Ebook readers

[jamathis]

The discussion on ebook readers on this week's show got me to looking at the different options available. I think it was Linc saying that he didn't want to be tied to just one service such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I feel the same way about that. After looking at the different offerings, I think the Sony ereaders might be the best solution available. They support a wide variety of formats and are reasonably priced. I was messing around with the display model at a local Best Buy and the interface was very intuitive and quite nice. I believe they mount as a mass storage device, so synching on Linux should not be a problem. I'll still do more research before deciding on which one to purchase, but the Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600 seems offer what I am looking for in an ebook reader.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665921180#specifications

[eddie]

I did not get to listen to the show, but I just did download it. Maybe someone mentioned what I am about to say. First you can the Neuros touch pad for $119, why even mess with the ereaders, To get back to the subject. I am against single taskers (like AB). I would want to at least have wifi web access. Then you open up the e-readers to a host of possibilities for other uses (i.e. it makes them more saleable and re-saleable).

I am retired, but I am so close to getting a touchpad and or an ereader for starting a business doing turnkey projects. I see all kinds of things you can use it for. i.e. kitchen computer for getting recipes.,we have a web page for doing measurement conversions and a web based recipe data base. Garage computers for access diy project instructables and product support lookup (automobiles, tools and etc) ., Home automation interface for controlling things around the house including media center control at your fingertips. That is one of the projects I am working on for our house. If you do that why not think of using it for business presentations. They would make great units for waitresses and waiters to take orders and etc. Maybe even used as menus in upscale places. Great tools for service agents to take information from customers instead of carrying around a pad of forms. In hospitals for personnel to carry around to have the updated stats and info on patients. I would have loved to have one as a tech to record events when working on a user's computer, so I did not have to wait till later to re-enter reports. Would have been a real time saver. It could be used as part of a tele-prompter. Forgive my rambling, but I could go on forever of the possibilities........

[jamathis]

Dann reviewed the Neuros tablet on the show. According to the review, it is slow. The reason I want a dedicated ebook reader is because the e-ink is easier on the eyes and more visible in direct light. I'm just not sold on tablets yet. Nothing has come out that has that "got to have it" factor for me. Not to say that a tablet as an option is off the table. But for my requirements, a good ebook reader will work. Does anyone know if Amazon purchased ebooks work only on the Kindle or will they work on other readers as well?

[dann]

Unless you are going to crack the drm, ebooks purchased on the Kindle or Nook are only going to run on the Kindle and Nook respectively (or their software equivalents on smartphones and tablets).

I believe I was the one who said he did not want to be tied to a specific service. That is what would happen with the Kindle or Nook. It's a tough choice, or would be; that it would.

The Neuros tablet is nice, but pretty slow. It's usable as an eReader for the Nook and Kindle services (and I would assume Moon Reader and Aldiko too but i have not read anything with those apps yet; will soon). I am skeptical about pdf and will try that soon. But my experience on other android devices was that PDF was a dog so I expect it to bog the system pretty harshly.

I would like a multi-use device but the problem is, compared to my phone, the tablet is pretty damn slow making it difficult for anything other than a few games and eReading. No flash on the browser hinders some of the stuff I and other members of my family would like to use it for. It would make it just enough of an inconvenience to just grab a laptop/netbook.

So given that you can get a Nook or Kindle for about $130.00; comparatively speaking you might have a better experience if what you want to do is strictly reading.

[LinuxMint-4]

I bought the Nook for a few reasons. It has E-Ink, the battery lasts for a long time,Nook has a replaceable battery easily accessible by opening the back cover (unlike the Kindle).

You can go from page one to page 500 with ease, You can change the font and make the characters larger for easier reading (If the PDF was scanned from a book ...this feature won't work however).

With the Nook you can expand the memory capacity on it (Unlike the Kindle), you can directly add files to your book (without having to email them to it like the Kindle requires). It has several screen savers as well.

It works great with Linux (Mint9) as well as Windows, it has a built in MP3 player, it will do different formats as well as PDF. It will work with some online Public Libraries (unlike the Kindle). If you already have a collection of PDF's , it is real easy to add them to your Nook. You can buy the Nook with Wifi for $149 or with Wifi/3G for $199.

My sister in law has the Kindle, I didn't like the fact that you had to email your own PDF's to your Kindle, or that the whole unit has to be sent back to replace the battery. The Kindle comes in Wifi only and Wifi/3G versions.

However the Kindle has a keyboard, and the Nook does not, but uses a touch screen instead. Kindle with Wifi only is $139 at Target and at Amazon. Nook with Wifi only is $149 at Best Buy and Barnes and Noble. The extra $10 spent on the Nook is worth it due to reasons mentioned above.

An E-reader is great if you are going to read a lot of books in bed. It beats dragging a laptop or notebook into bed and have the batteries drain in two hours. You can set the screen saver to 5 minutes, 15 minutes or later...once in screen saver mode it hardly uses any power. You can leave it for days and go back and pick it up and continue reading while still having power left in the batteries. You do not have to shut the entire unit off. Disable Wifi however if you intend to use it in this fashion.

You can take the Nook anywhere you want, and despite Netbooks, as good as they are...it really doesn't compare to simplicity and usability of a dedicated E-Reader.

