8+ Readers in comparison

[Kris777]

I didn't know that iRex so popular in Europe.

[Dipaksomak]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

My momentary ranking, without additional comments:

#13: BeBook
#12: Sony 300
#11: Sony 700
#10: Cybook Gen3
#9: iRex 1000S
#8: Sony 600
#7: Kindle DX
#6: Sony 505
#5: iRex 800
#4: iRex iLiad
#3: Cybook Opus
#2: Kindle 2
#1: Sony 900

As always, absolutely subjective evaluation.

EDIT: iRex 800, after first (slight) disappointment, gaining ground. Top5 really are close, iRex 800 certainly is in it.

Fantastic thread. Have a Karma on me.
But waht made you suddenly drop the Sony 600 and the iliad by so much. All through your posts you have been a champion of the irex iliad. isnt the 900 just a bigger 600 ?

I am currently debating over the 600, iliad or the iriver story.....

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Dipaksomak

Fantastic thread. Have a Karma on me.
But waht made you suddenly drop the Sony 600 and the iliad by so much. All through your posts you have been a champion of the irex iliad. isnt the 900 just a bigger 600 ?

I am currently debating over the 600, iliad or the iriver story.....

Sony 900 vs. Sony 600:
- The larger display allows a great "startup screen". Last read books, continue last read, thumbnail of most recent, ...
- I'm still absolutely fine with Sony 600's display quality (having read on PDAs for years, any eInk is a quantum leap). But Sony 900 is one step ahead (not miles ahead, just a slight but visible improvement).
- Sony 900 is slightly faster in turning pages.
- I like the form factor of Sony 900. Kindle DX for example I consider too bulky. But Sony 900, still having the same width, is very convenient to me.
- User replaceable battery. Every reader should have this.
That's why I had to drop Sony 600. It's still a great unit on its own. But within my bulk of units, it dropped due to Sony 900 into my "silent reserve".

iRex iLiad vs. iRex 800:
Similar as above.
iLiad still is a phantastic unit (consider this: Still ranking 4 out of 13 after 2 years) on its own. But with Sony 900, my (momentary) favorite with touchscreen is set. And iRex 800 is growing on me, start to like it.

Meaning: Sony 600 and iRex iLiad are great units and I still highly recommend them. But my ranking is something like "probability of taking it with me on a trip".

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Kris777

I didn't know that iRex so popular in Europe.

I don't have any statistics.
But iRex being a spinoff of Philips from the Netherlands and very cheap and convenient delivering within Europe clearly should have its main fan base in Europe.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Dipaksomak

Fantastic thread. Have a Karma on me.
But waht made you suddenly drop the Sony 600 and the iliad by so much. All through your posts you have been a champion of the irex iliad. isnt the 900 just a bigger 600 ?

I am currently debating over the 600, iliad or the iriver story.....

If I should rank the 3 units you suggest:

#1: iLiad - still one of my favorites, even after more than 2 years.
iRex 800 is tough competition though. Starting to grow on me.

#2: Sony 600 - has been a very positive surprise. But it's hard to find arguments against Sony 900, which has a slightly better display/contrast.

#3: Iriver Story - one of the (very) few units I didn't consider to buy (although easily available here in Germany). Looks very Kindle-like and I couldn't find any real arguments for buying it in comparison to, let's say, Kindle 2, Sony 505 or Cybook Gen3.

2 readers with touchscreen and 1 without, how's that?
If you're not into touchscreen, may I suggest Sony 505? Still a brillant unit, best display ever, very cheap right now. End of life, but very well established and service shouldn't be a problem for many years.

Are you into PDFs? If so, iRex iLiad would be my first choice.

[Jumpn Jack Flash]

What I want is the features of the Oynx boox (WiFi and software support) in the iRex 800 form factor.

The fact that iRex have had the Wifi experience with the Iliad and tried to go down the subsidized 3G market (and failed badly in Europe) with the 800 is irritating as I would have bought an Iliad if I had thought that it had not been abandoned. I hope that a SW version is brought out.

The fact that the 800 is approx the same length of boox and only just over an inch wider, (with an 8.1'' diagonal screen) is stunning. The Sony 900 I think is too long and too narrow.

