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Paper? That's like a baby's toy! [eReaders]
Bionic Monkey
Registered User, ClubPA regular
Registered User, ClubPA regular
It's the future, motherfuckers!
Once again, Star Trek managed to predict the future, but overshot by about 300 years. E-book readers are have been around for a while now, but they're about to hit critical mass. For the last several years, there have only been two real contenders, Sony's line of various ebook readers, and then the Kindle, which quickly caught on and took about 60% of the market. This showed everybody else that there's actually a market for these things, and we're right on the cusp of being inundated with ebook readers.
Let's look at the major contenders.
The Amazon Kindle
This is the third generation Kindle hardware, and a number of changes have occurred since the last hardware revision. The body, though similar looking to the Gen 2 Kindle, is 21% smaller, while retaining the same size screen, and the weight has been similarly reduced. Additionally, the battery life has been doubled to last up to a month with wireless turned off.
Aside from color choices, there are also three variations of the 6" device, one with 3G capabilities, which has been standard since the Kindle was first announced, and a cheaper wi-fi only version, which was a direct response to growing competition from the Kobo and Nook. In April 2011, Amazon announced a third ad-supported version of the Kindle device. It has wi-fi capability, but no 3G, looks identical to the other versions of the device, and is $25 cheaper. Instead of the standard screen saver the Kindle displays when the device is in sleep-mode, special offers will display instead. Additionally, when you're in the menu screen, banner ads will be visible. Amazon has stated that the reading experience will remain unchanged, and no ads will appear anywhere else on the device, especially not within the books themselves.
If you have a growing library of Kindle books, but don't want to keep the Kindle with you everywhere you go to read them, the Kindle library is also available on a growing number of devices via free software. You can read your Kindle books on the PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android and Blackberry. You do not have to own a Kindle to purchase books through these applications. Additionally, starting in January of 2011, Amazon updated the Kindle software to allow for book lending between devices, a service the Nook has offered since launch. Restrictions on the service are identical to the Nook's restrictions (ie: the loan period expires after two weeks, a book can only be loaned a single time).
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 7.5" x 4.8" x 0.3"
*Weight - 3G = 8.7 oz. | WiFi = 8.5 oz.
*Storage - 4GB
*Battery - 1 month (with wireless off)
*Reading - Eight font sizes, and three font types
*Library - Over 850,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs from Amazon.com
plus 1.8 million free out of print books via archive.org.
*Formats - Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible, MP3, nonDRM MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
Cost 3G = $189.00 | WiFi = $139.00 | WiFi w/ad support = $114.00
Aimed at the professional and student market, the Kindle DX has a much larger display area for those that need a lot of information on screen at once, such as with technical manuals. The Kindle DX also has 3G capabilities, but does not offer a wifi-only version.
Specs
*9.7" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.4"
*Weight - 18.9 oz.
*Storage - 4GB
*Battery - 2-3 weeks (with wireless off)
*Reading - Eight sizes
*Library - Over 850,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs from Amazon.
*Formats - Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible, MP3, nonDRM MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC,
JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
Cost $379.00
The Barnes & Noble Nook
Still technically on it's first generation of hardware, the Nook has gone through a number of changes over the last year, since it was initially released. Like the Kindle, it started with a single 3G capable device, but eventually released a wi-fi only device to drive costs down, and help compete with the Kobo.
The Nook features a 6" eInk screen for reading, but uses a 3.5" LCD color touch screen for navigating menus and your library. Like the Kindle, the Nook has apps available on a number of other devices that allow reading books purchased through the Nook store, even if you lack a Nook reader. The Nook boasts the ability to loan out books to friends and family with Nook devices. Note though that lending is limited to one loan per book, and the loan expires after two weeks. Additionally, Amazon has since included this ability with the Kindle line.
The Nook is frequently updated with firmware updates, and overall Barnes & Noble seems very responsive to customer feedback on the device.
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*3.5" LCD color touch screen
*Size - 7.7" x 4.8" x 0.5"
*Weight - 3G = 12.1 oz. | WiFi = 11.6 oz.
*Storage - 2GB (expandable with 16GB SD card)
*Battery - 10 Days (with wireless off)
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - Over 2 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDB, PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3
Cost 3G = $199.00 | WiFi = $149.00
Barnes & Noble recently released the first change in the Nook hardware, the NOOKcolor. This seems to be a direct response to the entry of Apple's iPad into the eReader market, and seems to be more of a mini-tablet device instead of a dedicated eReader.
