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Old 06-08-2011, 05:28 PM   #1
tom e
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Which one?

I'm looking for a device, unless I'm mistaken it doesn't exist yet, haha.

Given that these are the things important to me- and basically in order of importance, what would you get/ recommend?

1. E-ink reader! The fact that I love it so much was very unexpected to me, didn't know that I would be so drawn to it, but I am.

2. I want something that can take advantage of free books, not just what any store wants me to buy. This was what first drew me to an e-reader. Call me cheap, but I view it as not buying a new toy, but saving money on a bunch of books.

3. I know most people don't feel the same (in fact the e-reader industry doesn't seem to) but I want some simple apps. Not so much games & full web-browsing. I don't need movies or music. I DO want a calendar, calculator, rss reader, news, email would be nice. I have gotten free of the cell phone and love that, but I now find I don't want to go out and buy a watch a calculator or even really an ipod touch (etc). I think of my dream device as an e-ink reader with an electronic organizer built in.
Is there any device that comes with this at all?

4. I would love a touch screen, but I would pass on it if it got me all of the above.

Anybody who's seen my posts here probably knows I'm leaning toward the new Nook (and rooted if B&N does indeed plan on keeping it only a reader) but it has occurred to me that there may be a better choice that you guys know about..

Thanks in advance for any help in finding the 'match'!
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Old 06-08-2011, 06:04 PM   #2
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In terms of free ebooks, Amazon tends to have far more free ebooks available on a regular basis than B&N or Sony. They pop up daily, and may only be free for a short time. I pick up several every week. Have a look at ereaderiq.com, they list all of the currently free Amazon ebooks.

If you meant free public domain books, you can get those in virtually any format for any ereader.
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Old 06-08-2011, 06:17 PM   #3
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If you meant free public domain books, you can get those in virtually any format for any ereader.
I do! Thanks for clarifying.. I meant mainly classics that are no longer copyrighted. I've seen lots of places where they are available. Actually have a bunch on my computer that I used to keep on iTunes for my iPhone, but I don't care if I have to replace them. Its just a matter of looking them up elsewhere I'll bet..
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Old 06-08-2011, 08:12 PM   #4
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I do! Thanks for clarifying.. I meant mainly classics that are no longer copyrighted. I've seen lots of places where they are available. Actually have a bunch on my computer that I used to keep on iTunes for my iPhone, but I don't care if I have to replace them. Its just a matter of looking them up elsewhere I'll bet..
If you look at the top of the page, you'll see E-Books. Click on it and it will take you to the e-book section of the site. Click on Full List and you'll get a searchable list of all 20,000 books that have been uploaded to MobileRead. They are all free classics, and many of them are well proofed and formatted. Look especially for ones posted by HarryT, as his are very high quality and often have illustrations included.
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Old 06-09-2011, 09:30 AM   #5
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1. E-ink reader!

Pretty much all of the major e-readers have an e-ink screen. This should not be hard to find.

2. I want something that can take advantage of free books

All e-readers will be able to read those. You can download them from here or any number of sites in a wide variety of formats.

3. I know most people don't feel the same (in fact the e-reader industry doesn't seem to) but I want some simple apps. Not so much games & full web-browsing. I don't need movies or music. I DO want a calendar, calculator, rss reader, news, email would be nice. I have gotten free of the cell phone and love that, but I now find I don't want to go out and buy a watch a calculator or even really an ipod touch (etc). I think of my dream device as an e-ink reader with an electronic organizer built in.
Is there any device that comes with this at all?

I don't know of a device with this built in but I do know that the Kindle has a calendar app, calculator app, and notebook app that are $0.99 each. This gets you your organizer. The Kindle is the only e-ink e-reader that has 3G that allows you to use a full browser on it for news and email. Sony 950 has a WiFi browser that can be used. The Nook Classic has a browser but the new Nook does not.

You don't have to buy the games or use the MP3 player on any of the devices. I have never used the MP3 player on my Kindle but I do play the games from time to time. But it is a choice to put them on the device. If you don't want them, don't buy them. That actually works for all of the devices.

You can use Calibre to collect RSS feeds and news feeds and have them emailed to your Kindle. You can sideload the file to the Sony, Kobo, or Nook.

4. I would love a touch screen, but I would pass on it if it got me all of the above.

Amazon is the only major e-reader without a touch screen. This makes me happy but would make you sad.

Anybody who's seen my posts here probably knows I'm leaning toward the new Nook (and rooted if B&N does indeed plan on keeping it only a reader) but it has occurred to me that there may be a better choice that you guys know about..

