e-reader for the "grandparent generation"?

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by alexo

Thank you all for your comments.

So far I'm leaning toward the Onyx Boox M92.

I don't know that reader. My question is basic, how does she get books on it? Do you think she can handle that process?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I don't know that reader. My question is basic, how does she get books on it? Do you think she can handle that process?

It uses ADE. So the process is fairly straight forward.

[ProfCrash]

Is it straight forward for a non-technical 70 year old?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Is it straight forward for a non-technical 70 year old?

Do what I do. I have remote access to my mother's computer so I can help her with her reader (and computer) as needed.

[Cdesja5]

I load all the books my "helpees" want when I visit. It appears that for them, having 50-100 books of their favorite authors is plenty to choose from. But of course, it could be different for others....also, those with the Sony have a direct connection to the public library on the reader (does not require a PC but does require wifi) so I 've walked them through the process of getting the books and they took notes. Many public libraries have free classes for ereader users to show them how to get their library books onto the reader (Ajax, Ontario is one). A couple of my seniors (with Kobos) have attended and are able to get their own library books on their readers now as well.
Note that although the Kobo and Sony are 6" they don't have any issue with reading as they can adjust the font to the size they feel most comfortable with. I don't think it's really necessary (in my experience) to go with a bigger reader. A good / simple user interface is the most important factor IMO.

[ProfCrash]

If you are someone who reads current books might not want to wait for omeone to load the books for them. A reader with wifi or 3G lets a non-tech person buy books from the store associated with their device easily.

If the OPs Mom really is not tech savy, there is no way I would buy her a device that required moving books from the computer to the device, but that is me.

[JSWolf]

There is no perfect solution to the problem. If the OP's mom wants to borrow eBooks from the library, a DX is not as good as a T2.

[Yapyap]

The OP said his mother isn't going to buy books (from mainly English-language shops, anyway) and listed the file formats of the books (that they presumably already have or will have access to).

So I'm thinking sideloading will be needed anyway, although the Kindle would have the benefit of either the OP or their mother being able to use Amazon's "Send to Kindle" program. With that, all their mother would need to do is to keep the device wifi/3G connection on and the OP could send the files to their Kindle remotely via Send to Kindle from their own computer (although for a 3G device, that's not free, I think).

The downside of Kindle is not handling some of those file formats; I'm not sure if FB2 is supported even as one of the formats you can use for emailing the files to the Kindle with the "convert" option; a program such as Calibre (free) should be able to convert FB2 files (and doc, htm etc files) to mobi though. Again, this is something the OP would probably need to learn and do for their mother, but if they can send the files via Send to Kindle, handling all file-related stuff like that might be an option.

[ProfCrash]

You can also email books to a Kindle.

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by alexo

Hello people,

I am looking for recommendations for an e-reader suitable for an older (70-something), non-technical person.

Due to eyesight problems that come with age, I'd like to get her a unit with a big screen (I'm thinking 8-10"), an E-ink or similar technology that provides high contrast and is easy on the eyes (not LCD) and an ability to easily change fonts and font sizes.

Because the books she reads are available from various online libraries in various formats, the unit should work with foreign fonts and languages (Russian in particular; right-to-left language support is a big plus), be able to display lots of formats (TXT, PDF, DOC/RTF, HTML plus the common e-book formats) and feature easy transfer of files from a PC to the e-reader.

Other features that I'd like it to have is a long battery life between charges, easy and intuitive operation and, if possible, reasonable price.

I'd like to state in advance that I have zero prior experience with e-readers so I will rely mostly on your expertise. Please recommend responsibly

Thank you!

PS,
A cursory search revealed the following models with large screens:
Amazon Kindle DX / DXG
Onyx International Boox M9x
PocketBook Pro 9xx
Ectaco jetBook Color
Asus DR-900

Will one of these fit the bill?

My mother is 87 and she is happy with a 6" screen. She has some pretty severe eye problems which is why I got her a kindle 3 when they first came out. The text to speech was what attracted me but she has never used ut.

