Akom of Cazic Thule

When I first started losing weight, I would bring a book (namely, LotR) to the gym and read it while working out on the elliptical trainer. I had a large copy of LotR with all three books included in one. This made it easy to read at the gym, since the book stayed flopped open to the proper page. After finishing LotR, though, I found that most books that I would want to read were usually in smaller editions, too hard to read at the gym.

Last year the Amazon Kindle came out and all the hype got me looking into them. It seemed really nice, and I figured having no pages to turn would make it a great device to use at the gym; however the $400 price tag was a huge deterrent.

I just got back from a trip to Vermont and was reading book 2 of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan on the plane. I have little time to read when I'm at home and wanted to be able to read at the gym again, so I started shopping around for an E-Reader again.

It would seem that the two best options are the Kindle and the Sony Reader. Both use "eInk" technology, which is a non-powered, non-backlit screen that is as easy on your eyes as a book and can be read anywhere you'd be able to read a book, including direct sunlight. I liked the Kindle, but the price was higher and there were a couple selling points on the Reader.

As I was looking into the Sony Reader, I found out that to compete with the Kindle (which has some better features), Sony is offering 100 free classic books with a new Sony Reader purchase. I browsed through the eligible classics, and found there are a lot that I never got around to and would be interested in reading.

Yesterday I decided to buckle down and get one. Final cost was right around $320 after tax. Had free two day shipping, so I should have it Thursday.

I found that neither Sony nor Amazon has all of The Wheel of Time series on their eBook service yet. I found a program called Book Designer, though, which allows you to convert most (if not all) book formats into most (if not all) book formats. I found a Torrent of The Wheel of Time series in .lit format, downloaded it and converted it. Its now sitting on
my hard drive, awaiting the arrival of my Reader.

I'll let you guys know my thoughts on it once I've used it for a week or so.

Sanchek

I've been thinking seriously about a Kindle, myself. Will be interesting to see how you like the Sony.

Kelraz Bladesinger

I love having my bookshelves packed with books, I'm confused but intrigued.

Grift3r

I hope it works out for you. Our company demoed one for the intent of using it for Board members to disseminate materials during meetings. Other than the amazing technology they use for the display, we were a little disappointed.

I am anxiously awaiting a version 2 if they ever come out with one.

Akom of Cazic Thule

You talking about the Kindle Grift3r or the Reader? There have been several versions of the Sony Reader. First was the libre, then the 500. I got the 505, which has some improvements.

Also, what were the complaints? These devices were designed with recreational reading in mind. They don't suit business / educational applications well. The Reader, for instance, isn't text search-able (the Kindle may not be either). This means that you pretty much can't do anything but read straight through books (you can bookmark, however).

I checked my tracking number just now and it looks like it is being delivered this morning. Nice. I'll let you know my first impressions tomorrow.

Grift3r

The 500. It is good to hear there is a 505.

You hit the nail on the head with the primary complaint (business use). The platform is not conducive to multiple file types (the conversion to PDF does not lend itself to spreadsheets for example), and the controls tend to be a little small for our particular demographic.

I had multiple lock-up issues with the one I received but it could have been unique just to the unit I had. There were other little things that bugged me about it but I can't recall the specifics now.

I look forward to hearing your own review. I could still see myself getting one for personal use.

Akom of Cazic Thule

Ok, so.. First Impressions:

Taking it out of the box I found that it was a little heavier than I'd expected. I compared it to a novel (700 page paperback) and it was about the same, maybe a little heavier. Not too heavy, mind you. It actually feels more solid (well built) than I'd expected too.

Something I hadn't realized from the pictures is, its a really nice looking device (I got the blue one). I didn't really like the look of the kindle. It looks.. cheap. At least in the pictures. This looks like a $300 device, at least.

It came half charged, so I was able to power it on right out of the box. I was blown away by the eInk / ePaper technology. It really does seem like you're looking at paper print. I walked outside in direct sunlight and instead of being harder to see, it was easier... just like a book. I browsed through the things loaded on by default, and found the pictures section. I loaded up a picture and the resolution really surprised me. Its black and white, of course, but the picture looks good. It looks like a black and white photo in a picture frame.