I guess it looks to me like you have a choice between the Nook Touch and the Kindle 3. The Nook Touch has the touch screen that you want but does not have the browser that you want. If you are comfortable rooting the Nook Touch in order to get a browser then go with the Nook Touch.
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Old 06-09-2011, 01:39 PM   #6
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ProfCrash, that actually sounds really great! I need to go play with one of those, never seen one in person. I wonder if they will be releasing a touch one soon?
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Old 06-09-2011, 03:17 PM   #7
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There are rumors that Amazon will be releasing something touch screen for Christmas. The rumors mention a tablet though, so no idea if there is a touchscreen Kindle coming.

If you go to Best Buy you should be able to see a Nook Touch and a Kindle. If you go to Amazon's Kindle page and do a search on Calendar, Calculator, and Notepad you should be able to find the three apps I mentioned and read the reviews regarding them. That way you will be able to tell if the apps fit your needs.

The Kindle browser is not great. It works best on text based sites and if you use the mobile phone URL. People do use it for looking up news and email.

For some reason, BN removed the browser from the Nook Touch but a rooted Nook Touch should be able to use a browser because it is android based. I have no idea how that works. Either way, the browser experience on an e-reader is always going to be sub-optimal. It takes a while for the pages to change because of the way e-ink works to change pages.
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Old 06-09-2011, 04:31 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tom e View Post

2. I want something that can take advantage of free books, not just what any store wants me to buy. This was what first drew me to an e-reader. Call me cheap, but I view it as not buying a new toy, but saving money on a bunch of books.
All ereaders enable you to read public domain books, but one of the advantages of the kindle is that you can download public domain books directly to the device with the browser without having to sideload them. The nook does allow you to download public domain google books from their store, but those are ocr'd books that have not been proofread or edited. Quite frankly, their quality is horrible and often they are unreadable. With kindle, you can actually download two download guides, the mobileread download guide, and the project gutenberg catalogue. You can then search those catalogues for the book you want, and directly download them. You may also use the browser to go to sites like project gutenberg, mobileread, feedbooks, or manybooks.net and download books from the sites. You cannot use the browser to download books with the nook.


Quote:
Originally Posted by tom e View Post
3. I know most people don't feel the same (in fact the e-reader industry doesn't seem to) but I want some simple apps. Not so much games & full web-browsing. I don't need movies or music. I DO want a calendar, calculator, rss reader, news, email would be nice. I have gotten free of the cell phone and love that, but I now find I don't want to go out and buy a watch a calculator or even really an ipod touch (etc). I think of my dream device as an e-ink reader with an electronic organizer built in.
Is there any device that comes with this at all?
Both the nook and the kindle have newpapers and magazines that are delivered to the device. An advantage for kindle, however, is that it has thousands of blogs that you can subscribe to, like huffingtonpost, slashdot, and instapundit, which are updated throughout the day. The kindle also has apps, including a simple calculator. It does not have an email app, as far as I know; you could use the web browser to check email, but that might not be the most smooth process.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tom e View Post
4. I would love a touch screen, but I would pass on it if it got me all of the above.

Anybody who's seen my posts here probably knows I'm leaning toward the new Nook (and rooted if B&N does indeed plan on keeping it only a reader) but it has occurred to me that there may be a better choice that you guys know about..

Thanks in advance for any help in finding the 'match'!
Except for the lack of a touch screen, I would say that the Kindle 3 may be the best fit. Nevertheless, the nook touch does offer a superior and more intuitive navigational experience.
Last edited by spellbanisher; 06-09-2011 at 05:02 PM.
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Old 06-09-2011, 05:51 PM   #9
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Question on the Kindle 3G, since it's on sale right now.. Does anyone know if you get to use that 3G for the web browser or any apps that may require connection as well? Or is it strictly for the download of books. If it's only for downloads from Amazon, I'm leaning toward the wifi, otherwise I might go for the 3G.
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Old 06-09-2011, 06:06 PM   #10
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The 3G can be used for web browsing or downloading books.
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Old 06-09-2011, 08:14 PM   #11
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I have just bought an HTC Flyer (7"), which has Kobo e-book reader (Adobe ePub) and link to their shop preinstalled. Then I have downloaded Kindle app for Android, which links you to Amazon, and lets you read Kindle format. All the formats you. Anything you can do with your iPad you can do with HTC Flyer, and it has - in my opinion - more practical size, it even fits in your (bigger) pockets being the size of a normal pocket book.
Mine has wifi and 3G, but it comes in different versions, web surfing is fast and easy.

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