The basic guide to e-book readers

E-book readers are definitely the gadget of the year and a perfect fit for that loved one’s Christmas stocking.

So how do you go about picking one? All e-book readers do need to do one thing well and that is display text. There are obviously a number of other features you would want in a e-book reader, such as long battery life, easy to carry, large enough screen that can display in all environments. Fortunately, most e-book readers that are available today have these basic features.

Some of the criteria you will need to look out for are as follows:

Location – Not all e-book readers are available in your country, so make sure you do some investigation into their availability.
Access to content – You need to be able to easily download and buy books for your e-reader. Most e-book reader manufacturers have their own online stores
Supported formats – Not all e-book readers support the same format of books. .azw, PDF and ePub are the most popular
Price and brand – As with all gadgets, you get what you pay for. So rather spend a little more on this device so as not to sit with issues that creep up by going the cheap route.

Amazon Kindle

amazon_kindle It only makes sense for the largest online book store, Amazon to launch an e-book reader, and the Kindle is it. The Kindle DX is a 9.6 inch e-reader which is only available in the US, however their 6 inch version is available world wide, including South Africa. You can buy and download books from their U.S. store and the cost of bandwidth to download the books are included in the price.

The Kindle store has over 360 000 books to choose from. Read more information about the Kindle over at www.amazon.com/kindle

Barnes & Noble Nook

nook-ebook-reader The Nook is Barnes & Noble’s answer to the Kindle. In terms of looks and functionality it looks as if Barnes & Noble have a winner on their hands. It will only be available in January 2010, but for now, read about the specs and features over at www.barnesandnoble.com/nook

Sony Reader

sony_reader Sony have released 2 e-readers to date – the Pocket Edition and the Touch Edition. The Daily Edition is expected to launch in December ’09. The Pocket Edition is their entry level e-book reader and aimed at the price conscious buyer. As I mentioned before, with e-book readers, you going to get what you paid for and I have heard from people that own the Sony Reader that there are a couple of niggles with their devices, but overall its still a decent product. More on Sony’s range of e-book readers at their online store.

So there you have it, a basic introduction into the world of e-book readers. If you have any questions about them, please feel free to leave them in the comments!

Comments

http://www.download-you-want.com Jack E. Stoudenmire

I knew I had to have this device when I first read about it. It is all it is cracked up to be, and more. What I hadn’t really thought much about, was the customer service, after I had bought it. Last night, I discovered a problem when I tried to hook my Kindle 2 to my desktop computer. Rather than the Kindle showing up on my computer, I got a Windows message saying my computer could not recognize the USB device. After several more attempts at connecting, I called the Kindle Support phone number. After a short menu for directing my call, a lady answered, got my ID information, and promptly directed me to a Technician. The Technician pleasantly and efficiently walked me through the solution to my problem in less than a minute. The problem was with my computer, not the Kindle, but he solved the problem anyway. What a surprise to actually speak to humans, that truly wanted to provide me assistance! I am more impressed with my Kindle2, and with Amazon than ever!
Cheryl

Jason, please can you let me know where i can physically buy a e-reader, are they available at INcredible connection?
http://www.incredibleblog.co.za Jason

I’ll see what I can find out for you Cheryl! I know a number of the e-readers are only available to buy online, such as the Kindle and Nook, but I’ll see if Incredible Connection sell the Sony devices or any others.
Reginald Arkner

Hello Jason,I am looking for a simple ebook reader that can download ebooks from stuff that I have alredy downloaded on to my PC from the Gutenberg project site. I am fan of the classics and the Gutenberg project site is, for all practical purposes, just fine. The Kindle is too expensice and I don’t need the fancy wireless connectivity but just a basic ability to drag stuff already downloaded on to my PC to an Ebook reader. The format of my downloaded files is Microsoft reader, HTML Etc.
I am a pensioner and have limited funds as my pension capital was reduced by over R500 000 during the current financial meltdown.

What can you suggest and where can I get it.

Regards Reg Arkner arbour@mtnloaded.co.za and Cell phone 0735461902
http://www.incredibleblog.co.za Jason

Hey Reginald, I think your best bet would then be the Sony e-reader as that easily allows you to download and view PDF’s that you have found online. Currently IC do not stock any e-readers as of yet, but if you do a quick search on Google, you should be able to find them available in SA.
dionysus

Hi Jason

I would like to offer my clients EBook Readers for Sale. They would then need to download books as and when they need them. This would not involve Amazon or Barnes and Noble. These books are journals/target specific books that really have no retail value. I guess the Kindle model is about the best for this, wireless access download as and when you need. These books will also be available for download from our website. I expect it to be about 2000 titles. So I guess my question is what E reader device and how do I go about setting up the distribution of the Efiles.

Is this doable? Hoping you can help
Dionysus
ZooLou

Hi Jason,

I need an ereader that can handle most academic ejournal articles, which are usually .pdf but also html, txt, ppt, doc, epub. The wireless/ 3G download is not so important, happy to drag and drop from my Mac to the device via USB. Also very important is to be able to highlight and make notes on the pages and then be able to save those notes, as is on the page, back to my Mac in a readable format. Some of the articles have pics and graphics so would be nice to be able to view those, also for pdf articles also nice to be able to read landscape format as well as portrait. Basically my eyes cannot handle reading all on an LCD screen, so need a multi-format eInk device. Newspaper and magazine format ability would be great but not crucial. Obviously, after this degree is done, would be nice to download novels as well.. but that’s secondary.

I have considered the iRiver Story but it seems their customer service is non-existant, the Kindle 3 seems good but not sure how easily it can handle the various formats… other than that I’m a bit stumped.

Oh, and obviously don’t want to spend a fortune, the more inexpensive the better.

Thanks for your help!
Best
Emmylou

Filed under Digital Lifestyle

Posted by Jason on the 01 Dec 2009 7 comments

Amazon Kindle

Barnes & Noble Nook

Sony Reader

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