e readers dilema

conan doyle

Hi everyone,

I am an avid reader but it's come to the point where I just cannot cope with my overflow book collection. I regularly donate to charity shops or try to sell them on which is fine but I still have them stacked in corners all over the house. As space is very limited for me it's beginning to cause some friction with the others in the house. My friend suggested an e reader. I really don't know anything about them but I seems a good idea to me. Any out there have one and if so would you recommend it as a good investment. Forgive my ignorance here but can you get a good selection of books for these or are they confined to the classics. I would really appreciate any help as cash is tight but I would try and buy one of these if they worth while.

cyning

I have the Sony reader and I find it great. This is the one i got: best present ever! All the classics are free and Project Gutenberg is great.

However you can buy Ebooks from loads of sites: The Book Depository is very good. I also use directebooks.com: they take laser which is very handy aswell. I still buy books but not as many. Well worth it in my opinion anyway!

The other thing that I love is I'm a total sap for romance. The trashier the better. Worst guilty pleasure ever: and I can read them on my ereader and noones any the wiser

Manach

I've a kindle myself. I'd cautiously recommended it. Positives are the ease of purchasing books and the great screen. Negitives are the ease of purchasing books and the poor UI.
Another issue is the DRM restrictions on the Amazon store, mean the Irish purchasers can only purchase a sub-set of the US/UK store.

Asphyxia

I also want to get an e-reader I was looking at the Kindles and they seem handy enough. The Sony one looks great though

Vim Fuego

Got my kindle last Thursday, is it wrong to feel such affection for an inanimate object? The screen is a marvel and now on my second book, which is quite good going for me.

conan doyle

Thanks to all to got back to me regarding me e reader dilemma. It was really great getting so much feed back. After swagging a very heavy bag of books to my local bookstore to try and sell them to free up some room I've made up my mind now and have decided to go ahead an get one. So wish me luck everyone and thanks again

IvyTheTerrible

After humming and hawing for months, I bought the Kindle last week and I find it great.

conan doyle

Great to hear the Kindle is so popular. I'm off at lunchtime today to look at one. Can I ask you is is difficult to get books for this. I've heard that you cannot get some books for this in Ireland. Have you got any yourself yet/

Beagslife

Hi,

If you go the kindle route, which I would recommend, consider ordering it through the UK site if possible. It would mean having a relative or friend in the UK who could accept delivery and arrange to pass it on to you. It will save on the cost, depending of course on how friendly your friend/family member is.

Even if you get the kindle through the US site, I would recommend that you register on the Amazon UK site (if not already registered). There you can create a UK delivery address (if you have one that you can use). Set this address as your default when you register your kindle, making sure to change country to UK if not already set. You will be able to set up an Irish address as well for physical deliveries. You can also use your normal Irish credit card.

The above set up will enable you to use the full UK site, and the big savings that go with it.

It has been a great purchase, which is going a long way towards solving our book clutter issues. We also use a programme called Calibre which allows you to download lots of free newspaper and magazine/blog content in eBook format. As mentioned in previous posts there are also various other sources for free and cheap eBooks.

Anyway, enjoy your purchase and the freedom it brings!

conan doyle

What a fund of information you are. I had never thought of getting this from the UK where I have family who can easily take deliver for me. So thanks for that and for telling me about the other downloads which again I didn't realize I could do. It certainly will be an a big change for me but I'm looking forward to getting rid of the excess books- they really are taking over my home now.

thanks

r3nu4l

Well conan doyle seems to have made up his mind but it's worth noting that the iPad can also be used as an e-reader.

Disadvantages:
It has a glossy screen so sunlight glare IS a factor
It doesn't use the e-Ink technology that most e-readers use.

