Help Deciding on first Reader...

[Professorshak]

Hey folks,

First post and am in the market for a reader.

I don't read books so much as I do newspapers, magazines, and journals. I don't really care for audio capability, however I think Wi-Fi would be a must. This is what I would hope for.

- A device that would automatically retrieve, via Wi-Fi or some other method, the latest news, articles, and magazines. When I wake up, I know that today's paper is already loaded and I can read it on my way out to work. The next week's economist would be in when its out. If such a device exists, that would be my first filter.

- A device that uses eInk, possibly color. While I thought about the iPad, the cost, battery life, and the LCD put me off. My eyes are sensitive and I think the LCD would do more harm than good.

- Ease of travel. Not too big/heavy but not too small either.

-Can read uploaded files such as PDF, DOC, etc...

- Something affordable but has good value. I'd be willing to get the iPad (once it goes down in price) except for the above cons, but I'm not sure of the alternatives.

Could someone help me take this first leap.

[afa]

Originally Posted by Professorshak

- A device that would automatically retrieve, via Wi-Fi or some other method, the latest news, articles, and magazines. When I wake up, I know that today's paper is already loaded and I can read it on my way out to work. The next week's economist would be in when its out. If such a device exists, that would be my first filter.

I think the Kindle and the Nook have magazine subscriptions, and maybe the Sony PRS-900. But of course, not all the magazines/journals you read would necessarily have e-formats, so you probably want to do some research to find out if your preferred ones do or not.

- A device that uses eInk, possibly color.

Don't hold your breath. There is currently no such thing as a color e-Ink screen. I assume there are people working on it as we speak, but it's still a long way off. In a recent interview, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said something about how color e-Ink is probably at least a couple of years away from being a reality.

- Ease of travel. Not too big/heavy but not too small either.

With the exception of the larger readers like the Kindle DX, iRex, iPad etc., I think pretty much all e-readers would fall into your stated category. Some are smaller than others, of course, but generally speaking, they're all quite portable.

-Can read uploaded files such as PDF, DOC, etc...

I'm not sure about DOC (I believe the Sony Readers will read them, and the Aluratek Libre/Ectaco jetBook -- same hardware -- will probably read them, as they seem to read every format, and I think the Kindle does, too), but PDFs are fairly common, and most e-readers will read them.

- Something affordable but has good value. I'd be willing to get the iPad (once it goes down in price) except for the above cons, but I'm not sure of the alternatives.

Firstly, I wouldn't expect the iPad's price to reduce significantly in the near future. Maybe once the next generation comes out (probably next year) you might be able to find the current one for cheap. But most people were actually pleasantly surprised by the iPad's entry price, which was less than was expected, so it doesn't look like Apple has any reason to reduce it. Of course, this is just conjecture.

As for affordable, that depends. What is "affordable" in your opinion? I'm sure if you give your target price range, the members here will be able to help you.

I will say, though, that since you stated magazines/newspapers/journals as your primary reading material, and not books, your choice is probably a little limited. Specially on the portability side. While you could, theoretically, read mags on a smaller device, they're far from ideal.

Your probably better off looking at some of the larger screen devices, which means accepting that they'll be far from pocketable. Something like the Sony PRS-900 or the Kindle DX might suit your needs. And a lot of people here seem to like the devices by iRex. And, of course, the iPad.

And the large devices will be more expensive, too. Just some things to consider...

[neilmarr]

Good to have your company, Prof. Sounds to me as though you'll need something with good PDF support. And do take into consideration geographical restrictions on some of the newspaper and magazine titles you might want. Check before you buy that you will be able to access in your country the material that appeals to you most. Best wishes. Neil

[Professorshak]

I think the big boost for me is the auto update. As I said, I don't know if this is even possible. I'd hate to forget to manually update and walk out of the house with yesterday's news

[Dulin's Books]

kindle.

[bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Professorshak

I don't read books so much as I do newspapers, magazines, and journals....

- A device that would automatically retrieve, via Wi-Fi or some other method, the latest news, articles, and magazines. When I wake up, I know that today's paper is already loaded and I can read it on my way out to work. The next week's economist would be in when its out. If such a device exists, that would be my first filter.

I'm still fairly new to the world of e-readers, but I would strongly recommend that you download Calibre and play around with it for a while to test out its ability to download newspapers, magazines and journals to see if that would meet your needs.

For me it was an unexpected bonus - basically if your news source is available as a website, chances are you can download it to your reader (no matter what brand) using Calibre. I prefer to manually download the newspapers I follow, but you can set up Calibre to download at a set time each day, provided you leave your computer on and your reader connected.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by Professorshak

I think the big boost for me is the auto update. As I said, I don't know if this is even possible. I'd hate to forget to manually update and walk out of the house with yesterday's news

bought my father a Nook for Father's Day and gave him a subscription to the Boston Globe, gave it to him a week early since otherwise we would be wasting days on the newspaper.

But anywho everymorning it is automatically there waiting for him in "The Daily" section on the home icon space.

Which is great, especially for him. he's approaching his 70's so wireless downloading, auto updates and being able to shop on Barnesandnobles website without having to hook it up to the compute and such it fantastic for him.

so far he is loving it.