eBook Readers

[Chewy509]

Hi All,

My significant other has surprised me today saying that she happy for me to get an eBook reader. (I tend to read a lot of books in bed, and it would make it easy to get books that interest me, without having take up shelf space). Additionally, the local library now has ebook lending services.

The base requirements are 6"+ eInk screen, WiFi, touch display (preferable), and is capable of working with Linux/Solaris to transfer content from PC to reader. (Either USB Mass Storage or MTP protocols is fine). It would also be nice if it had direct access to Project Gutenberg database as well...

So far I've narrowed it down to (in no particular order):
1. Sony PRS-T1 Touch Reader. ($179)
2. Amazon Kindle Touch. (Available here in Oz next month $179).
3. Kobo 6" Touch. ($144)

I'm leaning more towards either the Sony or Kobo due to native ePub support, and expandable storage.

All these models are compatible with the local library's eBook lending service as well, support PDF, etc, but the sticking point is connectivity to PC. Does anyone have either the Kobo Touch or Sony PRS-T1 to confirm that they can be used with Linux for file transfer? (Wikipedia says the PRS-T1 uses USB Mass Storage to connect to a PC, so that should work fine).

Also how do the screen quality/clarity compare between the 3? Out of interest (and this isn't mentioned anywhere) do any of them have a display backlight so they can be read in very-low light conditions? (effectively negating the need for a book light)

Also any comments on any of the models would be appreciated.

 

[BingBangBop]

E-Ink and backlit are incompatible: E-ink is opaque. If you need this capability then the Kindle fire or some other reader with a LCD screen is needed and that will drastically affect how long it runs on battery between recharges from close to a month to 1-2 days.

I've the non-touch version of the Kindle3 and I really don't think a touch screen or keyboard is necessary unless you are writing notes to yourself.

I suppose that additional memory would be good, but I believe that feature is unnecessary. The Mobi format seems to be relatively efficient to the point that I can store more books (thousands) than I could read in any reasonable time frame. Further, since you can interface the Kindle with your PC as a USB flash drive, you can move any old books out and store them on your PC.

In general, if you are getting your content from anywhere other than Amazon (or checking out material from the library) you'll be transferring it through you PC to your Kindle. As such, converters are not a problem and Project Gutenberg will simply be a favorite on your browser. While you can transfer directly to your Kindle using Amazons Kindle Email address they charge for every MB so that is not all that desirable.

I only have a Kindle, so I can't really comment on the others. I've also not really used Linux with my Kindle so I really shouldn't comment on that either. That being said, you might want to consider the Barns & Noble Nook in addition to the other 3 e-readers. for I think it is competitive, assuming they sell them in Australia.

I do know that when I was shopping and comparing I excluded the Sony and the Kobo very early in the process though I can't really remember why. The Nook (non-color) and the Kindle were very close to each other but I went for the Kindle because it was cheaper.

 

[Chewy509]

Thanks for the info.

If you can remember why you didn't go for the Sony or Kobo, it would be greatly appreciated. Touch would be nice (but not necessary) since I would like make notes on some of the text books I can get for Uni.

AFAIK, the Nook is not available here, and the other problem is that I haven't ound 1 store that has a large selection. All retailers around me seem to have one of the major brands and their own in-house ebook reader making in store comparisons hard, particular in regards to screen quality.

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow for a bit and get around instore to have a look at the contenders.

With Project Gutenberg, that is why I was asking about working with Linux/Solaris, since I had a gut feeling that I would have to download and install manually. It's not that much of an issue. Similar with ebook format conversion, as I've heard really good reports when using Calibre to do the conversions.

 

[Mercutio]

A few things I can tell you:

1. .mobi and .epub have essentially the same format. One is used by Kindle and things that are compatible with Amazon's offerings. The other is used by almost everyone else. They both offer limited support for embedded graphics and use flow-able, resolution independent plaintext, and their file sizes are very close to plaintext. Calibre, which is available for Windows, OSX and Linux, supports free conversion to and from either format. As long as the files you're dealing with are free of DRM, you can deal with format weirdness in a fairly straightforward manner.

Calibre also handles cataloging and metadata even if the ebook formats themselves don't lend themselves to that. If you really want to, you can go back and add data to whatever level of detail your OCD requires. I'd love to see it integrated directly with my tablets, but it's fairly straightforward to just copy its Library file on to devices using whatever method you choose.

2. I'm friends with a couple librarians. They have diverging views on the usefulness of ebook lending. It's kind of a scam for the library since both the lending platforms a library could subscribe to require that another copy of the book be purchased at full retail price after a certain number of loans. It's forward-thinking to support ebook lending at all, but everything they've told me suggests that it's hardly trouble-free.

3. One my my librarian friends has been testing e-reader platforms for her library and has actually been to tech presentations from S*ny and Amazon. As I recall, she wasn't terribly impressed with the S*ny product; Sony, as it so frequently does, was primarily interested in selling their own weirdo ebook format that's compatible with exactly nothing else. She likes the range of options from Amazon and BN better.

4. Something to look out for, especially with e-ink readers, is their ability to render PDFs. The Kindle DX is notoriously awful at them, but if you expect to read things that are commonly distributed in that format, be aware that 16 shades of grey may not cut it depending on the complexity of the documents you're dealing with.

5. Full color tablets in my experience usually last somewhere between 8 and 15 hours. They do better if you remember to turn off radios and sound and vibrations, use "night mode" (white text on a black background) and a relatively low screen brightness. That said, I've yet to find a tablet I couldn't drain of power with a single day of intense reading. It sucks to have to put a book down because it has to charge. That really shouldn't happen very often. Keep the charger by your bed and plug it in every few days and you'll probably be fine (my Galaxy 8.9 gets charged about every four days).

