eBook reader advise

[Jan Goyvaerts]

I've got quite a lot of articles, ebooks, magazines and others documentation I'm keeping in pdf format. I'm looking to put it into a device I can easily carry, switch on quickly and allowing me to search and annotate the lot. The latter preferably with a stylus or touch screen of some kind.

As ebook readers are getting mainstream I was wondering whether somebody in here would be able to direct me to a capable reader.

Thanks in advance !!!

Jan

[Andrew]

I have an iPod touch with the stanza app installed and find it great.

I also use the open source calibre program to convert PDFs and some
other file types to supported frmats as well

Andrew.

[Jan Goyvaerts]

the screen isn't too small ?

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[Jan Van Besien]

I'm in the same situation... also looking for something but still
hesitating to actually buy it. After reading lots of reviews, I came
to like the Sony PRS-600 most... but a lot of it is just a subjective
feeling... It's not the cheapest though.

The most important feature for me seems to be the PDF support (I will
be using them mostly to view PDF's I already have, rather than buying
books with the device). I live in Belgium, so something which supports
the books sold by the local online book store (http://www.e-boek.org/)
could come in handy as well. On the other hand, they don't sell
technical books in English, and if I don't think the sony can buy from
amazon directly...

As usual, its a pity that there isn't one standard format/api to buy
online books, such that you can use the devices with any online
shop... Guess its marketing and DRM related.

I found http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix
interesting as well.

[Jan Goyvaerts]

The Nook seems okay also. Alas, no stylus for annotating.

Personally I don't mind the connectivity. As long as I can upload documentation into it I'm fine.

Another article http://www.reevoo.com/decidewhattobuy/2009/12/beginners-guide-to-ebook-readers-part-2-which-ereader-should-i-buy/

[Mark Volkmann]

The Kindle 2 supports PDF now. I have one and like it a lot!

--
R. Mark Volkmann
Object Computing, Inc.

[Kfir Shay]

Mark, how is the interface to load pre owned pdf and what is the
quality once its loaded

[Mark Volkmann]

On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Kfir Shay <kfir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Mark, how is the interface to load pre owned pdf and what is the
> quality once its loaded

You attach the Kindle to your computer using a USB cable. The Kindle
appears as a hard drive. You just copy PDF files over to it. They look
great on the Kindle. The only issue is that you can't change the font
size or zoom on PDFs. You can rotate the display 90 degrees though and
that makes the text larger.

[Jan Goyvaerts]

What about annotating a pdf ?

[Jan Goyvaerts]

Maybe this is usable as ebook reader too ?
 
http://www.slashgear.com/notion-ink-tegra-android-smartpad-uses-pixel-qi-display-1866308/

[Henrique de Miranda Gontijo]

Sorry, this isn't the main topic of this thread, but sincerely i can't see a reason to buy a ebook gadget in times of small and cheap notebooks/cellphones where you can do it easily.

In Brazil, this kind of gadget is almost unknown.

[Robert Casto]

I have to agree. For the money I decided to get a really nice ASUS IEEE laptop with the extra memory. The thing can run some pretty cool stuff if you are patient. Also, Amazon has released the Kindle software for the PC which I have loaded up onto the IEEE. I don't get the same battery life or experience, but I can view PDF's, watch movies, write code, and much more for just a bit more money.

Robert Casto
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Find Amazon Filler Items easily!

[Rakesh]

what everyone is forgetting is that the ebook readers have a special
technology for prolonged reading.

Using iphones/laptops/monitors is fine for reading for short periods
but extended reading is not comfortable, hence e-ink or whatever its
called.

I have a Sony PRS-505. The main issue is that pdfs don't render well
at all. Thankfully I can usually get ePub format books.

R

[Henrique de Miranda Gontijo]

Thanks for clarifying Rakesh.

I've never heard about e-ink, it's a very interesting technology.

http://www.answers.com/topic/e-ink-1

[Joshua Marinacci]

Yes, the key to all of these is electronic paper. The most popular form is the technology from eInk, though there are several competing technologies that may hit the market soon. Electronic paper is special because it requires *no* power to keep the image and has a reflective surface instead of emissive. Being reflective means you get greater contrast and the brightness is a function of the ambient light around you, just like real paper. Since it requires power only when changing the image, not to hold it, an ebook reader can last for weeks even with continual use.

About ten years ago I had a chance to see some early epaper technology at Xerox PARC. The contrast was horrible, it was heavy, and the pixels were about a quarter inch each. But I could tell that one day this stuff would be everywhere. Now that the production is ramping up I predict a netbook or PDA using this tech within 5 years, and active wallpaper within 20. (yes, you may have banner ads in your wallpaper :)

- Josh

[Robert Casto]

Yes, eInk is great for prolonged reading. I can't remember the last time I had more than an hour where I could just sit and read though. :)

I have seen the Kindle and it is great for people who are avid readers. Usually though I can't find more than 20-30 minutes to read something so the laptop does great. Your mileage will vary. I just wanted to give people another option since if your reading habits are similar, you might find more functionality out of a laptop. The battery lasts 8 hours on mine which is more than enough for flights, reading, and anything else I want to do. On an airplane you don't have any ambient light to read the Kindle with unless you buy a book light.

Don't knock it just because you think eInk is cool. It is, but it may not work for everyone.

[jmcecil]

I can't stress how different reading on an e-book or laptop or iPhone
or whatever is to reading on a e-Ink device. But, Mr. Cast is correct
about one thing for sure... Know what your reading habits are and what
you are trying to get done with the reader. If you are an avid reader
of books in book form (not technical books or journals), an e-ink
device is the way to go. If you have 2 or 3 paperbacks stuck in your
laptop case and a hardback or two in your suitcase, this is probably
you (actually that's me :)). However, if your reading is all tech/
code/journal be VERY careful and be VERY picky.