Advantages
There is a Kindle App for it so you can download any book from the Kindle store (geographic restrictions will still apply I presume).
You can use iBooks (Apples book store)
There's another app called Free Books that has over 10,000 free books, mostly classics.
You can access everything from Project gutenburg

It's not just an e-reader, it has i-Tunes so can play audiobooks
It has an excellent internet browser
You have access to thousands of apps on the Apple Apps store.

As I say, it's NOT an e-reader but anyone who is considering buying an iPad should see if this suits their needs first before also buying a Kindle or other e-reader.

Swampy

I have a kindle. Its amazing. 2,000 book plus on it already and growing.

All the extra functions are brilliant. You can get it to read to you (not a bad computer voice) if you are too tired to read. You can email books to the kindle. You can store mp3s or audio books on it.

Loads of things. Best invention ever. No more suitcases of book to bring on holidays.

Edit: I also have an ipad and it is also an excellent book reader. Much better for browsing through your collection. But I prefer to read on the kindle.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Manach

Permabear is correct about the very Lynx-like browser interface on the Kindle.
One advantage though is the connection to the web is (barring a change in Amazon policy) free.

Amazotheamazing

Swampy wrote: »

I have a kindle. Its amazing. 2,000 book plus on it already and growing.

2,000 books on it but how many have you read?

Not a criticism but if I had an e-reader I'd compulsively buy books and end up not reading half of them because I was always finding new stuff.

I remember when downloading music first came through, I'd download one song for 50 minutes or something crazy. It was a bit of time but the (free) song was worth it. When I got broadband I was suddenly able to download entire back catalogues. I went from knowing a few hundred songs extraordinary well to having thousands of songs I'll never get to know as intimately as those few I once had. I'm not sure I'd like the same to happen me with books. Most of my books are also memories for me, where I bought them, when, why and when I read them and how I felt. I'm not convinced an ereader would give me that.

Eoin

As much as I love devices like the iPad, I just don't rate them as an eReader. They have the right software and the shape, but I find the difference in screen types too fundamental. I don't consider the iPad having a backlight an advantage over the Kindle - I much prefer using an eReader in the same environment as a real book.

I have a Sony PRS-505 which I love - especially as I travel a bit with work, and don't have much space for books at home. I'm not fussy about needing to touch a real book and all that stuff, so it's ideal for me. If I had to replace it in the morning, I think I'd be tempted by a Kindle.

r3nu4l

Eoin wrote: »

As much as I love devices like the iPad, I just don't rate them as an eReader. They have the right software and the shape, but I find the difference in screen types too fundamental. I don't consider the iPad having a backlight an advantage over the Kindle - I much prefer using an eReader in the same environment as a real book.

You're dead right, as I said, it's NOT an e-reader but it has reading functionality if needed. I use my iPad for work travel (QuickOffice and Dropbox are brilliant ) and therefore find the iPad makes a good reading device for a couple of hours on a plane or in a Hotel but it's not a permanent e-reader. However for someone with limited budget who is debating to get either an e-reader or an iPad, then I think they should get the iPad providing they don't want to read in the sun!

The iPad suits my needs as an e-reader for travelling with work (short trips, plane, office and hotel based) BUT if I wanted to use it on holiday...that would be a different story, there's no way I could sit on a sun-lounger reading it.

I have a Sony PRS-505 which I love - especially as I travel a bit with work, and don't have much space for books at home. I'm not fussy about needing to touch a real book and all that stuff, so it's ideal for me. If I had to replace it in the morning, I think I'd be tempted by a Kindle.

Yeah I prefer the look of the Sony device (don't know why!) but I can see Amazon improving the Kindle a lot over the next few iterations. I imagine that like it or not, the Kindle will become to the reading world what the iPod is to the music World.

Eoin

Yeah, I think the combined shop and device is going to do it for them. It might not be the best device around, but neither was the iPod.

Annotations aren't necessary for me, so the smaller size of the Sony (it's no larger than most paperback books and a lot thinner) is really handy for me as I can put it in my pocket - but the formats can be a bit hit and miss, even using software like Calibre.