Sony or iRiver?

[afa]

I live in Dubai, Mac.

Yeah, I guess buying online might be an option. But in that case, I'm definitely not going for the iTears. Possibly Sony 600, maybe 505 if I can find it somewhere (it might be old, but everyone seems to love it).

I've also read some good things about the BeBook Neo, and the Nook. I like the fact that the Neo can read both ePub and Mobi. That's certainly helpful. Any one have any thoughts on these? And what the hell is a 'WACOM' touchscreen, and why is it better than a normal touchscreen?

The problem is, there are so many readers but no one reader that can do it all. Annoying! If only the Kindle store was available in this region; I'd kill the issue and just buy one.

[deadpixel]

I've owned an iRiver for several months now and have been pretty happy with it. I don't have issues with glare on the screen whether indoors or out (this is the main reason I did not get the touchscreen Sony) and it supports most of the major file formats, no mobi though. Firmware updates are available quite frequently, adding new functionality and support for more file formats.

The iRiver doesn't support touch screen nor does it support WiFi but I've never had an issue with these as its navigation keys are pretty responsive and intuitive and loading books via its USB interface is really straightforward ... well, not had an issue that is until I saw the BeBook Neo (also available in some markets as the Onyx Boox 60). I've just completed placing an order for a Boox.

Wacom is THE leader in graphics tablet and tablet style touchscreen technology. I own many of their products which I use for photo editing. The introduction of its technology to eBooks is interesting because it gives me the ability to annotate my eBooks and do sketches and yet not have to suffer from glare on the screen or worry about my stylus wearing the screen out; the Wacom touchscreen layer lies beneath the eInk layer and signals are transmitted to the sensor from the pen through the lightest touch of the pen's tip on the screen. This technology is completely different from the one in Sony's touchscreen eBook.

The support for WiFi and their built in web browser also means that I'd be able to read news in WiFi enabled areas and also download content. I believe some early testers of the Boox (the Neo doesn't seem to be available yet) have reported success in purchasing online books?

Checkout the posts about the Onyx Boox 60 in this forum or view the many videos posted on YouTube.

Cheers

[greenapple]

Originally Posted by deadpixel

I've owned an iRiver for several months now and have been pretty happy with it.

....it supports most of the major file formats, no mobi though. Firmware updates are available quite frequently, adding new functionality and support for more file formats.

Eh? Do I have a different iRiver Story than yours?

Right now only EPUB and PDF work.

Maybe you haven't upgraded to v1.71? If you have not upgraded, please don't upgrade. It's a disaster.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by greenapple

Eh? Do I have a different iRiver Story than yours?

Right now only EPUB and PDF work.

Maybe you haven't upgraded to v1.71? If you have not upgraded, please don't upgrade. It's a disaster.

Whoops, my bad

I forgot that I used the free reader Stanza to convert the various formats to epub.

About 1.71, I've been using it for about 3 weeks but haven't ran into any major issues. What are the ones you've encountered? Maybe I can try reproducing them on my iRiver.

[MacEachaidh]

Hi deadpixel,
I'm butting in because my experience with the Story and firmware 1.71 seems to be the same as greenapples, in terms of formats.

1) ePub seems to work fine. Minor irritations are about choosing what font size to encode documents at, as the three zoom settings generally go from a) too small to be comfortable to b) slightly too big for the screen real estate to c) ridiculously oversized. This information - formatting specifications - should be available from iRiver, but isn't.

2) DOC files don't display well. On opening, the Story attempts to display the whole page (whether A4 or US Letter) on-screen at once. Zoom controls don't reflow the text, but zoom in on a rectangle in the centre of the page, and the text expands out all 4 sides of the screen. On each page, the text outside the edges of the screen in inaccessible.

3) PDFs reflow only if they are text-only and OCRd. PDFs with graphics just show a blank screen when zoomed or reflowed.

4) TXT files have a line-break inserted at character 51 across the screen, even if that's in the middle of a word or between a word and its following punctuation. The Story doesn't wrap TXT files to keep whole words together.

5) Zoom doesn't work in landscape mode.

I think they're the major issues for reading text. I haven't tried DJVU files, which is a new format introduced in this most recent version of the firmware, and I believe it doesn't handle comics (CBR files) very well either, but I don't have any I can check with.

I understand that versions of the firmware prior to this 1.71 did a better job with some of these issues, and that the latest release "broke" a few things; but it's the only version I've used, so I can't confirm that directly.

deadpixel, what format files do you use on your Story? Have you tried any of the others? What's your experience been?

[sunnysmiles]

Originally Posted by afa

First of all, thanks for the answers.

@greenapple,
Well, from what I can see in your threads, you've had problems with DOC and fonts. Documents I don't care about, since I won't be using it for that. Fonts would be annoying. Has any firmware upgrade resolved your problem, or are you still facing this issue? And does it affect only a few books, or is it widespread?

@tablettweet,
Personally, I would've just gone ahead and bought the Kindle, but the problem is it's not available in this part of the world*. As for the price, the US prices are different from here. Electronics are frequently more expensive here because they have to be imported, plus their mark-up etc. The Sony Touch over here costs the equivalent of $430; the iRiver is about $300.

