8+ Readers in comparison

[storysmith]

Bought a Kindle DX.
Nice design, good engineering...

Well familiar with ebooks.... This is my 6th ereader... including 2 by iRex, Sony, and the ebookwise readers both large and small.

Used a tablet from Motion before the Kindle DX for full size pdf's.

Flat file software does not allow you to segregate by class, function, or other category... all ebooks in the kindle are 'equal.'Annoying, but liveable. just plug the Kindle in and update the new reading, so the index is not so full.

Not so with iRex... standard file folder type organization well familiar to every PC/Mac/Linux user. iRex has very poor battery life compared to Kindle.

Kindle DRM... is a deal killer.
I'm a professor... so I do a lot of reading...and use an ebook reader not only for pleasure reading but for keeping up with 9 professional journals.

I've got literally hundreds of mobipocket books from Baen, Fictionwise, Mobipocket, Powells, and others... WHY CAN'T I USE MY MOBIPOCKET BOOKS...(oh... yes, I can download the unprotected ones...I know... but I have MANY protected mobipocket books... Why can't I use them? And then...1984 yanked remotely...

Buyer... Beware... There are some bad choices here.

This is lock in situation... hardware manufacturers go out of business/change their minds... Look at Barnes/Noble and their first ebook reader for an example. Look at Fictionwise's recent problems with a software vendor.

I'm not recommending the Kindle till Bezos becomes less controlling, despite the awesome hardware design. Don't need another Orwell type situation. I'll not recommend the Kindle till Amazon opens the Kindle... I don't want to lose an investment in books simply because an executive feels that it's more profitable with 'this software' rather than 'that one'... particularly when they own both!

Oh... KindlePID and KindleFix work... and MobiDeDRM works... but they are awkward and time consuming... and Amazon's terms of service don't say I lease the book or rent the book... but the workarounds are still slow and clumsy. And Amazon has more control issues here.

Thumbs Down. Get the iRex big screen... heavier, somewhat shorter battery life, But no DRM issues, less controlling management.

This review is cross-posted in MobileRead so that Amazon can't '1984' it.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by storysmith

Bought a Kindle DX.
Nice design, good engineering...

Well familiar with ebooks.... This is my 6th ereader... including 2 by iRex, Sony, and the ebookwise readers both large and small.

Used a tablet from Motion before the Kindle DX for full size pdf's.

Flat file software does not allow you to segregate by class, function, or other category... all ebooks in the kindle are 'equal.'Annoying, but liveable. just plug the Kindle in and update the new reading, so the index is not so full.

Not so with iRex... standard file folder type organization well familiar to every PC/Mac/Linux user. iRex has very poor battery life compared to Kindle.

Kindle DRM... is a deal killer.
I'm a professor... so I do a lot of reading...and use an ebook reader not only for pleasure reading but for keeping up with 9 professional journals.

I've got literally hundreds of mobipocket books from Baen, Fictionwise, Mobipocket, Powells, and others... WHY CAN'T I USE MY MOBIPOCKET BOOKS...(oh... yes, I can download the unprotected ones...I know... but I have MANY protected mobipocket books... Why can't I use them? And then...1984 yanked remotely...

Buyer... Beware... There are some bad choices here.

This is lock in situation... hardware manufacturers go out of business/change their minds... Look at Barnes/Noble and their first ebook reader for an example. Look at Fictionwise's recent problems with a software vendor.

I'm not recommending the Kindle till Bezos becomes less controlling, despite the awesome hardware design. Don't need another Orwell type situation. I'll not recommend the Kindle till Amazon opens the Kindle... I don't want to lose an investment in books simply because an executive feels that it's more profitable with 'this software' rather than 'that one'... particularly when they own both!

Oh... KindlePID and KindleFix work... and MobiDeDRM works... but they are awkward and time consuming... and Amazon's terms of service don't say I lease the book or rent the book... but the workarounds are still slow and clumsy. And Amazon has more control issues here.

Thumbs Down. Get the iRex big screen... heavier, somewhat shorter battery life, But no DRM issues, less controlling management.

This review is cross-posted in MobileRead so that Amazon can't '1984' it.

Hmmmm, I'm an iRex fan myself.
But I wouldn't quite agree to "no DRM issues" with iRex.
On Kindle it's DRMed .azw (which actually IS Mobipocket), on iRex it's DRMed Mobipocket. Okay, Mobipocket you can purchase from various sources, .azw just from Amazon. But is that really a problem?
If Amazon should cease business (which I don't expect, Amazon being quite successful and profitable), you easily can switch to Mobipocket. It's not THAT time consuming.
Of course I agree: Best would be a single standard format or even no DRM at all.
But as long as we've got DRM, I don't see much of a difference between .epub, .pdf, .azw, .prc, .lit, ...
Only exception to me right now is .lrx from Sony, which can't be stripped yet. That's really kind of a showstopper (not for purchasing the readers, but for purchasing the proprietary file format).

