>>1692

>>2664
DRM, worthless shit.

how can you read a book on a computer, or some sort of hand held device?
>>2671
on top of the DRM, if your amazon account is cancelled the thing is bricked

All reasons my uncle just said fuck it and just bought each of us (me and my to fiction reading cousins) EEE Surf netbooks instead. Sure they are way outdated now since Netbook Tech took off a few months after he got them for us..but they still work better than a Kindle.

I'm a super technophile futuristic transhumanist, but I still prefer reading books on paper somehow, curled up in bed each night.

>>2686
The e-ink is actually really easy on the eyes. I got to play with the e-reader at the Sony building in Tokyo and it's pretty nice, actually.

The e-reader has drag and drop support, so I'd prefer that one. The kindle has wifi, though, and allegedly you can just crack it to do what you want anyways. Both of them hold mp3's and junk too.

Manga is readable on them, but western comics tend to be kinda fuzzy cause everything is forced to grayscale, and that's not done too greatly. There IS a color reader out there, but it is balls expensive because there's only one of them right now so they can price it at whatever they want.

>>2710
and what happens to the kindle when you return more than two items to amazon and they cancel your account and you can no longer access the shit on it you've purchased?

>>2724
I'd assume "cracking" the device would entail making it not listen to such a thing. The crack would probably involve duping that very check.

I've been more interested in the idea of using a cellphone like an Iphone or Blackberry as a E-reader/PDF reader. Does anyone have any experience with that?

>>2730
I tried to get ebooks working on my phone (iphone ripoff voyager), but the only real option was this setup where you converted the text into images the same size as the screen, then put them on a server you own and use the web browser to read them.

I've heard the iPhone has a Kindle application that works quite well, but I don't have an iPhone to verify.

I've used PDAs in the past, both Windows Mobile and Palm, and I think that's the best way to go if you want a cheap ebook reader. I had a better experience with the windows mobile unit, but that was in large part thanks to the larger screen on that one.

whoops

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/amazon-sold-pirated-books-raided-some-kindles.ars

looks like the question isn't can you downloadz bookz from Amazon. Its if you will be able to keep them.

>>2823

course I've also heard stories of Amazon canceling orders from independent publishers and whatnot so its not really anything new.

I've got a Sony reader, and I love it. I've been reading a lot (a real lot) of online original fiction and fanfiction on the computer for years now, sometimes staying up till 4 in the morning in front of the computer. It's so much easier just downloading the stuff to the reader and reading in bed.

It's weight and the page size are about the same as a large paperback, and the display really is just like paper. Also if you're just reading normally- turn page every minute or so, finish book go onto next one, and your not flipping between books constantly, changing font size constantly,using the mp3 function, or downloading more books the battery will last a good 4 or 5 days easy.

As for the kindle, I've got no real idea, bought the reader before kindle came out.

>>3162
Also I've got a good hundred or so books on it right now, with a good bit of room left.

Never had DRM trouble, but most of what I'm reading has no DRM so eh...
There's alternate programs for loading the books on besides using sony's eBook library, like calibre.

Its about as rugged as an ipod I'd say, I've dropped it accidently from about waist height several times with only cosmetic damage to the casing, but that's not something I'm willing to test out. A friend who had the older model dropped it only a short distance and it landed flat- which somehow killed the screen. He said it was probably due to how the cover attached onto the back of it with the old version.

>>3163

The only real gripe I have with it is it's bad with PDFs that arent formated for it's screen, calibre sometimes works pretty well, but othertimes there can be real display problems.

Also if I'm reading in a restaurant or waiting room people are ALWAYS bothering me asking me "What is that?" or "Hey, isn't this that new kindle thing from tv?" and asking me how I like it, how it works, and if it was really expensive. While I'm frigging reading while eating a damn meal!

>>2671
why the fuck would you buy books with DRM anyway? Do you buy mp3's with DRM? That's like saying an mp3 player is worthless shit. Lrn to research before you post, fool.

I've been reading on various e-book devices for 8 years now. #bookz ftw. Amazing amount of choice. Just finished Big Machine, great book.

Has anyone tried reading comics on any of these? I can't seem to find any good articles comparing them anymore, but I seem to recall somewhere there was someone resizing and grayscaling comic images for the e-books readers. I mean sure I could just stick to manga, but I've got all this Aquaman to work through.

