Terminalcoffee discussion

I've read the threads that have e-readers discussed in them, but I'm kinda looking for specific answers. If everyone wouldn't mind giving me your answers, I would appreciate it.

Which E-reader do you think is the best? I don't care about color.

I'm looking for:
ease of reading screen?
well lit screen?
amount of books available?
best prices for books available?
number of free books available?
ease of holding/most comfortable?

All suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Kristi, my wife researched this and the Kindle came up as the best. I still am getting a Nook though because I do not think that Amazon will provide me with a better selection of e-books than B &N.

I also think Kindle is the best, but Nook has the convenience of in-store support and it handles library e-book downloads.

I like Kindle the best out of iBooks, Kobo, and Kindle.

I recently purchased a kindle. So far, so good. I did like that the Nook has in-store support. Amazon will not give you your own kindle back if you have to ship it in for battery changes, etc. (I wonder if there are sad and unused kindles lying in a stock pile. Maybe the little boy from Toy Story is harvesting them for parts...)

I have a nook now. I sometimes wish I had a kindle instead.

i like the kindle. my daughter has the nook which is also very cool. kindle seems like easiest on the eyes. my ipad is not the best ereader but i can make fart sounds with it

I have a kindle on my phone and I love it.

I've only played with the Kindle. Nifty little thing. They even have a big one. I still can't imagine giving up books though. I mean, real actual paper books.

I sat on my glass nail file and broke it. I can only predict it would happle to the Kindle if it got one. I'm kind of a roughneck.

I was wondering the same thing about the e-readers, although we're comparing them to the tablets like iPad, etc. My dh wants to get a Galaxy Tab and I've been wondering about the Kindle.

One of the things that I read (was it here? prolly) is that the backlit displays on the tablets or similar can mess with your circadian rhythms because it shines directly in your eyes & may be contributing to insomnia. The Kindle (I don't know how the others match up) has a softer light that supposedly doesn't have this wake-up effect. Has anyone else heard about this?

Heard about what?

Sorry, I guess it wasn't here that I read this. Here's a link & an excerpt.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36828043/...

"The bright light emitted by an iPad could give some people reading before bedtime a bout of insomnia, researchers suggest.
This is because the iPad uses a back-lit display rather than the "e-paper" found in other popular e-readers such as the Kindle that mimic the printed, duller page by reflecting light from elsewhere.
"If you're using a Kindle — which doesn’t use a significant light source — that may potentially have less of an impact compared to a device like a laptop or an iPad with more significant light exposure," said Alon Avidan, a neurologist and associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)."

If I get one. I'd be torn. Kindle does seem to be the front runner; however, our library's e-book downloads are for Nook.

Might wait another year or two to see what technology brings up.

Misha: Regardless of the studies, I have heard and read from several doctors that minimizing light at night may help insomniacs. At least certain ones.

So, if you can't sleep at night, playing music and sitting in a room with dim lights might be better than turning on a regular lamp.

The reasoning some doctors are finding is if you get up and strart turning on ots of light--your Tv; your computer; etc etc you body thinks it is daytime and going back to sleep is difficult.

I do remeber reading this applies to persons with severe insomnia--so if you do not have that problems, there should be no concern.

But you are indeed correct--insomnia is caused by many different factors.

I fell asleep reading my iPad last night.

You can adjust the lighting on the ereader apps on iPad for night reading.

I have a B&W NOOK and I love it. I like the convenience of getting the next book I want right on the spot, since my closest bookstore, Wal-Mart doesn't count the selection is laughable, is 45 min away. When I reserched them this is the one that best fit my needs.

I really like my kindle2. It doesn't replace books, and it's not a must-have, but it was a great gift and I'm glad I have it!

Does anyone have any experience with the Sony e-reader?

Misha, that's part of my trouble. I actually want a fully-functioning tablet pc so I can port it around & write & do research & maybe even some graphics (which is actually more than what iPad/GalaxyTab can do). But, I like the idea of the simple features of the Kindle/Nook. Ease of use, curling up in bed & reading. :)

I also know that the e-readers' limited capability helps with the amount of possible bugs & frustrations because they simply don't have the apps & data running around in their little brains. As a former techie (I know, hard to believe) I hate buying first year of anything because it will almost always be a pain in the ass.

Obviously it's not practical to suggest for most people to go out and buy both a tablet and an ereader, but if you know that you want something for ease of reading with the benefit of limited eye strain, then the dedicated ereader is the way to go. If you want the multi-purpose option, then a tablet is. If you can't decide then gah...BOTH! (I know, so frivolous).

