Which eBook Reader is the Best? 469
Mistress.Erin writes "I cannot decide between Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader. I've read some
reviews, but their motives can be somewhat suspect. So, I come to the most tech savvy group around to ask: which eBook reader is the best? If not Kindle or Reader, then what?" We've discussed this question before, but things have changed a bit since 2005.
Suspicious motives? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've read some reviews, but their motives can be somewhat suspect.
I'm actually more curious about why you wrote that than I am about the eBook readers in question.
The one that isn't Sony (Score:4, Insightful)
Which reader? (Score:5, Insightful)
Doctrine of first sale, drm, and used book stores (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Ah, teh good old days (Score:3, Insightful)
Hyperlinks, bookmarks and notes are another powerful feature of an eReader. I only wish that you could share this meta data with other users more easily.
Nokia N800 or N810 (Score:5, Insightful)
Why buy an e-reader at all? (Score:1, Insightful)
Basically, why buy an e-reader? So far none of them seem very good based on specs, so double up on your tech usage until they get a lot better.
Re:what? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The one that isn't Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
And free content....well, sort of. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm with you. And, I went to my local library and got a card. And now, I have access to thousands of titles for the cost of my tax dollars.
I think a big part of the popularity of the e-readers is because it's just another gadget. Folks will come up with plenty of rationalizations as to why they need it or how it's so superior to a book. But that's the consumer mentality, I guess. It goes the same for fast cars (need them to merge with traffic!), SUVs (safety after all and I have kids!), computers, cameras, etc...
FBReader + the tiny Asus palmtop? (Score:3, Insightful)
When I saw the tiny Asus machine, "ebook" was the first thing I thought of. Battery life is not great, but I'd be willing to plug it in on the couch/in bed, reserving battery power for being away. My Pocket PC only runs for a few hours too, and it's almost always enough to get me back to a charger-YMMV.
Iliad Reader (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad [irextechnologies.com]
Re:Sony PRS-505 (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes. These steps sound so trivial, as compared to, let's say, opening a book. I'd absolutely go for one of these.
Owner of both Kindle and Sony Reader (Score:5, Insightful)
1. The eInk screen is substantially easier to read. The Sony 2G is actually uncanny... looks like stickers stuck on the screen. The Kindle is much less contrasty and harder to read.
2. Battery life. eInk does not use significant power unless you are turning the page, so the battery life of these things is on the order of 1week plus with heavy usage. When I have used laptops or PDAs for reading, the batteries die quickly (before I want to stop reading).
Comparing the two.
Sony:
Much more contrast on screen. Very easy to read.
Smaller
Lighter
Much more intuitive user interface. It has multiple choice buttons for navigations.
Better physical design with buttons in convenient positions
Feels more solid and less cheap than Kindle
Software allows you to retag and organize files.
DRM and limited store is a big minus.
Better multiple format support
Kindle:
Staggeringly bad industrial design. Only really one good way to hold the thing without hitting one of the buttons which inexplicably are found on every side.
Want to turn up the contrast on the screen.
Bizaarr user interface that requires scrolling and multiple clicks with a secondary lcd screen to perform simple functions.
Keyboard take a lot of space.
No software to tag and oragnize files. So the list of files on the device is unweidly, long, and filled with incomprehensible tags from Gutenberg, Manybooks, or Fictionwise.
Very restrictive DRM which cancels out its advantage of having a much larger and easier to use store for books.
Wireless is good for subscribing to periodicals, not much else.
Amazon has a staggeringly inefficient mail-in system for conversion. No conversion has worked well so far, strange spacing and formatting even in simple documents.
They need simple PC software to manage the thing. The self-contained bit is inefficient and a waste of wireless and organization.
I figure there are three kinds of reader:
1. Like me - buy and keep books forever. Neither reader much good because DRM keep you from owning the books forever, just until the store dies or you want to change to a better competing reader.
2. Buy books read and resell - no right-of-resale with either device.
3. Buy "beach books" and throw them away. Both readers were made for you with the Kindle having a better store.
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:4, Insightful)
I can't wait to be able to load up a book series and be able to cross reference names and events from within the series.
