I just ordered the Cybook Opus

[Ingrid]

This calls for some celebration!

After having contemplated what e-ink reader to get for a few years now I finally just ordered one. Last time I decided to get the 1 gen iPod Touch and loved it, but then I started experiencing pain my eyes and frequent headaches. That brought me back to reading physical books, but I just don't read as much as I did when reading digitally. Since I finally had some money available I figured buying one now would be as good a time as any.

Basically I decided that all of the readers out there are lacking in some aspect, and that I didn't want to spend too much money on a reader I knew I'd replace. We all know I'm going to get a new reader in a few years time, right? That left me with the question of whether or not to actually buy or wait five years, but I started doubting if it would be easier to decide later on. Going a bit back and forth, the Opus seemed to have the right set of features; relatively cheap, newly developed unit (which means that it'll be supported for a good long while yet,) nice user interface, non-glossy screen, good ePub support, memory card slot, pops up as an external hard drive on the computer regardless of platform (which means that I won't have to install any extra software,) lots of fonts and font sizes, and it's tiny enough to not bother me when traveling. The PRS-300 was a real contender as I have the impression of it having better contrast, is a tad cheaper and has a better casing; but I figured not having to install any extra software would be more important to me in the long run. Also, I saw a video in Youtube that made me think the user interface of the 300 was much more of a hassle then the one of the Opus.

There you have it, the latter part of my process. I hope I'll be happy with the choice I made, and that perhaps my thoughts will be helpful to someone else trying to decide.

Cheers,
Ingrid

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Ingrid

This calls for some celebration!

After having contemplated what e-ink reader to get for a few years now I finally just ordered one. Last time I decided to get the 1 gen iPod Touch and loved it, but then I started experiencing pain my eyes and frequent headaches. That brought me back to reading physical books, but I just don't read as much as I did when reading digitally. Since I finally had some money available I figured buying one now would be as good a time as any.

Basically I decided that all of the readers out there are lacking in some aspect, and that I didn't want to spend too much money on a reader I knew I'd replace. We all know I'm going to get a new reader in a few years time, right? That left me with the question of whether or not to actually buy or wait five years, but I started doubting if it would be easier to decide later on. Going a bit back and forth, the Opus seemed to have the right set of features; relatively cheap, newly developed unit (which means that it'll be supported for a good long while yet,) nice user interface, non-glossy screen, good ePub support, memory card slot, pops up as an external hard drive on the computer regardless of platform (which means that I won't have to install any extra software,) lots of fonts and font sizes, and it's tiny enough to not bother me when traveling. The PRS-300 was a real contender as I have the impression of it having better contrast, is a tad cheaper and has a better casing; but I figured not having to install any extra software would be more important to me in the long run. Also, I saw a video in Youtube that made me think the user interface of the 300 was much more of a hassle then the one of the Opus.

There you have it, the latter part of my process. I hope I'll be happy with the choice I made, and that perhaps my thoughts will be helpful to someone else trying to decide.

Cheers,
Ingrid

You certainly will be happy with your new gadget, good choice.
Have fun.

You probably will have to install some software anyway: Adobe Digital Editions for ePUB.

[DrMoze]

I'm sure it will work well and be much better for reading than a computer display! Following your logic, though, do people really avoid iPods because they don't want to install iTunes?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

You probably will have to install some software anyway: Adobe Digital Editions for ePUB.

Well if you want to use DRM'd ePub anyway. Non-DRM'd ePub works just fine without using any extra software.

[Ingrid]

I'm very excited about this, and a bit curios as to whether the small screen size will be a pro or con. Eitherway it's an upgrade from my 3,5" iPod screen and I've read quite a few novels on that. I just wish I could get e-versions of the physical books I've been stacking up on lately. Too bad they're not availible.

As far as software goes, I reckon I'll should install Calibre plus some un-DRM scripts for my old eReader books. But I would have installed those anyway, and only on my desktop. The Eee and the Opus should make picking up books when traveling a piece of cake. Not sure I'm actually going to be doing that a lot, but having the option to do so is nice. I also hope I'll be able to stay clear of DRM'ed ePubs, though I sense this may be a bit too optimistic. Maybe I'll should stick with DRM'ed eReader books and convert them? What do you think?

I have come across people who don't want to get iPhones and iPods because of iTunes, but non of them have been Mac users. The same thing applies to other pieces of technology, there's always some people who won't buy if it's locked into a specific system. Personally I just prefer to slim down on software, cause there always some stuff I have to install anyway. I find that my machines have become more stable since I started doing this. Less conflicts between software I guess.

Thanks for the input guys! I appreciate it. :-)

-Ingrid