eReaders for the book-averse

[sigma8]

I've lurked here for a couple days, and I think I've figured out all I can figure without creating a disturbance and rousing some discussion to bounce some ideas around.

I don't think my goals are adequately met by any current eBook reader, since what I mostly need is a nice reader for PDF's and websites (pre-cached is fine, it wouldn't need to be live; altho live would be nice). Basically, I want a tablet PC with an eInk screen. The PlasticLogic sounds promising, but that's neither here nor now.

Disclaimer being made, I would like to start experimenting with eBook readers sooner rather than later. Not only for my own personal use, but also to explore as a platform for proprietary content delivery (not necessarily DRM'ed). For example: trying to sell the top brass on using a eBook reader for corporate document delivery, or using it to distribute custom course materials for a class.

I'm not interested in mobi or books from the Amazon or Sony stores. All of the books I've ever bought or would probably be telling anyone else to buy are from specific publishers, and I've never seen anything on offer other than PDF. And I'm talking specific books. I'm not trying to satiate a reading hobby--I don't read as a hobby. I'm generally after specific material.

I like the Sony readers for their PDF support, format-flexibility, and their user-interface. I dislike them because I'm frustrated that the 700 would be great if only its screen was like the 505, and the 505 would be great if only it had the PDF support and features of the 700. The Kindle is not my first choice, but I'm intrigued by its wireless possibilities and how much they can accomplish when you're trying to get at non-Amazon data. The Kindle will also likely be most popular, so if I'm looking at eBook readers as a platform for data-sharing, the Kindle may be more worthwhile to explore, since more people will probably buy them, but ideally I'd like to be able to generate platform-agnostic content.

So, does anyone else here load their device with a lot of converted/self-generated content? How does it work out and how does it look? How good is the Kindle's web browsing? Sony users: how bad is 505 PDF reading? Sony 700 owners: how jealous are you of the 505's screen? How is the glare on your eyes?

I'm really making my brain implode over this decision, when the reality is that if I like this device, I'll probably become a fan of the technology and upgrade periodically. Maybe that means I should buy the cheapest one I can at the moment?

[DDHarriman]

Hi

What you are looking for is the Irex Digital Reader.

Good shopping,

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by sigma8

So, does anyone else here load their device with a lot of converted/self-generated content? How does it work out and how does it look? How good is the Kindle's web browsing? Sony users: how bad is 505 PDF reading? Sony 700 owners: how jealous are you of the 505's screen? How is the glare on your eyes?

The 505 has the exact same PDF abilities as the 700.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The 505 has the exact same PDF abilities as the 700.

i think the 700 has improved zooming abilities which might be useful if the pdfs contain images or diagrams. also the 700 is *much* faster.

[zelda_pinwheel]

to try to reply to the original question, i have a 700 and the difference in display quality is pretty flagrant when placed side-by-side with a 505 but much less noticeable when taken on its own. if you had a 505 already and were used to that screen, you might be bothered by it, but if you do get it as your first device you could easily discover that it doesn't bother you (as i and many others have) and consider that the improved ergonomy and other features make up for it. note, i don't think it's perfect, and i do plan to upgrade someday for a device which has the ergonomy and features of the 700 and hopefully more still) and a better screen, but i do think it's a very good device nonetheless and the UI and ergonomy are worlds better than other devices currently available, and this is important to me.

you might want to wait just a couple of months before you decide ; ceBit is coming at the beginning of march and we may see some new devices announced there.

[desertgrandma]

Welcome to MobileRead, Sigma8.

I'm sorry you don't read for a hobby, but at least you read!

[sigma8]

Originally Posted by DDHarriman

What you are looking for is the Irex Digital Reader.

I agree, but I can't really find many nice things said about that reader or that company. Since I may be recommending purchases, I don't want to recommend poor quality products. If anyone has great iRex experiences (especially with the company) I'd love to hear about them. Companies can change, and sometimes people are too stubborn to see it.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The 505 has the exact same PDF abilities as the 700.

I thought the 700 could zoom and pan? Also, doesn't it have more colors greys? That seems like it'd be a major improvement for image-based or image-heavy PDF's.

Here's a thought: does the 505 let you scroll/zoom through non-PDF image formats? Like GIF or JPEG? I'm not completely against finding some way to convert PDF to another format--so long as it retains all its detail. I may try making another trip to the Sony store today, this time armed with an SD card with PDF's. Hopefully they'll let me tinker.

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

you might want to wait just a couple of months before you decide ; ceBit is coming at the beginning of march and we may see some new devices announced there.

Thanks Zelda, your comments on the screen were very helpful, and that's good advice about ceBit. I had read somewhere else that we just had the other major show in Jan, but I forgot about ceBit. March 3-8 isn't far away and I see Sony Deutschland is on the exhibitor list!

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Welcome to MobileRead, Sigma8.

I'm sorry you don't read for a hobby, but at least you read!

Thanks, DG. I've been impressed by your comprehensive welcomes And I would read for a hobby (because I like stories), but I'm basically staring at text all day for work, and also for a good part of my free time (in the form of information-surfing), so outside of that, I usually prefer to use my eyes for something else--you know, to remind me there are more things than letters in the world!