XO laptop! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:3, Insightful)
I have one word for you: bookmarks.
Seriously, I understand the benefit of having multiple references in one place but I don't see it as beneficial for work unless you happen to do a lot of travel and work on airplanes or in airports where connectivity is much less convenient/likely.
Re:The XO from OLPC? (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing about the Kindle is that it has a lot of eBooks available that are
For those looking for an eBook reader that also lets you read your own files, and things like that, the Kindle isn't there. But for those looking for something that is an alternate way to deal with books, it looks like the best so far.
Re:Bleah... (Score:2, Insightful)
I have dropped my PDA onto hard surfaces many times over the years and it is still ticking.
I don't see why an ebook reader couldn't be any different.
As a matter of fact, I have had my HP3150(?) for several years and I love it as an ebook reader. It is a perfect size, has a backlight and since it is a monochrome screen, I find that it is easier to read than the full color LCDs of more modern Pocket PCs. I replaced the battery pack in it last year so now I can get well over 10 hours of continuous use out of it with the backlight on.
Another nice thing about using a Pocket PC as an ebook reader is that you can also read other formats like PDF and HTML, however, I find that it is best to use the free Word-to-Reader plugin from MS to convert documents to the
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:5, Insightful)
Time to blow some karma.
What is it about the eBook articles on slashdot (a tech geek site FFS) that seems to bring all the Ludites out of the woodwork? I can understand people complaining about DRM, but at least half the negative posts are people saying eBooks are stupid and you should just buy the paperback. What's wrong with these people? Are they also going around campaigning for the return of the slide rule? I can appreciate if they give reasons why they think eBooks aren't ready yet, or what changes they'd like to see in eBooks, but just flat out condemning the technology for no reason other than they don't like it is silly.
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:4, Insightful)
Portability, I guess, but I don't really need to take 50 books with me.
Also that they (should be) searchable. Those are the killer factors. I don't yet have an eBook reader for all of the other reasons that you mention.
The eBook reader format that Oreilly adopts is likely to be my next favorite device, however. How would you like to search every instance of a function across their entire library, at once, on the plane?
Re:And free content....well, sort of. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What I want to know is... (Score:3, Insightful)
On a 7 hour flight, it is a tiny slice of time. Am sure any ebook would have run out of juice by that time and reading during landing is the least of your worries, unless you travel by Business/First class.
If you are THAT concerned, get a paperback.
Re:I imagine it's mostly ignorance (Score:4, Insightful)
I prefer a device with a decent screen (a nice 4" Transflective VGA screen works well) that I can use for a multitude of things, listening to music (or in my case BBC Podcasts), browsing the web, reading my email, reading documents (normal office documents and PDF's), watching a film, displaying the photo's on my camera etc... On top of that I would like it to be a diary, calender, address book and note taker.
That basically describes a decent PDA. The killer is the display if you can get a PDA with a decent display you are on to a winner. For me it is about having something that is useful on a day to day basis (i.e. the scheduling and communications element) as well as having general entertainment value (listening to Music / podcasts etc.. say in the car or at lunch). As well as also being there if I am travelling, commuting or decide I want to read something whilst I am out.
I prefer my phone to be a separate entity, simply due to the fact that battery technology wont give me 10 hours of mp3s + reading a book whilst leaving me a decent standby and talk time at the end of it, but then that is a personal choice, plus there is nothing to stop you carrying a spare battery.
The ability to carry multiple Gb worth of data (my PDA has both CF and SD slots so I use my SD slot as removable media) that are accesable on both the PDA and other computing devices is also a killer feature, so are charging from USB and wifi.
I would never shell out a large amount of cash on a single purpose device, simply because I would mean another gadget to carry around, charge and maintain.
Ebooks are a long-term threat. (Score:2, Insightful)
Not true. If the proponents of eBooks had it their way, over time normal books would be phased out.
And once no one remembers how great it was to borrow from thousands of books for a flat rate,
it becomes much easier to have libraries outlawed. Do not think I'm joking - publishers would love
to see that happen.