Starting to look for my first reader, would appreciate some advice.

[mr_magicfingers]

Hi all, I've been following along here for a while now and will hopefully be buying my first e-reader in the next few months. I'm currently building a very tiny house (8x16') to live in, so I'm in the process of selling/donating the book collection I've amassed over the years. This is surprisingly painful yet also liberating. Given the storage limitations of such a small space the only way I'll be able to keep buying books from now on is in an electronic format.

My needs are relatively simple, I'm not looking for an all singing, all dancing e-reader. I want one with e-ink display, don't want/need a touch screen, don't need to make notes, I just want to read things on it. I'd like the option to play music, and to connect/transfer via wifi if possible but they're not deal breakers.

I'm not tied to any format particularly, but dislike drm on principle and I'm very interested in open inkpot as an os. I don't want to be tied to any one bookstore either. I use a Macintosh computer at home so compatibility with that is important. I also need to be able to read PDF's well. I download and save a lot of pdf documents for reading but dislike reading at a computer screen for long periods. An e-reader that can display pdf's well would be very helpful and one of the things I'm particularly looking for in an e-reader. I understand that this is one of the more difficult things to find in an e-reader but it would appear as though there are new devices very close to launch that will be much better at this.

So far I've discounted the kindle (I'm in the UK, it won't be here for a while and I don't want to tie to their bookstore), the Sony's (I don't like their customer service/hardware support and don't want to tie to their bookstore either). I'm looking at the 6" devices as they seem the best mix of screen estate and portability. I don't need to put it in my pocket, but the iliad I tried felt too big/heavy to sit and read for long periods.

The txtr reader is looking very interesting and probably heading my wishlist right now, though the lack of support for anything other than epub is the one thing that concerns me. Their store will have lots of german books that won't appeal to me and I wonder if the lack of support for other formats would limit my choices (I'm new to e-books so please offer opinions if you think this isn't the case).

The Hanlin based machines all seem a little dated, but open inkpot might be able to extend the possibilities of the hardware.

So, quite undecided and looking for some guidance, all suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks,

Justin.

[pdurrant]

For PDFs you really need a reader that has a page size about the same as the page size of the PDFs you're reading. Otheriwse the PDF is either too small (scaled down), badly reflowed (not good with pictures/diagrams and not great with text) or you have to scroll around each page.

I'd suggest the Bookeen Opus for general text reading, and wait to see what large screen readers come out over the next six months. (i.e. have two different readers - one for ePub and one for PDF.)

The textr does look interesting. We'll have to wait and see what it's like when it ships.

Conversion to ePub is easy from Mobipocket using Calibre, or you could (when the firmware change arrives) switch the Opus directly into Mobipocket mode. (Licensing restrictions means it can't support DRMed ePub and Mobipocket at the same time)

I get most of my ebooks from Fictionwise. If you don't let them know you're in the UK the regional restrictions don't apply. Having said that, ocassionally UK stores offer a better price on particular books - usually if they're in paperback in the UK, but still only in hardback in the US.

Originally Posted by mr_magicfingers

My needs are relatively simple, I'm not looking for an all singing, all dancing e-reader. I want one with e-ink display, don't want/need a touch screen, don't need to make notes, I just want to read things on it. I'd like the option to play music, and to connect/transfer via wifi if possible but they're not deal breakers.

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by mr_magicfingers

So far I've discounted the kindle (I'm in the UK, it won't be here for a while and I don't want to tie to their bookstore), the Sony's (I don't like their customer service/hardware support and don't want to tie to their bookstore either).

Don't let the Sony bookstore put you off the Sony readers - you're not tied to the Sony bookstore by buying one of the Sony readers. In fact, if you register it and tell them you're in the UK, you can't use the Sony bookstore! Having said that, at present the Sony software doesn't work on a Mac anyway, so you'd need to look at something like Calibre for library management. The 505 handles text PDFs relatively well, but doesn't always deal with graphics in PDFs very nicely. Thankfully, I've never had to use their customer service or hardware support as a consumer; although if it's anything like their business support I can see why it would be offputting!

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by mr_magicfingers

Hi all, I've been following along here for a while now and will hopefully be buying my first e-reader in the next few months. I'm currently building a very tiny house (8x16') to live in, so I'm in the process of selling/donating the book collection I've amassed over the years. This is surprisingly painful yet also liberating. Given the storage limitations of such a small space the only way I'll be able to keep buying books from now on is in an electronic format.

