Quote:
Originally Posted by Laura81
Considering the price difference I'd definitely buy internationally. It's a huge savings to do so. Would you say the pocket pro is better than the 6" version? Anyway, I'll go over to astak and have a look at them.
Thanks for pointing this one out to me!
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Great to see more Aussies getting into the eBook scene - welcome!
As has been stated, you will need to choose what suits your needs best. The following are my opinions only - take them as such. I would myself not buy Sony or Kindle:
(1) I would recommend against the Kindle, for personal reasons - the Kindle to me looks like crap, seems too large with the keypad, and is too locked into Amazon for my taste (I've posted plenty of comments on the forums about the frustration of being outside the US and trying to get eBooks, etc, and out of principle I will never buy Amazon Kindle or Sony, even though they are opening up their markets now).
(2) I also would not buy Sony, although their move towards ePub as the prime format may make their newer devices more useful. But again, their past record of not selling outside the US and not allowing access to their online bookstore outside the US has forever alienated me from their products. I believe their devices are the sexiest looking, but there are better performers around.
Now onto what I would buy:
(1) If you're happy with ePub as a prime format then there ar a number of great nw devices around - the CyBook Opus seems pretty neat, and the PocketBook360 looks awesome! The Hanlin V3 (6") and V5 (5") clones are also a good choice (BeBook, Astak, LBook, EcoReader, etc.) - the benefit here is a vast number of formats (although not all of them display that well, so I would say those are emergency use only) and the ability to mix and match your firmware to suit your needs.
I have a BeBook (6" Hanlin V3 clone from Netherlands) and love it - and to make my point on firmware, I am using the latest LBook firmware from Russia/Ukraine - they seem to make the best official releases. You can also us OpenInkpot if you prefer, although non-DRM only I believe. I'm interested in the V5 clones, as I would like a smaller reader - I understand the smaller display is no problem for readability, but the more compact device makes it very easy to carry.
I would point out that I think the Russian/Ukrainian backed devices are the way to go (Hanlin clones, PocketBook360, etc.) because they seem to do the best firmware support for my uses. I have been into eBooks since about 2003 (reading on an Acer n10 PocketPC) and have been using the FB2 format almost continuously since then. If you have a little computer skill it is very easy to remove DRM and convert most eBook formats to FB2. And I am yet to see any format rendered as well as FB2, or with as many display options, on any device (my opinion only!). As FB2 is a Russian invention, their is massive support in terms of books and firmware for those devices supportd in their region, hence my preference for them.
But if you only want to buy a book, download and read, then it seems (perhaps unfortunately) that ePub is the new fad, so you will want a reader that does a decent job with that - Cybook Opus, Hanlin clones, PocketBook360, Cool-ER, etc. (Note: I am also seriously considering the Cool-ER, as it does an excellent job with ePubs and also supports FB2).
You should look at the Wiki matrix to see what devices support what format, but I would get one that can handle ePub, PDF, Mobi, FB2, HTML, TXT. All other formats (like MS LIT) can be easily converted to one of these, so it's not worth getting a reader that does that.
Just my $0.02 worth - feel free to ask any questions or PM me if you want more detailed info on some points.
Welcome to the world of e-Reading!
