e-Book readers - Do you use them?

silvine

Do many people here use e-Book readers?

I tried out the Sony one and found it awful to use. It had way to many buttons, wasn't very intuitive and the interface was very sluggish. The only good thing about it was the screen which was easy to read. Definately a poor substitute for a book (all be it an expensive one).

hatful

It would be useful if you were traveling to a very remote area of the amazon otherwise I don't see the attraction.

http://www.novel-idea-vending.com/ I wonder how many people use these I've seen them in airports, scary!

hatful

You make a good case Bedlam. It is the way of the future. I wouldn't purchase one at present as I get all my leisure reading from the library. I buy academic texts and that's pretty expensive already. How easy would it be if you had to keep using the index of an e-book?

samhail

One of the guys in work does use one daily, a good one. maybe the iLiad.

i nearly got one... but heard color versions will be starting to hit the market mid next year so i decided to wait - see what kinda technology will bring.

Hrududu

Out of curiosity how long do you get out of a charge?

Andy-Pandy

I dont understand the attraction. I love my book collection, i have a room filled with bokks and love looking through them. looking at the covers and remebering the storys

dudara

Like the OP, I spent about 5 minutes playing with the Sony reader while in the shop one day. I also found it cumbersome with clunky buttons and a slow interface.

TBH though, I am biased towards paper books. Even when I was a broke student I would raid charity shops and buy books for next to nothing. Now that I'm reasonably well off, I've just compounded the problem. I just can't get rid of a single book that I've ever purchased. I love the artwork, the covers, the print and most importantly, the feel.

CraggyIslander

Have my bookeen cybook 6 months now and absolutely love it..... can read at least dozen books before it needs a recharge Ideal for plane, train and boat trips

I've one memory card with favourites on it: i.e. 1984, hitchhikers guide, lovecraft, asimov, etc, etc..... never leave home without it

Also read academic books on it and although not great for bookmarks or indexing it's still much easier to sneak in an hour of study while at work!

Also love paper books, have shelves full of em and donated boxes full to charity shop when I moved few years ago

Paper and ebook happily co-exist in my house :pac:

*the sony one is cumbersome and more limited in supported formats, i.e no support for epub, but it's own DRM'd format. It's the one in the shops tho as it's got a big brand name pushing it...

For a comparison go here: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix

The Mad Hatter

I use my iPhone. Haven't had any issues with it so far.

CraggyIslander

whoops, no more late night posting for me meant the mobipocket format that most other readers support

As the iliad just was too dear by comparison and the sony having it's own format and no html support is what swayed me towards the cybook when I bought mine.

Then again, find myself importing almost all books with the mobipocket software, so if the sony software is as good then it would still be a contender :pac:

The new A4 size iRex looks mighty tempting tho

cailinoBAC

Is the sony one the only one you can buy in shops in Dublin? I'm not a big technical person at all, and almost everything in this thread is going over my head. I love books, like everybody else here, but when I go on trips they can sometimes take up half the weight of my luggage. I'm going to South America very soon, so I thought an ereader might be a good idea. But I don't want to order one online, as I'd be worried I wouldn't get it on time.

rovert

I love my E-Reader but soley the based on the myriad of file formats currently Id advise others to wait for the Kindle or until a standard file format is established across online retailers/publishers. As the range of books is quite restrictive at the mo.

SalthillGuy

I notice some of the post are pretty old, but I am looking to buy a book reader for Christmas.
I have been told the sony one is the best.
What should one look for in a book reader.?

mothel

I've been trying to buy a book from the sony site and it wont let me download the sofware saying I'm in the wrong region??? does anyone have a link for european sony ebook site?? Or any other good ebook site???

Thanks

mawk

i use ebooks all the time now. im a total convert. I used to love the smell and feel and weight of books but ebooks really are just more convenient.


I use an XDA as a book reader and sporadic mp3 player. it has a nice big screen, instant refresh colour pdf support, *.lit support and ms word

so I pretty much reads everything ill want it to

theCzar

I've never so much as held one, but I think they're good in concept, and will likely replace the commuter paperback in the coming years. I envisage a very thin, light device that you could download the mornings newspaper on to via bluetooth connection to your phone for example. The screen on even the iphone is too smal for me though.

I know some people revere the very paper a book is printed on, but for me its just a medium like any other for holding words still while I read them. I consume books rather than collect them and I think I'd like a reader when the tech catches up with my expectations.

