Really, really confused newbie to ebook readers

[Kaywrote]

Hello all,

I'm in the market for my first e-ink e-reader, and after spending a good chunk of time yesterday and most of the morning today researching, I can safely say I'm confused. I wish I had found this site yesterday though, there's a ton of good information here! I've always found message forums good places to pick up information.

I'm a senior in college (in the US) looking to graduate in June (if the scheduling gods smile upon me). So, unfortunately, money is a factor. The cheaper the better, but that's probably true for most people.

To make things more fun, I'm also planning on teaching English abroad after I graduate, most likely in Japan. I'm not sure how that changes things - I'm okay not having 3G (in fact, 3G holds minimal appeal) or even wifi as long as I can fairly-painlessly update/buy on my laptop (PC, Windows 7).

The biggest thing for me is that I want to "bring" my books from home with me when I go overseas. I have been able to find a lot of the books I own online (mostly pdf files or epub), and I'd much rather not re-buy books I already own (again, broke college student syndrome kicking in). I've heard that with the Kindle (the one that others in my family have) that's not possible, and from my research the Nook didn't sound doable either. I don't even know if any ereaders will let me get buy without rebuying all of my books, so maybe I'm unrealistic, but since I can't really bring my collection overseas with me, it'd be nice to have it all on the ereader without having to sell a kidney.

Battery life is fairly important, but I mostly read at home or close enough to a wall or computer to charge. Still, it'd be nice if I didn't feel like I was charging it more than using it.

Features like 3G, Games, Web Browsing, Music, etc are nice but not worth spending more than a small sum of money to me. The easier to read in sunlight, the better.

I'd really like to be able to buy from multiple markets, but that's not required as long as I have access to at least one market with a fairly widespread selection.

I just wanted to say thanks in advance to anyone who read my too-long post - I really appreciate any and all help you all can give!

[boswd]

nook wi fi supports epub, great support, great library. just recieved a major update. IMHO the best in class

you can buy books from other sources and check out books from your local library

[SkyDream]

Sounds like the Sony PRS-650 is the right choice for you. Great screen (Pearl), great touchscreen and one of the best PDF support. More been already said in other "Which eReader is best" threads at MR.

[Mostly Math]

I would recommend looking at a KOBO. It will do all you need and is one of the cheapest out there.

[desertgrandma]

I nominate the K3........lets see, with the rest of the recommendations, I'm sure she's less confused now!

[Ken Irving]

Originally Posted by Kaywrote

The biggest thing for me is that I want to "bring" my books from home with me when I go overseas. I have been able to find a lot of the books I own online (mostly pdf files or epub), and I'd much rather not re-buy books I already own (again, broke college student syndrome kicking in). I've heard that with the Kindle (the one that others in my family have) that's not possible, and from my research the Nook didn't sound doable either. I don't even know if any ereaders will let me get buy without rebuying all of my books, so maybe I'm unrealistic, but since I can't really bring my collection overseas with me, it'd be nice to have it all on the ereader without having to sell a kidney.

I'm not sure what you mean about bringing your books with you. You can do that with any ereader, because they are on the device itself and with most stores a copy is kept online for re-downloading - at least as long as the store itself is still functioning - and you can keep backup copies of your own by periodically copying backups to a laptop or desktop hard drive. Buying books for a Nook or Kindle outside the U.S. requires workarounds.

One example for the Kindle: http://www.labnol.org/gadgets/buy-am...tside-us/4022/

An example of a Nook workaround: https://www.usunlocked.com/blog/?p=348

As for buying books from other sources, the proprietary format used by Amazon for its books makes it more difficult to buy Kindle-ready books from other places (that's why the proprietary format), while the format used by B&N is widely available.

I could go into a lot more that I suspect you've already been over, but I give these brief comments by way of pointing out that the real way to eliminate the confusion is to try out the ereaders you've been researching and see which you feel more comfortable with. There is no perfect feature set when it comes right down to it, but the devices themselves are quite different. One has buttons and a bite-sized keyboard while the other uses a touch screen for navigation and a "soft" keyboard for entering notes and such. Most people find themselves more comfortable with one interface than the other, and that ends up guiding the purchase decision. All of the rest - individual features one has that the other doesn't, or differences in where you can or can't buy books - people tend to work with once they've bought a device they like.

