MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Advice needed: BeBook or Sony or another reader?

Kettricken · 09-03-2009, 11:30 AM

I would like to have your advice about buying an ereader... I'm a bit in doubt between the BeBook and Sony PRS 600, both available in Dutch stores. I hope there are people here with experience with both, and can help me make my decision. I've only seen/held the BeBook, because the Sony is only available from a big online store.

I'm living in the Netherlands, so the device should support ebooks I can buy here, in Dutch and English. Also, I would like it to support stuff from suduvu, gutenberg, etc (will probably be the main part I'm reading).

Also, I would like a 6'' screen, 5'' just seems a bit too small and bigger ones than 6'' seem more difficult to take.
Important: it has to be easy on the eyes, I want to buy it mainly because eInk seems to improve reading comfort. A nice, clear screen is important (hence my questions on the Sony).

In the Netherlands, both devices are €299, so no difference there. My thoughts and questions on both devices:

BeBook:
Seems to support a lot of formats, and I liked the way it read when I tried it, but I see a few cons on this site concerning that it has to be properly formatted because the system might crash (due to firmware or battery??). Open Inkpot seems to be better software, but does it support the same number of formats? Are there limitations concerning DRM and what are the consequences? Are there drawbacks in general?
Does it support ADE properly?

Sony PRS 600:
The design looks nice, Sony is an established brand.
I just have a few questions: how is the reading quality? I've heard the screen is more 'fuzzy' because of the extra touch-layer. Also, I've heard that there is a 'glare' on the screen which also diminishes reading quality. Furthermore, I can imagine that the screen will have fatty fingermarks on it because of the touchscreen.
As I'm not able to actually see it before I buy it (it's only available in a big online store), I would be grateful to have your thoughts on this.
And what about the formats it supports? Mobi and Epub with and without DRM? .doc, .rtf, .pdf?
Do you have to buy from the Sony store (and is that possible from the Netherlands) or can you just put any kind of ebook on to it?

About PDF's:
Many books I download (often freebies from publishers) are in A4-PDF format. I usually read 'normal' fiction books without specific fonts/pictures/tables/etc. I've seen it's not difficult to convert from PDF to DOC or RTF if it's mainly text and you don't want to do a lot of extra formatting. Is there a difference in reading pdf on Sony or BeBook?

Also, I'm trying to buy this for the longer term. Which of the ones do you think will be most reliable in this matter?

Thanks!

09-03-2009, 11:30 AM	#1
Kettricken Dodo Ffan Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Netherlands Device: BeBook	Advice needed: BeBook or Sony or another reader? I would like to have your advice about buying an ereader... I'm a bit in doubt between the BeBook and Sony PRS 600, both available in Dutch stores. I hope there are people here with experience with both, and can help me make my decision. I've only seen/held the BeBook, because the Sony is only available from a big online store. I'm living in the Netherlands, so the device should support ebooks I can buy here, in Dutch and English. Also, I would like it to support stuff from suduvu, gutenberg, etc (will probably be the main part I'm reading). Also, I would like a 6'' screen, 5'' just seems a bit too small and bigger ones than 6'' seem more difficult to take. Important: it has to be easy on the eyes, I want to buy it mainly because eInk seems to improve reading comfort. A nice, clear screen is important (hence my questions on the Sony). In the Netherlands, both devices are €299, so no difference there. My thoughts and questions on both devices: BeBook: Seems to support a lot of formats, and I liked the way it read when I tried it, but I see a few cons on this site concerning that it has to be properly formatted because the system might crash (due to firmware or battery??). Open Inkpot seems to be better software, but does it support the same number of formats? Are there limitations concerning DRM and what are the consequences? Are there drawbacks in general? Does it support ADE properly? Sony PRS 600: The design looks nice, Sony is an established brand. I just have a few questions: how is the reading quality? I've heard the screen is more 'fuzzy' because of the extra touch-layer. Also, I've heard that there is a 'glare' on the screen which also diminishes reading quality. Furthermore, I can imagine that the screen will have fatty fingermarks on it because of the touchscreen. As I'm not able to actually see it before I buy it (it's only available in a big online store), I would be grateful to have your thoughts on this. And what about the formats it supports? Mobi and Epub with and without DRM? .doc, .rtf, .pdf? Do you have to buy from the Sony store (and is that possible from the Netherlands) or can you just put any kind of ebook on to it? About PDF's: Many books I download (often freebies from publishers) are in A4-PDF format. I usually read 'normal' fiction books without specific fonts/pictures/tables/etc. I've seen it's not difficult to convert from PDF to DOC or RTF if it's mainly text and you don't want to do a lot of extra formatting. Is there a difference in reading pdf on Sony or BeBook? Also, I'm trying to buy this for the longer term. Which of the ones do you think will be most reliable in this matter? Thanks!