I would prefer a thicker unit to handle the battery and pcbs than have the current market format of a thinner unit with large bezel area at the bottom of the unit.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

#2: Sony 600 - has been a very positive surprise. But it's hard to find arguments against Sony 900, which has a slightly better display/contrast.

"Only currently sold in the USA" is the main one, I guess. I'll probably buy one when it's released here. Too much hassle if it breaks, though (and my PRS-600 has broken, so I'm wary) to buy one from the USA.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by Jumpn Jack Flash

What I want is the features of the Oynx boox (WiFi and software support) in the iRex 800 form factor.

an 8" from Onyx is not that far off. I'm actually tempted to buy a dr800 if I could hack Onyx's firmware on to it

[Jumpn Jack Flash]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

an 8" from Onyx is not that far off. I'm actually tempted to buy a dr800 if I could hack Onyx's firmware on to it

Could be an interesting (and expensive) experiment.

[Ben0]

I've got the PPro & the JetBook Lite, and I really like both, but I use the PPro most of the time largely for the excellent PDF reflow support.

I do wish that the PPro would toggle between pan & scroll with zoom and reflow!

[johndoesecond]

Hi mgmueller,

Great post, you’ve been so helpful!

You really seem to be the best person around to ask this question.

It's of course essential to compare features and functional characteristics of these devices, but I would like to learn something more about their expected durability, at least from your “senatorial” perspective of a veteran user of e-readers.

How much do they last before they break? How do your champion devices compare on this regard?
And more generally, how fragile/robust these devices and their e-ink screens really are, say, in comparison to standard LCD notebooks and netbooks?

I’m used to keep my notebooks for years, and usually buy new not because the old ones break, but simply for they become sort of obsolete. Can we expect that sort of durability these from e-readers?

I just got myself Kindle DX, so I would appreciate if you can tell me your opinion on that one in comparison to iRexes and Sonies (is that how you form those plurals?), with regard to this specific issue. Kindle DX has a short running history (less than one year since its initial U.S. release), but from what you’ve seen/tried/heard, could I expect it to last for 3-5 years?

Just how much extra care should one put into handling, using and carrying these devices around ? What would your recommended best-practice care be?

Thank you in advance.

[Dipaksomak]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

If I should rank the 3 units you suggest:

#1: iLiad - still one of my favorites, even after more than 2 years.
iRex 800 is tough competition though. Starting to grow on me.

#2: Sony 600 - has been a very positive surprise. But it's hard to find arguments against Sony 900, which has a slightly better display/contrast.

#3: Iriver Story - one of the (very) few units I didn't consider to buy (although easily available here in Germany). Looks very Kindle-like and I couldn't find any real arguments for buying it in comparison to, let's say, Kindle 2, Sony 505 or Cybook Gen3.

2 readers with touchscreen and 1 without, how's that?
If you're not into touchscreen, may I suggest Sony 505? Still a brillant unit, best display ever, very cheap right now. End of life, but very well established and service shouldn't be a problem for many years.

Are you into PDFs? If so, iRex iLiad would be my first choice.

thanks mate. PDFs and lots of cbr/cbz.
I'm over to US next week...will look out for a PRS-900,as no one seems to selling a iliad at a "good" price.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by johndoesecond

Hi mgmueller,

Great post, you’ve been so helpful!

You really seem to be the best person around to ask this question.

It's of course essential to compare features and functional characteristics of these devices, but I would like to learn something more about their expected durability, at least from your “senatorial” perspective of a veteran user of e-readers.

How much do they last before they break? How do your champion devices compare on this regard?
And more generally, how fragile/robust these devices and their e-ink screens really are, say, in comparison to standard LCD notebooks and netbooks?

I’m used to keep my notebooks for years, and usually buy new not because the old ones break, but simply for they become sort of obsolete. Can we expect that sort of durability these from e-readers?

I just got myself Kindle DX, so I would appreciate if you can tell me your opinion on that one in comparison to iRexes and Sonies (is that how you form those plurals?), with regard to this specific issue. Kindle DX has a short running history (less than one year since its initial U.S. release), but from what you’ve seen/tried/heard, could I expect it to last for 3-5 years?

Just how much extra care should one put into handling, using and carrying these devices around ? What would your recommended best-practice care be?

Thank you in advance.

