My wife wants to get one this weekend so we’ve been gathering up info and opinions on all of them. From what we’ve gathered so far she is leaning towards the 5" Sony unit. This based on the following criteria:
Wants:
-Small and portable. The closer to book size the better.
-Access to free content like public libraries.
-Build quality.
-99% use for novels.
Doesn’t need:
-3G or wi/fi. If she can transfer 9-10 books onto it from her laptop for a week long business trip thats fine.
-E-mail or web browser. She has a smart phone that goes with her everywhere so no need for that.
-Color. 99% use for novels.
I know people swear by their Kindles (but she doesn’t want to spend a fortune on books) and swear by their Nooks (she can’t picture holding or transporting a tablet that big) so she thought the Sony would be good. However there don’t seem to be a whole lot of fans for the Sony.
Kindles can download all sorts of free stuff. There are simple conversion programs out there to turn stuff into .mobi files, not to mention free libraries. The books only get pricey when you want something released yesterday.
There’s tons of free content out there, in formats that work with any of these e-readers. (Let us know if you need help finding it.)
As for library lending, this is something Kindle can’t do. The others can, but the books you want to read may or may not be available or may have a long waiting list.
I don’t know that there’s enough of a difference in the ones you mentioned that would influence your decision, although IIRC Consumer Reports rated the Kindle highest. It wouldn’t hurt to try them out to see if there’s one whose look & feel is preferable. Around Christmastime I saw that Best Buy stores had several different brands on display.
My Kindle currently has dozens of books, only two of which cost me a anything. I love my kindle to the point I’d rush back into a burning home to rescue it.
The biggest problem with the Kindle is that it is incompatible with many public library e-lending systems. You should check with you public library to see what they support.
I have a Kindle loaded down with free stuff. Between the what is free directly from Amazon, Project Gutenberg, and other sites, you can find a lot of older books. Plus, Amazon has several free games that are fun diversions.
More than anything, your wife should physically pickup and use each of the readers before deciding. If Kindle is the way she wants to go, look on eBay. I have picked up Kindle 2s, with 3G, for less than the price of the Kindle 3 with only WiFi.
I have a Sony eReader, and I love it. It’s one of the older ones - PRS-505, I think.
The only gripe I have is the software which is bundled with it, which always seems one step away from crashing. I try to use Calibre as much as possible, which is clean and free, but when I buy books it seems to insist on using the packaged software.
This is semi-related to your question, and it’s nothing more than my opinion. I don’t think B&N has a real chance of surviving in competition with Amazon. I used to be a B&N customer, but I now save 35 to 40+++ % buying through Amazon, even considering the shipping charges. I have complete confidence in Amazon being around, yet I’m not so optimistic about B&N. That’s enough of tip my vote towards the Kindle.
Of course, I thought Pontiac and Oldsmobile would be here forever too.
I was going to buy a Kindle, but then I installed the Kindle app on my iPhone instead. It takes all of about 5 minutes to get used to and it was free. And I like it because it’s backlit meaning I can read it in bed.
I have the new Sony Touch. It doesn’t have 3G or anything on it, so I think we’re talking about the same thing.
This is my second eReader, as my original got broken for me. The Sony is a lot nicer to use than the BeBook. The touch screen has a stylus, but you can also use your finger. If you are reading and put the book down, it generally opens back up to the same page (not sure if the Kindle and the Nook do the same).
I tried a Nook a few years ago and didn’t like the way that you navigate on the little tiny touch screen. The Nook color has a full screen touch screen, so that seems better. It’s not eInk, though.
I don’t like that the Sony doens’t seem to be able to have folders on the eReader itself. If you are looking for books, you can jump around the the first letter of the author’s last name, but I like being able to click on a folder for Jane Austen. Since I removed a couple of hundred eBooks that I will never read, I have gotten to appreciate the file structure more.
You can get it in red.
The battery life is better than the BeBook, but I understand the BeBook had a very bad battery life compared to others in the industry.
Not only does the Kindle keep track of where i am in a book, it also syncs with the kindle app on my phone. I can use my phone to read if I don’t have the Kindle with me, and when I return to my Kindle it knows where I left off.
I was just given a Sony Reader Touch Edition for Christmas. It’s been pretty good so far. Navigation is clean and simple. It does have a stylus, but you can touch the screen. The software hasn’t crashed on me yet. Downloading books and moving them to the device is fairly simple. If your SO is into classics, access to Google Books (free, public domain) is easy. Plus, their online store often features bargain books (some free) that aren’t just crappy books written by wannabe writers–many are in brick and mortar bookstores.
I have successfully managed library access–again, fairly simple, provided that your library isn’t too complicated. I don’t have wi-fi or 3G, but I don’t really want or need either for this.
