ebook readers

[rj2para (Bisto)]

Not bike related but now contains a bike manual, (have you spotted the subtle link yet )

Just bought my first ebook reader, my daughter bought a Kindle a few months back and I have considered long and hard.

The Kindle for me was too expensive over £100 a psychological barrier.

Then there was the thought that I actually like books, and it would not be the same..

I then found Waterstones with their 7 inch screen £99 colour ebook / mp3 / Picture viewer expandable to 16gb with micro sd card.

With free classic books including the bible to download.

Oh and they are, as the say easy to hold, and read. Good words are good words regardless of the medium, may-be the paperless office is really coming now.

Do any of you use these?

[Jaz66]

me too...

this your one RJ...?



www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/elonex/elonex+705eb+722+lcd+ereader/8635466/

made a little post on the RFOC site about mine...

" i finally bit the bullet and got an E-reader.

Chose not to get a kindle...looked a bit flimsy to me, plus every store i went to have a look at one working was unable to
show me one up and running ..(pc world (x2) and Curry's.. :roll: )

So after much research seems the sony prs 505 was the choice for me at the price and abilities..

so i ebayed and won...

a heavy £70 mind but it was like brand new.

for those interested here's a sum up
Power lasts for 2 weeks at a time reading each night for an hour or two.
so easy to use i still sometimes try to flick the page like a paperback..

it is only black and white, but so are most of my paperbacks, but i guess colour would be good for mags etc

and a few pics...

reader inside cover with a large-ish paperback



Reader main page


to switch pages the round button on left OR the 2 bars on right hand of reader
other buttons are bookmark, directional, select and menu.

Print size small medium and large...







It came with a USB lead and mains adapter.
memory upgradeable via sd cards and memory sticks

I saw a book light in smiths for £6.00 which does the job perfectly well.



and the books are readily available, easy to download and many are free... :cheers:
up to 50 books loaded so far, all in Epub.

found some good sites for books and info for anyone thinking about making the step to electronic books
mobile.ereader.com/
goodereader.com/

and found this great site for converting all the various formats to ones your book reader can use.
highly recommended.... :thumright: :thumright: :thumright:
calibre-ebook.com/


So far loving it and it's got me excited to be reading again after a long lay off,
and perfect as we are off on hols next week for 2 weeks of lazy days on the beach...... \/

and got me an aquapak to protect it from the sea and sand.... B-)


so thats my hours spent away from the bar sorted...

ebook, recommended imho.... :salut:"

Post holiday i can report how easy it was to use everywhere.
the wait for the plane and on the plane it was so easy to have access to dozens of books at will rather then having to dig into the bags for books

And once on the beach good in sunlight and with the aquapack no problems with sand and dirt.

[rj2para (Bisto)]

That's the one Jaz.



The colour appealed the magpie in me.

"it is only black and white, but so are most of my paperbacks"

So are mine. To be fair the lad in Waterstones did say if all you wanted was a book reader the Sony was the one to buy.

My ebook has a backlight which along with the colour kills the battery. Apparently about 8 hours compared to weeks on the Kindle. That said I don't often read for more than 8 hours and don't often go too far from a USB socket of plug in a wall. So I guess take your choice.

"it's got me excited to be reading" Never actually stopped but currently very excited. New toy.



But for days out of even bike trips in the tank bag.

Love your idea Jazz.



Also a Calibre user, good to swap all those pdf manuals to ebook format. Not sure I will sit in bed reading them but I could if I wanted to.

Here is another site for all those free classic books.

www.gutenberg.org/

Within one of Jaz's links but the forum has a good page on EPub docs.

goodereader.com/forum/forumdisplay.php/151-E-PUB

[Jaz66]

yep the top up of power is easy enough to do... ;D

so no real need for durability, and the colour does look good.


The sony software is a bit shite tbh, but calibre is top notch,
a real nice bit of free kit....highly recommended


and the free books are ok-ish

got lots of classics that i really should read, but even though i have tried they just don't engage my interest for too long.

I love sci fi and found a good site that offers lots of choice and interestingly enough has the sense to offer some books for free.

www.webscription.net/default.aspx

the Arguement being that one or two free samples (Whole books btw)
given away to readers, will lead to those who enjoy them will hopefully return and by others of that author..which i did, so it does work... ;D

Living in London and traveling on the tube its a revelation how many pop out an e-reader or tab/mini laptops to speed the journey.

So we may not be early adopters, but we are certainly ahead of the curve as they say..

[rj2para (Bisto)]

Just found Firefox has free add-ons to enable you to download web pages to your epub reader of Kindle.

Bit like keeping spare parts, I am sure I will use it at some point

[vtwinfan]

any chance of this in english

[rj2para (Bisto)]

sorry VT I missed your post. Which bits do you need translating?

Can I assume you know what an ebook is ?

