MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Starting to look for my first reader, would appreciate some advice.

mr_magicfingers · 08-01-2009, 02:03 PM

Hi all, I've been following along here for a while now and will hopefully be buying my first e-reader in the next few months. I'm currently building a very tiny house (8x16') to live in, so I'm in the process of selling/donating the book collection I've amassed over the years. This is surprisingly painful yet also liberating. Given the storage limitations of such a small space the only way I'll be able to keep buying books from now on is in an electronic format.

My needs are relatively simple, I'm not looking for an all singing, all dancing e-reader. I want one with e-ink display, don't want/need a touch screen, don't need to make notes, I just want to read things on it. I'd like the option to play music, and to connect/transfer via wifi if possible but they're not deal breakers.

I'm not tied to any format particularly, but dislike drm on principle and I'm very interested in open inkpot as an os. I don't want to be tied to any one bookstore either. I use a Macintosh computer at home so compatibility with that is important. I also need to be able to read PDF's well. I download and save a lot of pdf documents for reading but dislike reading at a computer screen for long periods. An e-reader that can display pdf's well would be very helpful and one of the things I'm particularly looking for in an e-reader. I understand that this is one of the more difficult things to find in an e-reader but it would appear as though there are new devices very close to launch that will be much better at this.

So far I've discounted the kindle (I'm in the UK, it won't be here for a while and I don't want to tie to their bookstore), the Sony's (I don't like their customer service/hardware support and don't want to tie to their bookstore either). I'm looking at the 6" devices as they seem the best mix of screen estate and portability. I don't need to put it in my pocket, but the iliad I tried felt too big/heavy to sit and read for long periods.

The txtr reader is looking very interesting and probably heading my wishlist right now, though the lack of support for anything other than epub is the one thing that concerns me. Their store will have lots of german books that won't appeal to me and I wonder if the lack of support for other formats would limit my choices (I'm new to e-books so please offer opinions if you think this isn't the case).

The Hanlin based machines all seem a little dated, but open inkpot might be able to extend the possibilities of the hardware.

So, quite undecided and looking for some guidance, all suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks,

Justin.

08-01-2009, 02:03 PM	#1
mr_magicfingers Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 20 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: none	Starting to look for my first reader, would appreciate some advice. Hi all, I've been following along here for a while now and will hopefully be buying my first e-reader in the next few months. I'm currently building a very tiny house (8x16') to live in, so I'm in the process of selling/donating the book collection I've amassed over the years. This is surprisingly painful yet also liberating. Given the storage limitations of such a small space the only way I'll be able to keep buying books from now on is in an electronic format. My needs are relatively simple, I'm not looking for an all singing, all dancing e-reader. I want one with e-ink display, don't want/need a touch screen, don't need to make notes, I just want to read things on it. I'd like the option to play music, and to connect/transfer via wifi if possible but they're not deal breakers. I'm not tied to any format particularly, but dislike drm on principle and I'm very interested in open inkpot as an os. I don't want to be tied to any one bookstore either. I use a Macintosh computer at home so compatibility with that is important. I also need to be able to read PDF's well. I download and save a lot of pdf documents for reading but dislike reading at a computer screen for long periods. An e-reader that can display pdf's well would be very helpful and one of the things I'm particularly looking for in an e-reader. I understand that this is one of the more difficult things to find in an e-reader but it would appear as though there are new devices very close to launch that will be much better at this. So far I've discounted the kindle (I'm in the UK, it won't be here for a while and I don't want to tie to their bookstore), the Sony's (I don't like their customer service/hardware support and don't want to tie to their bookstore either). I'm looking at the 6" devices as they seem the best mix of screen estate and portability. I don't need to put it in my pocket, but the iliad I tried felt too big/heavy to sit and read for long periods. The txtr reader is looking very interesting and probably heading my wishlist right now, though the lack of support for anything other than epub is the one thing that concerns me. Their store will have lots of german books that won't appeal to me and I wonder if the lack of support for other formats would limit my choices (I'm new to e-books so please offer opinions if you think this isn't the case). The Hanlin based machines all seem a little dated, but open inkpot might be able to extend the possibilities of the hardware. So, quite undecided and looking for some guidance, all suggestions gratefully received. Thanks, Justin.