Let's see...ebook readers:
- First, I started reading on a Toshiba 330 PDA. Wore out the "page turn buttons" and was disappointed with the battery life. My ebook format of choice was (and still is) the eReader format, because I think it has the least personally invasive DRM scheme.
- So, I upgraded to my lovely Dell Axim 51v PDA. Still carry that with me every day. I can read eReader, Mobipocket, Microsoft LIT and also have uBook (don't know how to make the right character for the beginning "u"). I still mostly restrict my DRM reading choices to eReader, but for awhile there, the books I wanted were being released Mobi only, so I caved on a few of those. And, it does other things as well!
- I talked a co-worker who travels a lot into getting an eBookwise. I had so much fun playing with it (she still can't load books onto it herself), that I had to have one for myself. (Up until then, I swore I'd never had a gadget just for reading ebooks).
- Sony came out with a deal that, if you applied for their credit card - which at the time came with 0% interest for the first year - you could buy a Sony PRS 500 for $50. For that price, I could justify getting another ebook-only device! I loved my Sony, but hated the menus and the inability to change the fonts.
- So, I looked around at what else was available for the longest time and finally bought a Cybook from Books on Board. I had such high hopes for this gadget, but I was so very disappointed with it. I'm sure some of it was suffering by comparison to the eBookwise. I didn't like the placement of the buttons. It seemed to take forever to load the book list. The brown "plastic" padded cover was just ugly. And the page-turn button (which I didn't like being on the right-hand side) was "sticky" (which, to me, means that it takes too much force to turn the page).
- The next time I was in Borders, I caved and bought a Sony PRS-505. I (thought I) wanted a silver one, but they only had the blue. Doesn't matter, I still love it. Carry it with me (almost) every day now too (and boy, does the combined weight of it, my PDA, and all my other junk weight down my purse!)
- I have been reluctantly drooling over the Astak models coming out, although it's mostly because of the promised eReader format. I'd love to be able to stop converting my books for all the various devices I have! (Oops, did I say that out loud?) The only thing that makes me unsure is that I'm afraid the same things I didn't like about the Cybook will bother me about the Astak. I like the weight of the Sony and the metal body. I'm afraid I'd still think the plastic felt "cheap" and flimsy. And some of the models being pretty much the same Netronics as the Cybook, I'd worry about that button being sticky there, too (even though Harry assures me the newer Cybooks don't have the problem). I'm afraid - unless I could see one "in the wild" somewhere - I'll likely pass on these.
Oh, and by the way. My co-worker has pretty much been borrowing my eBookwise for the last year or two, since I got the Sony PRS500. I loaned out the Cybook to another friend who travels alot in the hopes that, since she doesn't have anything else to compare it with, the things that bugged me won't bother her. If she's interested enough to buy one of her own, though, I'd probably suggest the Astak models to her, though. For the price, she should enjoy the newer technology!
And last year, I gave my Sony PRS500 to another friend with kids in college who would never be able to afford a reader for herself (not until the kids are done with school, anyway!) She doesn't have so many books that the menus are a problem, and since she's never seen the Cybook or PRS505, she doesn't know how much brighter the eInk screens are now.
I wouldn't mind having two that equally pleased me - one for a backup, or to switch formats when I don't feel like converting. The PDA works, but the battery life just seems awful after eInk.