Any strong opinions pro or con?
Any strong opinions pro or con?
I am leaning towards the sony...
Considerations are...
Screen size
Screen clarity
Storage size
Expandability
Battery duration
...
I would consider Sony third in line, my understanding is that there is no wireless capability. I held out during gen1 kindle, but I bought kindle 2. I love, but at this point it would be a difficult choice over nook. I think nook is charging a bit more per book, but they might get more publishers because of that. Also, I think in store browsing would be good too, I don't to in b&n anymore because I would feel like I wasted my kindle buying a book.... All in all I bought mine because I travel and I've never been disappointed. I like reading the paper on mine too.
Content is king. I have both the Kindle and the Sony Reader because each has books and pricing available that the other doesn't. If I could only have one it would be the Kindle because Amazon has the most content. All 3 are good devices but B&N has pricing issues and very little in the subjects I read.
I'm really curious about this because quite honestly my experiences with regular eBooks have been rather unsatisfying.
In addition, my interest is primarily for technical and somewhat obscure historial books as opposed to best sellers. My wife likes like the popular authors, but is a big user of paperback swap so she's not likely to be inetersting in something that means she's paying $20 a book again.
What I would love to have is a technical library that I could toss in a laptop case and bring with me anywhere and also be able to lay on the desk while I work for refernce (i.e. like I use paper books). The onlne books I have share screen space with what I'm working on so that makes them less convenient. It's silly to have to print out pages so you can step though a configuration procedure (and make notes) without having to page back and forth.
Since a couple of you mentioned you have one, how appropriate do you consider them for my primary use (and cost wise would it be wise to by my spouse one).
Keith Stone wrote:
I'm really curious about this because quite honestly my experiences with regular eBooks have been rather unsatisfying.
In addition, my interest is primarily for technical and somewhat obscure historial books as opposed to best sellers. My wife likes like the popular authors, but is a big user of paperback swap so she's not likely to be inetersting in something that means she's paying $20 a book again.
What I would love to have is a technical library that I could toss in a laptop case and bring with me anywhere and also be able to lay on the desk while I work for refernce (i.e. like I use paper books). The onlne books I have share screen space with what I'm working on so that makes them less convenient. It's silly to have to print out pages so you can step though a configuration procedure (and make notes) without having to page back and forth.
Since a couple of you mentioned you have one, how appropriate do you consider them for my primary use (and cost wise would it be wise to by my spouse one).
If you want a mobile technical library, I'd say but the cheapest more durable one. Nook has flown off the shelves.
As you know you can download a lot of the technical stuff for free etc.
To the person who said sony isn't good cos no 3g etc., Wifi is not important to me, or connectivity, as...if you cannot plan ahead enough to download and transfer to something that can store 1500 books or more...well then you are lame... I don't need that instant impulse and extra subscription expense to be able to download the digital edition of the latest Hollywood gossip rag instantly. If you need an ebook reader that can connect anywhere any time...well your life is pretty narrow or you ought to spend the money on a laptop and connect anywhere 3g card / whatever.
Keith Stone wrote:
My wife likes like the popular authors, but is a big user of paperback swap so she's not likely to be inetersting in something that means she's paying $20 a book again.
She wouldn't pay $20 for popular authors. She'd pay $10. And if her authors wrote books before 1923, she'd pay nothing.
What I would love to have is a technical library that I could toss in a laptop case and bring with me anywhere and also be able to lay on the desk while I work for refernce (i.e. like I use paper books).
You could use an e-book reader as a second screen but you'd have to be sure the technical books you want are available for purchase for an e-reader and for which one. Many technical books aren't available for sale for e-book readers. And the ones that are cost more than bestsellers. $15 and upwards for MS-type stuff.
The onlne books I have share screen space with what I'm working on so that makes them less convenient. It's silly to have to print out pages so you can step though a configuration procedure (and make notes) without having to page back and forth.
It seems a small problem to click just once to one screen and click once back to the other. I do it all the time. I don't think it's silly to print out a few pages if it makes the job easier.
Since a couple of you mentioned you have one, how appropriate do you consider them for my primary use (and cost wise would it be wise to by my spouse one).
An e-book reader for your primary use sounds unneccesary to me and depends on availability of your books and their prices, but seems like your wife could use one.
I am just starting to explore this with gift for my daughter (voracious reader of books) and myself huge consumer of daily papers -NYT, WSJ, Globe, FT and magazines NYer, Atlantic, Economist and more). I spoke to the Nook guys at B&N yesterday and was shocked at a few things, so please he'll me out:
1. They did not even have an actual Nook for me to look at. That's right, two salemen, no product. They said they are taking orders for Jan 4.
2. They showed me a list of available periodicals...no "NY Times." If that is true, that is a show stopper right there, I get that free on my bby, but it would be nice along with others in easier format.
3. Also seems like I might have to pay extra for magazines I already subscribe to, to get them on the Nook.
Book selection seemed great, so for my daughter it would be the way to go, if not for the Jan 4 delivery.
Sounds like Kindle wins Christmas 2009.
I am still not convinced any (in their present form) will take over the book world. They are improving in terms of screen/usability/choice etc. but still too limited and fiddly for most people. We're still in the 'early-adopters-that-pay-way-too-much' phase of the technology.
I've been out of town and off the letsrun needle for a couple of days. Thanks for all the input. A lot of my reading would be from "the canon" since I teach HS and a little college. Which might be the best for anotating, note-taking, etc.?