[vtwinfan]

never assume anything, Had no idea until I saw this post.
you have to remember I teach people to ride motorbikes for a living { I can manage that } But now SHE is talking about this stuff as well.
suppose I can look sort of interested as she warbles on.
lack of knowledge or lack of interest.
now thats the question

[rj2para (Bisto)]

I held off for a while but I am very pleased I took the plunge. If you have a pc there are lots of free books you can download from the internet and you can even convert electronic documents to electronic book format.

Lots of old historic books are available, army, food, cookery & travel to name but 4.

The early rush of a new toy has now passed for me but I like the ability to have many books on the go anyway in paper form, typically 6 - 7 at a time. So I enjoy even more having 20 books in my hand at one time.

Good luck with you deliberations.

[Jaz66]

vtwinfan.

Amazon have a new smaller kindle that may be of interest.
kindle £89

I would say that kindle is easiest to use if you go 3g, or can get on to a secure wi-fi connection........
that way it will download a book straight to your reader, wherever you are..coffee shop, bus station etc.

But as you are on a forum, i guess you must have some idea of computers and maybe of downloading programs and maybe music etc.

And tbh, most book downloads and transfer to the reader are reasonably simple.

It is not too dissimilar to getting a pic from your camera --> Photobucket/flicker --> and then onto the forum of your choice.

So 3g is not necessary imho and nor is wi-fi, if you don't mind waiting to buy a book until you get home.

I don't have 3g or wi-fi on my book reader and can not see any reason to have it or if i am honest , ...justify the extra cost..
but that's just my opinion ;D

I see the computer as my library with ALL my books in it, some i read often and some i bought on impulse anyway but may never even look at.

The e-reader is the bag i stuff all the books into that i might want to read (on the train or on holiday for instance) and only these books are sent from the computer to my E-reader......most will hold 200+ books before you start to add on memory cards etc which can boost the amount of books on board the device considerably.

Bear in mind books can be added and removed from device whenever you wish, so only the ones YOU want to read will be on the device at any time.

So in Simple english.

Download to e-reader..(kindle 3g + wi-fi.....and a few other manufacturer types)
means:

you want a book ?

...buy and download it with 3g / wi-fi direct from amazon/other to your kindle e-reader/others e-reader.

pour nice glass of wine, sit down and begin reading book.

Download with a Kindle Non 3G/wi-fi and most other types of E-readers...

You want a book?

...buy it from amazon/other and download to your computer.
*Store in folder you make named "Books" for eg
*Attach your E-Reader (just like any mp3/ i-pod/i-phone/mobile) via usb lead that comes with e-reader...
*Navigate on your computer to the application that deals with your books...( I recommend 'Calibre' )
*Add book to calibre.

select book/s then transfer to device.

Unplug e-reader, pour nice glass of wine, sit down and begin reading book.


-------------------------------

It does sound more complicated then it is..its very much like downloading a bit of software from the web and installing it on you computer..sounds difficult but once you have done it once or twice, you wonder why you ever worried over it.


It might also be a good idea to log in or join any of the e-reader sites for tips and book ideas

as an added idea why not download the kindle for the computer for yourself and the missus, and go download an e-book or two so you can get used to the e-reader experience before deciding which one to buy.

OR if you an Android phone any of the e-readers on here will also give you a good idea of what to expect.
android e-readers

I use FBReader and find it easy to use and useful for those moments when i am just waiting around..tube etc
(But it does not sync the book on your phone with your e-reader device, like the kindle does. )

Many e-books are free to download, so no cost is involved until you decide to purchase the e-reader of your choice.

hth...

[mrsvtwinfan]

Thanks guys for all the above info. Its actually ME that wants an e reader. I've been trying to convince him that I really need one. I'm going to take a trundle down to Currys later and see if I can have a good look at this Kindle as it sounds just the thing for me.

Mrvtwinfan made some comment under his breath this morning as going off to work "huh, easier and cheaper to go and buy a book" but this comes from a man who has only just come to grips with a mobile phone and how to record something on the Freeview box is a complete and utter mystery

[Jaz66]

No problem MrsV....

i am sure all the titbits of info will aid in some way.

depending where you intend to read, it may be an idea if you can to take the e-reader outside to gauge how well it performs in sunlight..(might be hard to find this time of year.. )


good luck with the buying...hope you get a bargain..

[McF]

I've had the Sony eReader PRS 350 for over a year and it's great

I have a smart outer case which makes it feel more like a book and a protective film on the screen

Nearly 800 books and able to download almost all the titles I ever want. I can view PDF documents and JPEG.

I use Calibre calibre-ebook.com/ to manage the library on it.

The Kindle looks very nice and gives the impression it's bigger, but the screen size is just the same (it's the keyboard that makes the case bigger). A few of the girls at work have them and they can only download books from Amazon or us a very specific format.
Frankly, I think this is too limiting and would recommend looking at any other than a Kindle.

Battery life on mine is great (no backlight); I probably charge it every two weeks and read it for at least a few minutes every day