The NOOKcolor does away with the eInk screen altogether, and instead has gone to a 7" full-color LCD touch screen. Full web and e-mail capabilities, along with apps and gaming seem to place this firmly in the "tablet computer" category, but Barnes & Noble is still touting it as an eReader. The device is wifi capable, but does not include a 3G option.
Specs
*7" Diagonal LCD color touch screen (1024 x 600 resolution)
*Size - 8.1" x 5.0" x 0.5"
*Weight - 15.8 oz.
*Storage - 8GB (expandable with 32GB SD card)
*Battery - 8 Hours (with wireless off)
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - Over 2 million books. Magazine subscriptions are available through the Nook NewsStand.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, XLS, DOC, PPT, PPS, TXT, DOCM, XLSM, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM, DOCX, XLX, PPTX, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3, AAC, MP4
Cost $249.00
The Indigo Kobo
Presented as a minimalist alternative to the other eReaders on the market, the Kobo is largely a Canadian device, though it is sold via Borders here in the US.
The Kobo is available in three colors, Metallic Silver, Pearlized Lilac, and Onyx. Features are largely similar to the other offerings, including a 6" eInk screen, and wifi capabilities, though no 3G version is available.
The Kobo will read both EPUB and PDF files, making it compatible with most 3rd party ebook stores, as well as local libraries that offer ebook lending.
It is unknown at this time what effect, if any, the Chapter 11 filing by Borders will have on the Kobo.
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 7.2" x 4.7" x 0.4"
*Weight - 7.8 oz.
*Storage - 1GB (expandable with 32GB SD card)
*Battery - 10 Days (with wireless off)
*Reading - Five font sizes, and two font types
*Library - 2.2 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF
Cost $139.00
The Sony Reader
The Apple iPad
Apple recently released the second generation of its tablet computer, the iPad. Billed as more of a multi-media device than an eReader, it none the less has that feature built in, along with all the other games, music and movie watching capabilities. The iPad features a LCD touch screen, running iOS 4.3. This screen is also its largest drawback, as it reduces battery life to only 10 hours, and for some, reading on an LCD screen induces eye fatigue.
The variations of the iPad are legion. There are three primary sizes, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Of those three sizes, there are wifi-only versions, as well as 3G capable versions. The 3G capable versions also are available either through AT&T or Verizon. And of those nine possible models, you can also get it in either black or white, making for 18 possible iPad combinations.
One of the truly stand-out features of the iPad is the fact that it has access to the largest library of books out of all devices available. This is primarily due to the fact that, in addition to the iBookstore, the iPad also has apps for the Kindle and Nook, including access to all the books available to those devices.
Specs
*10" Diagonal LCD screen
*Size - 9.5” x 7.3” x 0.34”
*Weight - 1.33 lbs. (1.35 lbs. for AT&T, 1.34 lbs. for Verizon)
*Storage - 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
*Battery - 10 Hours
*Reading - Multiple options, depending on book
*Library - 200,000 books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF
Cost 16GB = $499.00 | 16GB 3G = $629.00 | 32GB = $599.00 | 32GB 3G = $729.00 | 64GB = 699.00 | 64GB 3G = $829.00
Once again, Star Trek managed to predict the future, but overshot by about 300 years. E-book readers are have been around for a while now, but they're about to hit critical mass. For the last several years, there have only been two real contenders, Sony's line of various ebook readers, and then the Kindle, which quickly caught on and took about 60% of the market. This showed everybody else that there's actually a market for these things, and we're right on the cusp of being inundated with ebook readers.
Let's look at the major contenders.
The Amazon Kindle
This is the third generation Kindle hardware, and a number of changes have occurred since the last hardware revision. The body, though similar looking to the Gen 2 Kindle, is 21% smaller, while retaining the same size screen, and the weight has been similarly reduced. Additionally, the battery life has been doubled to last up to a month with wireless turned off.
