Quote:
Originally Posted by zeppo
Hello, MGMueller
You seem like the perfect person to ask...
I am interested in an eink-reader for three things (no particular order):
1) Read books in Spanish with which I can easily translate passages to English
2) Read classic literature (in English)
3) Have easy access to dictionary definitions of words. With regular books I most often just skip them and assume I'm getting the gist, and in many cases this is true-- but this feature would really add precision to my vocabulary. I only wish it had been so easy when I was growing up!
I picked up Nook on sale for $99 (reg $149).
I also have been tipped off that a Kindle is heading my way as a Christmas gift (wont be a problem to return if necessary.)
These seem to be the two leaders anyway, but perhaps there's a better choice out there for my needs.
Seems to me a touch screen would be big advantage here, but maybe not-- that is, maybe a joystick is not much trouble. I believe the Kindle has wikipedia access as wifi??? That would also be useful, much like the dictionary.
Any of your thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!  (or anyone else's for that matter.)
Thanks! |
Hello Zeppo,
re. "Spanish":
Unfortunately, that's the real hurdle re. "eBooks".
For nook and Kindle, you'll hardly find any books in foreign languages (= non-English). For the nook, that's somewhat understandable, it still officially is a US-only unit. For the Kindle, which is called "international" for about 18 months now, that's a real letdown.
Whether you're looking for Spanish content or I am for German one: Basically, we all have to tend to "ePUB". It's the quasi-standard of eBook file formats, majority of merchants is offering it and in the meantime lots of readers natively do support it.
Unfortunately, Kindle doesn't support it at all. nook can handle ePUB and you are able to "sideload" (= copying your own books to the SD-card) your own content.
Of course, you always can convert your own documents to a Kindle-friendly format. But any kind of conversion means a.) spending time and b.) results differ quite significantly in quality.
This "jungle" of proprietary file formats is one of the reasons for my fleet of units/vendors.
Re. "classic literature in English": That's easy. You should be able to find "classics" for free in any file format for any reader. You find lots of classics (legally of course) here on mobileread - carefully prepared and formatted by enthusiasts.
"Dictionary" is a tricky one. Personally, I prefer touchscreen units for that. For example, I find it kind of flimsy, to move the cursor to the word of choice with the 5-way-button on Kindle or via the small touchscreen on nook.
Just pointing to it with your stylus on a touchscreen unit is way easier of course.
"Comfort" aside, Kindle does have great support for dictionary (and Wikipedia) entries.
Personally, I'm moving into another direction for some time now. I tend to tablets instead of ePaper readers. Some of the reasons are exactly what you describe:
On tablets (iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, ...) I'm able (and allowed!) to install tons of reader applications. Kindle and nook app, just to name 2 of the most popular. That way I'm able to read most of the file formats natively. Of course I have to live with different layouts, UIs and the likes, so it's far from perfect. But at least I don't have to care about DRM, file formats, various webstores and such inconveniences.
On the other side, those tablets have some disadvantages to ePaper readers: Battery life (ca. 8 hours vs. ca. 20 hours), weight (factor 3 or something like that usually) and readability under certain conditions (direct sunlight, for example).
So I still keep my ePaper readers and I even might add some new ones. But my focus has shifted to tablets.
As you've already got nook, the new nook color (tablet with Android OS, very affordable and surprisingly positive reviews) may be worth checking out.