[junkyardwillie]

I thought this was a good article on the Kindle (may have been posted in the news section but pertains to this convo)

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/23/e...-me/#continued

I think DRM should be in ebooks if its in a rental format say you get it from a library for 3 weeks and it expires but once I buy the book I shouldn't have to worry about a DRM issue. Amazon locks the amount of times that you can download a book that you bought yet it prides itself on being a connected reader so you don't need to use your pc with it those two just don't go together. I have a sony reader and I never wanted to buy books from there, I think I bought 2 or 3, because your books are forever trapped in their odd format that will be obsolete one day. The Kindle is great for the computer illiterate who don't want to find other place to buy books and need a one stop shop but I wouldn't want it for myself or recommend it to anyone that has the ability to search around google for alternate site to get books from since everything is trapped in their world. Most devices don't last and most formats become obsolete, unless they are using the most popular formats today then there is a high chance that 5 years from now your device won't be able to read their formats and I just don't have time to deal with that when there are other options out there.

I like the Irex devices, they solve all of my needs for now. Maybe when Plastic Logic comes out I'll get one of those but for now I'm good

[scgf]

Hi mgmueller. I am in the UK and am interested in the Amazon Kindle 2 via the eBay route. How do you manage to buy ebooks from the US Amazon store? I managed to download the Kindle app for my iPhone, just to have a look at it, but it wouldn't let me buy anything, presumably because I didn't have a US credit card on file.

Cheers.

[LazyScot]

Originally Posted by scgf

Hi mgmueller. I am in the UK and am interested in the Amazon Kindle 2 via the eBay route. How do you manage to buy ebooks from the US Amazon store? I managed to download the Kindle app for my iPhone, just to have a look at it, but it wouldn't let me buy anything, presumably because I didn't have a US credit card on file.

Cheers.

I'm guessing you already know this, but Amazon isn't the only place you can buy e-books to read on the Kindle. DRM free mobipocket works fine. Given you are in the UK, you'll have to download onto the Kindle manually anyway...

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by scgf

Hi mgmueller. I am in the UK and am interested in the Amazon Kindle 2 via the eBay route. How do you manage to buy ebooks from the US Amazon store? I managed to download the Kindle app for my iPhone, just to have a look at it, but it wouldn't let me buy anything, presumably because I didn't have a US credit card on file.

Cheers.

For Sony and iTunes I've been using gift cards, bought from friends and colleagues with US credit cards and sent via email to me.
For Amazon, it's even easier. You can purchase gift cards with your European credit card yourself. That gift card can be redeemed in your own user account.
But there's one annoyance with Kindle in Europe: You can't change the settings, you have to register your unit via Whispernet once in the US before that.
You manually can enter your serial number into your user account, so all your downloads will be working. You even can send your purchases to your iPhone/iPod touch. But still, this manual process doesn't register your unit.
Unfortunately the internal clock of my Kindle 2 is "1970". So all my read books appear at the end of the list, thus sorting by "date last read" doesn't make any sense at all.
Kindle 2 and Kindle DX don't have any folders, so you'll end up with hundreds of books in a single folder and effectively only can sort by book title and author's name.
As long as I can't access the settings (or use folders), I limit my books to about 200, whereas I have > 1000 on Sony or iRex.
But still: Kindle 2 absolutely makes my top 3. (For Kindle DX I haven't found the niche yet. Too bulky for traveling, too small for A4 PDFs.)
And I hope, there will be some kind of "hack" for changing the settings without Whispernet.

Rumor has it (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51030), there might be a Kindle in UK before Xmas....
Probably another unit, having WLAN. Might be worth waiting...

Question is, why you're interested in Kindle.
Is it the unit itself or the Amazon bookstore?

[scgf]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Rumor has it (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51030), there might be a Kindle in UK before Xmas....
Probably another unit, having WLAN. Might be worth waiting...

Question is, why you're interested in Kindle.
Is it the unit itself or the Amazon bookstore?

I might wait to see what happens with Amazon and the UK Kindle.

The reason I am interested in a Kindle is that I feel Amazon can supply the content and at a reasonable price. I also have an iPhone and an iPod Touch and love the way I would be able to continue reading on whichever device I choose. The downside is that I am concerned about being locked into the Amazon DRM system which gives them enormous power. I did have a Sony 505 but returned it because the display was terrible in full sunlight. I got quite adept at converting to and from different formats because I could only find the books I wanted in certain stores which used specific forms of DRM.