I'm not really worried about durability. 7 of my 13 readers I've ordered from the US, meaning limited/complicated warranty.
If I look back at my other gadgets, it's usually the "mobile/moving parts" that fail. In Notebooks for example it has been the harddisk a few times.
So I don't see too much risk in eBook devices.

Basically, it comes down to 3 risks for me:
- Scratching the screen. Mainly a risk for touch sensitive screens, i.e. Sony 600/700/900. I couldn't bring myself to applying a protector yet. So I only transport them in their cover. For long/bumby trips I additionally pack them into a protective sleeve. While using I carefully check the stylus and am careful in general.
- Breaking the screen. Quite a few members have reported, having broken their screen. I see this as a problem while transporting, not while in usage. When transporting them, I fix them in my bag, so they can't bump into anything and I secure them against torsion.
- Breaking or tearing the buttons, especially the page-turning buttons. This to me seems the biggest risk. I guess I read about 100 ebooks per year. That's probably about 50 000 page turns per year. Looking at the mechanics of some units, that's a bit frightening.
Well, having 13 readers helps - I spread the pages over a few units . But this can't be the solution of course.
I think, in this issue we've got the biggest difference between the various units.
I'm not so sure about both Kindles. Their clicking does sound quite mechanical. I'm even more worried about the 5-way-button, which seems awfully fragile.
I absolutely don't like Sony 300 for that. You only can turn pages with the 5-way-button, which isn't very ergonomic and seems extremely demanding.
I'm not using the touchscreen gesture on Sony for turning pages, so it's the same stress on them.

My gut feeling for ranking my unit into 3 groups:

Group #1 (seeming most robust):
Sony 505, iRex iLiad, iRex 800, iRex 1000S
[Sony 505 having various ways to turn pages and a "perfect" cover. iRex having WACOM touchscreen = not touch sensitive = robust touchscreen with various options for turning pages]

Group #2 (maybe a bit less robust than group #1):
Sony 600, Sony 700, Sony 900, Kindle DX, Kindle 2
[Sony having touch sensitive screen, which probably is less robust than WACOM. Kindle seeming a bit "mechanic"]

Group #3 (the ones I'm worried the most about):
Sony 300, BeBook, Cybook Gen3, Cybook Opus
[Sony only having a single button for turning pages, as long as you don't use a firmware hack. BeBook seeming very cheap in it's entire design, which applies to the buttons as well - disappointing considering the very advanced OS. Cybook very much focussing on the 5-way-button]

Meaning: Always protect the screen with a cover. When transporting, make sure nothing can slip between cover and screen (for example a pen in your bag). Maybe even use an additional sleeve for traveling.
Personally, I find it preferable to have a reader, which doesn't lay all the functions on a single button, so the stress can be spread over various buttons.

Concerning lifetime: My first iRex iLiad was stolen, my 2nd one is my oldest unit, now about 20 months. So far, I didn't have any problems with any of my units.
But I don't expect 5 years - and quite frankly I'm not aiming for it either.
I'm not calculating any ROI (and I'm not even sure, I'll have savings compared to paper books at all, which you can resell or purchase them used or ...). But I'm estimating the ratio between hardware and content/eBooks.
When reading 100 eBooks per year and mainly using 3 readers, costs per reader for the eBooks will be about: 100 x $ 10 / 3 = $ 333 per year and reader for the content. If I assume a lifetime of 2 years for every unit and $ 400 on average per reader (some way cheaper, some more expensive), it's $ 200 per year and reader for the hardware.
So, even when spreading my books over 3 readers, costs for books are way higher than costs for the hardware. When using 1 or 2 readers, it's even more extreme.
So my main concern is, which book to buy in which format. Or which format to prefer in general.

[kevindorsey]

Originally Posted by Kris777

I didn't know that iRex so popular in Europe.

Yea, iRex is pretty big in Western Europe. NOt sure about the East.

[johndoesecond]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I'm not really worried about durability. 7 of my 13 readers I've ordered from the US, meaning limited/complicated warranty.
If I look back at my other gadgets, it's usually the "mobile/moving parts" that fail. In Notebooks for example it has been the harddisk a few times.
So I don't see too much risk in eBook devices.
[...]

Thank you mgmueller, tremendously helpful, as always!