Which one under $250

[Trier]

Hello,
I`m new here and I`m looking to buy my first ebook reader.
After so many pages and reviews for ebook readers I don't know what to buy.
So I`m asking you for advice.
I`m looking for ebook reader with price under $250 I want to read .doc .txt .pdx just plain text almost no pictures.
I was thinking for astak Astak 6" EZ Reader or astak Pocket pro 5".
Waht do you think for this 2 readers which one is better and can you suggest something better in this price range.
Thanks a lot for your help.

[wallcraft]

If you wait for the EZ Reader Plus, which is the upgraded 6" EZ Reader Basic, there will be little to choose between the two except screen size. See the E-book Reader Matrix for more details. The Pocket Pro is the best value for the money in 5" Readers, and the Plus is the best 6" under $250. The PocketBook 360 is in your price range and worth considering. The Kindle 2 and the Nook are nice devices, for a bit more money than you want to spend (particularly since both need covers, which are standard on the EZ Readers).

Note that Calibre can convert practically any ebook format to any other format, so the native formats are not necessarily a good deciding factor. Having many formats supported can be convenient, but on the EZ Readers in particular not all formats are supported equally well.

[GA Russell]

Trier, Amazon is having a sale this weekend on the jetBook Lite for only $99. I am content with mine, and I think it would meet your needs.

The PocketBook 360 is very popular here. I think it goes for about $230.

I was very interested in the Astak Pocket Pro last summer until it came out with a number of quality control issues.

[Yar-PocketBooker]

PocketBook 360)

[Trier]

JetBook Lite - Ordered and received today. So far no cons. I really like the display.

[IndecisiveMe]

Pocketbook 360. I love mine, it does exactly what I want it to do. With the modified version of FBReader (found in the MR Pocketbook forum) you can customise your books and documents so they are perfect for you to read.

[PixeLz112]

Originally Posted by IndecisiveMe

Pocketbook 360. I love mine, it does exactly what I want it to do. With the modified version of FBReader (found in the MR Pocketbook forum) you can customise your books and documents so they are perfect for you to read.

Absolutely agree. This one is the best for such price.

[cheerio6414]

Pretty much depends on what you want to pay, doesn't seem to be any complains on either

[Logseman]

I join to the PB360 clamor. You'll love how many things you can read with it, and except for PDF and DJVU, you can tweak all texts to your liking. It's worth its $240 and more.

[fjtorres]

There are several very good options these days.
I have first-hand experience with four of the better options:

The Kindle is rock solid, apparently never crashes or hangs, and (if that matters) has free wireless plus the benchmark ebook store built-in. The limitations of the bookshelf and the fonts are reportedly being addressed in the 2.5 Firmware update which adds social networking features that could prove huge. (Dont underestimate network effects.) PDF support is good, PRC/Mobi excellent (no duh, right?), ePub/LIT/pdb support non-existent. It is what it is but what it is is very good. Not going to hear anything bad about it from me.

The Pocketbook line (and the PB360 in particular) put *you* in control of the reader's looks, presentation, and features. Extremely stable. The PB360 adds superb ergonomics and a clip-on hard cover (that neatly stows in the back). It is also fast to boot, fast to page and (mostly) fast to load books. (Well thought out software with plain english warnings.) Add-in multiple active dictionaries, themes, games and applets...
Very good value. Very pleasing to own. (Not quite the same thing, you know.) It is my reader of choice for 2010. (2011? There's rumors of a possible hardware tweak--minor stuff apparently. Quieter/less-stiff buttons?) If only it supported LITs...

The Hanlins' (V3/V5 from Astak and others) calling card is broad format support. Jacks of all trades, masters of none; they support pretty much every legacy format this side of eReader (through no fault of their own--they've tried, reportedly). Baseline firmware is less than 100% solid but you do have a choice of a half-dozen alternate firmwares at least one of which supports both Mobi-DRM and Adobe DRM. They even aspire to support LIT files. More of a hobbyist/enthusiast choice. If you don't mind rolling up your sleeve or hitting the reset button every once in a while there's a lot to like.

At the low end there is the Jetbook/Jetbook lite. Hard to argue with $99 price for the Lite, right?

The screen is lower resolution (vga vs SVGA) but you have to really look for it to tell. And it is nice and dark, true black text. Format support is good up to and includind eReader (and yes PalmDoc, works fine) and above average PDF support. (It was good enough I fed it a Google crapscan pdf. No miracle, it choked.) Txt, rtf support is fine. It seems to have an issue with .mobi extension files--they load but only display the first page. PRC-extension mobi files (the same format!) work fine. Only minuses are lack of font choices (uh, let's see; I build a devicee with two font choices and I go with Arial and Verdana? Both sans serif? Uh, guys...? Can we spell B-R-A-I-N-C-R-A-M-P children? Georgia or DROID Serif TTF fonts would likely look glorious on this screen) and lack of table of contents support (no biggie). Choice of justified or left aligned is good. The six font sizes are well-chosen if limited. The PDF zoom factors are abundant and decent but it would be nice if it defaulted to full-screen (best mode for texts) instead of making you choose it every time. In its defense, it *does* remember where you left off reading a book and it does support bookmarks. The ergonomics are decent on the Lite and the slider bar grows on you. The okay/activation button is way too small. SDHC support works to 16GB at least and it reads the card fast and inegrates it with the onboard books. In other words, it is great at nothing but good-enough at everything it does. A lot to like, a lot to niggle about. (Especially typography.) But, did I mention it goes for $99-129?
It has its uses.
The non-lite version adds rechargeable battery and MP3 playback at around $129-149. With the Sony PRS-300 hitting $150 these days that is looking iffy.

In the end it comes down to what your preference is; bookstore access? Polish and customizability? Legacy formats and TTS? Or just basic competence at a good price?

[jrw914]

Thanks, fjtorres... I think you've nudged me off the fence in favor of a Pocketbook 360 rather than waiting for the Astak EZ Reader Plus.

[pboss]

Great comparison! I'm pondering about getting a PB360 too.