At the moment I have too many gizmos as is when traveling (which is pretty much always), but trying to cram 4 kilos of books into my laptop bag is not exactly a dream alternative.

eVeNtInE

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IpreDictDeatH

The literary world is bound to go digital, just like the music scene has. But at the moment you just cant get the stuff you want on digital format. I liked the idea that i could read PDF articles in bed instead of glaring at the pc all night, and i was also roped in by the "100 classic books free" which the sony reader was offering. So i got one. It Hasnt worked properly since i opened the package. Keeps freezing and the charger wont work properly. Complete waste of money.

doubleglaze

I wonder if they'd be suitable for a small 14 year old second year student in secondary? The amount of books those small young craythurs have to carry to school is ridiculous!

IpreDictDeatH

doubleglaze wrote: »

I wonder if they'd be suitable for a small 14 year old second year student in secondary? The amount of books those small young craythurs have to carry to school is ridiculous!

Yea, excellent point. Thats one reasn why i see the digital book becoming more popular with time. Its basically the same reason why it happened in the music world. Dj's have major back problems from carrying around 12inch vinyl all weekend. Im speaking from experience. Ive an un-healthy obsession with vinyl. Ive thousands of the stuff laying around my house and attic. But when given the option between lugging this stuff around all weekend or a small bag of cds, or even a memory card, my beloved vinyl got left behind.

eVeNtInE

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silvine

I see the Nintendo DS is positioning itself as an e-reader. Nintendo have released '100 Classic Books Collection' for the handheld device.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Classic-Book-Collection-Nintendo/dp/B001LK6XKE

crotalus667

silvine wrote: »

I see the Nintendo DS is positioning itself as an e-reader. Nintendo have released '100 Classic Books Collection' for the handheld device.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/100-Classic-Book-Collection-Nintendo/dp/B001LK6XKE

Have you seen the amount of 20 something’s playing with them while they are going to work on the train if the next DS has a bigger screen they might actually be able to pull it off provided the can over come the lack of content and the back lighting issues :rolleyes:

Gryzor

i use stanza on the iphone as an ebook reader. find it brilliant. I used to read alot when i was younger, then kind of lost interest for a few years. Since i got the iphone i'm back reading again now almost every night

cornbb

Gryzor wrote: »

i use stanza on the iphone as an ebook reader. find it brilliant. I used to read alot when i was younger, then kind of lost interest for a few years. Since i got the iphone i'm back reading again now almost every night

I'm using stanza on the iPod, I find it incredibly useful to pick up and read something at airports or whatever. Of course I wouldn't buy an iPhone/iPod just to use as an ebook reader but stanza is basically free if you already have one. Currently reading Candide by Voltaire on it

c - 13

Became a bit of an ebook convert when I moved to bahrain about 6 months ago as I couldnt lug all my paperbacks with me and there isnt a great selection here.

I was originally using my palm treo but the screen was a little small and it was a serious drain on the battery.

Herself got me a Sony reader for christmas and i'm delighted with it. I love being able to carry 1000's of books around in my laptop bag with virtually no weight.

I find the sony reader to have a reasonable interface, decent zoom but there are two things I really dislike about it -
(1) File Formats, not enough supported IMHO
(2) Library Sorting - I dont know if it was the way my ebooks were labelled or what but my library is all over the place at the moment.

I also find it a small bit sluggish to turn pages but thats something I can get used to. Battery life on it seems very good too.

SalthillGuy

The Sony readers are out of stock in Ireland and Sony Shops say it will be March when they have them again.

Valmont

I would never have seen the e- reader things becoming so popular. I considered donning a balaclava and smashing Waterstone's display of the Sony one. I fear the day I can't smell a new book! Seriously though, not for me but I see their practical uses, travelling, living in a foreign country etc.

theCzar

Valmont wrote: »

I would never have seen the e- reader things becoming so popular. I considered donning a balaclava and smashing Waterstone's display of the Sony one. I fear the day I can't smell a new book! Seriously though, not for me but I see their practical uses, travelling, living in a foreign country etc.

If and when something displays books better than paper then bring on Bradbury's firemen.

Irishtrekkie

theCzar wrote: »

If and when something displays books better than paper then bring on Bradbury's firemen.

has that not already happened , the current generation of e-book readers , are clearer and easier on the eye then normal books , and the fact you can change the font size is a big plus for alot of people with bad eye sight etc...

theCzar

They're getting better, I suppose the point at which they better than paper is different for everybody.