Best eBook Reader to sideload content?

[JaynarOJ]

Hi guys. Liked the forum and thought I could get some help here. Be prepared, this is gonna be long and most of you are gonna conk out with the letters TL;DR ricocheting in your head.

First, let us just assume that I'm an extremely cheap struggling student and get on from there. :P

Here's what needs to be considered in my case:

1. Price in the vicinity of 100$. Cheaper the better.

2. I won't be using any of the manufacturer's content stores, so that part of the ecosystem is irrelevant to me. (Otherwise the de facto choice for a beginner would be a Kindle. Also, not a very big fan of ads, although I don't feel that I'll be unable to tolerate some here and there.)

3. I will be reading a lot of public domain and free books, going all the way back to hundreds of years. I really admire that there's so much free stuff to read out there and I'm missing out by not having an eBook Reader – you can only read so much on a computer screen or a phone.

4. I also expect to load a couple of personal documents into the reader from time to time. DOC, PPT, PDF. I know none of the eInk readers handle PDF very well.

5. I'm a medical student and would like a reader that's best suited for one, if there's such a thing. I'll be uploading personal content and want to bookmark, highlight, take itty bitty notes here and there.

6. I would love the wireless Send to Kindle functionality. Basically I can have any article on my browser delivered to a Kindle using free services (there are free bookmarklets and stuff for that). Or any personal document. As is or converted suitably, for free, using username@free.kindle.com email address.

7. I know my way around calibre a bit, so no issues there. I love how it can prepare periodicals and send it to a Kindle wirelessly, all for free.

8. Here are the other devices I own:
- A MacBook that I rarely carry with me and just stays on a table beside my bed.
- An iPod Touch 2G that's laying pretty much unused.
- An old HTC Gene Windows Mobile 6 Pocket PC as a cellphone.

I am contemplating the purchase of a Tablet, probably an iPad, unless there comes a decent Android alternative. That is if and when I can arrange cash for it and some other things in life fall in place.

I should say here that I live some place where the regulations don't allow International Credit Cards to be issued to normal people (some reason, irrelevant to the discussion) and we are too insignificant for the providers (Amazon, B&N, Sony, etc) to have a local solution, which is precisely why I am not concerned about the ecosystem the eBook readers belong to. I'm buying the device. I won't be investing into the ecosystem in any way.

And do consider that where I live, 100$ is by no means a small amount. I can rent a small apartment and eat/live decently for a month for that kind of money, the exchange rate and all. So, yeah. Even this is an investment for quite some time to come.


Here's my current stand:

Kindle Touch
- Wirelessly and instantaneously (provided your Kindle's connected to the Internet) send the article you're reading on your device's browser to your Kindle.
- Instapaper support for delivering articles periodically. Although the Kindle Touch kinda has issues with it, I hear.
- Calibre support for delivering articles periodically.
- *cough* *cough* Gigabytes of Kindle formatted content easily available in *cough* *cough*
X Non expandable storage.
X Ads, unless you pay a premium over competing products.
X No physical buttons on the Touch.

Nook Simple Touch
- ePub support. By far the most popular format for free eBooks I presume? Although you can convert Mobi<>ePub easily, it's still a hassle not having it on Kindle.
- Expandable storage.
- Physical turn buttons, though a little stiff?
- More comfortable to hold?
- Android hack. A couple of apps. Better web browsing.
- Android apps to use as a workaround for missing "Send to Nook" feature.
- Android apps to read RSS.
X No "Send to Nook" feature. (Not having this thing makes it kinda suck. I mean this is pretty basic. And cool. What were you thinking B&N? )
X Also, I hear that you cannot use calibre to manage Nook Simple Touch because of something B&N changed with the way they organize books on the device?

Sony PRS-T1 [Don't know much about this one]
- I hear this is favored by people who want the most "Agnostic" reader? How is that again?
- I hear this has better PDF support but I don't know in what ways.
- Android hack for this is also there I hear.
- Native RSS reading? That would be a killer. I mean WTH other eReaders? Why not include this basic functionality in all of there devices? It sure wouldn't have been a lot of work, would it?
- Buttons? Are they any good.
X Looks kinda ugly.
X Less popular, so maybe more unknown issues? Little annoyances that drive you mad?

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I seriously am confused as you can see. I probably just yapped everything that there's to know about these choices and still. That's what choice does to you. Which is one reason I like Apple. Choosing something from Apple's line-up is so straightforward and easy. Now now, don't pile up your "Apple walled-garden closed-source form-over-function tyranny" whining over me. I have an agenda here. Choosing an eBook reader.

As far as I'm concerned, the best eReader would:

- Integrate seamlessly with the best eBook store
- Support open formats like ePub
- Read RSS and do email and all those little things that these devices can/should handle
- Man up with a browser, instead of burying it under experimental features (Kindle), or disabling one that's default in the OS (Nook)
- View all common file formats natively
- Plays background music
- Syncs with the cloud and has clients for major platforms, or at least a web client, even for personal content

- Probably some other features… Care to enumerate some other features you'd like to see in an ideal eBook reader?

But because there isn't anything like that, I'm looking for the best compromise, for the least amount of cash. Maybe I should go with a Kindle and get it over with… :|

ANY HELP?

PS: Lastly, what eBook reader + eBook procuring/managing workflow would you consider as ideal to your situation? Just wanted to know so that I could make a more "informed" choice.

[charmian]

The thing that suits your needs best is an Android or iPad tablet. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near your budget. Essentially an iPad/Android tablet does everything you want. You actually don't need to spend $500 to get a tablet, if you are willing to get a 7" one, but it will not be $100.

Judging from your list, I would install Android on a Nook STR, as that would get you everything you want, but then you would still need to deal with the limitations of e-ink and the processor of the Nook STR, and you'd also need to buy an SD card. Or, I would buy the Nook Color, and root it so that I could use the full Android app suite.

[JaynarOJ]

Originally Posted by charmian

The thing that suits your needs best is an Android or iPad tablet. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near your budget. Essentially an iPad/Android tablet does everything you want. You actually don't need to spend $500 to get a tablet, if you are willing to get a 7" one, but it will not be $100.

Judging from your list, I would install Android on a Nook STR, as that would get you everything you want, but then you would still need to deal with the limitations of e-ink and the processor of the Nook STR, and you'd also need to buy an SD card. Or, I would buy the Nook Color, and root it so that I could use the full Android app suite.

Ah, well. When I think about it, what I want doesn't exist yet in today's price point. Maybe I should get real. :/

I will be buying a Tablet, sooner than later. So if there's something that should be best kept for a tablet, I'm be okay to live without it on the eInk.

Okay lemme wipe the slate clean and start over. You say Nook STR with Android. Why that over Sony PRS-T1 with Android hack?

[charmian]

You said "the cheaper the better," and Nook STR is generally cheaper than Sony PRS-T1. But I guess depending on where you live this may not be true.