So I know I sound pretty Sony-decided (albeit torn between the two), but honestly I'm hoping to hear from anyone who might be loading their devices primarily with generated content. Anyone up to that? I still would like to hear how nice the Kindle's web browser is (or is reasonably expected to become), because that could truly be a sudden ace in the hole for Kindle.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by sigma8

I still would like to hear how nice the Kindle's web browser is (or is reasonably expected to become), because that could truly be a sudden ace in the hole for Kindle.

We'll know if there is a difference between the Kindle 1 and Kindle 2 browsers next week.

As for Kindle 1, it's serviceable in a pinch but not good for heavy surfing (you'll go insane). Mobile sites without a lot of images are better for the Kindle.

You do have 30 days to try out a Kindle (if you're in the U.S.) and run it though as many work environment simulations as you need.

How soon do you need to implement these readers?

[zelda_pinwheel]

yes, the 700 zoom feature can zoom and pan ; you can choose the level of zoom using a slider, and move around the document by dragging with your finger / stylus or by touching (clicking) one of the arrows located on each edge of the screen. this is good for images although a bit slow ; i don't think it would be comfortable for reading text.

as for generated content, what do you mean exactly ? i read a lot of "generated" content in the sense content i've transformed into an ebook myself (rss feeds, homemade ebooks...) and depending on the format it works perfectly well. epub is my format of choice and i've got really no problems as such to mention.

[sigma8]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

As for Kindle 1, it's serviceable in a pinch but not good for heavy surfing (you'll go insane). Mobile sites without a lot of images are better for the Kindle.

You do have 30 days to try out a Kindle (if you're in the U.S.) and run it though as many work environment simulations as you need.

How soon do you need to implement these readers?

There's no mandate, it would be my own initiative, so there's no particular timeline. That's an excellent point about return policies (and not just the Kindle's), maybe I should take advantage of that. As for the web browsing, I'm not looking for FireFox-caliber browsing. In fact, I might be pointing it at URL's that I design myself, intentionally providing filtered or reader-friendly content.

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

yes, the 700 zoom feature can zoom and pan ; [snip] this is good for images although a bit slow ; i don't think it would be comfortable for reading text.

as for generated content, what do you mean exactly ? i read a lot of "generated" content in the sense content i've transformed into an ebook myself (rss feeds, homemade ebooks...) and depending on the format it works perfectly well. epub is my format of choice and i've got really no problems as such to mention.

Yes, that's a lot of what I mean. Other parts would include HTML pages, other PDF's, or DOC/TXT/RTF files. That's good to hear. Back to the pan & zoom...when you go from page to page, does it reset your zoom-level and positioning? E.g. if you had a document with large margins, and you zoomed in a bit and positioning it so that you effectively cropped the margin away (in terms of viewable area), would the reader retain that zoomlevel/positioning when you flipped pages?

Slightly funny story.. I made that trip to the Sony store today, taking an SD card with me (2 gigs). This is the card I store some website files on, and files to bring back and forth between home and office. To help test out the Sony readers, I threw some PDF files on there.. Including some PDF books I bought, an image-heavy PDF, and a PDF with equations and things that I probably won't need, but would like to see how it does.

At the store, a salesguy was practically napping by leaning on the eBook stand. I told him I was considering Sony readers, and was interested in their PDF support. He really didn't know anything about the PDF support, other than it existed. I asked him if I could try a card I brought with PDF's, and he said sure. So he took the card and wanted to put it in.

Nothing additional showed up on the Reader. We poked around the menu a few times, and he said he didn't even know how PDF's are supposed to work, or how they'd show up in the menus. So he took the card out, and I tried it in the 700. No dice there either. Then I was looking at the user guide on a separate 505 and he decided to try it again in the first 505. Sadly, he jammed the placeholder SD thing in and couldn't get it out. So he spent 2-3 minutes trying to get that out.

Then we tried it and no luck. Then he wanted to try again in the 700, and proceeded to jump through the settings, and formatted the internal memory (bye bye demo eBooks!) Of course, that didn't work! When I pointed out that he just erased the whole thing, he hastily tried putting the placeholder SD thing back in, and hoping they'd load off of that.

Ultimately, he shrugged it off. Not much he could do. He was a nice guy, and definitely made every effort to be helpful. While he can be blamed for a couple things, he can't be blamed for not figuring out why my SD card couldn't be read. After I tried it in a laptop there (with permission) using a reader, it wouldn't mount, and I realized it was formatted to be readable on macs only (doh! forgot!)...so I was kind of tricky like that.

Anyway, it didn't turn out to be a very informative trip. I'll have to make another. The salesguy did say he greatly preferred the 505, calling the 700's screen a glarefest and blurry. I was actually a little surprised that at some angles, the 700 really looked good. Head-on didn't seem to be its strongest angle. In isolation, the 505's were lower-contrast than I remembered, but next to the 700 they were always higher contrast.