Yet another "Which eReader?" thread.

[bhdavis]

Originally Posted by arciervo

Although it sounds like you have already decided on the Sony, it's worth pointing out that it's currently the only e-reader that allows checking out books directly from Canadian public libraries, via wi-fi. Another plus is that, unlike the Kobo, the web browser is a supported feature. It's possible to download e-books directly from Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks, Feedbooks, and even the Kobo store without having to use a PC. You can also get files into the Sony via the Dropbox mobile web site. Because of these features, I rarely need to connect my PRS-T1 to my PC at all. (When I do, I use Calibre instead of the Sony Reader software, which is terrible.)

Another nice-to-have feature of the Sony is its headphone jack and built-in music player software. I find this useful for masking background noise when reading. (BTW, although the Sony handles MP3 and AAC files, unfortunately it does not work with DRM-protected audiobooks.)

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I would go with the Sony. It has more features on it and has proven to be less buggy overall than the Kobo.

Yeah, the T1 really does seem like the way to go. I'm very excited about it now.

The ability to use DropBox to add ePub files to it is really appealing, but it has me thinking / engineering. There are Linux clients for DropBox and I would guess that there are Android clients for DropBox, so it makes me wonder how hard it would be to root the T1, add some 'native' (i.e. no web-based, so that that DropBox has it's own folder on the device) DropBox support + add a daemon to monitor the DropBox folder, and any time it sees a recently added ePub file it would automatically add it to the library. You could combine that with something like InstaPaper and saving InstaPaper ePubs to DropBox as a quick and invisible way to add newspaper articles to your T1. What do you think?

[ProfCrash]

Never used Dropbox so I have no clue.

I just am a fan of why pay the same price, or close tot he same price, and get fewer features. I get that the Kobo is suppose to be a more barebones reader but it is priced the same as a Kindle in the US and you get more options on the Kindle than you do a Kobo. Same is true for the Nook and Sony and the Kobo. (shrugs)

That is me.

[bhdavis]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Never used Dropbox so I have no clue.

I just am a fan of why pay the same price, or close tot he same price, and get fewer features. I get that the Kobo is suppose to be a more barebones reader but it is priced the same as a Kindle in the US and you get more options on the Kindle than you do a Kobo. Same is true for the Nook and Sony and the Kobo. (shrugs)

That is me.

The main reason I'm not interested in the Kindle is because I don't want to be tied to the Amazon purchasing system, but mostly it's because you can't get Kindle-compatible eBooks from Canadian libraries. I've never spent a lot of money buying books and I don't plan on starting now. I've always used libraries, so that pretty much kills the Kindle off for me.

[treadlightly]

Originally Posted by bhdavis

I liked how close the line spacing was on the T1 and you can adjust the margins on it.

I just wanted to point out that the only way to adjust the margins on the stock Sony Reader (without modifying the ePub) is to use the Crop feature, and I found this to be less than optimal because it blurred the text slightly. I ended up installing Morkl's modified reader to set the margins in style.css. Sometimes this doesn't work if the margins are set in the ePub. I didn't realize how little control I had over margins and justification until after I had bought the T1.

[ProfCrash]

No worries. All I am saying is that I would not buy a Kobo over a Sony, Nook, or Kindle because you get more bang for your buck from those three devices. I would strongly prefer a Sony over a Kobo if I wanted an E Pub reader for that reason.

[Dinghy]

I went for the Kobo after much mmmm'ing and ahhhh'ing between Kindle Touch, Kobo touch and Sony T1. I ruled out Amazon due to lack of library support.

So it came down to T1 v Kobo, Kobo won on price (£50 cheaper than the T1, nearly half the price) I preferred the form factor, hold and look of the Kobo and it's better options in terms of margins, justification, fonts, line spacing etc.... I really liked the T1's ability to download library books directly to the T1but it wasn't worth the extra 50 quid for me + plus Sony's shoddy support of legacy readers once it's brought out a new model. Had the Kobo 2 weeks and love it - no bugs or issues with it at all, at least not yet.

[Dinghy]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

No worries. All I am saying is that I would not buy a Kobo over a Sony, Nook, or Kindle because you get more bang for your buck from those three devices. I would strongly prefer a Sony over a Kobo if I wanted an E Pub reader for that reason.

Have you seen the Kobo since the last firmware upgrade? I would argue you get more bang for your buck with the Kobo - its half the price of the Sony, £30 cheaper than the Kindle and I struggle to find where it lacks in comparison - what's missing?