Aside from color choices, there are also three variations of the 6" device, one with 3G capabilities, which has been standard since the Kindle was first announced, and a cheaper wi-fi only version, which was a direct response to growing competition from the Kobo and Nook. In April 2011, Amazon announced a third ad-supported version of the Kindle device. It has wi-fi capability, but no 3G, looks identical to the other versions of the device, and is $25 cheaper. Instead of the standard screen saver the Kindle displays when the device is in sleep-mode, special offers will display instead. Additionally, when you're in the menu screen, banner ads will be visible. Amazon has stated that the reading experience will remain unchanged, and no ads will appear anywhere else on the device, especially not within the books themselves.
If you have a growing library of Kindle books, but don't want to keep the Kindle with you everywhere you go to read them, the Kindle library is also available on a growing number of devices via free software. You can read your Kindle books on the PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android and Blackberry. You do not have to own a Kindle to purchase books through these applications. Additionally, starting in January of 2011, Amazon updated the Kindle software to allow for book lending between devices, a service the Nook has offered since launch. Restrictions on the service are identical to the Nook's restrictions (ie: the loan period expires after two weeks, a book can only be loaned a single time).
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 7.5" x 4.8" x 0.3"
*Weight - 3G = 8.7 oz. | WiFi = 8.5 oz.
*Storage - 4GB
*Battery - 1 month (with wireless off)
*Reading - Eight font sizes, and three font types
*Library - Over 850,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs from Amazon.com
plus 1.8 million free out of print books via archive.org.
*Formats - Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible, MP3, nonDRM MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
Cost 3G = $189.00 | WiFi = $139.00 | WiFi w/ad support = $114.00
Aimed at the professional and student market, the Kindle DX has a much larger display area for those that need a lot of information on screen at once, such as with technical manuals. The Kindle DX also has 3G capabilities, but does not offer a wifi-only version.
Specs
*9.7" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.4"
*Weight - 18.9 oz.
*Storage - 4GB
*Battery - 2-3 weeks (with wireless off)
*Reading - Eight sizes
*Library - Over 850,000 books, newspapers, magazines and blogs from Amazon.
*Formats - Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible, MP3, nonDRM MOBI, PRC, HTML, DOC,
JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP
Cost $379.00
The Barnes & Noble Nook
Still technically on it's first generation of hardware, the Nook has gone through a number of changes over the last year, since it was initially released. Like the Kindle, it started with a single 3G capable device, but eventually released a wi-fi only device to drive costs down, and help compete with the Kobo.
The Nook features a 6" eInk screen for reading, but uses a 3.5" LCD color touch screen for navigating menus and your library. Like the Kindle, the Nook has apps available on a number of other devices that allow reading books purchased through the Nook store, even if you lack a Nook reader. The Nook boasts the ability to loan out books to friends and family with Nook devices. Note though that lending is limited to one loan per book, and the loan expires after two weeks. Additionally, Amazon has since included this ability with the Kindle line.
The Nook is frequently updated with firmware updates, and overall Barnes & Noble seems very responsive to customer feedback on the device.
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*3.5" LCD color touch screen
*Size - 7.7" x 4.8" x 0.5"
*Weight - 3G = 12.1 oz. | WiFi = 11.6 oz.
*Storage - 2GB (expandable with 16GB SD card)
*Battery - 10 Days (with wireless off)
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - Over 2 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDB, PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3
Cost 3G = $199.00 | WiFi = $149.00
Barnes & Noble recently released the first change in the Nook hardware, the NOOKcolor. This seems to be a direct response to the entry of Apple's iPad into the eReader market, and seems to be more of a mini-tablet device instead of a dedicated eReader.
The NOOKcolor does away with the eInk screen altogether, and instead has gone to a 7" full-color LCD touch screen. Full web and e-mail capabilities, along with apps and gaming seem to place this firmly in the "tablet computer" category, but Barnes & Noble is still touting it as an eReader. The device is wifi capable, but does not include a 3G option.
Specs
*7" Diagonal LCD color touch screen (1024 x 600 resolution)
*Size - 8.1" x 5.0" x 0.5"
*Weight - 15.8 oz.
*Storage - 8GB (expandable with 32GB SD card)
*Battery - 8 Hours (with wireless off)
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - Over 2 million books. Magazine subscriptions are available through the Nook NewsStand.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, XLS, DOC, PPT, PPS, TXT, DOCM, XLSM, PPTM, PPSX, PPSM, DOCX, XLX, PPTX, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3, AAC, MP4
Cost $249.00
The Indigo Kobo
Presented as a minimalist alternative to the other eReaders on the market, the Kobo is largely a Canadian device, though it is sold via Borders here in the US.