Should the need arise in the future, I assume it would be possible to convert Amazon ebooks into another format?

[mobelby]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Unfortunately the internal clock of my Kindle 2 is "1970". So all my read books appear at the end of the list, thus sorting by "date last read" doesn't make any sense at all.

Hi

Read this thread :
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...usb+networking

You can manually reset the time and date yourself once you're in telnet

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by scgf

I might wait to see what happens with Amazon and the UK Kindle.

The reason I am interested in a Kindle is that I feel Amazon can supply the content and at a reasonable price. I also have an iPhone and an iPod Touch and love the way I would be able to continue reading on whichever device I choose. The downside is that I am concerned about being locked into the Amazon DRM system which gives them enormous power. I did have a Sony 505 but returned it because the display was terrible in full sunlight. I got quite adept at converting to and from different formats because I could only find the books I wanted in certain stores which used specific forms of DRM.

Should the need arise in the future, I assume it would be possible to convert Amazon ebooks into another format?

Sony 505 terrible in full sunlight? I'm sorry to disappoint you: Kindle 2 and Kindle DX are the same. I'm fine with all of them. But if you didn't like Sony 505....

Amazon is using two formats: .azw, which is identical to .prc (Mobipocket) and .tpz (Topaz).
.azw easily can be stripped from DRM and converted in whatever format you please, for example using "calibre".
.tzw can't be stripped yet, but is only (my rough estimation) about 10% of Amazon's books. What I really don't like (else being a fan of Amazon's business model): You don't see which format you'll purchase, whether it's .azw or .tpz.

Concerning the content, you're absolutely right. About 10% of my books I only found on Amazon and usually they are about 15% cheaper than the others.
Comparing the unit AND the bookstore, Kindles 2 and DX easily make my top 3 respectively top 5. The unit standalone only would be mediocre (still ranking before BeBook and even with Cybook)....
If it's mainly about the bookstore, I'd suggest purchasing a cheap Kindle 1 via Ebay, stripping the files and converting them to whatever unit you prefer.

About the iPhone app: It really IS great, using your content without any additional costs for a quick read. (You can't "continue reading", because your boooks won't be in sync between Kindle and iPhone without Whispernet, but that's no biggy in my opinion.)

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by mobelby

Hi

Read this thread :
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...usb+networking

You can manually reset the time and date yourself once you're in telnet

I'll certainly try still this weekend, thanks a lot.
I've read about that for Kindle 2, but unfortunately already had updated the firmware, significantly complicating the process...

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Amazon is using two formats: .azw, which is identical to .prc (Mobipocket) and .tpz (Topaz).
.azw easily can be stripped from DRM and converted in whatever format you please, for example using "calibre".
.tzw can't be stripped yet, but is only (my rough estimation) about 10% of Amazon's books. What I really don't like (else being a fan of Amazon's business model): You don't see which format you'll purchase, whether it's .azw or .tpz.

.azw vs .tzw format question --- can't you just download the sample chapter? Whatever format that is in, the full version should be the same, right?

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

.azw vs .tzw format question --- can't you just download the sample chapter? Whatever format that is in, the full version should be the same, right?

Makes sense. But on average I purchase about 10 books per day from various sources. And I can't use Whispernet and would have to download via PC. I just wish it would be similar to "Books on Board" for example, where you decide to purchase and then choose out of the available formats. I want it to be as convenient as possible.
If I want to have a book, I'd probably purchase it as .tpz as well. I'd just prefer to know about it before.
From a technical perspective, your suggestion totally makes sense.

[mgmueller]

Kindle 2: http://computershopper.com/periphera...mazon-kindle-2
Kindle DX: http://computershopper.com/periphera...azon-kindle-dx
Sony 700: http://computershopper.com/periphera...r-digital-book
Foxit ESlick: http://computershopper.com/periphera...s/foxit-eslick
Interread Cool-er: http://computershopper.com/periphera...teread-cool-er
BeBook:
http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallif...ewid=2911&pn=1
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/accessorie...9300799,00.htm
http://www.teleread.org/2008/09/05/t...feeds-support/
http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/12/b...esnt-run-beos/

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

What I really don't like (else being a fan of Amazon's business model): You don't see which format you'll purchase, whether it's .azw or .tpz.

TOPAZ ebooks don't include the File Size under Product Details. I have found this to be a consistent tell for TOPAZ, but I have seen comments by others that it isn't 100% reliable.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

TOPAZ ebooks don't include the File Size under Product Details. I have found this to be a consistent tell for TOPAZ, but I have seen comments by others that it isn't 100% reliable.

I've never checked that. I'll compare for the .tpz I've bought.
Interresting, thanks.