One of my goals to getting an e-reader was to hopfully get a library
of tech books to take with me, like API doc. What I find is that the
poor organizational capabilities and the slow/cumbersome search
functions on the Kindle DX are not up to the task. I looked at a few
others like the Sony and it didn't look any better on those.

But, I do absolutely love the DX as a book reader. It is vastly
superior to using a computer of any kind to read. Also, there is this
thing on most airplanes called an "overhead light". Works fine for
ambient light to read by. Basically, if you can read a book, you can
read e-ink. So, I guess what I'm saying is that if your read a lot of
books, get e-ink.

> > > On Sat, Dec 26, 2009 at 3:02 AM, Robert Casto <casto.rob...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
> > >> I have to agree. For the money I decided to get a really nice ASUS IEEE
> > >> laptop with the extra memory. The thing can run some pretty cool stuff
> > if
> > >> you are patient. Also, Amazon has released the Kindle software for the
> > PC
> > >> which I have loaded up onto the IEEE. I don't get the same battery life
> > or
> > >> experience, but I can view PDF's, watch movies, write code, and much
> > more
> > >> for just a bit more money.
>
> > >> On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 9:34 PM, Henrique de Miranda Gontijo
> > >> <henri...@gontijo.org> wrote:
>
> > >>> Sorry, this isn't the main topic of this thread, but sincerely i can't
> > see
> > >>> a reason to buy a ebook gadget in times of small and cheap
> > >>> notebooks/cellphones where you can do it easily.
> > >>> In Brazil, this kind of gadget is almost unknown.

> > >>> On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 7:20 PM, Jan Goyvaerts <java.arti...@gmail.com

>
> > >>> wrote:
>
> > >>>> Maybe this is usable as ebook reader too ?
>

> >http://www.slashgear.com/notion-ink-tegra-android-smartpad-uses-pixel...
>
> > >>>> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 16:57, Jan Goyvaerts <java.arti...@gmail.com>

> > >>>> wrote:
>
> > >>>>> What about annotating a pdf ?
>
> > >>>>> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 15:57, Mark Volkmann <

> > r.mark.volkm...@gmail.com>
> > >>>>> wrote:
>
> > >>>>>> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Kfir Shay <kfir.s...@gmail.com>

> > wrote:
> > >>>>>>> Mark, how is the interface to load pre owned pdf and what is the
> > >>>>>>> quality once its loaded
>
> > >>>>>> You attach the Kindle to your computer using a USB cable. The Kindle
> > >>>>>> appears as a hard drive. You just copy PDF files over to it. They
> > look
> > >>>>>> great on the Kindle. The only issue is that you can't change the
> > font
> > >>>>>> size or zoom on PDFs. You can rotate the display 90 degrees though
> > and
> > >>>>>> that makes the text larger.
>
> > >>>>>>> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Mark Volkmann
> > >>>>>>> <r.mark.volkm...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>>>>>>> The Kindle 2 supports PDF now. I have one and like it a lot!
>
> > >>>>>>>> --
> > >>>>>>>> R. Mark Volkmann
> > >>>>>>>> Object Computing, Inc.
>
> > >>>>>>>> --
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[Robert Casto]

If you have the money, go with both and enjoy the DX. If you don't have have to choose, then as jmcecil says, be very careful about choosing. I work mostly with technical documents, edit them, and occasionally have 30 to 60 minutes to read something. My IEEE is great at all these things including surfing the web, reading email, even running a stripped down version of Eclipse so I can work with some code.

While I enjoy reading, I find that audio books work better with my schedule. I can listen while I commute, exercise, or wait on the kids. I don't see that changing until my kids have grown and at that point I'd probably buy a Kindle in a heartbeat.

Best of luck making your choice.

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[Jan Goyvaerts]

Anybody using something different than Kindle ?

[Rakesh]

I have a sony PRS-505. The device itself is very stylish. The screen is good but remember eink is grayscale only.

Have spotty results with pdfs but much better with ePub (Prag prog do this format and so does gutenberg).

Currently bookshops seem to be pushing them as the next best thing( http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/pages/new-readers/1918/ ) though you can see they price of the books aren't far off the physical ones which means early days.

I think Steven Covey did some deal with Amazon which may make the bring publishing houses quake in their boots!

Rakesh

[Jan Goyvaerts]

Spotty ? What about drawings and pictures of manuals ?

[Rakesh]

some pdfs render ok others are pretty bad (headers/footers in random locations). The images are greyscale so it depends on whether they will view ok.

To be honest, I mostly buy prose-heavy ebooks so its not a big deal.

Pragmatic Programmers have really good support for ePub as does Manning. APress is not so good as they provide password-protected pdfs and since there is no input on the Sony, I have not been able to read them.

Rakesh

[Mohamed Bana]

Bill Hill one of the people who invented cleartype uses Kindle.  See http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Dan/Bill-Hill-The-Future-of-Reading-on-the-Web-Part-2/

—Mohamed

[Kevin Wright]

I also use a PRS-505

Regarding PDFs, I've found that it makes a major difference if I first crop the margins before uploading them to the device, I just can't recall the program I used! (pretty stupid, as I should have taken note of this before upgrading to windows 7...)

Hopefully a future firmware upgrade will allow the device to zoom into just visible content and not waste valuable space on margins.

The reflow on zoomed PDFs is weak, but that's a limitation of the format and not the device, viewing in landscape is much more effective.

2009/12/31 Rakesh <rakesh.m...@gmail.com>

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[Jan Goyvaerts]

anybody using a stylus to annotate pdf's ?