Kidle 2 vs Cybook Opus

[ninpuukamui]

Hello,

I've been considering buying an eReader for some time, and I'm finally going to do it. After lots of reading and asking around, I have narrowed it down to 2 readers, with a few close runner ups.

To give you a bit of background, these are the features I'm looking for, from most to least important:

1. eInk
2. Have a very big selection of titles to acquire (by any means necessary), specially fiction
3. Usable from Japan to acquire books in English
4. Small and light
5. Have a fast refresh rate
6. Display Japanese text
7. $300 max

Would be nice to have:

• SD slot
• Display images (to read manga)

These I don't need:

• Keyboard
• To take notes
• Anything other than read books

I posted on reddit for advise, and I was sent here; after much browsing, it seemed like Cybook Opus was the best option for me, as I'm going to be taking the eReader everywhere, and this one is portable and seems sturdy.

Now, the problem is that the eReader is not for me, but for my non-so tech savvy wife. She'll be buying most of her books online, and I'm sure she won't have a problem with using Calibre to be able to put book bought from Amazon into the device, but I also know she'd prefer to have a experience as seamless as possible. The Kindle 2 comes very recommended, and at the new price, it's also the cheapest option. However I'm worried it'll break easily if transported in a bag.

Other options I considered, from best to worst are:

- PB360: I really like this device. Is elegant, looks sturdy, and themes are awesome. It seems to have better hardware than the Cybook Opus too, at 64MB of RAM. The only reason I put the Opus before this device is that I have read multiple threads of crashing, breaking, and other problems with the sorftware.
- eSlick: Same body as the Cybook Gen 3, a bit flimsy; I thought it would be great to have PDF support for RPGs, but it seems like the refresh rate on any eReader means it's not so useful after all.
- Nook: I considered it at the begining, but after reading about the alternatives (Cybook Opus and PB360 mainly), it has lost its appeal to me. No internatinal support either.

I can buy from Japan, Europe, or USA (I mean that I can physically buy from those countries, or get it shipped to any of those countries - Yeah, Europe is not a country, oh well-). My permanent address right now is in Japan though.

So, right now, my questions are: For my needs, should I get a Kindle 2, or a Cybook Opus? Also, would anyone recommend the PB360 over those, and if so, why?

Thank you very much for your answers in advance. Please let me know if you need any more information about what I'm looking for; or if you think I overlooked one or more aspects of the devices, it would be great if you can let me know too

Cheers!

[Logseman]

One of the problems with the Pocketbook firmware is that we come "spoiled". An old firmware version is absolutely rock-solid, so people got surprised and a bit pissed off that suddenly, crashes and reboots appeared. That means, if you downgrade to that stable version, you should be able to bypass all those comments about instability.

I admit I haven't been able to have a Kindle in-hand, but my experience with Pocketbook 360 has been mighty fine, and Cybook Opus is a nice thing too: when I was thinking of buying my e-reader, those two were very close to each other in my preferences.

[EowynCarter]

Usable from Japan to acquire books in English

Kindle will pose problem there
The Opus can read drm'ed ePub, that can be bought in lot of places.

SD slot
Display images (to read manga)

Opus have SD slot. Reading manga on it is a bit hard, though possible.

[ninpuukamui]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Kindle will pose problem there

Are you sure about this? The Country Specific Information for Japan from Amazon says:

Growing Selection: Over 410,000 English-language books to choose from; plus U.S. and international newspapers and magazines are available for your country. Because publishers give us eBook rights on a country by country basis, available titles for your country will vary from our current U.S selection.

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Kindle will pose problem there
The Opus can read drm'ed ePub, that can be bought in lot of places.


Opus have SD slot. Reading manga on it is a bit hard, though possible.

Your best option for manga in a small screen is making a PDF and reading it in landscape mode. I've tried it (thanks to Ulli, a fellow MR member) and it works quite well.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by ninpuukamui

Are you sure about this? The Country Specific Information for Japan from Amazon says:

Growing Selection: Over 410,000 English-language books to choose from; plus U.S. and international newspapers and magazines are available for your country. Because publishers give us eBook rights on a country by country basis, available titles for your country will vary from our current U.S selection.

