economical ereader for a kid?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Bltprf502

The PDA is too small for a child that is used to reading real books.

I don't know about that. After all, a child is not only more malleable and better able to learn new things, but they haven't been around long enough to "get used to" old things. A PDA is a good choice.

So is a cellphone, if she already has one... many of them will allow you to load reading apps on them.

[lisadawn]

I think it is great to buy her one! I would have thought I was in heaven when I was 8 yo if my mom got me an ereader ........with all of the Nancy Drew books loaded

[Dulin's Books]

I have an EZReader Pocket Pro I have been thinking about selling. I got it as a sample a year ago and have only read on it about a week total. The cover that came with it is still stiff and very new. The device itself is blue like this



I have the original box of course and it comes with a 2gb SD card with 300 free ebooks loaded and a USB cable.

I was thinking about $130- $150 was a good price but if you think your daughter would like it I can let you have it for $105 shipped. Ill put it on the website for you if you decide you would like it.

I hope she has a marvelous trip.

-Charlie

[Logseman]

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Omega

Scratch resistant, not scratch proof. Since I regularly throw the Touch into my purse or pocket where I have my keys or other loose objects bumping around, I feel better having that extra layer between the screen and everything else. It might not be necessary, but it doesn't hurt anything.

Well, after 3 years with that exact treatment, mine has still to acquire a scratch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mrkarl

the jetbook, or aluratek libre.........inexpensive and simple to deal with and so far I'm finding it quite solid, and the words look fine on it.....kids have more time to read so it'll have to be charged twice a week probably

DRM might be an issue. So if it is, both mentioned would not do.

[jac1002]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

I have an EZReader Pocket Pro I have been thinking about selling. I got it as a sample a year ago and have only read on it about a week total. The cover that came with it is still stiff and very new. The device itself is blue like this

I have the original box of course and it comes with a 2gb SD card with 300 free ebooks loaded and a USB cable.

I was thinking about $130- $150 was a good price but if you think your daughter would like it I can let you have it for $105 shipped. Ill put it on the website for you if you decide you would like it.

I hope she has a marvelous trip.

-Charlie

if daisies isn't interested in it, i would be.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

I have an EZReader Pocket Pro I have been thinking about selling. I got it as a sample a year ago and have only read on it about a week total. The cover that came with it is still stiff and very new. The device itself is blue like this



I have the original box of course and it comes with a 2gb SD card with 300 free ebooks loaded and a USB cable.

I was thinking about $130- $150 was a good price but if you think your daughter would like it I can let you have it for $105 shipped. Ill put it on the website for you if you decide you would like it.

I hope she has a marvelous trip.

-Charlie

That looks terrible. Why show the reader with all those broken lines?

[Dulin's Books]

its Aztak's pic you'll have to ask them

[daisies]

Head is spinning with all the informative answers. Does the EZReader Pocket Pro use batteries and support library books? (I know I still need to figure out what our library system uses.)

ETA: Looks like yes on the library books and no on the AA batteries. AA would be good but an adapter should be a possibility. How long does it last on a charge?

ETA more: This is what the library system's Web site says about eBooks. I am going to need to devote some serious time to figuring this whole thing out. Will have to do that over the weekend.

What kind of eBooks and eAudiobooks does the library offer?
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of reference books that can be searched like a database. They cannot be downloaded or transferred to a reading device.
Safari Books Online is a digital library of technology and business books. The books can be viewed on your computer, but cannot be downloaded or transferred.
NetLibrary is a collection of eBooks and eAudiobooks. The eBooks are mostly nonfiction, while the eAudiobooks range from children’s books to classics to recent popular fiction and nonfiction. NetLibrary eBooks are read online and cannot be downloaded or transferred. NetLibrary eAudiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to a portable device such as an MP3 player or iPod.
OverDrive is also a collection of eBooks and eAudiobooks, and the majority of the books are current popular fiction and nonfiction. OverDrive eBooks and eAudiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to portable devices.

How long can I keep NetLibrary eBooks and eAudiobooks?
NetLibrary eBooks are read online with an active viewing time of 15 minutes. NetLibrary eAudiobooks check out for three weeks.

How long can I keep OverDrive eBooks and eAudiobooks?
The checkout period for all OverDrive materials is 14 days. You may have up to six items checked out at any time. If you think you will finish a book quickly and want to make room for more checkouts, you can choose a 7-day checkout period instead.

There are so many different eBook formats in NetLibrary and OverDrive. How do I know which one to choose?
Your choice is determined by how you intend to use the eBook. If you want to read an eBook on your computer screen, you can choose any of the eBook formats. If you want to read on a portable device, you should choose a book in the format that works best with your device.
Adobe PDF: for display on a computer screen. All NetLibrary eBooks and some OverDrive eBooks are in this format. NetLibrary PDF eBooks cannot be transferred to a portable device; OverDrive PDF eBooks can be transferred to a Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble nook.
Mobipocket: for display on a computer screen or for transfer to a mobile device such as a PDA or smartphone. Available only on OverDrive.
Adobe EPUB: for display on a computer screen or for transfer to a Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble nook. Available only on OverDrive.

What kind of mobile device can I use for OverDrive eBooks?
Mobipocket eBooks work with many PDAs and smartphones, including the BlackBerry and devices using the Palm OS and Windows Mobile. For more information, visit the Mobipocket download site.
Adobe PDF and EPUB eBooks can be transferred to a Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble nook. OverDrive is conducting compatibility testing on additional eBook readers.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by daisies

Head is spinning with all the informative answers. Does the EZReader Pocket Pro use batteries and support library books? (I know I still need to figure out what our library system uses.)

ETA: Looks like yes on the library books and no on the AA batteries. AA would be good but an adapter should be a possibility. How long does it last on a charge?

