Posted on 11/14/2009 6:50:34 AM PST by randita
I am interested in reading opinions of others who have researched and/or purchased a digital reader. Looks like Kindle and Sony Reader are the name of the game now, but I heard that Barnes and Noble is coming out with one soon.
I'm not so much interested in having the latest best seller as I am in having an adequate selection of good books which are available at a low cost or for free.
The portability and ease of use are important criteria. The ability to enlarge print would be especially welcome to these aging eyes.
Thanks for your input.
They are pricey, but the idea is that they will pay for themselves down the road.
Digits turn paper pages of books purchased for a quarter at garage sales.
Our son has a Kindle which likes, but both my wife and I use an I-touch. In addition to books with an I-touch you have down loadable games, music and videos and wi-fi Internet. Screen images can be enlarged so books are quite readable.
I was pleasantly surprised how much I like my Kindle.
Unfortunately, I have been somewhat disappointed to find many books that I want to read unavailable on Kindle.
Good luck. I’d be interested in knowing what you decide.
One feature I heard about on the Barnes and Noble one coming out is a “lend” feature. If you purchase a book, you can “lend” it for up to 14 days to another user. The only drawback is that you don’t have access to it while it is loaned out.
I have a Sony PRS-505, got it two years ago exactly. I get 4-6,000 page turns on a full charge, depending on how often I change font sizes. It’s compatible with cheapie psp chargers for car or home, which is a big plus. PDFs show up fine, but storing too many on board makes it slow going. Other file types, well, I’ve had up to 1700 with no problems. JPEG viewing is slow and not worth it.
It’s been invaluable for hospital stays and long car trips. Not to open up to jokes, but the ability to easily read one-handed is nothing to sniff at. It’s much more efficient for hands-free reading too. I use the cover to prop it on its side for reading in bed, throw it in a baggie when I’m reading in the kitchen, prop it up on the treadmill for exercising. Single button page-turning is great.
I’ve got 1000+ books on it currently. This slows down rebooting to 10-15 minutes, but it rarely reboots so its not much of an issue.
I use Book Designer 4.0 for conversions, though most people prefer Calibre.
It lives in my purse and has held up very well without a special case, though the cover is starting to wear. If it broke, I’d go out and get a new one right away. If I couldn’t find a 505, I’d get a nook, but I see no special need to upgrade if you’re not buying lots of new books. I’d skip the first gen touchscreen readers due to clarity issues.
Visit www.mobileread.com
It’s a great community for reviews, questions, and well formatted public domain books. I’m eternally grateful to them for giving me the ability to carry the works of G K Chesterton with me everywhere I go :)
Both the iPhone & Touch also fxn as an audiobook broadcaster.
“Kindle is not the best iPhone e-reader”
http://news.cnet.com/kindle-is-not-the-best-iphone-e-reader/?tag=mncol;txt
I’ve had the Kindle reader for a year. For one who normally reads a couple of books while on vacation I have actually read 10 in the last year.
As to a comparison between the various readers you should be able to find one on line and select the one that fits your needs the best.
The feature that I like is the fact that Amazon has made available applications that allows me to read the material not only on my Kindle but also on my iPod Touch and on my laptop. The Kindle application keeps track of the furthest page read between all the devices, very slick. Basically I can read anytime or nearly any place when I have some free time.
I have had my Kindle for a little over a week. So far I am completely satisfied with it’s features. I read a lot and the $250+ price will be made up in a few months time by my not buying books. I’m forunate because I really enjoy 19th Century Lit. and hundreds of those books are free, no shipping costs, nothing, absolutely free.
I hear you on the larger type. Kindle has 5 or 6 type sizes, I use the one 1 step above the default and it works for me. Bottom line, I think, if you are an avid reader then Kindle will work for you. If you read a dozen or less books a year then I wouldn’t think it would be worth the cost.
I typically read 15-20 books a month. I’ve been intrigued by the e=readers like Kindle. Having up to 1500 books available at any time sounds cool to me.
But I’m buying books at my local library for fifty cents each. If you have to buy books to install in the e-readers I don’t see how they can compete price wise
I like my kindle a lot, and there are many books (old ones basically) available for free or 99 cents. Right now I have the complete Sherlock Holmes (4 novels and 3 or 4 vols of short stories), the complete Fr. Brown (4 vols shrt stories) The White Company (another novel by A.Conan-Doyle) and the complete Dr. Thorndyke (sort of a contemporary of Holmes, but more like great-grandfather to CSI) all on my kindle. Other books too, but I got all these for basically nothing. i had never heard of Dr. T, but the search feature found it for me.
now, this is the sort of stuff I like to read...I’m not sure if other’s tastes would be satisfied so well.
And so far no Nero Wolf!
Happy reading whatever you decide!
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