@ChrisC333,
Yeah, the support issue is the main reason I'm hesitating to buy the Story. Sony, obviously, have a significant presence here, but I'm not sure about iRiver.


* - I live in Dubai.

I have had problems with Sony and had to return it. If you live in Dubai you could well have problems with Sony as I dont think you are covered in the ME. I BOUGHT ONE IN Mc grudys in Abu Dhabi and it was faulty. As I returned it the following day I had no serious problems. But if you wanted to buy books to download then you could well have problems.

I am on to my third Sony reader as the Screen went funny on the 500 and could not read the tope right hand part of the screen. Apparently they had other people complaining about that.
The second one I think the software was faulty it would not load up.

The third one I had to send into be repaired as it kept on turning up to 30 pages at a time . They blamed it on a corrupted file . I also deleted all the files that were on it before I sent it off . They knew exactly what was on it
even through I might have actually deleted the book a month before it went faulty.
The I river is very clear to read whereas the Sony is not as clear it takes Adobe and Epub and txt I think so its ideal for me .

[afa]

Originally Posted by sunnysmiles

But if you wanted to buy books to download then you could well have problems.

Why, have you had problems? Like what?

I am on to my third Sony reader

Wow, that's not encouraging. Were all the problems fixed by Magrudy's free of charge, or did you have to pay?

I'm surprised you think the iRiver was clearer; most people seem to feel the Sony 505 had arguably the clearest screen of any reader.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Hi deadpixel,
I'm butting in because my experience with the Story and firmware 1.71 seems to be the same as greenapples, in terms of formats.

1) ePub seems to work fine. Minor irritations are about choosing what font size to encode documents at, as the three zoom settings generally go from a) too small to be comfortable to b) slightly too big for the screen real estate to c) ridiculously oversized. This information - formatting specifications - should be available from iRiver, but isn't.

2) DOC files don't display well. On opening, the Story attempts to display the whole page (whether A4 or US Letter) on-screen at once. Zoom controls don't reflow the text, but zoom in on a rectangle in the centre of the page, and the text expands out all 4 sides of the screen. On each page, the text outside the edges of the screen in inaccessible.

3) PDFs reflow only if they are text-only and OCRd. PDFs with graphics just show a blank screen when zoomed or reflowed.

4) TXT files have a line-break inserted at character 51 across the screen, even if that's in the middle of a word or between a word and its following punctuation. The Story doesn't wrap TXT files to keep whole words together.

5) Zoom doesn't work in landscape mode.

I think they're the major issues for reading text. I haven't tried DJVU files, which is a new format introduced in this most recent version of the firmware, and I believe it doesn't handle comics (CBR files) very well either, but I don't have any I can check with.

I understand that versions of the firmware prior to this 1.71 did a better job with some of these issues, and that the latest release "broke" a few things; but it's the only version I've used, so I can't confirm that directly.

deadpixel, what format files do you use on your Story? Have you tried any of the others? What's your experience been?

MacEachaidh,

I'm on 1.71 and usually get my books in ePub or PDF. When I get a book in the other formats, I usually have them converted to ePub or PDF.

I've had time to try the formats you mention and am able to reproduce the issues you encountered, so I have to concur that iRiver really botched up this update; but I guess I've been quite oblivious to the issues as I've been reading my ebooks in nothing but ePub and PDF ever since the 1.71 update.

[deadpixel]

Originally Posted by sunnysmiles

I have had problems with Sony and had to return it. If you live in Dubai you could well have problems with Sony as I dont think you are covered in the ME. I BOUGHT ONE IN Mc grudys in Abu Dhabi and it was faulty. As I returned it the following day I had no serious problems. But if you wanted to buy books to download then you could well have problems. ...

Actually, I've had quite a bit of issues with almost ALL of my Sony products. It's sort of come to the point where I would think twice, thrice or more times before buying a Sony product; if even then.

The reason I say this is that the new generation Sony products I have, mobile phones, cameras, CD players, MP3 players, photo frames and notebook computers all seem to "die" a couple of weeks or months after the expiration of the products' warranty. To add insult to injury, the cost of the repairs is usually exorbitant. The only Sony product I have that hasn't gone into the hospital yet is the Bravia Television and that's probably because it's still got 7 more months to its warranty.

I mean, hey, they look good but ...

[greenapple]

Still no firmware fix? Grrrrrrr.......

Perhaps Iriver should just stick to making mp3 players. Their mp3 players are amazing in sound quality.

[Eratosthenes]

Hi All,
for my twopence worth (damn thats an old expression) is the Nook a viable alternative in your part of the world. How would it compare to the iRiver or Sony?

[MacEachaidh]

Borders has just announced it will be selling (and pushing!) the Kobo here in Oz. It looks interesting from its website (yes, but don't they all?), but I'm guessing it may be the same essential innards and OS as the ecoReader (and other brands overseas, the names of which I've forgotten at the moment) in a sparkly new case. (Literally - it comes with colours and patterns and all. Hope they've put the same sort of effort into the display engine.)

Anyway. That may be worth checking out.