Seriously thoughtful Advice time: A teenager wants to know how to properly review an E-reader!

[Not_A_Crook]

...Yes, this thread will sound desperate...

Anyway, I have only ever demo'd two Sony readers, the 300 and the 600.

Don't get me wrong, I could have easilly reviewed them from right where I was standing.

But since there was a lack of resources I could go by, I refused to give an opinion until certain conditions were applicable.

Here's where I couldn't have a valid opinion on, and why:

- Design and weight, Best Buy used a highly retractive cable to thwart moronic thieves. Basic science keeps the initial weight away from me.

- The common neglect and abuse demo models regularily retain caused the PRS 300 and 600 to constantly bug out on me.

- I'm nowhere, even a pinch close, to being an e-reader expert, so as far as formatting goes, I did not bother with Doc. or whatever was supported.

When my nook finally arrives, and if I try other e-readers in the future, lead me on to how I can make an appropriate review without sounding like an executive newbie.

[dreams]

Besides the forums, the MR Wiki is full of detailed information. Good luck. (are you writing reviews?)

Our great Wiki of information

E-book_Reader_Matrix

E-book_devices

I think that unless you know someone who owns a Reader that you can touch and play with, that most stores will have their display models locked down.

Just a suggestion: you can visit various sites (including this one ) and see how they write their reviews as a model for your review.

[Not_A_Crook]

I reviewed various devices before e-readers, notably game consoles.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Not_A_Crook

I reviewed various devices before e-readers, notably game consoles.

I must have misunderstood your post, sorry. What information help are you looking for? The types of things to review? How to compare format types on various Readers?

[Not_A_Crook]

Yeah, pretty much those things you listed there... I could use help on reviewing formats.

[kindlekitten]

hop over to the nook forum as that is still fresh and shiny and look at the comments that people are making there. think which of the ones are most pertinent to you and your reading public. make an outline grabbing those points so you end up with something like this;

weight
is it heavier/lighter than expected?
ergonomics
how does it feel in your hand?
are page turns easy/complicated to make?
aesthetics
is it pleasing to the eye?
would you rather be caught kissing your granny on the cheek in public than toting this about?
format
what can you put on it?
is it hackable?
ease of use
do you need to be a total geek to use it, or could you gift it to Great Aunt Edna and feel secure in knowing she will be fine with it?
support
is it put out by Bill and Ted's excellent adventure shop which will be rolling up its storefront tomorrow, or will there actually be folks at the end of the customer support line next year? (and folks that speak a language you can understand!)

this should get you started

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by Not_A_Crook

- The common neglect and abuse demo models regularily retain caused the PRS 300 and 600 to constantly bug out on me.

This is one of the things that people carp on the Kindle about, that they can't go to a store and check it out. I like the way Amazon handles it, giving you thirty days to play with a brand new one on your own time and in your own way, at the end of which you can ship it back at no cost if you don't like it. I may have bought a Sony ereader long before I bought a Kindle, IF I had had the same sort of deal. But the ones I ran across in stores never really worked. Was it because people had used and abused them or were they just clunky pieces of junk? Hard to tell without anything to compare them to. I now know there are a lot of folks here who love their Sonys, but Amazon already got their foot in the door before I found my way here!