E-Readers?

[Jag]

My mother-in-law noticed lately that I've been spending about $5-$20 a week getting a new book each week. She also noticed that I keep losing track of them around the house and she finds them in various places (I have a bad habit of just setting a book down when I have to go somewhere and don't have room in my purse for the book instead of taking it back up to my room). So she asked me if I'd been interested in any of the E-readers out on the market (slightly hinting at that being my Christmas present depending on my answer). I told her that I wasn't sure. I've heard of them...but never really looked into them.

So...anyone have any kind of an E-Reader? If so, what do you think of it? I've heard of the Kindle and a few others, but I seem to fail at actually understanding half of what I'm looking at online...so I'd like to hear people's opinions on these things.

Things I'd like to know:

Name of the Device:
About how many books do you have on it:
Ease of use:
Price:
Battery:
And any thing else you think is important.

[Lilias]

I've set my heart on the Sony Reader Touch. Mind you, it's the very latest thing and not cheap, but you can use it as reference. It can fit up to 350 books and it comes with a stylus, so you can take notes and bookmark like on a real book.

The tech stuff:
AC Power Adapter Supplied: No (bought separately)
Audio codecs: MP3 AAC
Audio Output Connections: 3.5 mm headphone socket
Battery Life: Up to 7 500 page turns
Battery Type: Lithium Ion
Book formats: ePub BBeB Book PDF TXT RTF MS Word
Bookmarking Support: Yes
Depth: 1.02cm
Display: 6-inch Vizplex touch screen display 800 x 600 pixels
Height: 17.5cm
Internal Memory: 512MB User space 380MB expand by up to 16GB
Manufacturer Warranty: 1 Year
Memory Expansion Slot: Yes
Weight: 286.3g

It goes, on Amazon, for £325 new or from £260 used.

[Snow Cherry]

You know, this is a subject that interests me because I want an E-Reader soooo badly I can taste it in the very fibers of my being, heh. However, I have not done my research so... yeah.

But I have heard, through rumor mind you, that if you are serious about getting an E-Reader to not buy one this year but to wait and buy one next year. The reasons for this are multiple. Mainly, everybody is coming out with a E-Reader this year and you may buy one from a company that has decided it is not profitable next year and will stop their sales and support. People say that by next year the market will have weeded through the E-Readers that are pretty much likely to succeed and you will be buying a device that you can still purchase accessories to for a couple years down the road. Another reason is because the price will be cheaper next year, duh! Oh...and also Google will be coming out with their E-Reader by then. A lot of people are waiting on Google to put theirs out before they purchase one, convinced that Google's E-Reader will be the way to go.

So I dunno, this is just 'talk' I have heard from other people and I thought I would pass it along. Do with it what you like. Personally, I would be sooooo happy if someone bought me an E-Reader TODAY.    ::)

[Arander]

An Iphone or Itouch with the Kindle app is I think something perfect. It's small enough to fit in your pocket and you have access to all of the Kindle books available (which is quite a bit these days) You also get access to all of the regular apps that are approved for the system. Games, social networking apps, fart apps, you name it! You can find Itouch's for cheaper than any Ereader on the market right now too I believe. (could be wrong on that, haven't looked at prices lately)

[Snow Cherry]

An Iphone or Itouch with the Kindle app is I think something perfect. It's small enough to fit in your pocket and you have access to all of the Kindle books available (which is quite a bit these days) You also get access to all of the regular apps that are approved for the system. Games, social networking apps, fart apps, you name it! You can find Itouch's for cheaper than any Ereader on the market right now too I believe. (could be wrong on that, haven't looked at prices lately)

I have Kindle on my ITouch right now and it is great. I use it a lot. Still...I would love to have an EReader, especially one that allows you to take notes like Only Mostly Naughty has pointed out up above.

[Callie Del Noire]

I got a Kindle and Kindle DX.. (the DX is my rpg system).

They are AMAZINGLY good..and if you know where to look for Mobibook formated stuff you can make a killing on free books.

[Maeven]

I got a Kindle and Kindle DX.. (the DX is my rpg system).

They are AMAZINGLY good..and if you know where to look for Mobibook formated stuff you can make a killing on free books.

Can you PM me some suggestions? I just got a Kindle 2 (and I love it) but I haven't yet delved into the availability of stuff that's not on Amazon.

As for Santa Michi's questions...

The Kindle 2 is the updated version of Amazon's Kindle. It's priced at $259 which is reduced from the prior vesion, I assume to compete with the scores of other e readers out there.  The battery life is great, about 4 or days with the wireless turned on, and a bit longer with it turned off.  That said, they just updated the firmware on it but I'm not sure if I've gotten mine yet.  It was supposed to extend the battery life even more in addition to adding a PDF reader. 

It can hold about 1500 average length books. 

I also have the Kindle app on my iPhone and I love that it syncs between the two.  I can read part of a book on my Kindle and then pop it open on my iPhone and it will bring me to the last page read on my Kindle.  Absolutely awesome, especially since, due to the electronic ink technology (which does make it look like a "real" page as opposed to a digital display) the screen isn't backlit.  I can read in bed at night on my iPhone and then switch to the Kindle when the lighting is more conducive.  I did order a clip light for the Kindle but I need to pick up some Triple A batteries for it so I haven't tried it out yet. 

[Cecilia]

My husband just gave me a Kindle 2.  It's lovely.  I had the first version and found it cumbersome in many ways.  The second version is much more sleek and easy to hang onto and to change pages.  It has a text to speech feature which is, predictably, robotic sounding, but better than nothing.  You can also put audible books on there if you want, but I use my iphone for that.  I don't take my kindle everywhere, so I can use the "whisper sync" feature to keep my iphone and Kindle in sync so I'm always at the right page.  I like the liquid ink better than the backlit screen, so I prefer the kindle as it's easier on the eyes. You can hold more than you can read in a year on a kindle, so space is not an issue.

[Callie Del Noire]

http://blogkindle.com/

Is a good spot to start at. (My kindle 2 which had the pages I use.. just got stepped on by a friend's little girl.. it's awaiting it's replacement. :( )