After CES, I've decided to wait on any new laptop or ebook purchase until the middle of the year. It seems that any black and white display will be out of date by then, along with any device incapable of showing video. Check out this video, which shows full motion video, in (admittedly quite dull) colour, and uses 7 times LESS energy than the current e-ink displays.
I've been depressed since hearing that liquavista won't be on a commercial product until at least the second quarter of 2011.
I'll have to look into the Mirasol display. Any word on when it will be in a device for consumers? The video seems to speculate, at best.
The one problem is the sepia looking display. E-ink doesn't have perfect contrast by any stretch, but this appears to be slightly worse.
I'm sticking with my old Sony Reader right now because there has not been a meaningful advancement in e-ink displays since I bought the device three or four years ago. I have a feeling that within the next year or two, we'll see something worth buying.
I've been depressed since hearing thatliquavistawon't be on a commercial product until at least the second quarter of 2011.
I'll have to look into the Mirasol display. Any word on when it will be in a device for consumers?
I'm sticking with my old Sony Reader right now because there has not been a meaningful advancement in e-ink displays since I bought the device three or four years ago. I have a feeling that within the next year or so, we'll see something worth buying.
Did you see anything about the Skiff Reader? I rather like the look of that one, I must admit.
Did you see anything about the Skiff Reader? I rather like the look of that one, I must admit.
With that large screen, the Skiff is going to be pretty expensive.
If the Skiff has a "locked" store, don't get it. There are a lot of devices coming to the market, and one would be wise to purchase hardware that uses widely adopted formats (even if DRMed). This will allow you to purchase books from a number of vendors. A device that can handle secure ePub is a pretty safe bet.
The one exception is the Kindle. That's not going away.
So, would you all recommend holding off to purchase one for a bit since the features and prices seem to change quite frequently? I want an e-reader very, very badly - but I have limited funds and would have to hold off or make other sacrifices to get one.
Despite tons of hype, I saw nothing at CES that is going to change the playing field by that much within the next year. The only possible exception is the Mirasol display, byt even that won't be around for at least several months.
The only advantage I can see for waiting is based on price. With more competition, prices are bound to fall. I'm still waiting for the $99 device. Sadly, nothing at CES suggests that we will see that price point anytime soon. Your best hope would be to find a failed e-reader on clearance, since some of the companies are bound to fail. But that would also take a while. I've been expecting a subscription (or similar locked-down) device at the sub-$100 price point, but no hope for that emerged at CES that I am aware of. The other big problem with a locked device is that the bookstore it is locked to better have a great selection. The Kindle's bookstore does, but the Kindle itself isn't any cheaper than other, non-locked, e-readers.
My suggestion is to buy one now if you are seriously interested. If you don't buy one now, wait a year or two for hopefully improved technology.
I am partial to the $199 Sony Reader with a 5" screen. It's got the same resolution as the 6" screen, and better contrast. It does not operate on the whispernet, but who here can't hook up an e-reader to their computer to download a book? What I like about the Sony is that you can get books from MANY sources, free and not free. Any e-reader you get should support as many formats as possible. The one frustration is that the Kindle bookstore often has the cheapest prices, and other than the IPhone, the only portable device compatible with the Kindle bookstore is the Kindle itself. The price advantage is most pronounced with new releases. If you anticipate reading mostly new releases, the higher price of the Kindle may be offset by cheaper prices for books.
Of course the Apple Tablet is the one wild card in this equation.
Since I already own an e-reader, I am sitting tight. I have high expectations for the next-gen Kindle. If it delivers on those expectations, I think I will switch to the Kindle. I can always use my Sony Reader as a backup device that supports other formats. I can trade in my Sony PRS-500 and get $50 off the new Sony Reader. It's tempting. At $100 for the new reader, I would bite. $150 doesn't make it worth doing.
I will also say that Sony has given me excellent customer service. They had to re-flash the firmware, and paid for overnight shipping both ways. I sent it out on a Monday and had it back on Friday. Normally you can flash the firmware at home, but this flash added support for the epub format, and had to be done at the Sony facility. On an older device such as mine, I was really happy to see continued support.
I'm doing a report on E-Readers for RIT faculty, and I just stumbled on Blio. Oh mans would that look sexy paired with an apple tablet (or ubuntu tablet). I really like its note-taking functionality and Google Books integration. Also, I tried both a Kindle and a Kindle DX, and they handle like molasses. Unusable, I say.
I'm thankful the Apple event is soon, because at least then, about a week or two post-event, the words "Apple" and "Tablet" will most likely drop back down to tolerable levels and the tide of fanboy dripping from every word with a trowel will go back into ebb, for a while.
I just bought a Kindle and am in the process of converting some pdf's I have on-hand into ebook format to read on it. There are resources such as Project Guttenberg and other places that offer 100% legal free ebooks for download. I'm interested to read some Sherlock Holmes, Mark Twain, and other classics.
My question is what resources or specific free or very cheap ebooks would you recommend? I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but have read and enjoyed many genres.
Over the years I've stumbled across free ebooks or audiobooks by authors I already read (a recent audiobook by Tracy Hickman comes to mind) that they write just as an experiment or in order to get some story off their chest and put it out freely. I have enjoyed these greatly and I don't want to waste my time reading garbage if there is good stuff out there for free. I intend to purchase some ebooks from time to time, but I want to build up a catalog of free or really cheap stuff so I always have something on-deck when I want something good to read.