I tried to install the software and found that the installer doesn't work with 64 bit windows. A quick search online pointed to a solution: run the installer from command promt with the /a switch to just extract the files instead of trying to install them. I did this and it worked fine (except for the eBook Store, which I'll get to). I was able to load into the eLibrary program, delete the stuff thats on there by default (bunch of excerpts from books) and loaded The Great Hunt, Book 2 of The Wheel Of Time that I had converted last night. While I was in the eLibrary software I tried going into the eBook store. This froze the program, no doubt because it wasn't actually "Installed". I was not able to find a way around this, so I will have to install the software at work in order to download my 100 free books. Not a huge deal, since after getting the classics I want I didn't plan on using the store all that much anyway.

Then it was gym time! I changed, grabbed the Reader and headed off.

I have to say: it is exactly what I wanted it to be. I set it up on the elliptical trainer and had zero concerns about pages staying open, etc.

The only negative thing worth mentioning, though, is the page load time. Its nothing horrible, maybe a couple seconds tops (not all that much longer than your average page turn), and is supposedly improved from the 500 series, but it is noticeable. For someone like me who reads somewhat slower its not a huge deal, but I could see it bothering someone who reads much faster and who is constantly changing pages. The reason for the page load time is because of the way the eInk technology works. It changes the state of all of the pixels on the page at once, and those pixels hold their on/off state until they are changed again. So in order to srcoll / change pages, the entire page must reloaded and every pixel must be reset. To be honest, I got used to it pretty quick.

Another great thing about it is zooming. Due to staring at computer screens for the last 18 years (got my first computer when I was 8), my eyes aren't all that anymore. I need reading glasses for most novels, especially in low light areas. The Reader has three levels of "zoom" (read: font size). Of course, the larger the font size, the more often you will have to turn the page, so it is a trade off, but its a great feature. I don't like wearing my reading glasses at the gym. Being able to zoom the text is a Godsend.

So all-in-all I am very happy with the device thus far. I would highly recommend it if you read at the gym or like to bounce around in several books at once and don't want to always carry them with you.

I will post my thoughts again after a week of using it.

Feel free to ask questions ; p

Maniacles

BTW, enjoy wheel of time. I envy that you still get to read it for the first time.

fildien

Wheel of Time is a great series. So so sad that Jordan is dead

Thanks for the info on the reader I have been leery myself about reading from an electronic device. There is something about holding a book in my hands that I just really enjoy. There is an option to use the iPhone to read books I think, I haven't explored it.

How do you get the books for the reader? Do you purchase them some where? What is the cost like similar to real books or less/more?

__________________
Nurta <Shark Baby>
Mind Trick - Empire

Akom of Cazic Thule

I took the dive before seeing the screen technology myself, but I'd read reviews about it. I'd always hated reading from an electronic device, but the more I read about the e-ink technology, the more I realized that its not reading from a device that I hated, its staring at a back-lit LCD screen. Trust me... this is like no electronic device you've ever read from. Besides that, the battery lasts forever. Ok... not really, but I've been using it about an hour a day since I got it and it hasn't dropped from full charge yet. Supposedly it lasts 7500 page turns (it only uses power to refresh the text on the page... after that the pixels hold their on / off state).

As to how to get books, the device comes with eBook Library, a very simple program that lets you manage files on the Reader and has a store that you can go into to buy books. You have to set up an account, of course. I probably never would have, but since I bought my device before Sept 30, I got 100 free classic titles, so I had to have an account to claim them. Book prices range from $1.99 for the classic titles, to $9.99 (I believe) for some new releases. Typically cheaper than softcovers, but not vastly so. All in all, book purchasing is pretty simple. You go through a standard online transaction to purchase them on your account, then go into account management and download whichever titles you want at the moment on your computer. Then you drag and drop the titles that you want (within the program) to your device. When you unplug the device, it looks for new books and you're all set. You can put pictures on it (to be viewed in BnW) and its an MP3 player too (requires ear-phones).

If you have any eBooks, or a way to obtain them *cough*piratebay*cough*, then you can use the software I used called Book Designer to convert them to the Sony Reader format. I did this for the Wheel of Time series since they weren't carried in the Sony store.