e-Book formats & sources; what reader to buy?

Cafe Society
1

Hubby wants to buy me an e-reader, which is veryvery nice. However, I’m having trouble deciding what kind to get. Kindle looks lovely, but these days I am using the library much more than the bookstore, and I’m not too keen on dropping even $8 for books.

So my understanding is that Kindle won’t read ePub, which is what my library, Gutenberg, and Baen use.

The question is, do the kinds of books I like come from those sources. My preliminary answer is “to a significant degree.” For instance, I like re-reading Jane Austen, I’ve been meaning to get to Frankenstein and the Count of Monte Cristo, and I adore Lovecraft. So for my classics needs, it seems there is good reason to buy a non-Kindle.

I also tend to read contemporary horror and sci fi/fantasy, with some mystery thrown in. I’m under no illusion that something as esoteric as Mike Carey’s novels will be available from my library. However, I just noticed that del Toro’s new vampire/zombie installment is available, so niche books with more market appeal seem they might be available. (They also have Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, I see, as well as the Sookie Stackhouse novels.)

From a cursory perusal, it looks like Barnes and Noble has most of the titles Amazon has, and the prices are roughly the same. Borders seems a bit more limited. But (correct me if I’m wrong) it looks like Borders and B&N are both ePub format, so it wouldn’t matter which one I was buying from if I use an ePub reader.

So what do you think? Have you used many library ebooks, and how was the experience? Do you think there’s enough out there to justify weighing it in my decision? And of course, what is your experience of the Kindle vs. Nook vs. Kobo?

2

Kindle and Nook both look the same to me. They are too small for my liking. If your eyesight is good and you are comfortable reading on such a small scale, maybe it will work for you. Otherwise, there is still time to switch presents before Christmas.

3

My daughter is in Germany and has a Kindle, and loves it. She has gotten lots of free books for it, but also bought some. She has the one with lifetime internet access, and was able to send email in the middle of Australia with no problems. She has no problems reading it, but her eyes are better than mine.

4

Gutenberg and Baen (and other sources for freely-downloadable books, like manybooks.net) offer e-books in several different formats, not just ePub. They’ll work fine with a Kindle. So, as far as your classics needs go, pick whatever e-reader you like the look and feel of.

The library thing, on the other hand, may be a more important issue. I’d recommend checking your library (if you haven’t already) and see what, if any, e-books they have available and what device(s) they’re compatible with.

5

I’ve had my Sony touch reader for almost a year now (got it for Christmas last year) and I love it. I’ve ordered books from Baen (and from the Baen free library), Borders and the Sony Reader store as well as the local library.

Some of the text is a little small, but it has a convenient zoom feature. The only thing it lacks is wireless capability, you have to use a USB cable to sync it.

My mom has a Kindle, I’ve played with it a little bt but was not a fan of the interface and the keyboard seemed to get in the way of my reading, but that may have been because I am used to the Sony which is all screen.

6

My sister has a Kindle and she adores it. I had to talk her into it because she was skeptical at first, but now I don’t think she could live without it. I use my iPhone for all my ereading needs, but I have the Kindle app and I really, really like it. As already mentioned, compatibility isn’t really an issue. It really just comes down to personal preference, since functionality is more or less the same from device to device.

7

This is just the kind of information I was hoping to find from you wise Dopers! If I can get free content with the Kindle, that just shot up in the ratings bigtime, since Amazon is my go-to place. I plan to go play with a Nook and a Kindle and see what I think. I would love to be able to get e-books from the library too, but nothing is stopping me from still getting a physical book from there if it is too expensive for me to buy it electronically.

Now it seems I just need a few hours to run around town trying out devices. Sounds like fun!

8

Speaking of free content, in addition to the older, project-Gutenberg-type books that are available free in a variety of formats, you can also find newer books that publishers make available for free (sometimes only for a limited time). Sometimes they’re available for only one platform (Kindle only or nook only), sometimes for more than one. The Books On The Knob blog is a good place to find out about these. And if you know your way around Amazon.com, you can go to their Kindle store and see their list of 100 most popular free (and, on a separate list, 100 most popular paid) Kindle books. (Barnes & Noble may well have something similar on their site for the nook; I don’t know.)