As far as the reader goes, so far I really like the Kindle but I'm sure the Nook has some advantages as well. Once I get a tablet I'll be all over digital comic books, but I'm waiting for more developments in both the tablet hardware, software, and the comic book industry (see recent podcast).
Sorry for the necroing and for sounding like a massive luddiet. This shall make me seem rather dumb but I though I would ask in a place where there is at least some tolerance for such things. I know full well that I could do a trivial google search to find out but whether i understand it or not is another matter. At least here it will be in a way that I can understand it. I recently picked up a kindle with the mind of using it to cut down the amount of books that I carry around with me. I am right in thinking that I can simply put a PDF straight on or do I need to convert it? Also for reading manga does it require to be converted to a PDF or will it work as a JPEG?
You can do it straight-up, but if it's text-only, using Calibre to put it into .mobi or .epub will save some space (and will also allow you to build indices and TOCs). For manga, use JPEG folders after pumping them into Mangle.
Ah cheers for that. I just got our one of my modules reading lists and my lecture has suddenly discovered PDF's. Subsequently I now have twenty on to read on the social structure of Anglo-Noraman England. As for manga it makes life easier all round.
I'd use calibre to convert those PDFs into MOBIs or TXTs, for English class I had to read L'Étranger on my Kindle in PDF, not fun times, as the Kindle support for PDF is weak.
I was hearing $250 from the analysts leading up to this, so $199 really is a great price. This might actually get me to buy a tablet, but I'll have to see how my situation is when this actually comes to market.
Comments
I've been depressed since hearing that liquavista won't be on a commercial product until at least the second quarter of 2011.
I'll have to look into the Mirasol display. Any word on when it will be in a device for consumers? The video seems to speculate, at best.
The one problem is the sepia looking display. E-ink doesn't have perfect contrast by any stretch, but this appears to be slightly worse.
I'm sticking with my old Sony Reader right now because there has not been a meaningful advancement in e-ink displays since I bought the device three or four years ago. I have a feeling that within the next year or two, we'll see something worth buying.
If the Skiff has a "locked" store, don't get it. There are a lot of devices coming to the market, and one would be wise to purchase hardware that uses widely adopted formats (even if DRMed). This will allow you to purchase books from a number of vendors. A device that can handle secure ePub is a pretty safe bet.
The one exception is the Kindle. That's not going away.
As you can see my nook came in today and I have been testing it out completely the only thing I haven't tested is the audio player.
The only advantage I can see for waiting is based on price. With more competition, prices are bound to fall. I'm still waiting for the $99 device. Sadly, nothing at CES suggests that we will see that price point anytime soon. Your best hope would be to find a failed e-reader on clearance, since some of the companies are bound to fail. But that would also take a while. I've been expecting a subscription (or similar locked-down) device at the sub-$100 price point, but no hope for that emerged at CES that I am aware of. The other big problem with a locked device is that the bookstore it is locked to better have a great selection. The Kindle's bookstore does, but the Kindle itself isn't any cheaper than other, non-locked, e-readers.
My suggestion is to buy one now if you are seriously interested. If you don't buy one now, wait a year or two for hopefully improved technology.
I am partial to the $199 Sony Reader with a 5" screen. It's got the same resolution as the 6" screen, and better contrast. It does not operate on the whispernet, but who here can't hook up an e-reader to their computer to download a book? What I like about the Sony is that you can get books from MANY sources, free and not free. Any e-reader you get should support as many formats as possible. The one frustration is that the Kindle bookstore often has the cheapest prices, and other than the IPhone, the only portable device compatible with the Kindle bookstore is the Kindle itself. The price advantage is most pronounced with new releases. If you anticipate reading mostly new releases, the higher price of the Kindle may be offset by cheaper prices for books.
Of course the Apple Tablet is the one wild card in this equation.
Since I already own an e-reader, I am sitting tight. I have high expectations for the next-gen Kindle. If it delivers on those expectations, I think I will switch to the Kindle. I can always use my Sony Reader as a backup device that supports other formats. I can trade in my Sony PRS-500 and get $50 off the new Sony Reader. It's tempting. At $100 for the new reader, I would bite. $150 doesn't make it worth doing.
I will also say that Sony has given me excellent customer service. They had to re-flash the firmware, and paid for overnight shipping both ways. I sent it out on a Monday and had it back on Friday. Normally you can flash the firmware at home, but this flash added support for the epub format, and had to be done at the Sony facility. On an older device such as mine, I was really happy to see continued support.
My question is what resources or specific free or very cheap ebooks would you recommend? I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but have read and enjoyed many genres.
Over the years I've stumbled across free ebooks or audiobooks by authors I already read (a recent audiobook by Tracy Hickman comes to mind) that they write just as an experiment or in order to get some story off their chest and put it out freely. I have enjoyed these greatly and I don't want to waste my time reading garbage if there is good stuff out there for free. I intend to purchase some ebooks from time to time, but I want to build up a catalog of free or really cheap stuff so I always have something on-deck when I want something good to read.
As far as the reader goes, so far I really like the Kindle but I'm sure the Nook has some advantages as well. Once I get a tablet I'll be all over digital comic books, but I'm waiting for more developments in both the tablet hardware, software, and the comic book industry (see recent podcast).
$79 Kindle
I never cared for the cameras on a tablet anyways so this is likely going to be purchased by me soon.