Trying out examples "for display", I've found them moderately good for text and utterly useless for pictures.
Personally, I wouldn't recommend one. You can only do limited things to it like highlight, bookmark etc. I honestly can't find anything positive about e-readers since whatever they can do, a small laptop can too. And with modern eeepeecees the size difference isn't that great. So even if you're exclusively reading e-books, I suggest getting a miniature laptop and using appropriate software to read books.

Actually I really want to know if an iPhone could handle PDFs and the like as that would seem a better choice anyway.

>>3843
It works, but the screen's not big enough

>>2730

if you have an iphone/ android device, theres an app called Textonphone which is pretty much a virtual library of thousands of books. I started and finished 'I am legend' on my phone and it took about as much time as it would have regularly

I kind of want a Sony Reader, but its so damn expensive right now that I'm leery of buying it.

I have an E-book reader. It's called "my computer."

>>3995
Go for the pocket model. Sure it doesn't have wi-fi, but it's 200 bucks and not having a touch screen gives it a sharper look.

All the Sony E-Readers now are DRM free and fully support the ePub format. If you must know.

>>4005
I agree with this more than I should.

Well if anyone's interested. I just bout my Sony Reader the other day. The Pocket Model in fact and despite not having wi-fi or its own built in store I've been very happy with it. Like the Nook, it has access to the Google Library of free books. It's own store seems to be a little less lackluster (and slightly pricier) than Barnes or Amazon, which is to be expected since it's still very new. But that doesn't matter as most of what I'm interested in is available for free anyway. The device and the books you buy are DRM free which might account for the price disparity, but at least I can be sure that I can move my purchases up to a new device as long as they support ePub.

The pocket reader is tiny, easily the tiniest screen and size of any of the others. But the screen to device ratio is better than Kindle's and while the Nook looks sexy, I found the interface to be clunky and useless. When it comes down to general reading, you want your page turn button and your book button easy to access without any fuss. The Pocket Reader does that just fine. It's incredibly light weight makes it practically disappear in your hands as well as fit into most decent sized pockets.

If I bought an eReader, it'd likely be just to use the DRM-free stuff from FictionWise, which is in PDF and a number of other formats (I think ePUB, too).

Pretty much every eReader should be able to do that, right? The question is, which eReader will work for DRM-free stuff and cause *NO* eye strain? It's already a problem for me with my current computer. I simply can't stare at the screen for more than six hours a day, and that's what's keeping me from reading eBooks...that "computer screen" time is currently resolved for serious work with the computer, and my free non-screen time is spent with paper books.

>>4064
Well I've had my Sony Reader for about twenty days now. When I picked it up, I was honestly half expecting to return it after trying it out. But I really became quite enamored with the machine. I still have it. And I must say, I read much more often now.

As far as I'm aware, all of them can do documents and pdfs and stuff. But the Sony models are the only ones of the big three reader varieties capable of reading non DRM ePub books. I'd already tried a few of the much smaller independent ePub websites, and they work on the Sony Reader just fine.

As far as reading and eye strain goes, independent objective analysis says the difference is minimal. Reading on a great monitor with a great refresh rate should just be as taxing on your eyes as reading on e-ink with a good light, or of course reading a regular book. But that's all objective studies and whatever. What that article doesn't say is that you sure as hell can't bring your desktop to bed. And laptops aren't exactly great for bedside reading either. And it's tangibly much easier to "relax" under a nice light reading off e-ink than it is staring directly into an LCD screen.

But e-ink and ereaders aren't some magical device that changes the what you're reading. It's still the same words and whatnot, just in an arguably more convenient form. And ya know, the convenience shouldn't be understated. It's a tiny machince, weighing only a few ounces, yet I've got the entire collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs on there along with War and Peace and Moby Dick and a bajillion other "classics" I kept saying I'd sit down and read someday. Not to mention it carries PDFs, my own writing, and a cookbook.

And sure, I'll never really finish reading more than one of those on any given trip. But I like the variety of the library I carry with me. Lets say that on the bus I get bored of that schlock scifi thriller I picked up over the store, I press a couple buttons and I'm now going over Marcus Aurelius.

tl;dr
I like it. If you're thinking of getting one, you'll probably find out you like it too. If not, well there's no hurry to get one.