Any of these Sonys worth buying?
 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...24%24%24%24%24

I know Sony's going out of the ereader biz so would I be shooting myself in the foot if I bought one of these? I'd love to buy one of the $29 ones but if they're no good the $39 one would be okay. They're refurbished but hey they're $29!

It's only today so a swift reply would be cool. Thanks!

P.S. Which of the $29 dollar ones is better?

To be honest, not worth it. Old hardware, no touch screen, old version of ADE that doesn't support full justification. I would say no to buying a PRS-300.

Okay. Thanks, JS. (Got any suggestions for an inexpensive alternative?)

Get the T3, they are cheap now, since Sony left the battle.

Nah, they're ancient. Get a used / refurb T2 from ebay.

Good grief, Gregg, just buy something. Any reader is better than none. How can you, as an author, not have a reading device? You can't go wrong with any of the major brands.

I recommend getting any of the current E-Ink Kindles, if you want this for a reading device.

Sony isn't 'going out of the ereader biz', they are long gone.

I loved my Sonys (I've had 3) but when it came time to replace the last one, having one that was currently supported was fairly important to me. My ereader lives with me - it's the first thing I pick up in the morning, after my glasses, and the last thing I put down at night. I don't want some throwaway device - I want something GOOD.

So will you, once you come over to the ereader side.

I suggest getting a Kobo Aura HD and a Kindle (the new basic touch model) so you'll have one that supports ePub and one that supports Amazon.

Thanks for the input, everybody. Looks like I'm waiting till the next big sale, but at least I'll be a little more prepared when it comes. BTW when's the next big sale? Is it the day after Christmas or the day after New Years or when?

For items at Amazon, register with camelcamelcamel.com and they will email you when the price drops below your target price.

There is a sale at Kobo for an Aura HD for only $99. The sale runs from December 9 to December 31.

You can get a Aura for 99 from best buy - http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/.../10266174.aspx

Cool, Paul. Thanks. I signed up. I targeted PW for $100 and Kindle for $50. They both sold below that on Black Friday.

Thanks JS. It looks really nice. But is it as good as PW? (I've heard the reading quality on PW is just a touch better.)

Thanks for the link, miztiik.

The PW with "special offers." That's just ads, right? They reduce the price but make you look at ads. Are the ads obtrusive when you're reading? I don't mind them on the screensaver.

It doesn't matter if the Aura HD is better or not then the Kindle PW. The reason to get both is that the Aura HD support ePub so you can test your eBooks in ePub and the Kindle supports Mobi & KF8 so you can test your eBooks in Mobi & KF8. If you get just a Kindle or just a Kobo, you are missing out on being able to test in all the formats you should be testing.

Yes, the ads are just on the screensaver/sleep screen.

Thanks JS but do I really need to test my stuff? I look at it in places like the KDP previewer and Kindle for PC and Calibre's ebook reader (and ADE 2.0 and the Sony Reader Library before I went Linux) but I'm just writing novels, just text, no images or tables or footnotes. Just simple mobis or epubs to the distributors.

Thanks. I can handle that.

And at the bottom of the home page, too.

Hey Harry. But absolutely no ads when you're reading, right?

The Kindle Paperwhite pricing and features are confusing. There's four things:

#1 is non-wi-fi and with ads for $119
#2 is non wi-fi without ads for $139
#3 is wi-fi for $119
#4 is wi-fi & 3G for $189

How do the ads (or lack of them) figure into #3 & #4? (Are they there or not?)

And I don't have wi-fi. So if I get #1 or #2 how will I buy my ebooks from Amazon?

And why wouldn't I get #3 if it's the same price as #1?

Thanks.

Those aren't four separate options but two sets of radio buttons. Choose one option from each row.

You can have a Kindle with or without ads
You can have a Kindle with or without 3G

All Paperwhites have wifi.

Right. No ads when reading.

And if you save $20 and buy an ad-supported Kindle, and then decide that you don't want ads, you can simply pay Amazon the additional $20 and they'll remove the ads.

In most cases if you start with a well made ePub (yes, ADE 2.0 and Sony Reader Library will do fine to testing), you can use that as the source to make the Kindle versions. Kindlegen will convert the ePub into the dual Mobi/KF8. You will need an internal ToC in the ePub as well as the NCX ToC because amazon in their inifit wisdom decided not to convert the NCX ToC into Amazon style ToC and rely on the ePub having an internal ToC. Don't forget to set the correct guides though. Kindle users expect that.

Thanks Paul. (The PW page could use your explanation.)

Well, that's fair. Thanks Harry.

Thanks JS. I hung with everything you wrote except:

Don't forget to set the correct guides though. Kindle users expect that.

What "guides" are you referring to?

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.