ebook readers?

[torifile]

I've been reading a couple of hefty books lately - Quicksilver and a People's History of the US. Needless to say, they're not fun to carry around. I know that I won't be able to find many books in electronic format (when the heck is this format going to take off?), but I've found a ton that are. I was reading Engadget and it was talking about the Sony ebook reader but it keeps getting pushed back (and I'm no Sony fan of late).

So, do any of you use an ebook reader? What kind? I'm currently "Palm-less" and I'd like to stay that way. I'm looking for a slightly larger screen and it only needs to do one thing well. Any suggestions?

[chucker]

Unfortunately, the ebook reader market is still one of choosing between "sucks" and "sucks even more". Sorry.

That Sony thing is a step forward, but as usual, Sony made quite a few asinine decisions to ruin an otherwise okay product. Let's not even mention their horrible software.

[zippy]

I've been wathcing for the Sony E Reader as well. Sorry to hear that Sony is screwing it up. It looks like a great product if it would do as advertised. And if they would market to students by way of text-books, I think they'd have a hit.

[autodata]

So what are the problems with the sony reader?

[staph]

The Sony reader isn't the only e-Ink solution on the market though. For example, this rather strange company in China has plans to bring out a Linux based e-Ink eBook reader (http://www.jinke.com.cn/compagesql/English/embedpro/prodetail.asp?id=20). Phillips also have a subsidiary making similar products (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad), although much classier looking, and much more expensive.

The major competition in the US for the eBook reader market are PDA vendors like Palm (because you can get Palm-formatted eBooks), and mobs like eBookwise (http://www.ebookwise.com/ebookwise/ebookwise1150.htm). The problem with both is that they use TFT-based displays which suck power and aren't as easy to read in normal daylight.

I'm sure good solutions will come along eventually. It's a very immature market, unfortunately. Personally, all I want is a reader which uses e-Ink (which is rare) and which can handle non-DRM PDFs, which most of the devices on the market handle quite well, it would seem.

[Robo]

iRex's Iliad is supposed to be pretty nice, but it's pricey ($810) and it's, well, a bit ahead of it's time (for example: it takes about two seconds to "turn" a page, which could get annoying really fast). As over-complicated as I think the Sony Reader is, it really does seem like it's the best solution on the market (even if it's not on the market quite yet). I'm interested.

[torifile]

Thanks for all the replies. No good news on that front, I guess. I suppose a good option would be to pick up an older handheld and just use it for that task. I used to use my Axim for reading and it worked ok but not great. Too small of a screen and I was scrolling all the time. I could live with that, but in true PPC fashion, one day it decided that it would reset and I lost my place and all my notes and highlights. :mad: That was annoying.

[torifile]

I just saw this http://image.aving.net/img/2006/10/05/200610050042265.jpg (http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/32973014/) on Engadget (click the pic fo the article). Damn, that looks good!

[ssdd108]

As over-complicated as I think the Sony Reader is, it really does seem like it's the best solution on the market (even if it's not on the market quite yet). I'm interested.

It is the best one on the market right now. It is expensive but reasonable and it works a lot better than a couple readers I had before. Like theFranklin eBookMan (http://www.ectaco.com/eBookMan-PDA-Dictionaries-items). I love the space that it has. There's not a lot of scrolling. Sony finally decided to support something other than shitty MemorySticks. SD is there and not capped. One major caveat is that it doesn't support OS X. Also the CONNECT store needs to seriously beef up its offerrings. I know it just got going but the selection is pretty spartan. Overall I'm very happy with it.

torifile, reading on a PDA::no:

[zippy]

So are you saying that you have a Sony ebook reader? Because I thought they were still unavailable.

[Robo]

I'm interested too, ssdd108. It sounds like you somehow got your hands on the Sony Reader. Care to let us in on your secret?

[torifile]

torifile, reading on a PDA:
Tell me about it.

[Robo]

Torifile, while the display on that Fujitsu concept is color, it's noticably less sharp than the Sony Reader's display (102 dpi versus ~170 dpi) so reading text on it might be a pain. Not that it matters, considering it isn't going to hit stores anytime soon.

I'm actually suprised by how cheap the Sony Reader is. $349 is hardly an impulse buy, but it's cheaper than I thought it would be, especially since it's a Sony product.

And there's a lime green case available for it, too. :D

But wow, Sony's Connect store really needs more ebooks. I tested it out by searching for a variety of books of varying popularity (in different categories...paperback, classics, etc.) and the majority of them weren't found. No Monk novels. :( Hell, the store doesn't even carry the Harry Potter books...which, last I checked, were just kinda sorta popular.

[torifile]

I'm going to be in Chicago in November and I'm hoping they'll have one of those Readers in the store. The software is Windows only, but with my intel macs, that's not a problem.

I realize that the Fujitsu one isn't as sharp as the Sony one, but color's nice. It really enhances readability, even if it's less sharp. And some of the books I'm currently reading have color illustrations - not that I'll be able to find them in electronic format, but maybe some day...

[Fahrenheit]

Tell you what. Stick a small wireless thingy in it, have it so it recieves the newspaper through Wi-Max every morning, you sell shitloads.