I've just been talking Kindle and Nook here because they are very close in price, and lower than most of the others, but in general terms what I said for them goes for the others as well. Where I live I can go to one of several stores (Best Buy, Staples, Target, Walmart, Barnes and Noble) and try out the Kindle and Nook for sure, and often the Sony Readers as well. So I guess that's my final advice at this point - focus on feel and comfort and price, and the rest will take care of itself once you've made your decision.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kaywrote

I have been able to find a lot of the books I own online (mostly pdf files or epub), and I'd much rather not re-buy books I already own (again, broke college student syndrome kicking in).

I've heard that with the Kindle (the one that others in my family have) that's not possible, and from my research the Nook didn't sound doable either.

Battery life is fairly important, but I mostly read at home or close enough to a wall or computer to charge.

The easier to read in sunlight, the better.

I'd really like to be able to buy from multiple markets, but that's not required as long as I have access to at least one market with a fairly widespread selection.

For starters, you are *correctly* focusing on the books, first and foremost.
eBook readers exist to offer access to ebooks, not to dazzle with a fancy specsheet.

On your questions, in order:

If the books you've "found" online are DRM free they can be read on *any* ebook reader.

The pdf files can load into every reader claiming the name. Just bear in mind that pdf is *NOT* an ebook format, but rather a digital paper format (think: digital microfiche) and does not offer a particularly great experience on any ebook reader. The experience will range from tolerable to awful on any PDF that is not 99% text. (The ones that *are* mostly text can be converted with free tools to decent HTML and from there into a proper ebook format like mobi or epub.)

ePubs can be, similarly, natively read into every ebook worthy of the name except Kindle (which, for good competitive reasons, avoids using it). However, DRM-free epubs can be easily and smoothly *converted* (with free software) into Kindle-compatible ebooks. So as long as you are not carrying a load of DRM-encumbered ebooks you are not barred from using *any* currently available reader. (And if you are, the current ePub DRM shackes are easily removed. Just run a web search for DeDRM and you'll eventually find the tools.) So, yes, you *can* use a Kindle or Nook or anything that meets your needs.

The battery life and sunlight-readability are tied together. If sunlight-reading is a must you are excluding pretty much every single color LCD-based reader/webpad/tablet and pretty much specifying eink as your display technology, which automatically solves your battery life issues. Even the worst-performing reader, when used with full-time wireless enabled, will still give about a week between charges. With wireless disabled/absent you'll be looking at 3-4 weeks between charges in typical use.

If you forgo outdoors readability for color and/or multi-purpose functionality, you'll be looking at battery life in the 4-7 hour range for reading.

(There *are* some pretty good readers that use B&W reflective LCD technology and are outdoors readable while delivery on the order of 20 hours of use. But in general, B&W readers use eink tech and delivers weeks of battery life.)

Buying from multiple markets is more problematic.
The more prominent commercial ebookstores sell mostly DRM-encrusted ebooks at the behest of the publishers which in effect forces you to choose from one of four camps. Kindle. Nook. Apple. And generic Adobe ADEPT DRM.
Outside the US, ADEPT is most common. Nook is currently US only. Kindle is available pretty much worldwide (100+ countries) and Apple is still ramping up, even in the US.

Complicating things is that ebookstores are not legally allowed to sell all books in all markets. With one exception, what ebooks an ebookstore offers up will depend on your physical location at the time of purchase. There are tricks to circumvent these geographical licensing restrictions but they don't always work. This will likely impact you as you are planning to travel outside the US.

The exception I mentioned? Kindle.
Because of its wireless support network and because Kindle is PC-independent, Amazon determines which ebooks you can buy based, not on your location at the time of purchase, but rather on your location when you bought the Kindle and on the billing address of your credit card of record. This is to accomodate travellers so *AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT MOVING PERMANENTLY* Kindle will allow you access to its US ebookstore everywhere. Things will be different for permanent residents in other countries but as long as the publishers restrain sales of ebooks by location, Amazon will have this advantage over its competitors.

For you what this means is that you need to make sure you will have a reliable source of ebooks *you want* locally wherever you relocate *before* choosing a non-Kindle reader. If you are going to rely on ebooks you "find" online this won't be an issue but if you're looking for commercial ebooks and you are looking to travel extensively geo-restrictions *will* be an issue.