Mind the last sentence

There is an easy way to check, to to the amazon website, create an account and say you live in japan. And you should see what's available. I checked availability in France, but that was just after the opening. Things might have improved since then.
Trouble with amazon, is that you can only buy books from amazon, no mater how large their selection is.

And check out for e-book store in japan, what format they are using, drm...

[ninpuukamui]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Mind the last sentence

There is an easy way to check, to to the amazon website, create an account and say you live in japan. And you should see what's available. I checked availability in France, but that was just after the opening. Things might have improved since then.
Trouble with amazon, is that you can only buy books from amazon, no mater how large their selection is.

Sorry, I left out some info from the popup, and maybe that made my quote a bit less clear; at the beginning of the info it says:

"We are excited to now ship Kindle to Japan. Customers in Japan will enjoy: "

What I think that last sentence means there are over 410,000 books available for Japan, and that there are more books available for USA. If I change the country to UK instead, it says:

We are excited to now ship Kindle to United Kingdom. Customers in United Kingdom will enjoy:

Growing Selection: Over 390,000 English-language books to choose from; plus U.S. and international newspapers and magazines are available for your country. Because publishers give us eBook rights on a country by country basis, available titles for your country will vary from our current U.S selection.

I just checked the Kindle store with my amazon account (Japanese address), and I get 148,439 books for the fiction section. I logged out of my account, and I still have the same amount. This is probably not correct :-/

In any case, this is not an important point. I'll have the same amount of Amazon books available for me independently of whatever eReader I choose to buy, and if I get anything other than Kindle I'll have to buy the books for Kindle for PC.

I'm pretty sure I can still read NON-DRMd books with the Kindle, regardless of origin. Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks!

[ninpuukamui]

Originally Posted by Logseman

Your best option for manga in a small screen is making a PDF and reading it in landscape mode. I've tried it (thanks to Ulli, a fellow MR member) and it works quite well.

Thank you very much for the information, I'll have to try it out once I have the device, whichever it is. Is there any reason why is better to read PDF, over just loading the image file?

[EowynCarter]

I'm pretty sure I can still read NON-DRMd books with the Kindle, regardless of origin. Can anyone confirm this?

Yes, but most book you buy have drm

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Yes, but most book you buy have drm

i don't agree, I've not purchased one drm'd book this year - and there's still plenty to chose from. It depends on how picky one is. certainly if one wants the latest, then yes drm'ed they'll be (as well as geo-restricted).

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by ninpuukamui

Thank you very much for the information, I'll have to try it out once I have the device, whichever it is. Is there any reason why is better to read PDF, over just loading the image file?

The image viewer is merely rudimentary, while PDF allows you to zoom and stretch the image to better use the screen real estate.

[ninpuukamui]

Hi,

It seems like we have gone a bit off topic here. So far I have learned:

1. Kindle 2 can't read non-Amazon DRM'd books
2. The Pocketbook firmware problems may not be that bad after all.

My main question remains unanswered, though. Has anyone ever bought an Opus or PB to someone with intermediate technology skills? My main worry is that the process will be too complicated in comparison to the really easy Kindle 2.

It doesn't seem like the Kindle 2 can't do any of the things I want it to, so although I really like the freedom that the other eReaders would give me, maybe it's overkill for someone that just wants to read books in an easy way. Then again, the Kindle 2 doesn't seem very portable, so maybe that's the deal breaker for me.

Also, is there any reason to buy the PB 360 over the Opus?

Thank you very much for your time.

[Terisa de morgan]

I think Opus is not complicated for somebody with intermediate technology skills. After you authorize the Opus with ADE (if you use ePub, I suppose it's the most common decision), for buying books you only have to open the books with ADE and, later, you can copy the books to Opus like a file system (when you connect with USB). And about book selection, well, nowadays there're a lot of places selling ePub, so that isn't a problem, I think.

And Opus is very, very simple to use. There're only some menus, and folders navigation, nothing else. I think Opus is easier to use than PB (I've used both of them). And a friend of mine who is not very tech savvy is very happy with it.