Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_magicfingers
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.
|
ePUB and txtr: ePUB already is more or less the standard, all are going for. There are tons of shops already, you won't be bound to txtr's webshop or German.
iRex iLiad: Has been my very first eInk unit and still is one of my favorites. Especially for PDFs well worth considering. I've never had any problems concerning weight or size.
Size is critical with iRex 1000S for me, depending on the holding position.
Kindle: Negotiations for UK aren't really transparent. Who knows? Rumor has it, end of this year...
But you easily can purchase from the US. You're not bound to Amazon, you easily can use standard Mobipocket from dozens of sources as well (although Amazon usually has the biggest collection and best prices).
Play music: I'd suggest a combination of eInk reader and iPod instead. You won't be happy with user interface and quality on all the readers.
Open Inkpot: Then obviously BeBook and Hanlin come to mind. Personally, I don't like their design, but they have a strong fan community.
My personal suggestions (see my thread "8+ readers" for more details):
- Check out iRex iLiad. It's mobile enough and my favorite for PDFs because of the zooming function (mark any area with touchscreen and explode to full screen, no fixed zooming levels). iRex 1000S probably will be too bulky for you, considering your description.
- I like my Sony 505. For PDFs it's good enough and it's a cool and elegant unit. Don't like Sony 700's display though.
- I like both Kindles and don't have any problems with being bound to Amazon. On one hand, I even prefer going for a company, which has additional revenue opportunity with selling content, so they are most likely to survive. And on the other hand, you can strip their ebooks from DRM and convert to other formats. And you can purchase elsewhere and strip those books as well. Only exceptions for the moment: You can't strip books from Sony's shop and some of Amazon.