E-book may not be way to go

[Lowell]

Tom,
The reason I chose the Nook was that my daughter, 1800 miles away, had the Nook already and the ability to loan books was a factor. But in the eight months I've had the Nook, we have only loaned each other two books.  We both tend to buy the book rather than checking to see if the other already has it.

 

[Tom]

Aye Lowell, our daughter bought the Nook after seeing the one Chris has. She (our daughter) has already sent requests for book loans, which show up automatically on Chris' Nook. Why do I think we're going to be buying all the books? 

 

[Ned]

I'll give you (not loan) all the free ebooks I have accumulated.  The only problem is they're almost all in PRC or MOBI format and the Nook can't read those.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the offer Ned, but I'm not currently into e-readers.

 

[Ned]

I was thinking of your daughter.  Does she enjoy science fiction?  If so, I have lots of ebooks for her.  Calibre can convert the formats.

 

[Tom]

OK thanks, I'll ask what she reads.

 

[SideRoads]

I looked at them when they first came out,,,,decided to see how it would shake out,,,,,,,,,,,,,,kind of like the Blu-Ray issue!

So far, I am able to exchange books at parks,,,,,,,find books at library sales, etc..........

Will stick with books that I can dog ear/book mark, especially when waking at 3 am,,,,,and grabbing the book on the night stand.......

So far,,,,,they have not shaken out to the point where I am inticed to go the high tech book reading route........for many of the reasons above......

 

[ferfer]

I had a Kindle 2 which I was very happy with.  My car seat broke it.  :'(  My seat automatically moves forward and back and my Kindle fell beside the seat.  Yep I crunched it.  Ordered the new Kindle and waiting for it.  Hope to get it early Sept.  I stayed with Kindle instead of the Nook as I already have books, understand Kindle and use Calibre.  I think I learned about Calibre from Ned in fact.  Thank you as it is a great site.  Also Ned, hint hint hint, I read science fiction  :

I have not been able to evaluate if the Kindle can be repaired since my computer was infected and I have not been online.  After 2 weeks of Dan working with virus scans and a Malwarebites superhero I am able to use my computer.  In the interim I ordered a new laptop.  Now that this computer is fixed maybe getting the new laptop was crazy but I was thinking about getting a new one prior so...  New learning curve with Windows 7 and all new stuff.

Aug. has not been a good month for electronics.  Seems if I touch it I break it.  :-\  Also had Cable converter box issues and 3 way light socket issues.  Oh yeah, QSHOUSE house batteries are dead.  In a way I am looking forward to Sept. 

Jennifer

 

[Ned]

Jennifer,

See your email.

 

[ferfer]

Ned,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Done and done.  ;D

See your email too,
Jennifer

 

[pawn]

Just to muddy the waters, I have a Sony PRS505 that I've had for over a year which I like, it's more open in format than the Kindles (native pdf, for example), and has two memory card slots.  The hardware is great, but Sony's software and store both suck.

I use Calibre to get around that problem, and read a lot of free books. 

There's a bunch of e-reader books that are out of copyright at http://www.mobileread.com/  they also have a lot of discussion of the readers themselves, if you're looking for more information.  A lot of e-reader fans are a little rabid about their brand, but what else is new?

I didn't like the control Amazon has over the Kindle, and the B&N's only models at several different stores had cracks on the sides of the unit, which led me to question their build/design quality.  The Sony has a metal body, and is smaller than the Kindle.

 

[Tom]

For sure, we all have our biases. There's no doubt in my mind that Sony makes great products, albeit a little expensive, and I've owned lots of Sony stuff.

During my Palm Pilot days, I went with Sony for one of the generation upgrades, because their hardware was superior and thought they'd support the product well. However, they provided little or no software support and eventually decided to stop supporting the platform altogether. A few years back, I had a problem with my Minolta camera, and that's when I found out they'd quit the camera business and sold their assets to Sony. I had to go looking for another camera. I have other similar stories.

