Which one should I buy iRex or SONY?

[raevyn1]

What follows is entirely IMHO: (Sorry, kinda long)
I have to agree with Jaed, concentrate on what the device can do for you, not on what it can't do. None of these devices brew a cup of coffee, but that's not what they were intended for. Yes, the iLiad is darn pricey and it was a bit oversold in terms of promised features. Some of those have been added over time (scribble, some form of annotation) and others are promised soon. I have both devices, the iLiad and the Sony Reader. They are two very different devices. I was attracted to the iLiad for the larger screen, ability to read PDF which is my preferred format for both professional and personal reading. Currently, it is my preferred device. I am not a programmer, just a user and for what I do which is read documents and e-books, it does just fine most of the time. The iLiad is somewhat fragile and if not for some good cases, mine would've been history long ago. I don't think I'd bother to repair mine if it did bust, because of the long delays and the costs of both repair and shipping. I'll admit the iLiad is not a great consumer device as there is no bookstore or desktop interface, but it probably wasn't intended to be that in its first gen manifestation. The Sony Reader is a more consumer-friendly device, even though the Connect bookstore and desktop interface is not as sophisticated as say iTunes. If you are interested in mostly reading popular, newer major publisher works and being locked into the Sony DRM doesn't bother you then the Reader is for you. I haven't invested in a lot of Sony BBeB books because for now I see no way I can adapt to another device (like my PDA or another e-reader) currently and possibly in the future. I have no trouble finding the books I prefer to read (yes, BobR, it's still romance) through other means than the Sony bookstore. My Reader is gathering dust lately mainly because I dislike spending the time to adapt my pdfs for the Reader or convert them to RTFs. I do appreciate the device's sturdiness, bookmarking capability, and its instant-on boot time and power management is superior to the iLiad's. I was very pleased to read Sir Howard's encouraging words about the future of the Reader. It's great that there are a growing number of e-reading devices being developed and hopefully some of these will have commercial success and longevity.
Glad you made up your mind, rsuryase. Good luck.

[bojan]

Originally Posted by jæd

Well... Always remember those who've had bad experiences tend to be the most vocal...

Again you are listening to all the "horror stories"...

This kind of logic is not of much use, if you are the one with the problem...
(nothing bad meant )

[Leaping Gnome]

rsuryase - The Sony is $350, do you have a discount to get it for $250?

Also iRex I believe is majority owned by Philips still. It was originally a spin-off company from Philips and I imagine they still maintain a pretty large stake in it.

[-RenE-]

I recently bought an Irex Iliad (firmware 2.8) and I am quite content with the device. Main advantages (to me) are:

- A big screen (larger than the Sony), so easier on the eyes
- 16 colors (vs. 4 for Sony)
- Possibility to make notes on PDF. This is a really nice feature of the Iliad!
- Zoom possibilities makes it easy to read almost every text.
- No conversion needed: The Iliad reads standard PDF and HTML (and several other formats).
- Usability: The Iliad is very easy to operate. I like the flipbar (to flip pages) very much. I can't compare to Sony however.
-Regular updates, with very easy install using WIFI.
- No DRM: I don't want to "hire" content and become dependent to the software supplier or become limited to one device.

For the techies:
- Linux inside so I can adapt the device to my needs if I'd like to. For example I can add a chess program and a calculator. But it is also possible

I now have more than 4 Gb of pdf's ready to be read on my Iliad. In my Iliad I have a MMC card with 1 Gb of books (computer, business, philosophy, life sciences/biology, literature). Great!

[b_k]

I also own an iLiad. So far the biggest downside for me is the (bad to non-existant) power-management. And as you can see from some of my posts I am no fan of DRM.

@Rene:
the Sony Reader could also have the badge "Linux inside" on it. But there is one problem about adapting the device, so far there is no way of reflashing the iLiad without sending it back to the repair center and paying a 75 EUR fee.
And as everything is running as "root" on the iLiad, I wouldn't want to touch anything.

[-RenE-]

Originally Posted by b_k

I also own an iLiad. So far the biggest downside for me is the (bad to non-existant) power-management. And as you can see from some of my posts I am no fan of DRM.