[jamathis]

Unless you are going to crack the drm, ebooks purchased on the Kindle or Nook are only going to run on the Kindle and Nook respectively (or their software equivalents on smartphones and tablets).

That's what I figured. I think I'm probably going to go with the Sony Reader Touch. That one looks like the best option for what I am looking for. It supports a multitude of formats and does not lock me in to using one service.

[dann]

Keep us posted on this. All the drm cracking tools I saw required a serial number of the kindle device the file was downloaded too. The problem with the droid app is that I cannot find the serial number so I was never able to crack the drm.

[jamathis]

I bought the Nook for a few reasons. It has E-Ink, the battery lasts for a long time,Nook has a replaceable battery easily accessible by opening the back cover (unlike the Kindle).

You can go from page one to page 500 with ease, You can change the font and make the characters larger for easier reading (If the PDF was scanned from a book ...this feature won't work however).

With the Nook you can expand the memory capacity on it (Unlike the Kindle), you can directly add files to your book (without having to email them to it like the Kindle requires). It has several screen savers as well.

It works great with Linux (Mint9) as well as Windows, it has a built in MP3 player, it will do different formats as well as PDF. It will work with some online Public Libraries (unlike the Kindle). If you already have a collection of PDF's , it is real easy to add them to your Nook. You can buy the Nook with Wifi for $149 or with Wifi/3G for $199.

My sister in law has the Kindle, I didn't like the fact that you had to email your own PDF's to your Kindle, or that the whole unit has to be sent back to replace the battery. The Kindle comes in Wifi only and Wifi/3G versions.

However the Kindle has a keyboard, and the Nook does not, but uses a touch screen instead. Kindle with Wifi only is $139 at Target and at Amazon. Nook with Wifi only is $149 at Best Buy and Barnes and Noble. The extra $10 spent on the Nook is worth it due to reasons mentioned above.

An E-reader is great if you are going to read a lot of books in bed. It beats dragging a laptop or notebook into bed and have the batteries drain in two hours. You can set the screen saver to 5 minutes, 15 minutes or later...once in screen saver mode it hardly uses any power. You can leave it for days and go back and pick it up and continue reading while still having power left in the batteries. You do not have to shut the entire unit off. Disable Wifi however if you intend to use it in this fashion.

You can take the Nook anywhere you want, and despite Netbooks, as good as they are...it really doesn't compare to simplicity and usability of a dedicated E-Reader.

After doing some more research, I think I am leaning more toward the Nook Color. It supports epub and pdf, which is important to me. Since I have a digital subscription to Linux Journal, it would be nice to be able to read it on a reader that is color. The Sony reader that I was considering is not color. It costs more than the Sony, but I think it is closer to the solution that I am looking for and it does not tie me completely to Barnes & Noble's service.

Also, I found a comparison chart. I figure it might be useful for anyone else considering an ebook reader.

http://ebookreadermatrix.com/

[doublejoon]

I have the Pandigital Novel Ereader $140 at bed bath and beyond with 20% off coupon (White version). It's almost identical hardware to Velocity Micro Cruz Reader $199. It has a dumbed down Android version on it.I loaded my oreilly book epubs and pdfs on it with no problems.

I was able to put full blown Android 2.2 Froyo (with Market access) and bump up the internal 1GB storage to 16GB thanks to slatedroid.com

http://www.slatedroid.com/wiki/index.php?title=Pandigital_Novel

For cheap resistive touch screen tablet it feels very solid and well built. It's not too sluggish either with the 800MHZ CPU.

[eddie]

I went to B&n to look at their ereader. My fat fingers and it did not get along. It did have the web and might work for what I want to do.
This might not be so good for an ereader, but I did like the premise for the commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/v/W10MW3j85FY?

[jamathis]

I think I am going to go with the the Nook Color. It has a lot of the features I am looking for. Unfortunately it does not have an e-ink display since it is color. But it is Android based, which is a plus. Being able to read my digital magazine subscriptions in color will be nice. I'll have to wait though. They don't start shipping until the 19th.

[Tyler]

I got a Kindle2 and I hate reading books on it. The device its self is a bit slow and the web browser is a joke. The thing that really pisses me off is that I was going to sell it before the price dropped but by the time I could sell it the price had dropped. Now the thing sits on my shelf, I haven't touched it in a month or two. My work got me an iTouch because it was cheaper than a droid phone, we don't have AT&T service in our area so an iPhone was out too, and the entire campus is covered in wifi. I prefer reading books on the iTouch over the kindle.

[eddie]

Just a thought....

sudo apt-get install xpdf
# or your equivalent.

pdftotext inputfile.pdf outputfile.txt

# Optional: split the text file into smaller portions if you want to.

text2wave < outputfile.txt > file.wav

cp file.wav to /media/music_player

# Keep money in bank till ereaders come down to a reasonable price.

[jamathis]

Got the Nook Color for Christmas. So far, I love it. As far as the features I was looking for this one matches all of them with the exception of an e-ink display. It supports a wide variety of formats and my digital copies of Linux Journal look great on it. I can read non-DRM epub books on it with no problems. So far, the device is really great. Since it is Android based, it would be nice if the full Android market was available on it. Maybe there are some hacks out there to do that. Overall, great device and highly recommended.

[eddie]

Did you get the browser app?