I considered the Sony e-reader, but my past experiences made me question long term support.

Edit: Thanks for the links; Didn't realize that Calibre supports the Nook.

 

[Ned]

The newer Kindles support just about all formats, with the glaring exception of epub.  If they added that, the Kindle would be just about unbeatable as a reader.

I really like Calibre.  Yesterday I emailed 6 new ebooks from Calibre to my Kindle and they were delivered in minutes after I turned the Kindle radio on.

 

[Wendy]

Looked at the Sony while we were in Fred Meyer's in Bend. Also played with Russ's ipod. Still have no idea what I want to get....just think of the money I'm saving while I shop I really only want something to read ebooks and perhaps play Sudoku.

Still looking......
Wendy

 

[rhmahoney]

On my ipad I like instapaper.
Go to their website and download a browser button.
go to your favorite websites and call up some stories, news items, etc. Tap the new button on the browser and save the URL to instapaper's server.
On ipad, click refresh button in instapaper app and you have all the stories downloaded. Does not D/L the comments.

Goodreader is a free PDF reader app.

ipad book reader program likes .pub for downloaded books. Gutenberg project has a bunch of formats for their offerings.

 

[jkherbold]

We bought several Kindles for ourselves and to give to all the kids (grown) a couple Christmas ago. Biggest advantage is since they are all keyed to one account, ANY of them can download any book that anyone buys. There is not a time constraint, so all six can have the same book at the same time, for one purchase price. Great for a geographically dispersed family like ours.

 

[MikeM]

My wife and I both have Sony EReaders. The "Touch Edition". We're quite pleased with them. Their internal memory holds about 350 books and the have expansion slots for memory cards.
The Sony readers are considered to have "open architecture". All that means is that they accept most formats. For ones that they don't, I use a free program called Cailbre. It will change a book from one format to another.
The screen is the E-Ink variety so it looks great in direct sunlight. It's 6 inches diagonally.
Pages can be turned with a finger swipe (hence the "Touch" name), with a button or with a stylus.
Since I tend to read from one book and go to another back and forth, it's nice that all of my bookmarks are saved automatically so that I can go right back to where I left off.
This model is not wireless. I stayed away from the Kindle after hearing how they wirelessly removed a book from everyone's Kindle. I don't like having people intrude upon my book library.
I notice that the price has dropped from the $250 that I paid to $169. They are available at Best Buy.

 

[Lowell]

Went into Barnes and Nobel the other day.  I saw a book I wanted for $6.99.  Checked the price for the book on my Nook and it was $8.99. 

 

[vermilye]

I guess I'd have to admit I'm a cheapskate that loves the feel of real books. It's not that I'm anti technology - I started computing with an Apple II, and keep up a 200+ page website.

I read 3-4 books per week & purchase most as used paperbacks at garage sales, discounts at Target or Walmart, and through a discount plan at our local independent bookstore.  The best deal I have is the "Take it or Leave it" building (Madaket Mall) at the Nantucket dump.  The building recycles books, clothing, household goods, etc.  Being an island, landfill space is limited and everything that doesn't go in the landfill has to be trucked off on an expensive ferry. Nantucket also has the Hospital Thrift Shop that has thousands of hard cover & paperback books at garage store prices. Between the two sources I pick up at least 25 - 50 books each summer, and pass all I read on to others when I'm done with them.

I've tried a couple of electronic readers & just can't get used to them.  I'll eventually end up with an iPad, so maybe I'll change my mind, but for now paper rules!

 

[Raypc800]

I also have the Sony Touchscreen E-reader and as far as cost of books goes depends on what you are looking for. There are numerous free E-book sites on all types of genre on the web here are a few that I have that send their listings on my rss reader so i may download the books if I want them or I search through the sites. WWW.manybooks.net, http://www.munseys.com ,http://www.gutenberg.org These are a few there are others just depends on what you are looking for. Most of these support several various formats. I found these on my last in-depth research quest. Happy reading! Ray