Trying to decide for learning/enjoyment reading...

[jbcohen]

My basic premise has always been all along that there is no one best reader for all people and the one that is best for you really depends on what you want in a reader and for Omi I would perscribe a Bookeen. I do not own a bookeen nor do I have any stock in the company so by recommending one I get no kickback outside seeing Omi with the ideal reader for him. I have spoken to a lot of bookeen owners and they tell me the reason that they selected their bookeen is that it excels at the display of graphs, charts and illustrations.

If you give up the display of graphs, charts and illustrations then I would recommend a Kindle, becuase you stated that you can forsee yourself with a large book collection. Yes, to the best of my understanding the Kindle is restricted to Amazon's store.

Without the desire of the illustrations and avoiding the Kindle becuase of its restriction to Amazon I would then recommend your iphone becuase the readers cost $0 and you can get them from Mobipocket, Amazon, Borders and Barns and Nobles opening you up to buying from a number of different stores.

[hughes]

Users with needs beyond pure text reading are well served by iPads, but they're pricey. Then there's the NOOK Color (even better when rooted), but an Australian buyer will have some hoops to jump through -- see MobileRead thread, "E-book download ability in Australia."

If you're set on a color ereader, two other possibilities would be the Cruz R101 or the PocketBook IQ 701.

[mousy courage]

Originally Posted by Oumi

Thankyou all for your comments.

I had a look at the Kobo Reader last night and I was suitably impressed by it, but when I asked them "What happens if the store has to close?" (With the trouble both Angus & Robertson and Borders are in, I think it's a valid question.) She told me she had no idea and nobody knew and if it were up to her, she would steer well clear of a Kobo just in case. I know that Kobo themselves say there will be no issue no matter what happens, but it still sits a little uneasy with me. So I have scratched that off the list.

Kobo I think is only in partnership with Borders to sell their ereaders and is, thusly, a completely separate company. You can buy ebooks from Kobobooks.com or from Borders.com but if borders completely dies Kobo is still standing (because as far as I know there's been no talks about Kobo's demise).
click for what Kobo's saying about the matter ---> http://blog.kobobooks.com/2011/02/16/kobo-update/

[grumpy3b]

oops, never mind.

[Oumi]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

No to confuse thinks more but your original post stipulated: "crisp, clear screen, battery life, etc." - neither of which you are likely to get from a $91 colour device. Not to sound patronising, but is it possible you've been swayed from your original intention by the prospect of colour?

IF you wanted a colour reader I'd say pick an iPad because it does all that you want and so much more - with a con that it's heavy compared to a dedicated reader and you'll get maybe 10 hours reading from it. Or a good, cheap Android tablet for less money but almost always less battery life. ie not a Xoom or a Tab but one of the generic devices or a Tab if you can pick up the first generation cheap. I'd still recommend the iPad over any Android tablet for reading, even though it has the closed ecosystem - in general the lowest priced iPads have far less of a price premium compared to most other Apple gear. The price hops for extra memory are nuts though.

Key question is where are you getting your technical books from? Most PDFs will have been produced in colour for instance. If you already have an archive of technical material in colour, it'll show in colour. If you've a particular vendor in mind, then ask them.

Hello, thanks for your reply. I've actually bought my reader since I posted last. It cost me $119 with an extra 2 years full replacement warranty (all up 3 years warranty).
I agree completely, I didn't want to get led too far astray by the prospect of colour - the unit I picked up is colour and I must say I'm very glad I did. I've been able to load a bunch of slideshows on there and view them in full colour.

The screen clarity is probably not as great as what I would have gotten from a more expensive unit, but it's more than clear enough to read for long periods. So far all pictures/photos/etc have been plenty clear enough.

The combination of the weight of an iPad and the use of iTunes made me not even consider this... Just not what I was after.

Originally Posted by jbcohen

for Omi I would perscribe a Bookeen.

Thankyou, I have 21 days to evaluate this unit, so if I change my mind I will look into this one.

At this stage I'm really happy with the reader I got. Transferring files is a super easy drag 'n' drop in Windows, I can create as many directories as I want, I can view a varied assortment of file types (in colour for my charts!), the unit is extremely lightweight and so far does everything i could possibly want.

Thanks, all!

[Filark]

What did you get??

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Oumi

So does that mean, yes, if a book features any colour at all in its paper version; the ebook version will as well? I've basically been told that all ebooks are "grayscaled".

Obviously I don't want/need your typical novels in colour, but for any educational books featuring graphs/charts/etc, colour would be nice but I've been led to believe that regardless of how much colour is used on paper; it will be black and white as an ebook, even with a colour screen ereader.

It's entirely down to the eBook producer. I have created numerous eBooks with colour illustrations (eg, see my illustrated versions of Jane Austen's novels here in the MR eBook library). On a grey-scale device, the illustrations obviously are displayed as shades of grey, but read them on a device that support colour (eg a PC or an iPad) and you see the illustrations in colour.