Cybook Gen3 vs. Sony Reader 505

[pawel_z_wrocka]

I am about to buy my first e-book reader and I am considering Cybook and Sony (living in Europe, Kindle is no option).

After reading some of the posts here, I have almost made up my mind. Cybook seems to be the best option for me. I have, however, several doubts about it. Perhaps you can help me.

1) The infamous page changing button. It may seem a small issue, but, on the other hand, it is a hardware part you are using all the time. Is it really that bad? Is Sony much better? Is it worth the hassle?

2) Memory capacity. Sony seems to be better here. Is the difference big? How many books can you have on Cybook?

3) E-books available. I understand there are lots of free e-books, but what about new titles, the ones you have to buy? I'm especially into for SF and fantasy... which device is better for getting new titles from these genres? Ability to read manga is also welcome.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pawel_z_wrocka

1) The infamous page changing button. It may seem a small issue, but, on the other hand, it is a hardware part you are using all the time. Is it really that bad? Is Sony much better? Is it worth the hassle?

It's absolutely no problem at all, IMHO. I've never had the slightest issue with it. It's a "positive" action, yes, but I like that personally.

2) Memory capacity. Sony seems to be better here. Is the difference big? How many books can you have on Cybook?

I have about 180 books on my Gen3 at the moment, the majority of which are multi-book "omnibus" editions (ie several books in one file). That's occupying slightly under 200MB - ie 10% of the capacity of the 2GB SD card I'm using. Realistically, both machines allow you to carry around as many books as you wish - in the thousands, certainly. The cataloging system is the limitation on both devices, not the memory capacity.

3) E-books available. I understand there are lots of free e-books, but what about new titles, the ones you have to buy? I'm especially into for SF and fantasy... which device is better for getting new titles from these genres? Ability to read manga is also welcome.

There are certainly more bookstores from where you can buy MobiPocket format books than Sony books. For "bestsellers" it's pretty much of a tie, but for older titles there are probably more available in MobiPocket format than Sony. The simple answer, though, is that there are more books available for either machine than you could possibly read in a lifetime.

Any other thoughts?

I like the CyBook because of its dictionary support and ability to load multiple fonts onto the machine. Both machines are very good (I used to own a Sony), but although the Gen3 is more expensive, I think personally that it's worth the extra cost. I'm sure you'd be very happy with either, though.

[gwynevans]

> 2) Memory capacity. Sony seems to be better here. Is the difference big? How many books can you have on Cybook?

As a normal book will probably be somewhere between half & three quarters of a MB, either will be able to hold plenty of books, but you'd probably not want to hold more than a few score at a time, as neither's indexes work particulalry well when applied to hundreds of books.

> 3) E-books available. I understand there are lots of free e-books, but what about new titles, the ones you have to buy? I'm especially into for SF and fantasy... which device is better for getting new titles from these genres?

For both, there are tools (as I understand that Kovid's libprs500 tools now have a module that writes to 'Cybook-format'?) that let you easily convert from other formats into the devices 'native' formats. There's also a number of retailers that sell in multiple formats, so I'd not view that as being any strong indication either way.

> Any other thoughts?

Just back to price vs functionality. e.g.
Sony: Cheaper, multiple buttons (easy to hold/use one-handled/left handed, etc).
Cybook: Warranty, dictionary, easy to add different fonts

[pawel_z_wrocka]

Many thanks for the replies so far. You people are great.

I'm even more inclined towards the Cybook now, especially as there is no price issue - here, in Poland, only Cybook is officially marketed. It means I can deduct the tax (being a translator, it is easily justifiable), so the price becomes more or less the same as the price of Sony Reader.