I'm picky, but I know what I want

[Madwitch58]

The kind of E reader I am looking for is one that will allow me to download books from anywhere. Mostly the library, and the free e- books sites I know about. I want one that will not have to be repaired or serviced every time I turn around, a memory card, good tech support . Thank you.

[mikeayers]

it looks like the kindle is out of the running....

[ProfCrash]

That would be the Sony, the Kobo, the Nook and a series of other e-readers that I am not as familiar with.

[pidgeon92]

What you want doesn't exist yet. This is why I have several different ereaders.

[Dulin's Books]

pocketbook 360,602,902

onyx boox 60

Astak

Aluratek

BeBook

[ebusinesstutor]

While dedicated e-readers won't do this, Smartphones and tablets can. My iPhone lets me download ebooks and I can get an app for the major book vendors and library lenders.

[GA Russell]

Madwitch, my jetBook Lite fits the bill.

In regard to tech support, there have been a number of firmware upgrades in the past year, so they have supported the device well. I have all of my questions answered here at MobileRead at the jetBook forum, so I have never needed to contact the company (Ectaco) for tech support questions.

One nice thing about the jetBook Lite is that there is no internal clock, so your library book doesn't expire.

And nobody's pages turn more quickly than the JBL because it uses the reflective TFT screen, with sharp clarity and very black text.

Newegg carries it:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-010-_-Product

[boswd]

nook, sony, and kobo are the major players that fit your bill. IMHO the nook offers the best price to features ratio and has the best "home base" bookstore out of the three.

but yeah all three support ePub and Adobe Reader, so shop where you like and check out books from the library and expand your memory.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by Madwitch58

The kind of E reader I am looking for is one that will allow me to download books from anywhere

That does not exist, unless you buy a tablet. In that case, an iPad, Galaxy or Pocketbook IQ could be your options; you can install the company applications (Kindle, Nook, etc) and be able to read on same device. Now, keep in mind that those are not dedicated ereaders and they have LCD screen so battery life and ability to read outdoor can be a problem.

Not LCD devices that you should consider are Sony and Nook 1st generation but they won't read azw or Amazon books, unless you break the DRM (illegal on some countries) and convert via Calibre.

[Belle2Be]

Originally Posted by Madwitch58

The kind of E reader I am looking for is one that will allow me to download books from anywhere. Mostly the library, and the free e- books sites I know about. I want one that will not have to be repaired or serviced every time I turn around, a memory card, good tech support . Thank you.

Check your library to see if there are any books that you are even interested in, and also check the wait times. I haven't found anything yet that was worth having library books as an option. You'll need one with 3g, I know the Kindle has that. I haven't found a need for a memory card though, since 3500 books is plenty to carry around at one time, and if I need more, I can keep extras on my harddrive or laptop. As for tech support, as long as you go for a name brand (Sony,Apple, Kindle, Nook) you shouldn't have a problem.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by Belle2Be

You'll need one with 3g

I think you mistake the OP's intent. When she says "download from anywhere" I think she means downloading from different internet sites, not downloading from whatever physical location she is at. Given that she is looking to get library books and free books, side-loading will be the order of the day so wireless connectivity becomes irrelevant.

Madwitch, epub is the format used by pretty much everyone *except* amazon and the kindle. If you can live without the amazon store, then any other reader should be able to read epub. There are any number of devices that will fit your requirements.

Do you want e-ink or can you live with lcd? LCDs are generally cheaper and can often use kindle4pc to read amazon books, however it's like reading off a computer screen and the battery life is not as good.

How much are you willing to spend? How much is build quality worth? The Sonys have very good build quality but are quite expensive.

There's lots more factors involved. Have a good look around here and work out what features are important to you.

[ProfCrash]

And since Amazon and the Kindle are the most popular ebook store and reader in the US you will be just fine using them. People like to make it seem as if EPub is the dominant format. It is not. More stores use EPub but there are not more books found in EPub. Meaning that you are likely to find what you want to read at Amazon as well as at BN, Sony, and Kobo books.

Additionally, there are smaller bookstores that sell books in Mobi format that can be read on a Kindle.

Ask yourself this, if the EPub selection was so huge, why would Nook Color uses be rooting their Nook's in order to download the Kindle for Android App and then buying books from Amazon to read on their Nooks? Or why would Sony users on this board admit to buying from Amazon and stripping the DRM and converting books to put on their Sonys?

The reality is you will be fine buying a Kindle because Amazon has a ton of ebooks and there are other stores that sell Mobi books. The supposed advantage of the EPub format is non-existant. Just because more readers use it does not mean that there are more books in that format.

[eerok]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

People like to make it seem as if EPub is the dominant format. It is not. More stores use EPub but there are not more books found in EPub. Meaning that you are likely to find what you want to read at Amazon as well as at BN, Sony, and Kobo books.

An open standard like EPub invites development of ancillary software, and indeed we see examples such as Sigil (multi-platform EPub editor) and EPub Zip (a utility for rebuilding EPub archives).

An open standard also makes it easier for apps like Calibre to perform high-quality conversions.

An open standard also mitigates the ability of a corporate entity to control in its self-interest the access and use of data you have created yourself or legitimately purchased. In my 30+ years as a computer geek, I've seen lots of proprietary file format games, and in my old age I simply decline to play along. Smart people would follow my example. In the wars to come (I don't want to alarm anyone, but they are already here), open standards and open source are the way to go.

When you accept a proprietary format, you accept power over you. So it's not all about which store you like.

[jbcohen]

My libra pro can do that, had mine for six months and no repairs ever. Works great for library downloads.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by eerok

An open standard like EPub invites development of ancillary software, and indeed we see examples such as Sigil (multi-platform EPub editor) and EPub Zip (a utility for rebuilding EPub archives).

An open standard also makes it easier for apps like Calibre to perform high-quality conversions.

An open standard also mitigates the ability of a corporate entity to control in its self-interest the access and use of data you have created yourself or legitimately purchased. In my 30+ years as a computer geek, I've seen lots of proprietary file format games, and in my old age I simply decline to play along. Smart people would follow my example. In the wars to come (I don't want to alarm anyone, but they are already here), open standards and open source are the way to go.

When you accept a proprietary format, you accept power over you. So it's not all about which store you like.

The problem is that we are not talking about a truly open standard here. B&N epub books are DRM protected. Based on that, we can convert via Calibre any Kindle or azw book, same way you can with B&N, of course, breaking the DRM protection. In that case, the difference(s) or line between standards is not there anymore and I can read an Amazon book on a Nook or a Nook book on a Kindle, see?

Your argument could be 100% true if major epub stores are selling without DRM, which is not the case. What pushes and keep a format alive is the user's demand and if the technology itself satisfies the requirements or not.

I see zero advantage of getting an ereader which supports epub format if the books I like and need, are not available on the online bookstore. This is the reason why I sold my Nook 1st gen. which after firmware upgrade(s) I must say becomes a solid and fast reader, but useless if I cannot buy my IT books.

No ones now for sure, if X or Y format will die 10 years from now. Technology is so volatile and dynamic that there is no way to tell that for suret.