I’ve been lurking here for a while and find myself almost ready to “pull the trigger” on a purchase (well, on a very pointed, specific addition to my Christmas wish list). But I have a few questions. I’ve looked around here quite a bit, but honestly a lot of the threads (both questions and responses) are wayyy over my head. The terminology and issues are just too unfamiliar. When responding, please be patient with me and use very, very small words. Right now, in my naivite, I’m leaning toward one of the Sony Touch versions (Touch or upcoming Daily) or the rumored upcoming smaller Irex. I like the idea of the larger-format Irex devices, but the price is too rich for my blood. I like the large format of the Kindle DX, but I think there are too many hoops to jump to get it to do what I want (plus I think the button keyboard is dorky). I’ve been lurking long enough that I don’t have a lot of faith that the rumored Plastic Logic device will ever actually hit the market, and would rather go with a company with a track record anyway. And before anybody comments that I might be better off with a touchscreen “netbook”, I have one of those (a Fujitsu p1510D). It’s too heavy, too hot, and the battery life isn’t long enough for what I want it to do in this direction. Not to mention the eyestrain issues.
I have handled a Sony Touch demo unit and didn’t have an issue with screen contrast, it seemed to mechanically fit well in my hand, etc.
1) PDF files—I’ve seen some info suggesting the Sony does these quite acceptably. Others say it sucks. Still others say it’s fine if you manipulate the file in some way to optimize it. I do not now how to do this and have minimal interest in learning how. Most of what I will be reading is from sources like
this. If anybody could give me a screen shot (this page links to a free content edition of the journal, so I don’t THINK copyright is an issue), I would be deeply grateful. Even better would be a few different ones (portrait vs. landscape, different magnifications, etc). Image display isn’t as important as you might think as long as the text displays in a readable fashion.
2) Taking notes—It is currently my habit to print out articles from journals to read, and to jot down notes in the margins. I tried this in the Sony demo, but couldn’t figure out how to ever see those notes again. The highlighted bits I tried seemed to work fine? I don’t necessarily need to save the notes forevermore (e.g. to print out or to e-mail to somebody), but when I look back at that article in a week or a month I need to have the notes. I know the first release of the Irex is not supposed to have note-taking ability, but they say that will come out as a firmware update. Does Irex have a reputation of living up to such promises?
3) Stylus—I know the Sony is basically a pointed stick and any similar object can be used. I understand that the Irex has some kind of unit-specific device. I tend to lose things. Anybody know how much that would be to replace? If it’s not a literal TOUCH screen, do you have to have that specific stylus to operate the thing at all, until you get a replacement? Or is there some method of limping along and still read?
4) File organization—again, largely PDF files, not books. Once I have an article on there, I need to be able to find it again. Ideally, I would want to file it under many different categories (e.g. “MRI”, “Equine Orthopedics”, “November Journal Club”). Subfolders would be great but I can survive without them.
5) Bookmarks—can you bookmark files (not books)? Can you have more than one bookmark in a file or is it strictly a means of getting back to the last page you were on?
6) Ease of transfer—Can I hook the unit up to any (PC) computer and dump files onto it the way I can a jump drive? Or does there have to be some kind of reader software on the computer that it goes though? I’m a bit of a nomad at work, working on a variety of public stations. I want this to be as easy (or almost as easy) as selecting “print” and walking to the nearest networked printer. It would be a big fat drag if I had to dump files onto a jump drive, walk back to my private office (which is two floors up and technically in a different building from where I actually work), upload those files into a library program of some kind, then transfer them onto the device. Add some kind of conversion step in there and it’s probably a deal killer.
7) Random notes—it seems like the Sony can easily function as an electronic notepad to jot down a few things as they come along. Can those files be organized in any way into folders, or is it just a list. This isn’t a deal killer, it can’t be any worse than a literal pad of paper. Or the billions of little scraps of random paper I collect because I don’t have a pad with me.
8) Wireless—other than buying books while sitting in a coffeeshop, what’s in it for me? I’m sure I’ll do some recreational reading with the thing, but it’s not a problem to hook up to a computer to download books for me, even if it’s one specific computer that I need to go to (unlike the PDF issue). Also, does anyone know if the Sony Wireless for the Daily is “free” or if there is a monthly fee? I willing to pay a bit more upfront for the Daily for the larger screen (I think, I want to compare it side-by-side with the Touch first). But I don’t want to pay monthly for a service I’m unlikely to use. I understand the Irex wireless is free?
I’m sure I’ll come up with more stupid questions, bear with a poor ignorant soul!