9

If you plan to purchase eBooks at all, I’d go with the Kindle. It’s got the biggest market and the biggest player behind it, making it much more likely that it’ll be around for a long time, and that your purchased works won’t vanish into DRM incompatibility.

If you’re not going to, then I’d buy the cheapest one that you don’t hate. The tech is moving so fast that it doesn’t make sense to buy an expensive one. There’ll be a better one in a year for less money than you spend. In three years, there’ll be an even better one, and it’ll cost less than the difference between the models today. In five years, they’ll just about be giving them away.

10

you can go online to many different libraries and get cards online. Pick the one that you think is the biggest in your state and get a card there. They don’t even send you a card that I remember. And the e-books come in many forms. I have a kindle and love it. Amazon has many free books and you can check amazon and the update the free books every so often. And there are some books for 2.99 and cheaper.

11

Any worries you have about formats can normally be solved with Calibre. Of all the people that I’ve spoken to online about eBooks, 99% are happy with their purchase, so I’d say go for the one that you think has the features that you’ll use the most.

If you can find a Barnes and Noble that has a Nook display unit, go and check it out; similarly, when I bought my Sony PRS 505, the guy at the Sony shop let me play with it for a bit.

12

Another vote for the Kindle. My wife and I both have one of the first generation Kindles with the 3G wireless access, and I have multiple free “public domain” authors I have downloaded from Amazon absolutely free.

Font size is easily adjustable from a standard size up to top row of the eye-chart size. Kindle also has apps for your smartphone or iPad, and the cool thing is that they all synchronize wirelessly. For instance, I read to page 151 on my Kindle last night before going to bed. This morning I leave for work, but forget my Kindle. Today at lunch I want to read while I wait for a table at lunch, I whip out my iPhone, go to the Kindle app, and it syncs to where I stopped reading last night, page 151. I read to page 173 at lunch, when I pick up my Kindle tonight, it will pick up at page 173. That is such a GREAT feature.

13

Another vote for "get what you like and download Calibre "
It translates just about any format to any other (so long as they are not DRM’d). Also organizes your ebooks (any format) and lets you sort and search through them.

14

My thanks to you guys who recommended Calibre. So… what are your favorite sites for books that aren’t on either Amazon or Gutenberg?

15

My husband just got a Nook for his birthday/Christmas present. He chose the Nook over the Kindle because of the ePub capability and the expandable memory capability. He likes to listen to music while he reads, and doesn’t want to have to use his mp3 player at the same time.

16

Heh. I was going to post the same question, sorta…

Husband has asked for an e-reader for xmas. However, he doesn’t really want it for books as such - he wants it for the large number of gaming .pdfs that he’s bought and downloaded from the publishers.

I’ve been leaning toward the iPad. It’s big enough that he can see a whole page of charts & drawings &c at once, plus it’s in color.

The disadvantage, of course, is that it’s twice the cost of most other readers. Also, we already have iPhones, so a lot of the awesome stuff the iPad can do would be redundant.

I’ll be glad to listen to recommendations.

17

If you like to get books from the library, I’d suggest the Sony Reader. The Reader online store is plugged into local libraries, so it’s easy to find books at the library and check them out. I live in San Diego and the San Diego County Library is participating. The selection is a little spotty, but more and more books are added all the time. It’s definitely easy to check out books and after 2 weeks, the books just “poof” so no late fees, ever!

I also love the screen. The new Sony readers (PRS350, PRS650, PRS950) have a really great eInk Pearl screen. Super crisp AND a full touch screen. So you can turn pages with your finger. It LOOKS just like paper, so there’s no backlight/glare, easy to read outside. Long battery life, big capacity, expandable media slots and mine plays music files. Love!!!

18

Another feature of the Kindle that made me choose it over the other e-readers is the display. True, it is not in color, but it looks just like paper. There is no backlight to strain the eyes, and it uses no power when displaying a page, so the battery lasts for-frickin’-ever. No, I can’t read it in the dark, but I can read it in direct sunlight on the beach with no glare, and it won’t over-heat. Additionally, it is very light and comfortable to hold for both righties and lefties.

Heh, just re-read the above posting; I guess the Sony has a great screen as well.
I’m still best friends with my Kindle. :slight_smile:

19

Can every ereader display pdf files?

20

Sorry, full touch screen FTW! Imagine the great screen (crisp, easy to read, long battery) AND you can flick it to turn the page!