An ebook reader for me

[Margrete]

I've been thinking for a long time about buying an ebook reader. I live in Norway so I probably have to buy it over the internet from somewhere.

I read ebooks on my laptop and have over a 1000, and they are in 4 different formats. I have ereader/palm format, microsoft reader/.lit format, mobi format and pdf format.

Is there any reader where I can read all these formats? I've been thinking about getting an Iliad reader, CyBook, Sony or Hanlin V3, but it's kind of difficult to choose when I can only see pictures online.

The Hanlin seems to have the most formants, but I only found a chinse website to buy it from, and the payment options wheren't exactly good for international buyers.

Battery life is also very important to me as I read a lot. Can anyone give me any recomandations for which one is "the best" to buy and where to buy it online in advance

[HarryT]

No eInk device will currently read eReader files.

The BeBook (the same machine as the Hanlin V3, and sold in Europe) will read your other formats, but not terribly well. The CyBook will only read Mobi and PDF, but has the best Mobi support of any device currently available, and it's very easy to convert LIT files to Mobi.

The battery life of all 6" eInk devices is excellent.

[johanm]

MOBI, EPUB, customized PDF are very good readable on the BeBook. FB2 is another favorite of a lot of people, but I haven't come across it yet. RTF support is also good.

The best ebook reader for you depends on several considerations:

• It depends if your ebooks are DRM protected. If you have MobiPocket DRM ebooks, BeBook is good choice, if you have Adobe Digital Editions Sony is a better choice, for example. If your PDF are password protected, they are not readable on BeBook, don't know for other ereaders.
• I do not know the ereader/palm, what extension is it ?
• Pagesize of your PDFs, if they are A4 or letter with small print, or colored text on a colored background (like for example magazines), forget the BeBook, Cybook and Sony. If they are mostly text, smaller pagesize or optimized format for ebook readers, anyone will do I guess.
• LIT files tend to be slow on the BeBook, but you can convert them.

Hanlin v3 = BeBook -> http://mybebook.com

I did a lot of research before buying my BeBook, but as for experience I can only talk about the BeBook.

[Margrete]

Thanks HarryT and Johanm

Very few of my ebooks are DRM protected, a couple in Mobi-format and a couple in .lit format.

My PDF-files are mostly A4 size. They are for school-work and are converted from powerpoint-slides (with some text and pictures, or tables or scans from books

Ereader/palm is the format I get when buying books from ereader.com. I don't know what you mean by extention Johanm

I have a couple of weeks untill I buy it as I'm waiting until I get paid.

[johanm]

As for LIT I do not know, but if you have MOBI DRM ebooks, don't buy a Sony. Check out the Ebook Reader Matrix.
I mean the extension of the file: like .pdf for PDF, .lit for LIT, .mobi for MOBI, I do not know the extension for the palm format, but you can check out the above mentioned link to see which ebook reader can handle the format.
As for your A4 PDFs, the only way to find out if they are readable is to ask people with different ebook readers to try them out and to take a picture so you can see for yourself.

[Margrete]

oh I understand, the ereader files I have are .pdb

I will check out the matrix. The difficult part is probably finding one I like and have it shipped to Norway, and finding out if there is any customs/extra taxes I have to pay to import it.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Margrete

I
Battery life is also very important to me as I read a lot. Can anyone give me any recomandations for which one is "the best" to buy and where to buy it online in advance

Then you should not buy a Cybook since you only get 4 days with the unit on all the time and less if you do a lot of reading.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

Then you should not buy a Cybook since you only get 4 days with the unit on all the time and less if you do a lot of reading.

But battery life is excellent if you switch it off after you finish reading, which is what most people do. When I took my CyBook away on holiday, I read intensively for a week (it was a cruise, and I had a LOT of reading time) and the battery meter was still showing 60% at the end of the week.

[johanm]

On the BeBook (with customized PDF, no zooming needed) I had to recharge after 3000 pageturns. According to the specs the BeBook doesn't consume power when displaying a page, only for pageturns.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by johanm

On the BeBook (with customized PDF, no zooming needed) I had to recharge after 3000 pageturns. According to the specs the BeBook doesn't consume power when displaying a page, only for pageturns.

That's not entirely correct. The screen doesn't consume power, but the CPU, memory, etc, certainly do, just as they do on any other computer.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But battery life is excellent if you switch it off after you finish reading, which is what most people do. When I took my CyBook away on holiday, I read intensively for a week (it was a cruise, and I had a LOT of reading time) and the battery meter was still showing 60% at the end of the week.

The boot time is very long (25-50 seconds) so for occasional reading it does not work to turn it off.

So how many books did you read on the cruise?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's not entirely correct. The screen doesn't consume power, but the CPU, memory, etc, certainly do, just as they do on any other computer.

On any other computer that is suspended that is.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

The boot time is very long (25-50 seconds) so for occasional reading it does not work to turn it off.

I don't turn it off if I'm just going to put it down for 5 minutes, but I do turn it off when I know that I'm not going to use it for several hours. Really, 25 seconds is not a long time. Pick the CyBook up, pressing the power switch as you do so, sit down in a chair, get yourself comfy, and it's pretty much ready for use.

For me, that works very well. I know that you feel differently about it, and perhaps for you the BeBook would be a better choice.

So how many books did you read on the cruise?

I think it was about 4 or 5. I used it to catch up on my huge list of unread Baen books (although it didn't make much of an impression on that list!).

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't turn it off if I'm just going to put it down for 5 minutes, but I do turn it off when I know that I'm not going to use it for several hours.

I never know that I am not going to read for several hours. I read in all my free time. I do not only read in scheduled reading sessions.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The screen doesn't consume power, but the CPU, memory, etc, certainly do, just as they do on any other computer.

There presumably is some power drain between page turns, but it is tiny on the Hanlin/BeBook. I'm not sure whether anyone has had the patience to perform the "iRex DR1000S killer" test on a Hanlin - turn on the device and then do nothing until it runs out of juice. At one point this took about 5 hours on a DR1000S. My guess is that it would take ~3 weeks on the Hanlin. This is moot if you are a heavy reader, except that there is no reason to routinely turn off the device and it is instantly available when you want to use it.