E Book Readers

B

beth6395

Cathlete
Good Morning. I am curious who has purchased the E Book Readers?

I was wondering if you could tell me your pros and cons of your brand.

I am looking for taking to the beach and walking/running on the treadmill so earphones and talking would be my options.

Thank you.
 
I have the Kindle 2 and I love it! It has the audio option so the book will read to you. I haven't used that feature, but from what I've read it's a computerized voice and not like an audio book. I still love my Kindle! I wouldn't have anything else!
 
I got a Kindle 2 a couple of months ago and I LOVE IT!! It does everything I need it to do....but I didn't want anything fancy and I don't feel the need for a color screen display of the cover...I bought it to read books with, not look at pretty covers--I can go to the B&N down the street for that.

I find it very decadent to be able to lay in bed reading with one hand and holding my cup of hot chocolate in the other hand....no need to put the cup down to hold a book open or turn the page. :eek: I live in a small one bedroom apartment and I only have so much space for books and DVDs....I read more now because I don't have to worry about where I'm going to put the books when I'm done, and unlike the library, I can always get what I want when I want it. I am a HARDCORE book reader and I thought I'd miss the feel and smell of a book, but really, I don't and I certainly don't miss having stacks of books all over my apartment all the time.

ETA: wanted to add the "talking" option is NOT up to the device manufacturer, it's up to the publishing companies. If a book doesn't have "text to speech" at Amazon for Kindle then you won't find it for the Nook or Sony e-reader either. So if you're looking for that option, you need to check the book listings at Amazon or B&N and see if it's available for the books you want.
 
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Thanks for that info Janet! I didn't know that little tidbit!

JanetP1507 said:
ETA: wanted to add the "talking" option is NOT up to the device manufacturer, it's up to the publishing companies. If a book doesn't have "text to speech" at Amazon for Kindle then you won't find it for the Nook or Sony e-reader either. So if you're looking for that option, you need to check the book listings at Amazon or B&N and see if it's available for the books you want.
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I have the Sony e-reader. The text to voice option on the Kindle doesn't appeal to me at all honestly. I really don't want to hear my books read to me in a monotone voice similar to Ferris Buellar's homeroom teacher. It's nothing like a book on CD. Kindle may have changed this, but I know the Sony also has the slot for a memory card so you can store more books on an SD card that the Kindle didn't have. It's also compatible with many more file formats and e-book stores than Kindle is - unless they've changed that too, I think the Kindle was only compatable with it's own store. I also like the layout of the Sony better too. I don't think I would ever switch. And I have zero interest in Microsoft's new ipad or whatever it's called. The thing that attracted me to the e-readers in the first place is how realistic the page looks. It's like reading printed writing. I cannot read from a computer with a backlight. It gives me the worst headache, so reading on that ipad (again not sure what it's actually called) which is basically just a computer screen doesn't appeal to me. It would be nice for just surfing the net I guess, but I'd rather have an netbook for that. Ok, more info. than you were asking for. I'll shut up now. ;)

Here's a picture of Montana enjoying his Sony e-reader:

IMG_2077-Montana3.jpg
 
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The Kindle supports the following formats: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion. And yes, personally I think the text to speech function is awful, I turned it on once to see what it was like...turned it off again after 5 seconds and went back to reading! :D However, if you are looking for text to speech, as I said, pull up the book you want in the Kindle Store at Amazon and right under the price it will say "Text to speech Enabled" or "Disabled" so you'll know before you purchase it. I don't know if other sites do this, I would assume they do. I've always been able to find everything I want at Amazon so I haven't looked anywhere else yet.
 
Thank you so much for your input on these readers. I am going to Barnes and Nobles to look at the Kindle. I think I am going to end up with the Sony though.

I did listen to a sample of the Kindle reading, and it was horrid.

Is the Sony available in Stores or Online only?

Liann: May I ask if you have read it in the sun? And which site do you download books from? What colors do they come in I noticed you seem to have a design on yours is that correct?

Has anyone tried using theirs on the treadmill? How is it?

Thank you all so much for responding helps making a decision.
 
Beth - I have read mine sitting out on the patio in the sun. As long as the sun is to your front and not your back, there isn't a problem. If the sun is shining directly on the screen, you'll have a hard time seeing. I bought the silver reader and then bought a "skin" on Amazon.com. There are a ton of skins to choose from and they go on like a peel and stick sticker. They come off too, so you can change it up if you get sick of the design. The reader itself now comes in several colors. You can buy them in store at Staples, Target, and Borders. Here's a link to the Borders website. You can see the colors there. They have 2 kinds of readers now. One is a touch reader with the slot for an SD card and the other is a smaller compact version without the memory slot. http://www.bordersmedia.com/sonyreader/?sc_eid2=bsubnavsonyreader-112309

The books that I actually buy come from the Sony website, but google has a site too with 100's of free books you can download.

http://ebookstore.sony.com/

http://ebookstore.sony.com/google-ebooks/?in_merch=Homepage_Web_Google_1%20Million_Rt_2

There are a bunch of other sites too that you can find free books. I haven't downloaded any in a while though. I have enough books on my reader to last me a LONG time. ;)
 
If you want to "read" on a treadmill why not consider audio books? Many libraries "lend" audio books to download on your Mp3 of choice.
 
