eBook Readers

[shamoness]

I've been looking at the Kindle for quite some time but the price has kept me from seriously considering one. I am concerned I'll buy one and it will become obsolete. My other concern has been the idea of reading off a screen. Reading many pages on a computer screen can be difficult and cause eye strain. What is the general concensus on this?

Also, what are opinions about the Kindle verses the new netbooks? It seems the prices are comparable.

Thoughts? Comments?

[blackstormhawk]

No eyestrain from a Kindle. It's actually better for reading than paper, sometime. Weighs less, too. I love my Kindle.

Not sure what you mean by "netbook," because the common use of that term refers to a mini-laptop.

I have only seen the Sony ereader on a TV commercial, but the display looks smaller than a Kindle, and the navigation control looked rather iPod like.

[Strange2]

The eInk display on the Kindle makes reading very similar to a paper book. No or very little glare, and as the screen is not backlit it does not glow and give you the eyestrain that reading a computer screen does. The screen is very legible in direct sunlight, no glare at all. To read in the dark, you will need to provide a light (just like a book), and there are several manufacturers that make clip-on lights.

Some other pluses are that the font size is changable on the Kindle (and on some other eBook readers), and there is a text-to-speech function that can read the text to you.

Netbooks are basically small laptop computers with wireless web access, which provides a bit more functionality than an eBook Reader, but with the new models of eBook Readers (from Sony, IRex, and others) they are adding features like wireless web, touch screen, annotation and drawing, so the eBook Readers are starting to be less single purpose and more multi-purpose.

eBook Readers will continue to evolve, and as long as the major players stay in business (Amazon, Sony), and the file formats stay supported, then your actual eBooks will be able to migrate/transfer to the next generation of eBook readers.

Bottom line: with the Kindle, I find myself reading more because of having a portable device with lots of reading material at hand, and most importantly enjoying reading more.

[Gennai]

Hi, Thanks for the interesting posts on this thread. Haven't heard about the Kindle, so I had a look on Amazon, also phoned Borders, but they said they only do the Sony one. Is there a difference, someone mentioned you needed a computer with the Sony, but not with the Kindle....

[Lee]

Hi Gennai,

Yes, with the Sony, you need to download books to a PC and then transfer them to the reader.

The Amazon Kindle has built-in wireless connectivity which allows you to download books wirelessly directly to the Kindle, as long as you're in an area that has wireless coverage (there are maps on the Amazon Kindle site which show which areas have coverage and which don't.)

I see you're in England. As far as I know, at the present time you can only buy a Kindle if your credit card bears a U.S. address, and the wireless connectivity only works in the U.S. If you had a Kindle you could still download the books to a PC and transfer them as with the Sony, however I don't think you can even buy a Kindle without a U.S. address.

[Strange2]

The Sony Reader 900 (available in December) will have wireless access to the Sony Store for download of ebooks.

Here's an interesting preview:

http://ireaderreview.com/2009/08/25/...daily-edition/

Lot's of development in the eBook field, which should provide several choices with different price points and different features. That's always a good thing.