My needs are relatively simple, I'm not looking for an all singing, all dancing e-reader. I want one with e-ink display, don't want/need a touch screen, don't need to make notes, I just want to read things on it. I'd like the option to play music, and to connect/transfer via wifi if possible but they're not deal breakers.

I'm not tied to any format particularly, but dislike drm on principle and I'm very interested in open inkpot as an os. I don't want to be tied to any one bookstore either. I use a Macintosh computer at home so compatibility with that is important. I also need to be able to read PDF's well. I download and save a lot of pdf documents for reading but dislike reading at a computer screen for long periods. An e-reader that can display pdf's well would be very helpful and one of the things I'm particularly looking for in an e-reader. I understand that this is one of the more difficult things to find in an e-reader but it would appear as though there are new devices very close to launch that will be much better at this.

So far I've discounted the kindle (I'm in the UK, it won't be here for a while and I don't want to tie to their bookstore), the Sony's (I don't like their customer service/hardware support and don't want to tie to their bookstore either). I'm looking at the 6" devices as they seem the best mix of screen estate and portability. I don't need to put it in my pocket, but the iliad I tried felt too big/heavy to sit and read for long periods.

The txtr reader is looking very interesting and probably heading my wishlist right now, though the lack of support for anything other than epub is the one thing that concerns me. Their store will have lots of german books that won't appeal to me and I wonder if the lack of support for other formats would limit my choices (I'm new to e-books so please offer opinions if you think this isn't the case).

The Hanlin based machines all seem a little dated, but open inkpot might be able to extend the possibilities of the hardware.

So, quite undecided and looking for some guidance, all suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks,

Justin.

ePUB and txtr: ePUB already is more or less the standard, all are going for. There are tons of shops already, you won't be bound to txtr's webshop or German.

iRex iLiad: Has been my very first eInk unit and still is one of my favorites. Especially for PDFs well worth considering. I've never had any problems concerning weight or size.
Size is critical with iRex 1000S for me, depending on the holding position.

Kindle: Negotiations for UK aren't really transparent. Who knows? Rumor has it, end of this year...
But you easily can purchase from the US. You're not bound to Amazon, you easily can use standard Mobipocket from dozens of sources as well (although Amazon usually has the biggest collection and best prices).

Play music: I'd suggest a combination of eInk reader and iPod instead. You won't be happy with user interface and quality on all the readers.

Open Inkpot: Then obviously BeBook and Hanlin come to mind. Personally, I don't like their design, but they have a strong fan community.

My personal suggestions (see my thread "8+ readers" for more details):
- Check out iRex iLiad. It's mobile enough and my favorite for PDFs because of the zooming function (mark any area with touchscreen and explode to full screen, no fixed zooming levels). iRex 1000S probably will be too bulky for you, considering your description.
- I like my Sony 505. For PDFs it's good enough and it's a cool and elegant unit. Don't like Sony 700's display though.
- I like both Kindles and don't have any problems with being bound to Amazon. On one hand, I even prefer going for a company, which has additional revenue opportunity with selling content, so they are most likely to survive. And on the other hand, you can strip their ebooks from DRM and convert to other formats. And you can purchase elsewhere and strip those books as well. Only exceptions for the moment: You can't strip books from Sony's shop and some of Amazon.

[mr_magicfingers]

Thank you all for the very helpful suggstions. I'll look at the sony unit again with this information in mind. I'm currently getting to know Calibre, importing some pdf's and playing with it. I'm picking up a second hand iphone this week too, so will use Stanza on it and calibre to see how it all works.

I really like the iliad, one of my friends has one, but it's simply outside my budget, I'm looking closer to £200 rather than £450-550. I'm going to hold off for a couple of months and see what the txtr unit is like when it launches, but perhaps a second hand sony 505 might be closer to what I need.

Many thanks,

Justin.

[Lo Zeno]

If you are tied to PDFs, or read almost exclusively PDF books, I dare suggest to give a look to Foxit eSlick Reader: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/

[gmaslin]

I'm a professional playwright and I've been reviewing this site for about a month now. I need a device to both write and read. The more I keep looking at these ereaders, the more I start thinking that I'll miss the functionality of an integrated unit. I know I'm going to blaspheme here but shouldn't we be looking at pda and smart phones which do ereading adequately? It seems to me the software is what really makes the reader. If you need more pixels then you need a laptop. That is the way I see the whole ereader niche. I think Nate has put us on the right track with his recommendation of the Jornada. I would like to see more effort in this direction. If I'm in the wrong place to discuss portable multipurpose units, would someone be kind enough to suggest another site?