ETA more: This is what the library system's Web site says about eBooks. I am going to need to devote some serious time to figuring this whole thing out. Will have to do that over the weekend.

What kind of eBooks and eAudiobooks does the library offer?
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a collection of reference books that can be searched like a database. They cannot be downloaded or transferred to a reading device.
Safari Books Online is a digital library of technology and business books. The books can be viewed on your computer, but cannot be downloaded or transferred.
NetLibrary is a collection of eBooks and eAudiobooks. The eBooks are mostly nonfiction, while the eAudiobooks range from children’s books to classics to recent popular fiction and nonfiction. NetLibrary eBooks are read online and cannot be downloaded or transferred. NetLibrary eAudiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to a portable device such as an MP3 player or iPod.
OverDrive is also a collection of eBooks and eAudiobooks, and the majority of the books are current popular fiction and nonfiction. OverDrive eBooks and eAudiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to portable devices.

How long can I keep NetLibrary eBooks and eAudiobooks?
NetLibrary eBooks are read online with an active viewing time of 15 minutes. NetLibrary eAudiobooks check out for three weeks.

How long can I keep OverDrive eBooks and eAudiobooks?
The checkout period for all OverDrive materials is 14 days. You may have up to six items checked out at any time. If you think you will finish a book quickly and want to make room for more checkouts, you can choose a 7-day checkout period instead.

There are so many different eBook formats in NetLibrary and OverDrive. How do I know which one to choose?
Your choice is determined by how you intend to use the eBook. If you want to read an eBook on your computer screen, you can choose any of the eBook formats. If you want to read on a portable device, you should choose a book in the format that works best with your device.
Adobe PDF: for display on a computer screen. All NetLibrary eBooks and some OverDrive eBooks are in this format. NetLibrary PDF eBooks cannot be transferred to a portable device; OverDrive PDF eBooks can be transferred to a Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble nook.
Mobipocket: for display on a computer screen or for transfer to a mobile device such as a PDA or smartphone. Available only on OverDrive.
Adobe EPUB: for display on a computer screen or for transfer to a Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble nook. Available only on OverDrive.

What kind of mobile device can I use for OverDrive eBooks?
Mobipocket eBooks work with many PDAs and smartphones, including the BlackBerry and devices using the Palm OS and Windows Mobile. For more information, visit the Mobipocket download site.
Adobe PDF and EPUB eBooks can be transferred to a Sony Reader or Barnes & Noble nook. OverDrive is conducting compatibility testing on additional eBook readers.

1 - The Aztak uses a rechargeable battery. It shoud be good for abuot two weeks of reading (depends on the type of files; PDFs drain more power than ePubs and Mobi books, for example). It can be recharged off the USB port from any PC, no dedicated power brick needed. Also, the battery pack is end-user replaceable and relatively cheap (around $15).

2- Your library Overdrive books that are supported on Sony should work fine on the aztak (among other readers). The only caveat is that those ebooks rely on the PC version of Adobe Digital Edition to transfer the books to any compatible portable device and this app is known to be...finicky...

3- The mobipocket format files from Overdrive will not play on the Aztak but non-DRM'ed PD ebooks will.

4- The MP3 audiobooks should be playable on the Aztak (it plays audio files in the background) which, btw, also features text-to-speech playback for some ebook files.

Have fun!

[JSWolf]

ADE for Windows works fine. I've never had an issue with it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ADE for Windows works fine. I've never had an issue with it.

And we have a winner!

Con-gra-tu-la-tions!

[daisies]

Sorry for sounding dense, but based on a comment above, I take it that DRM is an issue for the EZ Reader Pocket Pro too? How limiting is that? Just want to make sure that she will have a lot of options for reading material. I did read that that device is flexible in that it supports a wide range of files.

Oddly enough, in this particular situation, charging from PC could be a challenge because the computer they have over there is ancient and probably doesn't have a USB port! I think all it has is a floppy drive, lol. However, other relatives have computers and they should be newer, so she should be able to go charge it at someone else's house. So that should be OK.

[fjtorres]

DRM is an issue with *all* readers.
For now and the near term, alas.
*How* it is an issue depends on the reader.
Not all ebooks use DRM but most all library-loan ebooks use it.

Given your interest in library ebooks, it is an issue you can't avoid since DRM is what enables Libraries to lend out ebooks; no DRM, no lending.

As your library pointed out, there are two flavors of ebook DRM that support timed ebook reading (=Lending) by providing ebook reading rights that expire after a given date.

Overdrive is a company in suburban Cleveland that provides public libraries with the back-end "plumbing" and services they need to offer ebooks and they support both Mobipocket DRM and Adobe Adept DRM.

Ebook readers generally support one or the other so the choice of an ebook reader device determines which library books (if any) you can check out. (It also determines which online book store(s) you can buy ebooks from.)

In this context, Sony epub = Adobe Adept epub, as it was the first ereader to support Adobe's DRM scheme and is the most common, so far. There are dozens of other products that also support this baseline Adobe DRM and the Aztak line is among them.
So if you see Sony or Adobe epub, the file format and the DRM will be the same and you would handle moving the files roughly the same way.

As for charging, just remember that these days a *lot* of devices (cellphones and media players chief among them) use USB for charging and a lot of devices come with USB ports (game consoles, DVD players, even TVs) besides PCs. Odds are your relatives will have something you can use. Anything that will charge an iPod or a Blackberry (for example) will charge the reader. Failing that, USB power adapters run around $10 for most countries' power systems and should be locally available.

And that's assuming your daughter gets to drain the battery to start with: 2 weeks between charges is a somewhat conservative estimate based on heavy usage; the actual spec is for around 7000 pages worth. (Hopefully she'll find other things to interest her for at least part of the day. )