6. Project Gutenberg doesn't really sync with anything. You can find copies of all the files from it in various places in one neat package on torrent sites, or you can just scour your ebook service of choice for free titles (here's a link for Amazon). Additionally, if you look around, most services offer a certain number of commercial titles free in much the same way that the various App Stores offer commercial apps for free.

6. I have a pretty strong preference for wireless file transfer. Anything that supports Kindle does this beautifully; it's one of the main advantages of that platform.

On my tablets, I almost always handle file transfers via SMB over 802.11, just because I don't ever feel like rearranging the mass of cables and chargers I have. I suppose that's a luxury, but if I'm sitting in bed or on my couch, I don't really want to have some bondage device combination of tablet and laptop and data cables and charging cables in my way. Since the only things that support file transfer over SMB are Android devices, that's what I would recommend.

The only e-ink readers I've used are the original Kindle and a Nook. Both of them mounted with MTP rather than MSC, but OSS support for that *IS* available, so I would imagine you'd be completely fine even on Solaris. The current Sony reader does run some form of Android; it's probably pretty hackable and you might be able to sideload an SMB or NFS client on it.

I've never even heard of a Kobo reader.

 

[Sol]

I have one of the older Sony readers a PRS-505. I'm constantly cleaning the screen even without touch functionality so I know I really wouldn't want that, but then I don't make notes on books either.

I generally use Calibre on Linux to handle transferring books on to the device, it works well except if I get DRM'd eBooks (Which I did mostly by accident from Google's eBook store (When they say ePub they mean ePub smeared in proprietary Adobe shit) in which case I have to use Calibre on Windows (or OSX I guess) to strip the DRM first (DRM on ebooks works about as well as you'd expect (I.e. takes seconds to remove), the adobe shit-ware you have to use to download purchased books doesn't run on Linux though).

As far as I know the Library lending programs and (DRM'd) stores other than Apple and Amazon generally use the Adobe DRM so while you can manage your library on Linux and load books on to the device buying or lending them is likely to require Windows or OSX (And I can only confirm Windows works).

Once books are on the device I find it nice enough except that when I've just loaded a book on it takes five minutes or so to reorganise itself before I can use it, and the more books I put on it the slower it loads menus. So chuck a couple of thousand books on and switching between books becomes pretty painful with menu transitions taking maybe 20-30 seconds and there being from 2 to maybe half a dozen transitions to find the book you want. (Navigating within a book isn't affected).

 

[Mercutio]

Aldiko (the Android reader program I use) can also take a ridiculously long time to import titles, but I have a pre-selected set of books that I load, so it's something I've only needed to do once per device I have.

 

[Chewy509]

The only e-ink readers I've used are the original Kindle and a Nook. Both of them mounted with MTP rather than MSC, but OSS support for that *IS* available, so I would imagine you'd be completely fine even on Solaris.

MTP support is certainly not an issue, considering I tend to help maintain libmtp on Solaris, and am the author of gMTP! (gMTP is a general purpose MTP client for UNIX).

 

[Chewy509]

Thanks for the input guys. I went around today and had a look at the 3 main contenders... In short:

1. It would appear that the Kindle still has sucky PDF support when it comes to graphically intensive PDFs. Simple mainly text based PDFs are fine though.
2. The Kindle works great with Amazon (it's almost too good, in that you can order stuff so easily).
3. The Kobo was better in performance than the rest, rendered PDFs really well, but the store interface was lacking especially after using the Kindle. However, on each page turn, their was a ghost image of the last page that was still readible underneath the current displayed text. Neither the Sony or Kindle had the same problem despite using the same display technology (eInk Pearl).
4. All three had the same contrast and clarity in use, except for the mentioned ghosting on the Kobo.
5. The Sony has audio support, so you can listen to music (AAC and MP3) at the same time...
6. All three used UMS (USB Mass Storage) to connect to a PC making it very simple to work with any OS. (Just need to know where to place the ebook in the folder heirarchy).
7. The Sony and Kindles interfaces were better than the Kobo, and much more beginner friendly. The dictionaries included with these 2 are very good.
8. My wife had an issue with how the Kindle handled page transitions, but no problem with the Sony or Kobo. (Its gave her a head-ache after watching a few).

The Kindle is ideal if you're happy to mainly deal with Amazon only, and not import too many PDFs. (If that's the case, then get the Kindle, hands down).

The Sony has a nice interface and the web browser is pretty slick and handles PDFs near perfectly, but currently tied to Borders bookstore limits the number of titles available. And the Kobo sits in the middle as far as number of title choices in the default store go, but handles PDFs really well as well. Both the Sony and Kobo use Adobe software for eBook DRM control, which incidently is the same software that the local library uses as well... (I've got a Windows VM setup for other stuff that should suffice for Adobe cr*p software).

I think it'll came down to personal preference when buying, and who'll throw in the most freebies.

So for me it's a toss up between the Sony and Kobo due to PDF support... (Most of the Uni textbooks are PDFs, and the others are ePub).

I've also been browsing Project Gutenbergs website, and frankly there's enough content to never actually to pay for a book, not taking into account all the other sources of free (and legal) ebooks. (And if one does get desperate, the number of torrent sites now specialising in or offering ebooks is impressive). So being tied to a singular store with limited choice doesn't appear to be a hassle for those happy to look beyond the default store for the ereader.

Choices, choices...

 

[Chewy509]

I've never even heard of a Kobo reader.

This is the one for sale here: http://www.kobobooks.com/touch