Still nice that I can buy or email her books as she lives on the opposite coast and has never shopped online.

She visits annually and when she left her kindle at my sister's I leant her a 5" Sony 350 ereader. She seemed to like this as well or better and had no problem reading on it for several hours a day.

Larger screen is good, but overall size and ease of use are very important to the elderly

Not much support for right to left languageAFAIK, but if Russian books are available from the library they can probably be read.

BTW if you are in Canada as I am there are no kindle library books available in most libraries. And if she non-techical I wonder how much of a priority .rtf and html etc. files are to her.

I'd recommend a Sony but lots of other good choices I am sure.

Future Shop is generally competitive in pricing and is usually good about returns if you make the wrong choice.

Helen

[anabolina]

I gave a Sony PRS-300 to my Grandmother and she really likes it. It only has a 5-inch screen, but it's lightweight and it was cheap. She hasn't complained it's too small. We do live in the same metropolitan area, so I've helped her load books onto it a lot. I also loaded almost 200 books onto it when I gave it to her, so she didn't ask about new books for a long time. I like JSWolf's idea of taking over the computer. It wouldn't be hard to do and would only take a minute. All she's need to do was connect the reader and open the program to allow you to take over her computer. I've used Logmein before and it's easy to use and free.

[kiaracaughfield]

Thanks Alexo for asking this question. It is good to know that your grandmother also prefer ebooks over printed versions. Many other people must also having such problem but don't know the correct place to find the answer. Your post will definitely help them finding the right solution for this.

[twowheels]

I was going to suggest the new $69 Kindle, which I know handles Russian text just fine (we do it quite frequently, and have given away three Kindle devices to Russian language readers), but I presume that having to do format conversions is probably out of the question.

Given the requirement to read Russian text and the presumption that you'd like to be able to just drop the books on without any conversion I'd recommend that you look into readers by Pocket Book International, a Ukrainian company whose ereaders support fb2 and the other formats that you mentioned natively. They sell both 6" models as well as a nice big screen model.

http://www.pocketbook-int.com/us/products

[paola]

Originally Posted by twowheels

Given the requirement to read Russian text and the presumption that you'd like to be able to just drop the books on without any conversion I'd recommend that you look into readers by Pocket Book International, a Ukrainian company whose ereaders support fb2 and the other formats that you mentioned natively. They sell both 6" models as well as a nice big screen model.

http://www.pocketbook-int.com/us/products

agree - and in particular it looks like the new "touch" model works pretty well: it is a 6 inches model, but as others have said above that screen size is large enough (don't forget you can change the font size), and having a large reader I can tell you it is not very manageable, so I'm pretty confident they'd be much happier with a smaller sized reader for which you don't have to get a special bag (and, the screen is easier to break as it is easier to bend if e.g. you pick it from a corner). You'll also save yourself quite a bit of money.

Careful though that with a Pocketbook you dont' get the reader-bookstore intergration that you have with either Sony, Kobo or Kindle. If you expect no problem with sideloadings of books, then that should be fine. Once you have settled on a reader, I'd suggest asking in the dedicated forum further questions on cyrillic font support to be sure of what is that you are getting.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by paola

and having a large reader I can tell you it is not very manageable

I have both a DX and a 6" reader and find that I only read PDFs on the big screen. Any free flowing text [such as you'd find in a fb2 file], even with a HUGE font, is better on the smaller screen.

Careful though that with a Pocketbook you dont' get the reader-bookstore intergration that you have with either Sony, Kobo or Kindle. If you expect no problem with sideloadings of books, then that should be fine. Once you have settled on a reader, I'd suggest asking in the dedicated forum further questions on cyrillic font support to be sure of what is that you are getting.

I'm 100% certain that the Kindle supports Russian text (Cyrillic alphabet) [personal experience] and almost as certain about the PocketBook readers [from reading, no personal experience].