The Kobo is available in three colors, Metallic Silver, Pearlized Lilac, and Onyx. Features are largely similar to the other offerings, including a 6" eInk screen, and wifi capabilities, though no 3G version is available.
The Kobo will read both EPUB and PDF files, making it compatible with most 3rd party ebook stores, as well as local libraries that offer ebook lending.
It is unknown at this time what effect, if any, the Chapter 11 filing by Borders will have on the Kobo.
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 7.2" x 4.7" x 0.4"
*Weight - 7.8 oz.
*Storage - 1GB (expandable with 32GB SD card)
*Battery - 10 Days (with wireless off)
*Reading - Five font sizes, and two font types
*Library - 2.2 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF
Cost $139.00
The Sony Reader
The Daily Edition
Sony seems to have been in the eReader game the longest out of everybody on this list. The Daily Edition is their most current version of their reader, and as an attempt to catch up on all the features that the Kindle and the Nook brought to the fight. It boasts a 7" touch screen eInk display, along with 3G capabilities. Stock on Sony's two readers appears to be drying up, but news on why is difficult to come across. They may be dropping out of direct competition with Amazon & Barnes and Noble, or they may be gearing up to launch new revisions soon.
Specs
*7" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 7.9" x 5" x 0.4"
*Weight - 9.6 oz.
*Storage - 2GB (expandable with 32GB card)
*Battery - 3 Weeks (with wireless off)
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - 1 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, BBeB
Cost $299.99
The Touch Edition
The mid-range Sony reader, this model offers full touch screen capability. No wireless ability is available, so a computer is necessary for loading books.
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 6.6" x 4.7" x 0.4"
*Weight - 7.6 oz.
*Storage - 2GB (expandable with 32GB card)
*Battery - 2 Weeks
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - 1 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, BBeB
Cost $229.99
The Pocket Edition
The entry-level Sony offering. Like the Touch and the Daily, this model offers a full touch screen, and like the touch, no wireless ability. The size is the biggest selling point with this model, as the screen is a mere 5", making it the most compact of the available eReaders.
Availability of the three Sony eReaders appears to be in flux at the moment, and it's unclear whether this is due to the line being refreshed, discontinued, or simply in short supply.
Specs
*5" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 5.7" x 4.1" x 0.3"
*Weight - 5.5 oz.
*Storage - 512MB
*Battery - 2 Weeks
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - 1 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, BBeB
Cost $179.99
Sony seems to have been in the eReader game the longest out of everybody on this list. The Daily Edition is their most current version of their reader, and as an attempt to catch up on all the features that the Kindle and the Nook brought to the fight. It boasts a 7" touch screen eInk display, along with 3G capabilities. Stock on Sony's two readers appears to be drying up, but news on why is difficult to come across. They may be dropping out of direct competition with Amazon & Barnes and Noble, or they may be gearing up to launch new revisions soon.
Specs
*7" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 7.9" x 5" x 0.4"
*Weight - 9.6 oz.
*Storage - 2GB (expandable with 32GB card)
*Battery - 3 Weeks (with wireless off)
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - 1 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, BBeB
Cost $299.99
The Touch Edition
The mid-range Sony reader, this model offers full touch screen capability. No wireless ability is available, so a computer is necessary for loading books.
Specs
*6" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 6.6" x 4.7" x 0.4"
*Weight - 7.6 oz.
*Storage - 2GB (expandable with 32GB card)
*Battery - 2 Weeks
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - 1 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, BBeB
Cost $229.99
The Pocket Edition
The entry-level Sony offering. Like the Touch and the Daily, this model offers a full touch screen, and like the touch, no wireless ability. The size is the biggest selling point with this model, as the screen is a mere 5", making it the most compact of the available eReaders.
Availability of the three Sony eReaders appears to be in flux at the moment, and it's unclear whether this is due to the line being refreshed, discontinued, or simply in short supply.
Specs
*5" Diagonal eInk screen
*Size - 5.7" x 4.1" x 0.3"
*Weight - 5.5 oz.