[ProfCrash]

Text to Speech, which I know people who use at the gym to automatically turn pages and for people with vision problems so that they don't have to buy the more expensive audio books or can listen to books that are not available as audio books.

An MP3 player, which people use for audio books and sometimes music. I don't use it but it is nice that it is there.

An easy to use web browser which does come in handy in a pinch.

Great Customer Service. People who have had Kindles break while travelling have had their replacements sent over night to their hotels.

As I understand it, and this is based on reviews only, better highlighting, note taking, and bookmarking options, which is important to many folks.

Even if I don't use those features, I would prefer to have them there if I needed them then not. Why pay a little less, or in my case the same amount, for a device that is glitchier (many reports on this), has fewer features, and where the Customer Service is not even close to Amazon's?

[Dinghy]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Text to Speech, which I know people who use at the gym to automatically turn pages and for people with vision problems so that they don't have to buy the more expensive audio books or can listen to books that are not available as audio books.

An MP3 player, which people use for audio books and sometimes music. I don't use it but it is nice that it is there.

An easy to use web browser which does come in handy in a pinch.

Great Customer Service. People who have had Kindles break while travelling have had their replacements sent over night to their hotels.

As I understand it, and this is based on reviews only, better highlighting, note taking, and bookmarking options, which is important to many folks.

Even if I don't use those features, I would prefer to have them there if I needed them then not. Why pay a little less, or in my case the same amount, for a device that is glitchier (many reports on this), has fewer features, and where the Customer Service is not even close to Amazon's?

Ok fair enough if some of those things are important to you - for whoever started this thread though, I did extensive, almost anal research - and honestly in terms of glitches there is nothing in it - early firmware versions on the Kobo had issues, but then so did the Sony. The Kobo is as stable as any other reader as far as I can tell from recent reviews (not the old ones) although they all have issues if you are unlucky.

Text to speech - I can't read whilst jogging or doing anything in the gym nor would I want an ereader in the gym, never took a book either and find it a little weird that people read whilst exercising but each to their own - same goes for Mp3 player, my books never played music to me so I don't expect my ereader to - if I want an audio book or to listen to music I have a hifi at home and car stereo - on the go I have an iPad and phone that both play mp3 and have better browsers than any ink ereader. By the way the Kobo also has a web browser if that is important to you, and in my opinion it's no better or worse than any other and I played with all 3.

The highlighting and note taking are better than the kindle in my view but that's just a personal opinion, and the sketch pad is great for adhoc notes when not in a book - didn't compare bookmarking but the kobo bookmarks in the cloud across devices as with the kindle so not sure what the issue is there - oh and it has sudoku if you are into that, - again I'm not into a games on this sort of device - I want an ereader to read a book on, that's the only thing hey are really good at - I have other devices that do everything except ebooks much better than a reader. Kobo also have the best iPad/iPhone app if that is important to you.

Customer service I hope I never have to use, but if I do there is a store in every high street in the country I can take my Kobo to - it has a 1 year warranty like any other device. I wonder about the Amazon customer service arguement as a reason to buy Kindle, I never hear that arguement for any other purchase, car, DVD player, TV, mp3 player etc... So wonder why it is suddenly so important when it comes to ereaders - if my ereader breaks when travelling I can buy a book to see my through getting home or if as is likely when out of warranty buy a new ereader - the whole customer service thing just is not important to me, I have a warranty and consumer rights with a shop in every town which Amazon does not have and unless you are in the US you get new kindle devices released 6 months later than our American cousins which is shoddy for a global company.

As for paying twice the price for features I don't need, I'm afraid I just don't get that logic it's like paying double for a car with 5 wheels.

My advice is do your own research, take advice on board but don't get sucked in by the Amazonites, Koboites or Sonyites - especially the Amazonites :-) everyone thinks theirs is the best or they wouldnt have bought it in the first place - Kobo did have issues but they have ironed them out and their features leap forward with every firmware update - I only just bought mine and wouldn't have if I wasn't sure - also go and play with each one, how you hold it and how it feels differ from device to device and it's important you are comfortable holding it.

Each have their own pros and cons - for me Amazon lost due to its lack of ePub support and UK library support otherwise I may well have bought he Kindle Touch so it was between the Kobo and Sony - I tested both and preferred the Kobo for many reasons - others have done the same and preferred the Sony - beware Sony's alleged lack of updates when it mothballs an ereader though, something you may want to check out.

