E-ink in the land of Oz...

[obzenic]

Hello everyone,

I'm interested in buying an ebook reader...
I'm a student and have many course notes which are digitally available. Most of the time in office formats but occasionally in PDF. This isn't a dealbreaker though, because i'm happy to convert PDF to viewable images for use on the device.

I'm prepared to spend up to about AU$400 (roughly US$360ish).

The reason i'm bothering to start a thread is because I just can't find them here in Australia. I've got no idea where even to start and i'd love to be able to tinker briefly with a device before I drop a few dollars to buy it.

Must be e-ink.
Annotation would rock - but i'm thinking i've priced myself out of that game.
Searchability would also rock but i'm guessing that leaves the irex and the kindle - both which seem a little difficult to get over here.

I am willing to buy from overseas (if anyone can suggest a reputable seller) - but it would be cool to see in person first.

Don't care about brands

Any comments/responses/suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[ePossum]

AUS$400 won't get you an iLiad - however - Dymocks sell iLiads, and it's posible to have a look at one in some of their stores. You might find this useful in terms of seeing what an e-ink display looks like, and understanding about screen sizes (most of the other e-reading devices have significantly smaller screens). iLiad is good for annotation, and for reading pdfs (smaller screens are generally not so great for reading pdfs)

I looked at the iLiad before buying at a Dymocks store at 234 Collins St Melbourne (not sure if their other Melbourne stores have one on site). The dymocks website says that you can look at the iLiad at the Sydney George St store.

[obzenic]

Hi! Thanks for the quick reply...

I had absolutely no idea Dymocks sold the iliad here at all.
The George St. one is (vaguely) near my uni so i might try and check it out after an exam or something.

[basshead]

Hi Obzenic

I thought the iLiad & the Kindle were ridiculously expensive so I decided to buy a Hanlin V3 direct from the Jinke company in China. It finished up costing me around Oz$450 including bank fees & delivery. Had it a few months now & have found it a predominantly positive experience. The firmware is always being updated in both China & the Ukraine (it's sold as an lBook in Europe). Handles a lot of different file formats - some better than others. Unfortunately you can only pay by a bank transfer (no online transactions) but everything went very smoothly & received the device in about 10 days, with online delivery tracking provided. All up - very good value for money compared to others.

[PDS]

Hi Obzenic

I got a Sony Reader PRS-505 from Ebay, it ended up costing just under $300 including shipping. I think its an excellent value for money reader compared to some, as we always seem to dip out with the exchange rate buying from Europe (i.e. Cybook).

Good luck finding your ideal reader!

Cheers
Dawn

[RCR]

I got a Sony 505 for about $300USD last Christmas and I've been very happy with it.

But it's not good with pdf files. PDF's can sometimes be converted to a format the Sony is happy with. But if your pdf has footnotes or tables or illustrations or similar stuff that text books have, you'll be disappointed. I still read a lot of pdf books on my desktop computer rather than my Sony reader. Apparently the iLiad does better.

obzenic - I don't know why you're insisting on e-ink.

If you can live without e-ink, a cheapie laptop would be more flexible and more useful for a student. The Asus eee is now being sold for under $400. I've got one of those - it's rugged, small, has wi-fi and you can beef it up with more RAM and a big memory card and Win XP. You can read any format Windows can handle. You can also edit, take notes, print, email, etc - stuff you can't do on a Sony Reader.

[HarryT]

What's the battery life like on your EEE? That's where eInk devices really "shine" (other than the iLiad). Both the Sony and the Gen3 can run for a couple of weeks between charges.

[RCR]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What's the battery life like on your EEE? That's where eInk devices really "shine" (other than the iLiad). Both the Sony and the Gen3 can run for a couple of weeks between charges.

Yes, you're right. I forgot that. A downside of laptops is the battery life - about 3 hours for the Asus.

[ePossum]

obzenic - I don't know why you're insisting on e-ink.

The new low cost mini laptops are certainly an option (and not just eee - plenty of others are entering the fray over the next few months) - however - I think that e-ink is worth considering by anyone who is spending long hours reading high volumes of dense material for study. Some of us (not saying everyone ... ) find e-ink significantly easier on the eyes.

What's the battery life like on your EEE? That's where eInk devices really "shine" (other than the iLiad). Both the Sony and the Gen3 can run for a couple of weeks between charges.

iLiad battery life might not be as good as the Sony or Gen3 - but I've used it for 7 hour stretches (with a bit of annotating on the wacom along the way) without a problem.

[HarryT]

The iLiad battery life is excellent if you're comparing it with a laptop - people have reported getting 15h from it reading Mobi books. It's just not in the same "league" as the other eInk devices, but that's certainly not a problem if you're in a position to charge every day or so.

[obzenic]

Hi everyone - very thankful for all the responses...

I considered the Hanlin device - it's not out of contention yet.
Likewise for the Sony 505 - mainly because I've actually seen it a few times for around $260ish (not including shipping - probably about $40ish).

RCR - you know I actually gave someone that exact advice the other day?
I think at least part of my want for it is to kind of seperate out these devices so that different things explicitly get used for different tasks.

However, I do quite like the Eee and i'm competent enough with a soldering iron to graft a touch screen to it, which i'd like But with Dell entering that game - i'm inclined to wait a little longer... Or hold out until the 11th of July and maybe pick up an iphone in place of a tiny laptop - that decision would be certain if I could get the thing attached to a bluetooth keyboard and get some kind of video out happening

All suggestions are very welcome though and honestly now thinking about it - i'm quite open to the option of a non-eink device if I can get sufficient use out of its other characteristics.

[HarryT]

If you want an eBook reader, I honestly don't think that the iPhone is a good choice at all! All it can read is unencrypted PDF files, and even that is extremely laborious; you have to scroll around each page to view it. Certainly not a good eBook reader! I have an iPod Touch myself (an iPhone minus the phone), and much as I like it for other things, I'd never use it for reading books on.

[obzenic]

no no - eww... Sorry, I agree, the screen is too small on iphone for me to even think about reading ebooks on it.

My last post isn't super clear, I meant more that i'm tempted to buy one and use it for things like web browsing etc... Which would take away most of the impetus I have for considering say, an Eee over a Sony 505 or something.

[cbell]

Planning a visit to Melbourne? You can have an iLiad, Cybook Gen3 or HanLin V3 demonstration ... We have all 3 available.

Email Central Book Services or DA Information Services for more information. (Email addresses at links below)