[richman]

Originally Posted by gmaslin

I'm a professional playwright and I've been reviewing this site for about a month now. I need a device to both write and read. The more I keep looking at these ereaders, the more I start thinking that I'll miss the functionality of an integrated unit. I know I'm going to blaspheme here but shouldn't we be looking at pda and smart phones which do ereading adequately? It seems to me the software is what really makes the reader. If you need more pixels then you need a laptop. That is the way I see the whole ereader niche. I think Nate has put us on the right track with his recommendation of the Jornada. I would like to see more effort in this direction. If I'm in the wrong place to discuss portable multipurpose units, would someone be kind enough to suggest another site?

Yeah, I don't think an ereader would do it for you if you are gonna read and write on the device. Netbook or PC tablet would be better.
Ereader's are just best for pleasure reading or studying notes or maybe reading online type newspapers. Bigger screen and 2 to 3 week battery life with the device left on for 3 weeks is much different than 2-3 hour battery life on all the other devices. And it's easier on eyes. And you can make font sizes to your liking. And having 30-40 books on device saves space. If you limit it to pleasure reading , just like a paper book is just a paper book and not a mp3 player. You are cool. If you want combo device look elsewhere. But in future they will have eink tech in laptops and other devices because of long battery life.

p.s. I guess you could get the 505 and load on your txt file or word doc , that you just wrote , a couple of chapters on the ereader and see how it reads. I do that with my notes and journal, I load it on 505 and it is cool and I have lots of word type docs on reader. It's also great as meditation tool, I load books that are written to get me into mediation mode, read a few sentences and then sit back and PONDER. Not having to worry about battery life is really nice, I couldn't do that with any of my other tech devices. These devices don't use power until you turn the page. The 505 does have bookmarks, so if I see an Idea I like I can bookmark lots of pages, or if I see a mistake I bookmark it, then when I go back to computer correct it on original. So there are ways to use it as an aid to your writing. Also, it remembers your last page of any book and I switch between books in a few seconds which is nice feature. One last good feature is time it takes to turn on device and actually read a book, in laptop and other tech devices it can take up to 1 to 2 mintutes before you actually start reading (turning it on, loading the book), on the 505 it takes 1/2 second and the book is showing the last page of what I read.

[gmaslin]

richman
Thank you for your explanation and yes, longer viewing time is definitely appealing but many pocket PC devices exceed 6hrs. of on time use. Laptops are a different story today but when they get e-ink, that would appear to be the death knell for these dedicated readers. Who wants to to carry so many gadgets? That is why the smart phones or wireless pda with 480x320 screens or better look like the solution for me. I can't be bothered with a notebook, I need something that fits in my pocket. Am I wrong?

[Ea]

Originally Posted by gmaslin

richman
Thank you for your explanation and yes, longer viewing time is definitely appealing but many pocket PC devices exceed 6hrs. of on time use. Laptops are a different story today but when they get e-ink, that would appear to be the death knell for these dedicated readers. Who wants to to carry so many gadgets? That is why the smart phones or wireless pda with 480x320 screens or better look like the solution for me. I can't be bothered with a notebook, I need something that fits in my pocket. Am I wrong?

It all depend on what you need the reader device for. Myself, I use my reader for fiction, and I can't make do with a PDA sized screen (I tried) - and a netbook isn't very comfortable to sit with compared to an e-ink device. I use it primarily at home though, so max portability is not my main requirement.

However, should it happen some time in the future, that someone makes a 6-7" multipurpose device, with a colour e-ink screen (or something comparable), that can last for, say, 15-20 hours reading time, have roughly the same weight and dimensions as current e-ink readers, and about the same price-point, I'll certainly buy one if the interface is good enough

If you need something primarily for on-the-go, for doing multiple tasks, I think yes, you should get something PDA-like or a smart phone or iPod Touch. If you find a netbook comfortable for reading for hours, then it's a good idea to get one instead of a e-ink device.

[richman]

Originally Posted by gmaslin

richman
Thank you for your explanation and yes, longer viewing time is definitely appealing but many pocket PC devices exceed 6hrs. of on time use. Laptops are a different story today but when they get e-ink, that would appear to be the death knell for these dedicated readers. Who wants to to carry so many gadgets? That is why the smart phones or wireless pda with 480x320 screens or better look like the solution for me. I can't be bothered with a notebook, I need something that fits in my pocket. Am I wrong?

