So many ereaders...where do I start?

[Ben Thornton]

My recommendation would be to start with the content that you want access to, rather than the reader, which narrows down considerably the range of reader options.

If you want to read Marvel comics, an iPad might suit. If you want to read 19th Century novels, perhaps a 6 inch eInk reader. If you need access to library books, you'll want something that deals with their DRM. If you want the largest catalogue of new books, the Kindle is probably best. &c.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by MangaEbooker

I see what you mean but most here seem pleased with the 505 which would mean that most likely all the problems in the firmware(Major at least) were taken care of when it was around more, maybe some one with one can pitch in here since I don't have one...

Actually I do have one.. or more precisely, I am borrowing the one I got my wife while I search for a replacement for my broken Jetbook (since I tend to read more than she does).

In general, I like the Sony readers, but what most anyone here will tell you is that Sony does not fully justify text in epubs. That is true of any of all the Sony readers except the 900. I suspect at this late date it is unlikely they will fix that in any of their preexisting readers... but if they do, the 300 and 600 are more likely than the 505.

Now mind you, if like me, you don't buy books with DRM, its no big deal since you can use Calibre to convert the book to LRF and then have fully justified text, but that is not practical with DRM'd books.

--
Bill

[MangaEbooker]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Actually I do have one.. or more precisely, I am borrowing the one I got my wife while I search for a replacement for my broken Jetbook (since I tend to read more than she does).

In general, I like the Sony readers, but what most anyone here will tell you is that Sony does not fully justify text in epubs. That is true of any of all the Sony readers except the 900. I suspect at this late date it is unlikely they will fix that in any of their preexisting readers... but if they do, the 300 and 600 are more likely than the 505.

Now mind you, if like me, you don't buy books with DRM, its no big deal since you can use Calibre to convert the book to LRF and then have fully justified text, but that is not practical with DRM'd books.

--
Bill

Guess it depends on what he need it for then, I don't buy DRM also so I would personally jump on a 505 if I was offered it for 100 but I bought a Nook because it was at my price range and had the features I needed. The 505's I looked at on ebay went from 200-350 in all conditions....kinda insane how much they can get nowadays.

[yakuzaboss]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Here is a question that might help us help you a bit more. What exactly was it that you didn't like about the Kobo?

Since you said you wanted to use Public Libraries, the Kindle is right out. You need something that supports Adobe Digital Editions.

--
Bill

I bought the Kobo because my girlfriend recommended it. She had been using hers for awhile, with no issues and was very pleased with it. Not to mention it was on sale at Indigo Books for $128. So I figured I'd give it a try. First impression was, I liked that it was just a simple reader and that's it. After charging it, I loaded about 50 epubs on a sd card and started it up. It froze on the loading screen. After about 15 minutes I did the paperclip reset and waited another 15 minutes. Frozen again. So I put the sd card in my girlfriends Kobo and started up fine in a short period of time. Tried one more time in mine and nothing. So I exchanged it the next day.

After charging the second Kobo I put in the same sd card and started it up. Turned on fine but this time it would freeze on the cover of every book on the sd card. I know they work because they worked fine on my girlfriends. After a few resets, same results. Exchanged it a couple of days after.

The third Kobo wouldn't hold a charge. The red light indicating it was plugged in would even come on. Returned that one the same day.

The last one would turn on after charging. Took it back right away.

As for the kindle, it doesn't interest me as it doesn't support ePub,

[Dulin's Books]

I would suggest starting right here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95359

[yakuzaboss]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

I would suggest starting right here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95359

I seen that...very nice.

[yakuzaboss]

As of right now, my girlfriend is also on the hunt for a new ereader as her beloved Kobo crapped out on her. Same problems I was having with mine. I knew it was only a matter of time.

On the brighter side, my buddy dropped off the Sony PRS-505 at my house today so I could try it out for a couple of weeks. I'm very xcited to getting some hands on experience with it.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by MangaEbooker

I just saw a silver 505 go for 350 on ebay, yeah people bided that high, get it, I would have, though red would have made the deal even sweeter!

I recently won an e-bay auction for half that for my silver 505 - I second-guessed myself that even that was a bit high, but the device is really great. You get the benefit of a small size reader, but so far I've found with the few books I've read that I get most of a print page on a single screen, so constant page turning not an issue. I'm more used to it now, but it does seem to take slightly longer to turn to the first page of a new chapter. I had wanted a dark blue model at first, but I think I would've found that distracting while reading, the red would be worse in that regard (though it looks really cool!).

[MangaEbooker]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I recently won an e-bay auction for half that for my silver 505 - I second-guessed myself that even that was a bit high, but the device is really great. You get the benefit of a small size reader, but so far I've found with the few books I've read that I get most of a print page on a single screen, so constant page turning not an issue. I'm more used to it now, but it does seem to take slightly longer to turn to the first page of a new chapter. I had wanted a dark blue model at first, but I think I would've found that distracting while reading, the red would be worse in that regard (though it looks really cool!).

Got lucky I guess, yeah you might be right about the red.