The Sony reader also supports digital books you can get from the library (EPUB, I think??). I am seriously considering a reader...I just don't know if I will miss the "feel" of a book. And would I hurt the e-reader if I fell asleep on it like I sometimes do my books?

Carrie
 
Carrie - Those e-readers are pretty tough. My dogs fall asleep on mine all the time. And Montana really was sitting there inspecting it. Get it a good sturdy case like the leather one I have and you will not have any problems. And I still have regular books too. This is just really nice for travel and space savings. I have boxes and boxes of books and it's so nice now to be able to just get a whole series in digital format and not have to worry about storing more stuff.
 
I've been wrestling with the idea of getting an e-book reader for months now but have yet to take the plunge. I like to read the classics but I'm kind of choosy about editors and publishers. Do you have a choice in publishers, for instance Oxford World Classics or Penguin Classics? I can't remember which book I was looking up in the Kindle shop, but it didn't mention the publisher in the details.
 
Michele - Usually with the classics (which tend to be the free ones from sites like google), there are several different versions you can pick from. A lot of them are scanned in straight from the library so there are more than one version floating around. And if it's not the version you want, you just delete and try another one. I have a few classics that actually have some original handwriting on the opening pages from 100 years ago. It's kind of cool.

Here's some free e-book sites by the way.

http://www.free-ebooks.net/
http://manybooks.net/
 
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Liann said:
Michele - Usually with the classics (which tend to be the free ones from sites like google), there are several different versions you can pick from. A lot of them are scanned in straight from the library so there are more than one version floating around. And if it's not the version you want, you just delete and try another one.
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That's good to know! So if I want books from google then I would need to get something other than a Kindle?

Liann said:
I have a few classics that actually have some original handwriting on the opening pages from 100 years ago. It's kind of cool.
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Wow, I would LOVE that!!!
 
I'm not really sure how the Kindle works anymore. When I was looking into e-readers, it was supposedly a butt to try and get files that were not whatever the specific format Kindle uses on the Kindle. You had to convert them somehow and it turned me off just reading how to do it all. I'm not sure how it works now. I do know that one pro for the Kindle is that you can wirelessly download books. The Sony doesn't have that. You have to plug into your computer and sync up the books you have downloaded to your computer. This hasn't ever been an issue with me because I always browse and search for books on my computer anyways and then just upload them to my Sony. I know some people who that would be an inconvenience for though.
 
I have Barns and Nobles the NOOK. The reason I got this as opposed to the Kindle was the native support for PDF (i.e. the ability to be able tro transfer the files myself without help).
Just recently, I did try to scan some pages into my computer and create myself a PDF file from that but the Nook wouldn't read that file.

It does support audio books but I haven't figure out how that feature works yet. I bought an 8gb micro SD card which I felt I need because my PDF files were so large they were very close to eating but the memory that just came with the nook. If you do need to buy an micro SD card, I would get that from Amazon instead of B&N - much cheaper at Amazon.

I like it alot. I just wish my Text Books for school came as ebooks so I wouldn't have to lug them all around.
 
Beavs said:
If you want to "read" on a treadmill why not consider audio books? Many libraries "lend" audio books to download on your Mp3 of choice.
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Thanks beavs that would be great but none of the stupid earbuds fit in my ears my brother and I had a long discussion bout that till I came home for christmas and he saw what I meant and the ones that have a hook for around the ear don't seem to fit tight to the ear and hearing isn't that good. And I AM NOT getting those big things from the what 80's.

Anyway if its large enough print I can do without listening while on treadmill.
 
Beth - Most don't fit me either. I found ink'd earbuds from Skull Candy are GREAT. They have different size "connectors/covers" for the ear buds for different size ear openings. My only issue with them is the wire. I tried wireless headphones and they just don't fit!

Carrie
 
I've never tried another e-reader, so I can only tell you why I bought my Kindle 2 and why I love it:

1. No more book clutter!
2. Kindle books cost less than paper books, so, it saves money.
3. Instant gratification. Anywhere I am, I can think of a book I want to read and download it instantly. Or just an excerpt, to decide if I want it. (I downloaded 3 excerpts of books in the courthouse on jury duty).
4. Amazon has had every book I've ever wanted to read, and I believe that they will all eventually be in K version. Most are already.
5. No fussing with newspaper pages. I read the NY Times on the subway with one hand.
6. The most important reason of all for me: it weighs less than most books, and takes up a lot less space, so it's easier for me to carry around than a book.

Having said all of that, if it's audiobooks you're interested in, I would just buy an ipod or other mp3 player. No reason to buy an e-reader if you're not going to be reading!

Sorry to be so long-winded. I got carried away because my K2 is my most prized possession!
 
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