Ebook readers?

[Captain Picard's Hair]

i have a large amount of digital books and magazines on some of the storage Teaos' thread brought up, but to read it right now I need my laptop. My phone's display is too small IMO to read books properly, and printing them again takes me back to the issue of the large volume taken up by lots of books and magazines, with the additional cost of paper and ink on top of it! So, considering e-book readers, those that are on the market are interesting, but there are a few problems.

The Kindle: using proprietary formats and DRM, no SD card slot, no way for me to put my collection on it, and overpriced... sorry, Jeff (Bezos)

Others - e-ink gives the advantage of permanence (the display is maintained with negligible power consumption until the page is 'turned') and accordingly, amazing battery life compared to just about any other electronic device, many have card slots, some like Sony's models read multiple formats including PDF... but only in black and white. I've heard of a color ebook reader from Fujitsu, but that tech isn't quite there yet. Good quality e-ink tech is a highly sought development but the displays they have now are too dark with too little contrast for a proper color output.

When they have an affordable, color e-book reader with a screen large enough to render PDF documents properly, I'd be really interested, but for now the above reservations have held me back.

Does anyone here have such a device, or have any of you thought about one? PDA's can be used as an alternative; I used to have a Palm but that still was a bit small and didn't work well enough for PDFs with color graphics. Another hack is the use of a netbook as an ebook reader - much better for color documents, but still worlds away in battery life, heavier and bulkier (if much more versatile and powerful - even a baby laptop used solely for ebooks is like using a bazooka to swat a fly!). Of course, using my full-size and full-featured laptop is fine when I'm home but it's not portable enough and way too valuable to tote around that way.

So I'm in limbo here. Thoughts?

[Teaos]

Well as you said, Kindle is popular, and I personally have no problem reading off my iTouch with the zoom in feature.

But if rumors are to be believed thiswould be awesome for eBooks, moreinformation.

[Sionnach Glic]

I'm not a big fan of Ebooks, personaly. I prefer to have an actual book in my hand.

[Angharrad]

I have a Sony Reader, I can actually read better on it then a real book. I have used it with PDF files (for work) and Word docs (notes that I typed up myself that I needed to carry with me). It has an SD card which is nice, if I buy a book I don't have to drag out my cable just put it on the SD card. But like you said, its black and white only. The battery life seems to be good, I've read 2 or 3 books without needing to recharge. I can also read more then one book at a time and it holds the page, whatever page you are on when you turn it off or leave the book it saves.

Just my observations.

[Reliant121]

I'm not a big fan of Ebooks, personaly. I prefer to have an actual book in my hand.

Agreed.

[Mikey]

Agreed here, too. I guess it's an affectation, but I enjoy having a print book in my hand.

[Teaos]

See I'm the other way, I find real books annoying to read. I much prefer eBooks.

[Mikey]

See I'm the other way, I find real books annoying to read. I much prefer eBooks.

Well, I in particular am of course still impressed with that young Guttenberg's invention...

[Captain Picard's Hair]

See I'm the other way, I find real books annoying to read. I much prefer eBooks.

Well, I in particular am of course still impressed with that young Guttenberg's invention...

Well, it's not like I have anything against 'dead tree' books, as I've seen some refer to them as, but I do happen to have "acquired" a good number of e-books and e-magazines, which leaves me looking for the best way to view them...

[Tyyr]

I like them both. I like owning the dead tree version, the feel of the pages in my hand and all that. However when it comes time to have to travel I like the convenience of an e-book. I'd love to carry one tablet with me and have a half dozen novels, a few rule books, and others all with me instead of having to lug 50+ pounds of paper.

[Reliant121]

What I want to do is get e-books or something and convert them to a word format, then lug them onto my new phone. Most come with word document viewers, some even come with PDF readers.

[Angharrad]

I like them both. I like owning the dead tree version, the feel of the pages in my hand and all that. However when it comes time to have to travel I like the convenience of an e-book. I'd love to carry one tablet with me and have a half dozen novels, a few rule books, and others all with me instead of having to lug 50+ pounds of paper.

I feel the same way. With the added plus (for me) that my Sony e-Reader fits in my purse.