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Originally Posted by migrant
My question is which reader is best for all the free e-books available.
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You can safely get any of the available readers and expect to find versions of the public-domain and creative commons books to read on it. Some of the publishers who are offering free books on the Internet seem to be stuck on PDF as a format, so you'd want a reader that has native PDF support -- or do as I do and convert the PDF to text and then to a format suitable for the reader. My Sony reader supports PDF, but those PDF files I've found online are designed to be printed on standard letter-sized paper, so they're virtually unreadable when displayed on a 6" screen. Converting to text and then to a proper e-Book just gives a much more readable product.
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Originally Posted by migrant
I also have quite a few word.docs I read for work. If I have existing material on my computer can I transfer to the reader for free? I think I read the Kindle charges for this.
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Most readers can be connected to your computer via a USB cable, so you can transfer content to them that way. Not all readers support Word documents, so you may have to convert to a supported format. For example, for my Sony reader, I have to use "Save As" to create an RTF file and then that's compatible with the reader. If you become comfortable with the book creation software, you can convert the Word documents to any of the book formats which your device supports.
As to the Kindle, the only charge one incurs (and it's still only potential since I have heard of no-one seeing a bill for this) is if you send your personal files to Amazon for conversion and delivery over the Whispernet connection. If you send the files to Amazon for conversion and delivery via e-mail, there is no charge.
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Originally Posted by migrant
Curious about accessing the web through the reader, it seems this may be good for reading news/magazines while traveling (economist, etc) so any comments would be great.
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Personally, I do *not* access the web from my Kindle. The experimental browser that is provided lacks much functionality and makes trying to view most web sites just too much of a struggle. What I *do* like to do is use
Calibre to download the web site -- particularly RSS feeds -- to create a "newspaper" which I then transfer to my Sony reader or Kindle so I can enjoy it while travelling. Our friends at
Feedbooks also offer a means for converting RSS feeds into a book for your reader.
If you are in the USA, you have a lot of choices available to you, including the Kindle. I do a lot more reading on my Kindle than on the Sony reader, but I'm glad I have both. Although the Kindle cost a little bit more to begin with, I've more than made up the difference in the lower cost of e-Books. (Amazon prices tend to run $2 less than the Sony prices for the same book.) I've been looking longingly at the Jetbook and the Cool-er to add yet another reader to the mix, but haven't made the decision to spend the money yet.
We're glad you've joined us at MobileRead -- hope you find what you need and can move on to reading e-Books on the device you decide to get.