Good hunting.

One last thing as a Koboite - ebooks and ereaders is all Kobo do, they put all their energy into this one thing and whilst they are relatively new I believe they will become the David to the Amazon Goliath in this area unless Amazon open up to ePub. Ereaders are not high on Sony's priority list, and Amazon have their fingers in so many pies it's unbelievable - Kobo only do one thing and have financial backing and ownership from a large Japansese company which has allowed them to lower their prices and really go after this market so expect their products to lead the way in the future - just my opinion though.

[Dinghy]

Originally Posted by bhdavis

That's useful to know, thanks. I've definitely narrowed it down to being between the Kobo and the T1. The Kobo costs $99, the T1 costs $119, although it's $25 at the moment- so the price is about the same. The Kobo has more text manipulation options, but the T1 has physical page turn buttons and it's considerably lighter, and I like it's physical appearance better, but the Kobo feels a bit more solidly constructed. I think I'll get the T1. I have to wait for our tax refund, but now I know what I want

I too considered the physical page turn buttons a plus on the Sony until I played with it, then realised that their positioning almost makes them redundant unless you are left handed or want to hold it in two hands.

I also didn't like the shiny bezel, although the glare of shop lights didn't help and I don't really notice it on my iPad at home which is also shiny - but something you may want to consider if you intend to read for long periods of time or out in the sunshine as reflected light is a distraction and apparently more tiring on your eyes - probably not a reason not to buy the Sony if it does everything you want it to though.

The swipe on the Kobo works just as well as the Sony, and in settings you can chose how to set up the screen for the tap and swipe functions to suit how you want to use it eg you could have tap left to turn back, tap right to turn page forward and tap middle for menu options, or you can have 2 other variations depending on what you want - you can also set page refresh from anything from 1 to 6 - I have mine set to 3 to avoid too much ghosting. The Kindle only let's you chose 1 or 6 and the Sony refreshes every page whether you like it or not.

If you have any other specific questions let me know and I'll try to answer objectively, as I said I have just researched extensively and played with Sony, Kobo and Kindle a lot - we don't have Nook in the Uk.

You have to wonder who names these things - Nook, Kindle and Kobo sounds like a kids tv show or Star Wars characters.

[Dinghy]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I have never had my head lamp attract bugs when camping. I love having it for cooking and late night walks to the bathroom. The good ones today have multiple settings, mine has four, and use LCDs so the light is powerful but can be nicely focused. My Hubby and I have them and take them on all trips with us. You never know when you could use a good flashlight (emergencies at hotels or homes or reading on the airplane) They are practicle and make more sense, to me, then a clip on book light or a flash light or some thing similar.

Great for biking at night too.

That's a great idea - been looking for a light solution and this could just be it

[Dinghy]

On the other hand you guys may want to wait For one of these

http://www.psfk.com/2012/04/lg-flexible-ereader.html

[Brainphart]

FWIW The Nook ST is on sale at B&N for $79.99 - Free Shipping.
http://cart4.barnesandnoble.com/op/request.aspx

[soulfuldog]

In response to the exchange between Dinghy and ProfCrash, in terms of an ereader to simply read books on (so ignoring things like audio for MP3s, TTS, web browsing, rooting/jailbreaking devices), there seems to be very little to choose between the PRS-T1, Kindle Touch & Kobo Touch (the big three in the UK) - except the price.

They cost £130, £110 & £80 respectively.

There's maybe some small things, but apart from the epub/mobi format, the only significant difference is the level of customer support behind the Kindle. Whether it's worth £30 over the Kobo is debatable. I can't see why anyone would spend £50 more to buy the Sony over the Kobo.

[Dinghy]

Originally Posted by l_macd

In response to the exchange between Dinghy and ProfCrash, in terms of an ereader to simply read books on (so ignoring things like audio for MP3s, TTS, web browsing, rooting/jailbreaking devices), there seems to be very little to choose between the PRS-T1, Kindle Touch & Kobo Touch (the big three in the UK) - except the price.

They cost £130, £110 & £80 respectively.

There's maybe some small things, but apart from the epub/mobi format, the only significant difference is the level of customer support behind the Kindle. Whether it's worth £30 over the Kobo is debatable. I can't see why anyone would spend £50 more to buy the Sony over the Kobo.

And the lack of library support on the kindle in the UK - this was the deal breaker for me so my decision was a 2 horse race between the Sony and Kobo and £50 more for the Sony meant Kobo was my choice