Cheap reader for pdfs, epub, googlebooks: PRS-T1?

[CedroRosso]

Hello! I've been lurking around this forums for quite some time, obsessing over what eReader I should buy for my girlfriend and I. Found a lot of advice that almost fits, but the threads always seem to degenerate into polemics over brands and between collectors of exotic devices (no offense guys). The answer always seems to be "buy something more expensive." So I guess I'll just have to out myself and ask...

My criteria are as follows:

(1) Under or around $150 (shipped within US)

(2) Reads pdfs as well as possible (please note that I have read through the many posts asking about eReaders and pdfs. I am fully aware that smaller, cheaper eReaders are not optimal, and that I should "really save up" for a larger reader or a tablet. This is not an option—I am a broke grad student studying nothing lucrative and do not foresee ever spending $300+. The pdfs I read are mostly text & I can check out the occasional diagram on my computer so long as I can get through all my reading on the device. I don't mind take notes on paper so as long as I can bookmark the page the note refers to i.e. I don't need to be able to take notes on the device).

(3) Technology that will be supported for years to come (please nothing "edgy" that will be discontinued shortly).

(4) Generally a pleasant device to read novels, literature, maybe magazines and newspapers (though this isn't essential) in my spare time, when I'm not trying to power through the anthropology pdfs that will be the devices primary purpose.

Currently I'm leading towards purchasing Sony's T1 when it is released (and if it works properly according to reviewers). Most of the complaints I've read regard its inferiority to prior models that I couldn't have afforded to begin with. I like that it natively supports epub, seems to have pretty good pdf software, and (as far as I can tell) can download straight from googlebooks (if I am wrong in this respect PLEASE let me know). The public library thing is really cool as well. The iRiver HD has also attracted my attention, but I haven't found much info on it. I am pretty against Kindles since I'd rather support a more open platform for digital publishing (like epub)... and the ad supported stuff kind of disgusts me. But I am open to any convincing arguments.

[charmian]

The new Sony sounds pretty reasonable for your needs, pending reviews. IIRC the d/ling from Google Books will be a new feature, so you might want to ask about this on the Sony forum once it comes out to see how well it's implemented.

That said, I don't think you can really fault the people on this forum for recommending the more expensive options; if someone comes on a car forum saying "I am looking for recommendations for a vehicle to go off-road with," people are going to recommend a 4-wheel drive vehicle, not a compact car.

[CedroRosso]

Oh don't misunderstand me, I'm not faulting anyone! Just trying to head off a long string of answers that will just make me jealous and sad about not being able to afford the reader I want . I really wish the price of larger devices was dropping as fast as the prices of the smaller ones... Still, I hope I'm not putting people off of responding; I really know very little about this topic. I suppose ultimately I'll have to just wait for the release, but it would be nice if someone with experience could tell me, for example, if the 650 (which the T1 is more or less an update of right?) reflows pdfs any better than, say, a pocketbook or nook or kindle or whatever?

That said, in the late 80s and early 90s Toyota was making 4x4 Tercels... One of my friend still rocks one, drives right down onto the beach with kayaks and boards! Umm... I've also noticed that people really like car metaphors on this forum

[charmian]

The Kindle doesn't reflow, I can tell you that. If you want to ask a question about which one reflows better, you might want to make a new topic specifically about that, putting the topic of reflow right in the title.

[CedroRosso]

Hmm good idea. Sorry for the amateur question but, before I post such a question, could you tell me I'm not mistaken in assuming that reflow is the only convenient way to view pfs on 6" ereaders? From what I've read, landscape view is also a possibility but involves laborious scrolling (and if the answer to the above question is yes and some benevolent moderator type person wants to change the title to "best pdf reflow on cheap 6"" that would be kind/miraculous).

Also, I'm still really curious about whether or not one will be able to read ebooks from googlebooks on the PRS-1... still haven't found a solid answer to this.

[log]

Originally Posted by CedroRosso

Also, I'm still really curious about whether or not one will be able to read ebooks from googlebooks on the PRS-1... still haven't found a solid answer to this.

Yeah, definitely Google Books access. You can see the link, but unfortunately not exactly how it will work because they didnt have WiFi at IFA 2011...

http://youtu.be/tUmCmK3ADCw?hd=1&t=2m5s

[charmian]

Re: Landscape mode: you can do it, but it still makes things smaller as the screen is not as tall as most pdfs are wide. I found it personally pretty unsatisfactory but YMMV. Note that some e-readers can't do PDF in landscape mode, although most can. (One that can't is the Nook STR, unless you root it and install different programs).