@Rene:
the Sony Reader could also have the badge "Linux inside" on it. But there is one problem about adapting the device, so far there is no way of reflashing the iLiad without sending it back to the repair center and paying a 75 EUR fee.
And as everything is running as "root" on the iLiad, I wouldn't want to touch anything.

You are completely right. The non-existent power management is a problem. Although, I don't have a problem switching the device off. It will take 10 s to restart and double press the News/Books/Docs/Notes keys will bring my last read document back (I like this behaviour).

Indeed, you will have to pay for reflashing, but I didn't get a root account for my Iliad.

[sic]

Hi

I bought a SONY reader about 3 months ago and I kind of think it was a waste.
It's a closed system.
The iRex is way more open. You can install software upgrades as they become available.
So I'd suggest you buy irex if you can spare the money, otherwise just wait.
btw 700$ will buy you a low end laptop which is definitely better value for your money.
sorry to discourage you... I was very enthusiastic too... 3 months ago

[b_k]

Originally Posted by -RenE-

...
Indeed, you will have to pay for reflashing, but I didn't get a root account for my Iliad.

um, the last thing I know is that everything on the iLiad runs in the root user's context. Somebody knowing it better may correct me now.

[rsuryase]

You can get $100 if you apply for a SONY card. I just purchase the SONY Reader with a 2 year service plan with accidental coverage, everything comes to $450. I would love to get the iLiad, I just don't like the prospect of going through any repairs, I don't have piece of mind handling such fragile objects. I'll wait for the Hanlin V9 next year.

[jæd]

Originally Posted by rsuryase

I don't have piece of mind handling such fragile objects.

Um... You do know that the Iliad isn't made of hand-spun eggshells...?

[RWood]

Originally Posted by sic

Hi
I bought a SONY reader about 3 months ago and I kind of think it was a waste.
It's a closed system.
... I was very enthusiastic too... 3 months ago

Many at MobileRead have already opened the Sony (both physically and via code) so its secrets are being discovered on almost a daily basis.

Some posters have pointed to the iRex as better than the Sony because it has no DRM. Since the Sony also supports RTF, TXT, LRF, and PDF; one can simply ignore the DRM formats and have a wonderful reading experience.

Since the Sony does not support PDB, LIT, or HTML I have converted the non-DRM files to RTF for the Reader. It is a simple matter and a lot of the conversion can be done in batch mode. With the Conversion tools available from the MobileRead Wiki Page conversion is not a scarey or time comsuming thing anymore.

I've had the Sony for a couple of months and it was a great investment for me.

[rsuryase]

Yeah that's what I thought, I have a pretty fast PC, Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz, so conversion shouldn't take long, if it does, I'll just convert when I'm sleeping. I have a PVP and this is how I do it.

[rsuryase]

I have adobe acrobat, is there a tutorial to convert PDFs to Sony Reader's specs without converting to other formats?

[rsuryase]

Wow the majority of the reviews at irexshop.com is negative, many 1 out 5 stars, looks like I made the right choice purchasing the SONY, though I still prefer the iLiad. Hopefully SONY's next Reader will feature an 8'-10' screen. Jinke's Hanlin may suffer the same fate as iRex being it's not local so repairs will be expensive. https://www.irexshop.com/product_rev...products_id/28

[jæd]

Originally Posted by rsuryase

Wow the majority of the reviews at irexshop.com is negative, many 1 out 5 stars, looks like I made the right choice purchasing the SONY, though I still prefer the iLiad. Hopefully SONY's next Reader will feature an 8'-10' screen. Jinke's Hanlin may suffer the same fate as iRex being it's not local so repairs will be expensive. https://www.irexshop.com/product_rev...products_id/28

Um... Aren't most of those reviews back from July when it was first released and the initial firmware *was* a bit ropey...? For example, the PDF reader didn't have zoom/pan like all the others... Who in this day would release a reader that didn't do that...?

I think you are now looking for reasons not to buy this thing. Thats fine and thats your choice... But I would prefer it if you didn't post up FUD without looking at it critically...

Now please excuse me while I quickly download the Guardian direct & wirelessly (via a shell script) to my Iliad, slap on some quick scans of docs I need to review, and even quickly transfer a book as well. Dang, I was supposed to have added some comments to a spec I was emailed yesterday. Oh well, will do that on the train...

And I wonder when the next firmware update will be...? I mailed in some bug reports that the developers told me they'd put on the list...