*Storage - 512MB
*Battery - 2 Weeks
*Reading - Six font sizes
*Library - 1 million books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF, DOC, TXT, RTF, BBeB
Cost $179.99
The Apple iPad
Apple recently released the second generation of its tablet computer, the iPad. Billed as more of a multi-media device than an eReader, it none the less has that feature built in, along with all the other games, music and movie watching capabilities. The iPad features a LCD touch screen, running iOS 4.3. This screen is also its largest drawback, as it reduces battery life to only 10 hours, and for some, reading on an LCD screen induces eye fatigue.
The variations of the iPad are legion. There are three primary sizes, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Of those three sizes, there are wifi-only versions, as well as 3G capable versions. The 3G capable versions also are available either through AT&T or Verizon. And of those nine possible models, you can also get it in either black or white, making for 18 possible iPad combinations.
One of the truly stand-out features of the iPad is the fact that it has access to the largest library of books out of all devices available. This is primarily due to the fact that, in addition to the iBookstore, the iPad also has apps for the Kindle and Nook, including access to all the books available to those devices.
Specs
*10" Diagonal LCD screen
*Size - 9.5” x 7.3” x 0.34”
*Weight - 1.33 lbs. (1.35 lbs. for AT&T, 1.34 lbs. for Verizon)
*Storage - 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
*Battery - 10 Hours
*Reading - Multiple options, depending on book
*Library - 200,000 books.
*Formats - EPUB, PDF
Cost 16GB = $499.00 | 16GB 3G = $629.00 | 32GB = $599.00 | 32GB 3G = $729.00 | 64GB = 699.00 | 64GB 3G = $829.00
Bionic Monkey on
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Posts
But i wouldn't get "just" an ebook reader. For that price i'd want other functionality.
Additionally, this is a find that may very well be relevent to this thread, at least for the next ten or so hours.
My number one question about them: How are they for reading pdf's, especially in Journal Article form? I think Journal Articles and textbooks will be my primary use, and to be honest I kind of want to get that cheap deal I linked, especially since it's a gamble in my opinion. Has anyone used them for reading columned articles? I suppose it would always be possible to copy and paste them differently to view them if necessary, however.
I've been looking a bit into the Smart Q7 (or SmartQ 7, or however the fuck you want to write it) - yes it's some LOLChina goodness, but there's already a fairly sizeable community dedicated to hacking the shit out of these things to put a proper Linux, WinCE, and even Android on them. Apparently this helps out a lot over the shit that comes preinstalled. It's a 667MHz ARM core with 128MB of RAM, so performance theoretically should be pretty much on par with the Nokia N-series internet tablets. Apparently people have gotten Flash working (SD content only) as well. Oh, and it's under $200; I'm tempted to get one just to see if it can hold its own as a portable media streamer, electronic recipe book, and photo frame.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Thanks for that. I'll be updating the OP to include other ereaders too. I just spent the better part of an hour and a half putting together what's there now, and wanted to get it up.
If anybody has any other suggested readers that can go in the OP, mention them and I'll throw them up.
So, I just want to emphasize, there's some sort of timelimit on this sale, because its one of those Thanksgiving/Black Friday sales, but it's going to be gone soon. So people that aren't bionic monkeys, keep that in mind.
But I ended up buying it, so in three shipping days, I'll let you know how it is. Especially for reading scientific journal articles.
PDFs can be problematic - the Sony Reader manages stuff fine as it's got PDF reflow, but a lot of the smaller manufacturers don't, meaning that generally you need PDFs sized to the device. Most support zoom, but moving around a PDF document on a screen with a refresh rate of about 1 Hz can be a pain. For scientific articles you're probably better off going for one of the larger A4/Us Letter sized devices (Kindle DX, iRex Iliad, and there's a bunch of others in the pipeline).
I love mine though, eink is a wonderful thing to read off. Bought it a few years ago - it's a Cybook Gen 3. Doesn't manage PDFs perfectly, but public domain stuff from Feedbooks or even project Gutenberg runs fine.
So you can't loan it out to anyone, ever again, after you loan it out once? WTF. I could understand restricting a loan to the same account, but if they're going to restrict your loans to ALL accounts once you loan it ONCE then that's bullshit. There are a lot of books that I'd love to share with a lot of people, and the Nook's loaning ability was a huge selling point with me... but it won't be a big point if they're going to restrict the function that much.
Also they need to allow you to "give" books to people from your own device. I would be fine with little restrictions like the giver can never get the book back again. Maybe make it so each book can only be given a limited number of times.
Anyway I lurv my Kindle 2 so so much!
Interesting...