[polly]

Originally Posted by CedroRosso

Oh don't misunderstand me, I'm not faulting anyone! Just trying to head off a long string of answers that will just make me jealous and sad about not being able to afford the reader I want . I really wish the price of larger devices was dropping as fast as the prices of the smaller ones... Still, I hope I'm not putting people off of responding; I really know very little about this topic. I suppose ultimately I'll have to just wait for the release, but it would be nice if someone with experience could tell me, for example, if the 650 (which the T1 is more or less an update of right?) reflows pdfs any better than, say, a pocketbook or nook or kindle or whatever?

That said, in the late 80s and early 90s Toyota was making 4x4 Tercels... One of my friend still rocks one, drives right down onto the beach with kayaks and boards! Umm... I've also noticed that people really like car metaphors on this forum

The Sonys have always had a reputation for handling PDFs best and will reflow them if they've been OCRed into text. If each page is a picture, no reader is going to handle it well. I'd be surprised if Sony abandoned that support. You might look to see if you can find a 650 or 950 on clearance as the new models come out. People have reported seeing 650s for as low as $130 and the 950 has a slightly larger screen.

Have you looked at the books available here at MobileRead? Click on the link to the right of the screen that says "Full List" for a searchable list of books. I don't mean to fault Google Books, but a lot of the free books that they offer have only been scanned and OCRed. Look at them closely and you find lots of errors. The ones here have been proofread, corrected, given tables of content, and illustrations by people with a love of reading and books. I use Calibre to manage my entire library, so have never seen the need to be able to use WiFi or 3G to put books on my reader. My computer is readily available and Calibre does a fantastic job of organizing them to suit me.

[kennyc]

The Sony won't be optimal for PDFs or Magazines/newspapers but great otherwise. I have a Sony 505 I've used for years for epubs but it's not much good for pdfs.

[CedroRosso]

What does OCRing a pdf into text consist of? I think that most of the PDFs I'm dealing with are already in text form... if the document is searchable then it is in text form, right? Also, isn't one of the issues ereaders have with pdfs simply a matter of processing power? I'd be interested to know how the T1's CPU and ram stack up against the Kindle, but can't seem to find this info.

[Zetmolm]

Text form is not enough. PDFs must have been created as Tagged PDF to allow reflowing. That's quite easy to do. Unfortunately, most creators of PDFs don't tick the box.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by kennyc

The Sony won't be optimal for PDFs or Magazines/newspapers but great otherwise. I have a Sony 505 I've used for years for epubs but it's not much good for pdfs.

Although the Sony PRSx50 models may not be 'perfect' they are a lot better than the PRS505 for PDFs. We have to hope that the new PRS-T1 won't have gone backwards!

For anyone interested, this post has a lot of good info about Sony's current PDF capabilities.

[CedroRosso]

@Zet: How does one check if a PDF is tagged or not? Is it possible to tag PDFs after the fact? Are PDFs downloaded from more legit academic sources such as JSTOR generally tagged?

@Jackie: Thanks for the link, might prove useful, though I'm hoping that since I'm reading almost uniformly text social science articles that I won't have to go through so many steps... am I being naive?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by CedroRosso

@Jackie: Thanks for the link, might prove useful, though I'm hoping that since I'm reading almost uniformly text social science articles that I won't have to go through so many steps... am I being naive?

Don't panic I don't think you would need to scan/OCR all your articles. If it's an article you want to read many times it would be worth learning how to crop all the useless whitespace margins around the PDF edges. This is done on the PC not the reader. The free cropper Briss is very good. It should take you less than 15 minutes to learn how to use it the first time.

If your articles are laid out in 2 or 3 columns then the PDF software on the Sony PRSx50s can be told to read your PDF that way. I'm not sure whether other readers have the same capability.

The Sonys can also be set to darken the text in your PDF. I've found this very helpful.

If your articles are plain text single-column PDFs and don't have headers/footers on every page then a simple PDF-to-epub (or mobi) using Calibre may work perfectly well. Minimal effort is required to do that and the result would be readable on any reader.

Every PDF will be different. You have to mix-and-match the various PC utilities and reader PDF features to get the best result you can with the minimum effort you're prepared to put in.

If you want to post a typical PDF article (non-copyright, of course), I'd be happy to post some screencaps from my PRS650 or a Calibre-converted epub.

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by CedroRosso

@Zet: How does one check if a PDF is tagged or not? Is it possible to tag PDFs after the fact? Are PDFs downloaded from more legit academic sources such as JSTOR generally tagged?

Open the PDF in Adobe reader on your PC, go to File - Properties, and at the bottom of the Description tab you'll see whether or not the PDF is tagged.

If a PDF is not tagged, you cannot tag it after the fact unless you have the source file(s).

I don't know about academic sources, but PDFs I've seen from other legit sources are often untagged.