have a good hold on it. If you mostly read at home, I would prefer the Cybook for its larger screen and sleeker design.

Both of these do one thing, and one thing only: read books. That's all I need. I don't take notes, I don't want wifi or a program to put the books on my reader, I can do that myself very easily by copying them from the computer. The search function on the PB is nice, but I don't really miss it.

Another thing is the design. They look good also. The PB is a little too "cute" for my taste, though it doesn't look bad.

The Cybook and Opus are for readers. The Pocketbook is more geek-oriented: you can install programs on it, tinker with it in ways I never bothered to explore, and I understand the firmware updates are more frequent. There was a lot of discussion on the lack of firmware update for the Cybook. Personally I'd rather have a product that works the first time, than a constantly evolving firmware, and the trouble and risk of installing new versions.

OK. You want advice? Here's my advice: look me in the eye and listen carefully.

Buy a Cybook. Buy a Cybook. Buy a Cybook.


Last edited by FlorenceArt; 04-12-2010 at 02:01 PM.
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Old 04-11-2010, 04:52 AM   #23
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Not to discount your tech skills but is that honestly difficult to navigate using the Pocketbook 360? The previous posters seemed quite fond of it but I see the Opus was mentioned twice as well.
Well, i found navigating with the PB hard at first. It's like apple's stuff, you need some time to get used to it, though it's quite effective once you've figured it out.

Quote:
That's probably because many of us believe that the big players DON'T make the best devices. Eg, none of the "big 3" of Amazon, Sony, and B&N have devices with even something so rudimentary as folder support, for goodness sake!
Folder support is someting i though would not really be usefull, though I would just go putting only the few books I was reading. But now i'm used to it, it's a must have for any futur reader.

Quote:
HarryT, a good quantity of people who post here are capable of at least basic programming like scripts with GUIs for format changes, or hacking their way into a device to extract files. Then there are the laymen like us which profit from such expertise.

Which means, the average user of Mobileread is tech-savvier than a layman.
Because we can do it, don't means we want to bother with it.
I hate having to uses tags on mp3.. i don't like it more with e-books.
Tags are never the rights ones.

Last edited by EowynCarter; 04-11-2010 at 07:14 AM.
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Old 04-11-2010, 05:10 AM   #24
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Because we can do it, don't means we want to bother with it.
Exactly! I can learn tech stuff and code, if I see an advantage to it. But to read? No way. I have been reading for 40 years, and I see no reason to make it more complicated now. I just want to pick up a book, open it and start reading. Anything else is just a waste of my time and attention.

This reminds me of an anecdote I heard long ago, when we still had obligatory military service for men. Apparently the first thing the army did was teach them to walk. So you had this bunch of 18-20 year olds, who suddenly didn't know how to walk

I don't plan to learn how to read again, and even less to learn how to hack my device so that I can read.
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Old 04-11-2010, 05:19 AM   #25
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This reminds me of an anecdote I heard long ago, when we still had obligatory military service for men. Apparently the first thing the army did was teach them to walk. So you had this bunch of 18-20 year olds, who suddenly didn't know how to walk
Ergonomy-wise, it makes sense. They don't teach "to walk", the teach "to walk efficiently". Many skills we have as basic can be subtly improved, like sitting properly or running.
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Old 04-11-2010, 06:09 AM   #26
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Ergonomy-wise, it makes sense. They don't teach "to walk", the teach "to walk efficiently". Many skills we have as basic can be subtly improved, like sitting properly or running.
True. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned this anecdote. I only meant that I don't want tech stuff to stand between me and reading.

But it's very true about ergonomics, and how the way we first learn to do things is not necessarily the best way but is hard to unlearn. The navigation on the Pocketbook is not worse than that of the Cybook, in fact it is better, but it still took me some time to get used to it.
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Old 04-12-2010, 01:11 PM   #27
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I am currently debating between Opus and 360 and just can't decide.

Is there some difference between them in actual reading experience? Is one better to read, change pages faster or something? After all 99% of time with reader I would use to actually read so reading experience is the most important thing.
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Old 04-12-2010, 01:23 PM   #28
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I am currently debating between Opus and 360 and just can't decide.

Is there some difference between them in actual reading experience? Is one better to read, change pages faster or something? After all 99% of time with reader I would use to actually read so reading experience is the most important thing.
Owning both, my vote would be for the 360. It offers (to my mind) a better user interface, and significantly more features, such as bookmarks, text highlighting, and dictionary lookup. Plus, the clip-on protective cover is much, much better than the Opus' carrying pouch.
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Old 04-12-2010, 01:57 PM   #29
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Is there some difference between them in actual reading experience? Is one better to read, change pages faster or something? After all 99% of time with reader I would use to actually read so reading experience is the most important thing.
Hardware
- Both use the same hardware manufactured by the same company.
- PocketBook 360 has plastic lid that can be snapped to the front of the device - to protect display during transport, or to the back of the device - so you can put it away safely during reading.
- Some people complain that two big page turning butons on PocketBook 360 are rather stiff and loud when clicking. (see last (**) point) I personally, as a PocketBook 360 owner, do not find this a problem, but you should be informed.

Software
- Pocket Book 360 has wider configuration options. It will appeal to somebody who likes to set all possible options to his exact tastes.
- Cybook Opus is simpler, better suited for somebody who is uncomfortable with computers.
- I do not know if I would recommend PocketBook 360 to somebody that can "get lost" in too many features (*) (for such an user Sony Reader PRS-300 or Kindle or the new Kobo reader might be the perfect device)

Reading.
- it is said that Cybook Opus has the best e-pub viewer.
- on the other hand, many users (including me) read e-pubs on PocketBook in FBReader application. You can configure, tune, tweak and tinker with every aspect of book display(**). You can set font (even use other than ttf files), set size (with the step 1 point), set margins, justification, hyphenation, line distance, switch off status line, you can override any e-pub formatting to your taste.


(*) - somebody that can not learn of how to send / read an SMS message using his own mobile phone, somebody that can not insert a new name and number to the list of contacts on his mobile phone, even if you show him / her patiently how to do that at least 30 times. There are MANY such people. (Hi mum! )

(**) - this is only for DRM-free books
(**) - you have to install third-party version of FBReader to get all the configuration options
(**) - as a bonus you get option to turn the page just by tilting the reader - without clicking buttons
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Old 04-12-2010, 03:21 PM   #30
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(**) - as a bonus you get option to turn the page just by tilting the reader - without clicking buttons
How well configurable is that? I occasionally read books lying on my side so I want text to go from up to down instead of left to right when looked from devices point of view. Is it possible to use that "tilt to turn" when in such position?

I take tehre is option to not orient text automatically but how easy/hard it is to configure device to different orientations when motion sensor is active? For example I read book on my left side then turn to my back so I want change text from up to down to left to right. How fast I can change text orientation?
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