And secondly, I need a newspaper recommendation. I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this (if not, let me know) but I figure it's a good place to start. I'm woefully out of the loop when it comes to current events and I'd really like to change that. I've been meaning to start following a newspaper or news site more frequently and I figure getting the Kindle is a perfect time to do that. So can anyone recommend a good newspaper and/or news magazine that delivers to the Kindle? And any other cool magazine/blog recommendations are welcome too, even if they won't help me follow current events.
Has anyone used the pocket Reader from Sony? How does it compare to the full-sized one? I wouldn't mind having a smaller reader, but not if it sacrifices too much in the way of features or readability.
edit: Oh, nevermind about Amazon's book selection. I was looking in the wrong place, apparently. Has anyone used the Kindle2 and the PRS-600? I'm interested in how they compare. This is a tough decision, since all the different competitors offer a nearly identical product.
Personally, I don't get the point of having a touchscreen on a device that you'll be directly interacting with about once a minute, and when you do, a simple button press will suffice.
How much of a discount are they offering for buying a new device?
Can people who already have one tell me what it's like to use with classics and so on from the web? Mostly .txt, but also pdfs. I'll definitely be buying a lot of my fiction from the store, but I have a huge backlog of public domain classics and stuff that I want to get through, and some other articles and things that are too long to comfortably read on the PC.
Not much. It's something like $75 off the 600, or $50 off the pocket. Given the cost of the things anyway, they're still expensive, but it's enough of a discount to keep me looking at Sony's offerings.
I'm considering the pocket, mostly since the bells and whistles on both the 600 and the Kindle don't really grab me for the price. Most books max out at a few megabytes anyway, so I don't mind having only 512mb of memory. And I probably won't use wireless download for books too often, because I'm typically at a computer before I can get through a few dozen books anyway. I don't really see the point of a touchscreen either. After typing all that out, it kind of seems like I've already made my decision. Do you know of any pitfalls to the pocket? I'm wondering if having the smaller screen is a pain for long reading sessions. If it fits less on a page, I could see it burning through battery power faster.
Calibre e-book management (http://calibre-ebook.com/about) is free and can convert pretty much everything to the kindle formats; the default settings even generate breakpoints for chapters and such through regex searching.
Hell, it does a better job formatting-wise than a lot of the stuff I've paid for, which speaks volumes of the publishers' lack of caring.
PSN: LucidStar_BC
I heard about Calibre, but I wasn't sure how nice the conversions would be, so thanks! If it formats it even half as decently as a regular downloaded ebook, I'm happy. That's going to come in real handy.
Pretty much seals the deal for me. Kindle2 it is!
Handwritten notes, highlighting and dictionary lookups
So I think I'll be getting myself a Kindle
That's...
I might get one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audible.com
Also, it might be worth putting the MobileRead E-Book Reader Matrix in the OP.
You end up spending $180 on the Audible account, but it's spread out across a year.
Yeah, you can count me in on that. I've had mine for a couple of years and I still love it. If I were to buy a new eReader, I would just buy a newer/bigger Illiad. Having an open platform makes it easy to support new formats. For example, I really dig reading comics that are in .cbz and .cbr on mine.
Also, I like doing a recursive mirror of a section of a web site and slapping it on the eReader so I can read it in the browser while I'm on a plane or otherwise offline.
God, that sounds sweet.
Anyone ever try doing something like using HTTrack to mirror a website and then plopping it on the Kindle? Does it support html files?
in your FACE, steve jobs
Amazon is the ONLY way to purchase a kindle. cornered market, as it were. so for it to be the best selling item is not that surprising.
splendid
WANT!
Really I only posted that because Steve Jobs predicted e-readers would be a huge market bust because "no one reads anymore". Steve Jobs' foot, please meet Steve Jobs' mouth.
If you're getting a Kindle International, are you outside the US?
Because last I checked the Nook is still US exclusive
Of course, when they announce the Kindle 3 next week, well, you're welcome.
Nah. But the AT&T wireless has better coverage in my zip code (83301). In the end, the extra $50 for a new Kindle2.1 as opposed to a refurbished Kindle2.0 wasn't enough to make me want to worry about it.
I could still use what amounts to a normal iPod but for readin', though.
Kindle-kin -- any concerns about stuff not being on Kindle? Can I get my Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris without the hassle of dead trees?