ADEPT-based eReaders (Pocketbook, Sony, Onyx, Bookeen, etc) *will* accept ebooks from the various regional ebookstores but what you will have available will depend on your physical location because the seller will have no other way to determine which books they are legally allowed to sell you. And note that geo-restrictions exist even on DRM-free content.

So, until you have a strategy to deal with geo restrictions be very careful when buying non-Kindle readers. Which isn't to say Kindle is the only way to go. There are plenty of excellent non-kindle readers out there. Many are worth buying. Just that for US-natives *abroad* Kindle offers a simpler buying experience.

Focus first on what kind of content you intend to buy and where you expect to buy it from. Then you can start looking at compatible readers to see which feature set and price suits *your* needs.

That said: Given your situation as defined and the ebook market that exists today, you are looking at a Kindle reader as your most likely option. If you want something else, you'll have to redefine your needs/expectations.

Good luck!

PS Whatever path you take, look up Calibre Ebook management software and Mobipocket Creator. You'll find them useful with any reader you choose.

[polly]

I would start with https://www.mobileread.com/eink/ for a nice comparison of all of the different readers on the market. All of the readers are equally easy to load using a cable connected to your PC.

I'd focus on ability to organize books on the reader and the ergonomics of the device. About the 400th time you turn the page, you really start appreciating how well the reader works for you. The matrix will also show you some other nice readers that are not as well known, such as the PocketBook. Almost every type of reader has its own subforum for once you think you have it narrowed down to a few devices.

If you visit Best Buy, you can see the Kindle, Sony, and Nook all together and Borders has the Kobo. Historically, Sonys have gone down in price 4-5 months after launch.

[speedlever]

Here's a Youtube video I just found that shows a few comparisons of the Sony 950, K3, and the Nook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgr_dGNW1sA

[LDBoblo]

Roll some dice. They all kinda suck, and they're all kinda nice.

I got a K3 because it was the cheapest device with a Pearl screen. Pearl is the first E-Ink product that I consider truly readable, so until the Nook and Kobo and other readers get Pearl screens or better, I simply cannot recommend them.

If you've got EPUBs, Sony is probably where it's at for you at the moment. I only use custom PDFs, so the K3 is sufficient.

[abookreader]

I think you have a couple of low cost options

1. Buy a refurbished nook (went as low as $87 on Overstock w/ a discount code recently). Nook does not sell internationally so you will have to work around that when your IP goes international. Advanatge - you'll be able to join and download a library Overdrive system. Advantage - you can buy from several bookstores including Kobobooks with their discount codes. Check out the deals forum to see what these are like. Since you'll be taking i overseas and the nook 3G doesn't work outside North America, you'll be just fine with the WiFi model.

2. Buy an International Kindle. Advantage - you'll be able to buy books more easily when you travel outside the US and on non-Agency priced books Amazon is usually cheapest. $119 Kindle 2 refurbished is currently available from Amazon warehouse. Learn how to strip DRM and convert the files and you can still buy from Kobo and Barnes and Noble and other stores. You'll also have another free 3G source then to check email and things when you travel overseas. Clunky browser, but it does work.

3. Old model Kobo readers/Sony Pockets etc are all available for around $99 or less now.

These are all nice machines that will compactly carry your books for you. They all have their good and bad points, you really just need to look at them and decide who has the buttons and screen layout and features you like.

PDF files do not look good on any 6" reader. You'll likely want to learn how to convert those to whatever file format the reader you buy uses anyway. No retailer will give you free copies of the physical books you already own. You'll probably want to get Calibre or a similar database program and start recreating your library digitally. I've been working on it for a couple of years now and I still don't own all my old paper books in digital form.

The best thing about digital books though, is once you have the file cataloged into Calibre and backed up in multiple places - that's it. You'll have it forever. You can't ruin it by spilling apple juice on it or lose it or decide you can't afford to move it to your next apartment, or that you don't have room for it anymore .....

[Kaywrote]

Wow! I am going to need a while to process all of this information, but thanks everyone! I really appreciate the responses. I think my first order of business is to check them out in person, I'll see if I can get out and do that today.
Thanks again!