Once you opened your book it matters very little which ereader you use. The differences are mainly on how intuitive it is to get to your book in the first place and features like syncing across other devices and the built in ability to purchase on device. The Amazon ecosystem has a big advantage there, but if you plan to sideload your books and want the freedom to buy your books from any store then the advantage of a Kindle slowly disappears.

One thing any Kindle does very well regardless is the quality of the dictionaries. Not just which dictionary is used, but how many words are included.

Be sure to invest in the right book store - the itunes store is a bad choice for sideloading, for example.

Where's that sale at, JS?

Thanks Tigger. Won't be syncing across other devices, but won't I be able to buy Amazon books from say, a Kobo reader? And not quite sure what you mean by investing in the right book store.

I guess that sale is over. It's $139 there now.

No, you won't be able to buy Amazon books from a Kobo reader and vice versa. Investing in the wrong book store goes for books that cannot get their DRM removed easily. If you cannot remove the DRM and keep a copy of your book as a backup you will potentially lose access to your books in the future. Also with DRM it will be impossible to convert a book from a Kobo friendly book to a Kindle friendly book. Kobo does epub/kepub books, a Kindle does Amazon books. Both are not compatible with each other.

Everybody has a walled garden, some are worse than others. The worst is arguably Apple with their ibooks from the itunes store. Good luck getting the DRM removed or to read the books on anything but the iBooks app (on macos, iphone, ipod, or ipad only). Google has an app in the appstore, iBook app on Android? No way.

Thanks Tigger. Yeah, heard a fair amount about that. Just finished a bio on Jobs. Will definitely avoid an iPad. And I'm trying to figure out the DRM removal thing right now. (It's not fun. I guess it's especially hard for Linux.) I guess I'll be relying on Calibre to convert them back and forth. Appreciate the feedback.

I have a Sony PRS-300 and I love it. You can get books from just about anywhere that has ePub. I've been getting a lot of mine from Google Play, Feedbooks, and Project Gutenberg. Hope this helps.

But isn't it hard reading on that 5" screen? And I've heard if you buy the PRS 300s the batteries are so dated they might not hold the charge.

As of the 9th, they're back on sale for $99 -- until the 31st of December (according to the email they sent me). I don't know about dealer prices. That's directly from Kobo.

EDIT: It looks like they're back on sale at Chapters Indigo also. Still $99.99 and this includes the Sleep Cover for free.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/s...ds=kobo%20aura

Thanks rcentros. I bought this to play with in the meantime.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-079-_-Product

I simply couldn't resist the price.

The PRS-300 is a seriously, seriously dated piece of kit. I don't think you've made a good choice, I'm sorry to say.

The PRS-300 was brand new when I ordered it off Amazon. It cost under $100

And I believe you can use the coupon PERKOPOLIS at Kobo to get an additional $10 off (I just tried it and it took $10 off, I didn't finalize the purchase).

Harry, I think he meant he bought the Kobo Aura for $99 on sale, and not the Sony PRS-300.

If I've misunderstood this (and Gregg), then I will have to agree with you.

I am afraid that Harry is right. The link Gregg posted after saying he got this is a prs300.