Advice, Hanlin v3 vs Cybook Gen3

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The key thing is what format you want to read books in. If it's MobiPocket, then the Gen3 is clearly the better choice. If you're happy with the formats that the Hanlin supports, then go for that.

Yes, I did give that some thought.

Mobipocket would be more of a convenience than a requirement, as even if I went with the Cybook and bought mobi-pocket, I'd probably end up converting them to an open format for storage/future use.

I see myself more likely to buy books in .lit format though, where there's an established means of going to a more open format, that's assuming there isn't already a non DRM'd version available and the legality of format shifting accepted.

The UK has/is updating their laws to make ripping a CD to mp3 legal for person use so long as you own and keep the original CD. So I feel happy enough to convert from one book format to another for my own personal use where I've purchased and kept the original. It may not be letter of the law, but I feel it's within the spirit of the law. Still, I'd be even happier if there was a single standard DRM format for ebooks.

That said, first stop is going to be guttenburg and Baen though (tempted to look at the webscription service Baen runs too) so the moral question of format shifting can be left for another day

Thanks everyone for your help, I managed to narrowly avoid flipping a coin to decide which to get, but only just

[iterati]

FBreader for V3 supports bookmarks.
As for openiknpot they delayed a lot, I think, but it's good idea.
And by the way, if you are in EU then I think the cheaper place for the Hanlin/lbook is http://iscriptum.eu/ 290+20 shipment = 310 euros and you don't have to worry about customs.

About formats, I prefer FB2, it's XML open format; Bookdesigner does all the converting.

[HarryT]

Doesn't it have some pretty low limit on the number of bookmarks you can set, though? I seem to recall that being the case on the iLiad, but I could be mistaken, of course. I rely on bookmarks to mark errors when I'm proof-reading the books that I create, you see, so an ability to set an unlimited number of bookmarks is important to me.

[iterati]

As far as I know there isn't any limit in the number of bookmarks...
A PocketPC looks a better choice for proofreading/editing, by the way.

[JoeD]

I really only care about one bookmark for general reading (per book that is).

For reference books having multiple bookmarks would be very useful, but I'm not sure I'll use this reader for pdf's. I've never been happy with pdf on any of the readers I've seen and probably won't be unless I went for an A4 or similar sized reader, and since I don't really like reading tech books on a laptop/pc screen, I'll probably stick to paper books for those. Most likely imported from the US whilst we're getting $2 to the £, especially with there been 0 vat and thus no customs charges on book imports in the UK

I do plan on using it to read other peoples work in progress books from critters though, but I'll be using my Palm for making notes and comments.

Btw, I ordered the Hanlin v3 earlier

Iterati: I've ordered from a store in the UK, approx £250 which is around 310 euros I think.

[Crisby]

I have converted many Gutenberg books to Wol format for my HanLin V3 (running them through a Word macro to remove hard line breaks first).

Wol format books accept 5 bookmarks (one click to set, then find, each of them) and I find this format nice and readable. You can zoom a page 3 times, with the 3rd zoom turning it to landscape.

You won't regret choosing a HanLin!