E-Reader advice

Both my wife and I have the B&N Nook. We love them. I looked at both Kindle and Nook and honestly there isn't much difference. What pushed us toward the Nook was the support that Nooks have for the e-pub format that libraries are using.

The only thing I don't like, and this is universal to e-readers, is some books are better read with paper. What I mean is some books are better to be flipped through to track multiple streams of information or to facilitate studying. It is tough to do that on an e-reader. This is probably an issue with technology shifting and all that, we'll see. I would like to see an offer where you could buy a "real" book and get the e-copy for a small additional fee.

Bottom line is I would absolutely recommend the Nook to anyone. Being able to carry a mini library in my "pocket" at all times is awesome.

 

Do you have one? If so, which one? Yes. I have an iPad2.

What do you like about your e-reader? The ability to store all my books in one location without filling up my bookshelf is fantastic. I really like the ability to read a book anywhere without having to carry around all of them.

What Don't you like about it? Nothing.

Would you recommend it to someone? Yes, but it can be a bit expensive. I would recommend either the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook if hte individual is just using it for an e-reader.

 

I have the Kobo and I love it. Our library has lots of ebooks in Kobo format, and they aren't super expensive to buy either. I just picked up a 4 ebook set of "A Song of Fire and Ice" for $18! Try doing that with actual paper versions! Also a thing I love about my Kobo is the ability to load pdf versions of books and articles on it from my computer. I use Vuze to download torrents of books, magazines, etc in pdf format, and transfer them to the KOBO. Awesomeness!

 

Faced with the possibility of selling my books due to having to relocate and only being able to take minimal things with me, I am seriously seriously considering an e-reader. I actually have tons of e-books already that I've been using my phone to read. Does the size of screen difference from a typical smart phone (I have an LG Vortex) really improve that much going up to an e-reader size?

 

Yikes. So much to take into consideration. Thanks for all the information. I still have some time till her birthday, or the holidays, to decide which one to get. I don't think she needs a tablet, and she is not allowed to get an iPad before I do. I will do some further comparisons between the Kindle, Nook and Sony. I need to make myself a comparison chart.

 

I agree, this is absolutely true. You can't just thumb back a few pages or a few chapters to pick up a character's name or refresh your memory on a line in the plot. This is one area where the book really is superior,

 

That is exactly my current frustration! It seems like I flip every 10-15 seconds and can't ever quite actually just enjoy the story.

 

I have an Aluratek libre. They are only $99 these days, and the price is dropping ($149 last year). I love the size and the sort of edgy look that it has (my son calls it ghetto, or military).

My wife has a first generation Kobo - beautiful to hold, and look at (several colours available from black, through to lavender) and has a padded / quilted rubber surfacing on the back.

both of these ereaders (and most of the non-colour versions) employ e-ink & non back-lit technology to more closely replicate the paper book experience. This means virtually no eye strain over long periods of time that backlit devices such as Ipads, Itouches, computer screens etc give you. Plus you can read them in the full glare of strong sunlight. Making them perfect for the beach. Also, they are rugged and can easily be dropped (i often nod off when I read) without any problem. My Aluratek actually came with a wrist strap for this reason.

I haven't checked out the new Kobo touch screen e-reader, but I hear it is amazing. Another good point about both Aluratek & Kobo, is that they support multiple versions of electonic text: e-pub is far and away the most common format for e-books. I understand that Kindle does not support e-pub, which makes it difficult to borrow from the library. PDF is also supported which is how many magazines and newspapers are distributed (again - from the library)

The two that we own came with 100 titles pre-loaded, but they are mostly the 'free' books that most people are forced to read in high school. You can off load them if you want - I haven't because someday I will have finished my book, and may need an emergency read of Moby Dick, or Frankenstein to tie me over.

Once again, check your library before making a purchase - I have only bought one book in over a year of owning this thing (a Jack Reacher novel) and have been borrowing from the city public library since.

As for going back to previous pages, that is an issue, but the Aluratek provides a paperclip function that allows you to go back to pages that you've marked. and that's for the $99 price point, I'm sure the $300 Sony will do something similar, or better.

 

I have a Sony Pocket Reader (350 I think) and so does my wife. We love them, they are "books" and should not be compared to anything else their sole purpose is reading, not web browsing nor listening to audio. The 2 Gb memory (aprox 1.5 available to the user) is more than enough. That will hold hundreds of books. The built-in dictionary is great for me as English is my 3rd language but I don't use the highlighting nor the note much.
Don't compare any tablet computer (iPad or other) with eReaders. When I was looking into what was available year ago I came across comparison of couple of eReaders and iPad. Their conclusion was that as an eReader the iPad was close to unusable as it got the lowest score in every category, most of it can be translated to other tablet computers and lcd devices, but they also made it clear that they were looking for eReaders not computers.
My experience of the Sony's eInk screen is that at if you can read a printed book then you can read the eInk screen.
What I find to be the PocketReader's weakest side is displaying Acrobat (pdf) files, there it can be slow turning pages and have issues with scaling the document. So far I have only encountered one book/file it couldn't display in a readable way but that was fixed by converting it to different format.

Regardless of what eReader you choose I recommend calibre software to organize your library.

Yours
Zweiblumen

 

hi Zweiblumen - I agree with the Calibre software. Thanks for bringing that up. While I generally use Adobe's Digital Rights program (free, as is Calibre) the calibre sofware is very intuitive for managing your library.

A third option is the Kobo application itself. It is device agnostic and will manage your reading progress regardless if you use your ereader, computer or ipod/pad. Also a free download.

 

Fantastic links , BG. There's a lot of things there that I hadn't considered.
I think one of the most important things that they mention in one of those links is that there is only one company making eInk screens. Therefore, the screen quality of any reader using eInk will be the same.

 

The pricing varies, but you can get very cheap entry models for less than $150. eg at Best Buy (as I said, I have both of these):

The Kobo for $139:

Front:

Back:

Here's a black Kobo that's easier to see:



http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=42dfbabe54d21719b396eb59c9a96664en02

the Aluratek Libre for $99



http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product...spx?path=9d6bdf22d3dcdbcfa100f936070a7189en02

 

That brings up an important point for me... I've got a ton of pdfs that I would want to put on whatever eReader I buy. I'm big on the eInk screen and long battery life but I want something that will display my pdfs as quickly and with as few glitches as possible.

 

price is a driving factor for many (if not most) I would not have considered these single purpose devices if the cost approached $200.
And that's not because I don't have the money, I just consider myself to be a rational buyer.

but back to your Kindle = Amazon only? or can you load any epub or pdf book on it such as library borrowings?

 

I have Samsung's iPad clone and use kindle software to buy and read books. To me, if I'm going to go through the trouble of getting a reader, might as well get something I can surf the internet on too.

I do really like Kindle software, it syncs with my phone too so if I read further on my phone, when I get back on my tablet, it knows the furthest page I've reached on any of my devices. That's quite nice