I do have all those other gadgets!
I do have zune 80 gig video/mp3 device.
I have sanza 8 gig video/mp3 device.
I have netbook.
I have 2 notebooks.
I have itouch 2nd gen
I have archros video player
I have phillips 9 inch video player
I have a couple of psp's with ebooks on them.
I have a couple of DS Lites with ebooks on them.
I have lots of other gadgets, probably like you do.
Most of us do, so yes I have all those devices but in the back of my mind I have to be concerned with battery life. Like you said your device is 6 hours (did you remember to charge it last night), you don't know the FREEDOM of not having to worry about that anymore. 3 WEEKS battery LIFE with UNIT TURNED ON means I don't have to worry if it's charged anymore and can just enjoy the instant on feature.
Others can comment about it, but, I got back into reading again because of the 505 because my eyes were getting tired of LCD type reading, we are looking into LIGHT on all those screens. It tires the eyes. And the print on regular books in bookstore were getting too tiny without reading glasses. Now I just zoom print to size where I don't need reading glasses.
I'm not trying to convince you to get a ereader, but it's one of those devices that before I got it I didn't think I would use it. I saw it in borders bookstore and I thought NO WAY , and I bought a netbook. But a few months later I saw sale on 505 at borders and bought it , and WOW , it changed by life. I didn't realize how I use to read anywhere, anytime. And with computer's and gadgets had gotten away from it. Others on forum feel the same way.
I do understand you wanting to find convergence TECH that has eink in it, I do too, but , there isn't anything like an eink reader once you try it out.
I would recommend you get one that has good return policy and if you don't like it after a week return it, save all the papers and keep receipt .
I don't know if you will like it or not. And if you don't like it , return it. You are thinking the way I use to think, so I have been there.
Phones are going the way of convergence , all in one device, that is cool too. I'm all for it.
p.s It's easy to take into restaurant or coffee shop or waiting room and instant on. I had the other gadgets but I didn't use them to read in restaurants, coffee shops or waiting rooms, but with the ereader I do. Are you reading in those places with your other gadgets? ... , if you are , than you might not need an ereader.

[gmaslin]

Ea, richman
I don't read ebooks but do read emails, web pages and other reference materials. Laptops are too cumbersome and most pda/phones are too small to be effective. My workstation is fine when doing serious (cumulative) work but I really need a tool that can help me record my ideas on the spot AND keep me organized. The Jornada 6 and 7 series look very close to the mark but I imagine there are phone devices out which will trump them and that is what I would like to research so point me in the right direction if you please 8^)

[richman]

Originally Posted by gmaslin

Ea, richman
I don't read ebooks but do read emails, web pages and other reference materials. Laptops are too cumbersome and most pda/phones are too small to be effective. My workstation is fine when doing serious (cumulative) work but I really need a tool that can help me record my ideas on the spot AND keep me organized. The Jornada 6 and 7 series look very close to the mark but I imagine there are phone devices out which will trump them and that is what I would like to research so point me in the right direction if you please 8^)

Yeah ereaders are not good for those things.
I don't know what to tell you , the 6 and 7 series is so old fashioned, and too tiny. Netbooks are new tech and smaller than laptop and larger than these ereaders and could do everything you are talking about. My netbook was 200 dollars with 8.9 screen and 160 gig hard drive, wifi. Acer ONE 8.9. It seems the last few months the NEW ones are about 10 inchs screens. Battery life is about 7 hours with 6 cell battery and you can get extra battery for about 60 dollars. These are good for wifi and they are big enough and powerful enough for the stuff you are talking about.

PCTablet is good too but are around 700-800 dollars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0WxN...eature=related

Good luck , maybe check amazon and see what they have as best-sellers in this type category and read pro reviews and user reviews. This is a ebooker reader forum and you are looking for Netbook and or something like that , that can do it all and is small enough so you can type fast on it and my ACER 8.9 has built in cam/mic and other goodies and runs on windows xp. 200 dollars is good spot for me. The HP Journa 790 is close to 800 dollars on amazon and came out a few years ago.
Good luck in your search.

[sassanik]

You could look into the Cool-er it does play MP3's as well as being a ebook reader.

I like my Cool-er, however, it is a very new device and they are still working out some issues, though the customer support has been great when there are problems.


Amy

[mr_magicfingers]

Thanks for the interesting replies, I'm definitely looking for something with an e-ink screen, I want to be able to lie on the couch and read etc.

The new Sony 600 looks interesting, particularly it's ability to show pdf's properly, and I'm interested to see what the txtr is like when it comes out. They're more likely to be in my price range and have what I need.

Cheers,

Justin.