eBook readers

DigitalRelish

DigitalRelish

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Does anyone have any recommendations for an ebook reader such as the Kindle or the Sony PRS600? Just looking for something that is an ebook reader without any frills.
 
Stay away from the kindle, I reckon they are way over priced. If you see a model you like check the file formats it can read, that's important because some of them are very limited that way.

Mine is an Elonex 600b (bought from Borders before they went bust) reads html, txt, pdf, epub, some prc types. Waterstones are doing the Elonex 511b just now for £129

The iRiver Story eReader looks good for formats, supporting office files like doc and xls too.

Ereaders in general seem to have clunky interfaces and can be slow to access books but once loaded it's just a matter of turning pages which to be honest is all you want from a book. Battery life on mine is no where near 8000 page turns but it's still very good, I tend to keep mine topped up overnight but it will go 4 or 5 days if I forget and I do use it every day.
 
I have the Sony PRS-300. I have read more books since i have had it (three months) than I have read in the last few years. The screen is slightly smaller than the PRS-600 but I believe that the screen is far better. It does not have a built in MP3 player.

It fits well inside a suit jacket pocket and is great for the train/tube/bus and gets admiring glances where ever I use it. It costs around £135 so is at the lower end of the scale. It uses PDFs (my camera manual is on it!) and you can download ebooks to it from just about any bookstore. You can easily get pdf/lit/lrf books from eBay if that is your thing and they also work well.

There is one snag (that I thought was a positive) - at night you need a light source as it is not backlit. Although the LED lights you can buy are bright, I still find some eye strain when reading - my wife likes to sleep without the lights on - and I'm not too good at sleeping. It is great in direct sunlight and my conservatory - not usually great for LCD screens.

Last for a couple of books without charge - but charges nicely from a USB mains or computer and seems to top up really quickly.

Hope this helps.

Chris
 
I use ereader on my Ipod touch & iphone, different take on it, but it works for me!!
 
kingbling11 said:
Give it a few weeks and get the iPad.
Click to expand...

Whilst I will be in the queue for an iPad, I am not entirely positive that it will replace the ereader. It is not pocket sized. I was looking at the Kindle app earlier - there are not that many recent books on it (that I could see) and wonder if the ibook app will be similar? I guess that also the iPad will be around 4 * the price - I'll have both though!

That said, there is a great chance my reader will be up for sale when I find out!

Chris
 
The iPad's success as an eReader depends on how many publishers Apple have contracted with. As a device I think (eReader wise let alone all the other stuff) it is the dog's danglies!
 
I've been thinking about this myself, maybe getting a small netbook as it will give me web and email access too.
 
A netbook to use as an ereader? won't work, the advantage of a reader is the screen they are none reflective, no back light and grey scale which makes them very easy on the eye for reading for long periods just like you do with a book ohh and all the above means the battery life is very long which when reading war and peace you will appreciate not having to plug it in every 4-8 hours to charge.

We have a Sony touch PRS600 bought it in September while on holiday and its very good, I read all the reports of the screen being crap and not very good due to the touch sensitive layer but it hasn't caused any problems and the screen is fantastic, maybe if I looked at others and used them in the same way I could see how much worse they were but 20 minutes of playing in the San Diego sony centre seemed to be enough for us. The advantage of the larger screen is far better that the 300 smaller screen, the swipe of a finger to change pages is a nice feature as well infact the touch interface is very good and after using one for a while it would be frustrating not to have it.
 
Thanks for the input so far guys. Very useful, thanks :thumbs:

The ebook reader is intended as a gift so any notion of a netbook or iPad (too expensive, too late) is wasted this time around I'm afraid.
 
I have the Sony PRS-505 that was the first Sony e-reader and it has been great. I have bought a cover with a light in it and it is great to take anywhere. The battery on the 505 is great and lasts for weeks. I read every day and usually have two or three books on the go at any one time.

It has been a very good purchase.

Chris :)
 
I have the Sony 505 which I think is excellent although I use the Calibre Software rather than the sony sofware, it works on both Mac & PC and also gets by a lot of copy crap. I saw great deals recently at Sony store & other places (Waterstones) as it has been replaced by the 600.

If you shop around or look you can find books considerably cheaper than the main stores
 
ebooks cost about the same as the paper versions from the likes of waterstones online some are more expensive some are cheaper but an ereader is not the way to go if you want to save on buying books.

Sony payed with the range when releasing the 300 and 600 before they were all the same size 6" then you had the touch screen prs700 and the non touch 500 and 505. The 300 is the pocket and the 600 is the touch and the only one with the 6" screen they reduced the size on the 300 to only 5" to make it more portable, I think the 700 was only availabe in the US
 
I use my phone, always with me and will read everything never had an issue with the screen on it and I've sat and looked at it for 4+ hours
 
I got my wife the Sony prs300 for christmas, she suffers with fibromyalgia and has found it a godsend,shes read more since christmas than in the last five years. I checked around a bit before getting it for her and found the build quality about the best of what i could get my hands on. Bought it from waterstones, got a £10 voucher for ebooks, joined the "club" and got £4.50 worth of ponts to use on anything instore as well. Great gadget, she takes it everywhere with her now.
 
david1701 said:
I use my phone, always with me and will read everything never had an issue with the screen on it and I've sat and looked at it for 4+ hours
Click to expand...

Using such a small device for reading ebooks is not a viable option in this instance hence the requirement for an ebook reader such as those suggested by others.

I used to use my phones/PDAs for reading too, but that was more to do with not having the choice of the readers available today.

Just wait until you need to use glasses for daily computer use! :gag:
 
madmackem said:
Great gadget, she takes it everywhere with her now.
Click to expand...

So does my sister, she buys hand bags on the basis that it will fit the sony reader in it. The girl in the Vivian Westwood shop looked at her as if her head had fallen off when she said no to a bag because the reader wouldn't fit in, yes she took the reader with her to test the bags and she really wanted the patent leather black bag.

The accessories are pretty expensive but can be gor for less if you shop arround, she got the lighted leather cover from waterstones as it was the cheapest place.
 
I used a Kindle in the US for a while, absolutely loved it. It is a bit limiting with supporting other filetypes, but for the basics I couldn't fault it.
 
Little John said:
ebooks cost about the same as the paper versions from the likes of waterstones online some are more expensive some are cheaper but an ereader is not the way to go if you want to save on buying books.

Sony payed with the range when releasing the 300 and 600 before they were all the same size 6" then you had the touch screen prs700 and the non touch 500 and 505. The 300 is the pocket and the 600 is the touch and the only one with the 6" screen they reduced the size on the 300 to only 5" to make it more portable, I think the 700 was only availabe in the US
Click to expand...

The books are technically the same price as paperbacks/hardbacks however they do not have the constant 3 for 2s etc that are always in waterstones, so in effect they are more expensive.
Latest books in hardback do not tend to get the discounts either.

That said, I have browsed and bought books for £1 that U would never usually have come across, just to see, and discovered some gems.

And thanks to whoever posted the sci fi book link, will take a look

A
 
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