What's the #1 item you check before buying an ereader

[MrsJoseph]

I'm late to the game but I looked at:

1. Supported format - I already had a large eBook collection and I have never heard of Calibre until I found MR.
2. Library Access - I wanted to be able to use my library
3. Price - Loved the features of the Sony Daily Edition but $300?? No thank you.
4. Weight & Size - It needed to fit into my pocketbook without a ton of extra weight (sorry, iPad)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

My sister and I used to fight every day over watching my show (Howdy Doody) or my sister's show on the another channel (the original Micky Mouse Club).

What, no TiVo?

Of the two, Mickey Mouse Club was the better.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

What, no TiVo?

Of the two, Mickey Mouse Club was the better.

Admit it! My sister put you up to that, didn't she?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Admit it! My sister put you up to that, didn't she?

No comment.

[jocampo]

Thanks all for the participation and opinion.

Very interesting results. Based on the numbers, it looks like people do not check or put book's availability before buying an e-reader, at least it is not #1 thing to check that is really interesting. Does that mean more and more people are now cracking DRM book's protection and/or converting, regardless of the device's supported format?

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Does that mean more and more people are now cracking DRM book's protection and/or converting, regardless of the device's supported format?

Your results are heavily biased by the collection method. You were polling the MR members.

[WT Sharpe]

#1 on my list is the ability to annotate, copy text, and export same.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Thanks all for the participation and opinion.

Very interesting results. Based on the numbers, it looks like people do not check or put book's availability before buying an e-reader, at least it is not #1 thing to check that is really interesting. Does that mean more and more people are now cracking DRM book's protection and/or converting, regardless of the device's supported format?

I haven't cracked DRM yet...but I am considering it. I don't like restricted formats. It chafes me greatly. I purposefully did not buy a Kindle because of Amazon's actions, DRM, lack of public library access and proprietary format. But I regularly use Amazon to buy (physical) books and other "stuff."

Most of the time the books I buy are already DRM free but there are a few books I want to purchase that are DRM locked with either Amazon or B&N. Now I have to make a decision: do I simply not buy the books out of protest or do I purchase the books and rip them apart for my own usage?

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Now I have to make a decision: do I simply not buy the books out of protest or do I purchase the books and rip them apart for my own usage?

Good point.

And that's why I am trying to understand the poll's result because it looks contradictory to me.

People voted or said they buy an ereader based on how it looks like but what about "what" you can actually read there? I understand the format's concern, but you buy a book based on the title, not if the books comes in azw, mobi, ePub, ePub DRM...

[MrsJoseph]

I buy books (now) based on if my device can support it. The DRM on both Amazon & B&N ebooks requires me to use a particular device that I don't currently own. I used to shop at any bookstore that I walked past. Now booksellers try to use golden handcuffs to dictate how I spend my money.

A lot of online booksellers/publishers I purchase from don't have very many books carried by Amazon or B&N, so when I bought my ereader I gave that thought, too. I didn't know about Calibre and I was disappointed that some of my favorite booksellers were trying to limit where I buy my books. I felt I had to decide which of the big 3 booksellers to give up. I decided to buy the Kobo because the epub support allows me to shop my smallpress publishers.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Good point.

And that's why I am trying to understand the poll's result because it looks contradictory to me.

People voted or said they buy an ereader based on how it looks like but what about "what" you can actually read there? I understand the format's concern, but you buy a book based on the title, not if the books comes in azw, mobi, ePub, ePub DRM...

That's true, I generally buy books I'm interested in, if I can get them. If I can't get them, well there aren't many books that I *have* to have. I still prefer reference and text books in paper for easier flipping. For fiction or other non-fiction, if an author isn't interested in selling an epub to me in Australia, so be it. There's a few I will still buy in paper, just to complete a series, but from now I will mostly buy ebooks, and maybe the occasional 2nd hand pbook of pulp sf.

TBH I thought the first option was an odd one, since I can't imagine anyone choosing an ereader based on the availability of a single book. Perhaps you meant "Books' availability" rather than "Book's availability"? Even then, I would have thought that was already covered by format support, since it really only comes into play for the Kindle. All the other devices/stores are epub, so you can easily buy from other stores without format shifting. (Not counting iPad as a serious ereader.)

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I buy books (now) based on if my device can support it.

What was 1st, the chicken or the egg?

That is exactly what I mean, The poll indicates people basically buy based on the e-reader characteristics and what electronic format it supports. If we buy based on the kind of books we like and how big the collection could be for that device, we should not face any kind of problem when getting a new title.

On the other hand, if people buy based on the format and device, it could happen later that the books you like are not available for your particular e-reader, of maybe more expensive. This is one of the reason why I sold my Nook 1st generation: ok device and Kindle 3 did not exist at that time, but I got tired of not finding my IT books on B&N or any other store different than Amazon. In practical terms, the ePUb format for me was useless.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by jocampo

What was 1st, the chicken or the egg?

That is exactly what I mean, The poll indicates people basically buy based on the e-reader characteristics and what electronic format it supports. If we buy based on the kind of books we like and how big the collection could be for that device, we should not face any kind of problem when getting a new title.

On the other hand, if people buy based on the format and device, it could happen later that the books you like are not available for your particular e-reader, of maybe more expensive. This is one of the reason why I sold my Nook 1st generation: ok device and Kindle 3 did not exist at that time, but I got tired of not finding my IT books on B&N or any other store different than Amazon. In practical terms, the ePUb format for me was useless.

True...but you were already looking for IT books. That puts you light-years ahead of my technical knowledge already. When I was shopping for my device I had never heard of Calibre, regular expressions, or format conversions. I had the belief that if I wanted to use a Kindle I had to buy books from the Kindle store or email via whispernet. I buy a lot of books from small press publishers and I also had no idea that the Amazon file (which I knew as .azw) was the same thing as .mobi.

I already knew that the Kobo and other epub supporting devices would allow me to continue to buy from my (multiple) small publishers.

So, what's a girl to do? Give up my reading habits or give up my shopping habits?