Quote:
Originally Posted by Steppin Razor
That is what I was referring to in my OP. I also read that the Kindle 2 doesn't have a USB port, is that right?
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Kindle has micro-USB, by which one can both charge and hook it up as an external drive to the computer.
It's very easy to transfer/back up the books (which you can download direct to the computer at any time from your Amazon account page) just by dragging and dropping. Even if they wirelessly delete something again, you can always restore it that way (if you've the backup), and turn off the wireless access.
Amazon is said to have the widest overall selection in its store and marketshare for ebooks sold, though I don't know how accurate that is.
You can also get compatible books from many other sources. Here's a recent post where a lot of
free/DRM-free pay options for getting books were suggested.
However, for as far as DRM goes, Amazon seems to be the only ones using their special version of it, and they're not compatible with the regular Mobipocket DRM (even though they bought that company and the Kindle format is a modified .mobi).
Having an ADE ePub/PDF supporting device will give your dad a wider range of ebook-shopping possibilities, and having an iPad with all the various competing stores' reader apps installed will give the most.
Another consideration is that most ADE-DRM supporting devices can also borrow ebooks from the library, if your dad's have any.
If the iPad looks too unwieldy/pricey/insecure because of that warning going around where people's iTunes accounts have been hacked and things charged on their credit cards, I think I might suggest the Barnes & Noble Nook.
However, I have no personal experience with the Nook and hopefully someone who has can chime in with theirs. But it does look like it might suit your requirements fairly well.
There's a wi-fi version at $149, the regular version at $189-ish, and it can do both the standard ADE-DRM plus some special B&N-DRM that it currently applies to its own books. So you can get stuff from B&N itself that might not be able to be read on other readers, from regular ADE-DRM places like the Sony Reader store and the library, and benefit from free ebooks in ePub and PDF formats.
You can download the
Nook User Guide PDF and have a read-through to see how easy it looks to use. They've recently updated the firmware to fix some issues that people were complaining about.
Barnes & Noble also offers these promotions where sometimes one can go into the store with a printable coupon for a free ebook, and I've heard that when in the store, one can browse through certain selected ebooks at one's leisure.
And they've currently an
"All-American" long weekend promotion where they're offering 21 of their scholarly editions with commentary/footnotes/essays of Barnes & Noble Classics free until midnight tonight.
If your dad might have any interest in those, I'd advise setting up a B&N account in his name post-haste and getting the freebies "purchased to" said account right away.
He can always read them on your computer if you decide against the Nook. Plus they give you the B&N Classics for Dracula, Pride & Prejudice, and Little Women free just for signing up for a B&N account, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary.