e-book readers

[Simon Site Manager]

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Simon

[kellys_eye]

I used to have the Sony PRS505 which I 'enthused' over until the screen died on me and I found the suppliers were very unhelpful to the point of acting illegally in their obligation to fix/replace it. I eventually got a new replacement but in the meantime had purchased a Kindle as an interim device. The Kindle was, imho, miles better than the Sony device and the Sony went on eBay the next day.

The Kindle's greatest advantage is its ability to display pdf documents. I have zillions of technical, electrical,woodworking etc stuff (as well as millions of magazine pages) in pdf format and being able to read them is great.

The standard Kindle format is .mobi and, if you're not too fussy, there are loads of titles available 'on the web' if you want a quick libraries worth.

I'm waiting for a colour eboook reader to come onto the market (at a sensible price) but meantime the Kindle is, as far as I'm concerned, the best of the lot out there. They are available in Tesco's now where they claim they are £10 off..... at £111. The £111 is the price the Kindle has ALWAYS been at so I don't know what Tesco are up to.

[Simon Site Manager]

Thanks Kelly,

As you say, bought the Kindle this afternoon, didn't need the 3g, so went for the £111.00 WiFi version from PC World.

SSM

[moderator2]

Mod 2 reads real books. pages and everything .

There is nothing like holding a book in your hands and opening the pages. and the smell of new paper.mmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Simon Site Manager]

Hi Mod 2,
Fed up with the amount of trees being slaughtered for books, the heaps of them around the house, the cost of them, saving your place, sometimes the weight of them, packing loads of books to go on holiday, the shopping for them (when the one you want is not in stock), the ordering of them on-line and having to wait for delivery.

yes, I like real books too, but time to move on?

SSM

[EJJ150847]

I bought a Kindle for wifey when we went to New Zealand, she thought it was fantastic.
I ran out of books and they are expensive in NZ.

She has about 100 books so far.

John

[Megaross]

I don't understand ebook readers, I buy my books second hand and most of them I give to charity shops afterwards. What are they going to sell when all the books are electronic?
Books are often less bulky than ebook readers and fit nicely in a rucksack with no worries of being smashed or getting wet in the rain. Books don't get screen glare. And who reads more than one book at a time? How can you loan a book to a friend on recommendation.
And books don't run out of battery on a long journey.

I can sort of see buying one if you moved abroad to get uk books, or maybe if you could get the daily paper on it every morning for a discount but otherwise they seem so impractical.
Kindles do seem to be the "ipod" of ebook readers though.

As far as the environment goes, have you considered the power and materials gone into making it in some near slave labour factory, and the footprint of the electric required to run it?

[kellys_eye]

Book shops will always sell books - not all books are made in ebook formats. Last time I was in a second-hand bookshop they were asking £1 per paperback - reasonble compared to the full price but it still adds up.
eBook readers are a lot thinner than a standard (short story) paperback, about the same overall size (height and width) and don't have screen glare at all. The sunnier the light the better they work! My ebook reader runs for around 6 weeks without recharging and that's using it at least 2 hours every night.

You can get daily papers downloaded (the Kindle has wi-fi and 3G) and storing multiple books, magazines or (in my case) commonly accessed reference books is a boon.

Environmentally.... I couldn't give a rat's @rse.

[Megaross]

Nah, you're mad you lot.
Tolstoy's war and peace, £1.20 in oxfam. A lot of reading for the money, can't go wrong

[fe_man2000]

Were mad ? thats book is free as an ebook (as are most classics)

http://www.manybooks.net/titles/tolstoy ... npc11.html

People are a bit funny when it comes to ebook readers - personally I love them.