I own a regular Nook and will be purchasing the Nook color to be able to have my complete library transfer to both. I'm tempted to root my Nook color so I can run apps on it and use it more like a tablet, but when you do that, it means you'd have to pay out of pocket to replace it if it breaks. So...I will be weighing the pros and cons of doing such a thing. I really do like the idea of being able to use the device as more of a multi-function tablet. Worst case scenario is I break it and have to spend a couple hundred bucks, which I don't really see happening. The library itself doesn't poof with the device.

Can e-books on the Nook be traded between devices? Say I buy a book and read it, can I then connect my Nook to my friend's computer and download the book to their computer so they can upload it to their Nook?

How many books can be stored on an e-reader, and do you have to have a lot of storage space?

Michael wrote: "Does anyone have any experience with the Sony e-reader?"

I have the Sony & I like it a lot. Navigation is simple, battery life is fantastic. If all publishers would get their act together and use the ePub format I'd be even happier.

Jim wrote: "How many books can be stored on an e-reader, and do you have to have a lot of storage space?"

Not sure how many exactly. You can purchase a memory card to go with it. I have 163 books on mine and have not needed a memory card yet.

Michael wrote: "Can e-books on the Nook be traded between devices? Say I buy a book and read it, can I then connect my Nook to my friend's computer and download the book to their computer so they can upload it to ..."

I do believe that this can be done with Calabre, but it isn't legal. There are some Nookbooks that are lendable, but only one time.

I think the original Nook is around 1500ish with the storage card? The K3 has a higher capacity now since it came out after Nook. No clue on Nook color, but I don't need every single thing in the world on one device anyway. I store stuff on my computer and in other places too.

Nook books can be traded between your own account. I know people that have registered a friends device on their account so all of the books they purchase go on both devices. *not condoning it* Just saying what I've heard of other people doing.

If you purchase a book directly through Amazon or B&N, it will have a DRM on it and can not be shared with anyone else unless you strip the DRM, which is not legal and I don't mess with it.

Calibre just changes the book format for you. If you have a PDF form you can change it to epub, or epub to .doc, etc. It doesn't mess with or strip drm's. I highly recommend using it if you legally purchase books from one place and want to load them onto a device that supports a different format. The program is a free download.

If you purchase the book through other sites, the book can often be shared through emailing, storage/disk transfers, etc. It's not hard to find people with file sharing sites that put up content for free, but I won't be *cough* mentioning any on a public forum, lmao, even though I know of several.

Kindle does allow you to loan books now. I think it's a one time loan of 14 days.
Storage isn't a problem - you can "store" items on Amazon and switch things to or from your device anywhere.
Kindle has a couple of games too, and a very rudimentary web browser, although it's probably improved on the K3.

I have the Nook and I love it. I chose it over the others for the ability to download from the library. It is a great feature. I am reading twice as much as before. I saw today on a site, I forgot which, that BN was discontinuing the 3-g version of the Nook. I hope that is not true

Is the Nook the only one that has color & can browse the web? Or am I misunderstanding that?

Misha, thanks for your info. It's helped me start to figure out what I need. :)

I think there's at least one other brand that has a color ereader, but I can't remember which one. Best bet is to go to a store and try out different ereaders and hold them in your hand. I found the ipad to be way too bulky for my reading needs, but the Samsung tablet is smaller I think.

Nook original is a regular ereader that is NOT backlit and reads much like a regular paper book due to the eink technology. It does have a little color screen at the bottom which features a touch keyboard and color picture displays for the book covers. There is a limited capability web browser, but it's sloooow, so I never use it. If you only want a device for reading, this is a better choice than the Nook color because you won't have the eye strain issues that you might get from looking at a backlit screen.

Nook color is the same size but it has a full size color screen and IS backlit. I haven't tried one but they look like a fun toy to have. The web browsing is better on this one.

I own the Nook original but plan on getting a color as well. A tablet would be cool, but I can have my entire library on both devices with the Nook color. I may or may not root my color to give it the capability to run more like a tablet, but I am not sold on it just yet.

What does "root my color" mean? I'm going to go look at the Nook color this weekend but I'm thinking if I don't read any magazines or comics then what's the point in spending more money for the color? The web browsing is nice, but then maybe I should just pay more and get a tablet? Can you have MS Office on a tablet? I'm also hung up on e-ink vs. backlit.

I think if you can afford to then why not have both a reader with the e-ink screen for everyday reading and one that is backlit for in bed reading. Then you would need to decide what kind of backlit you would want. Tablet, e-reader, netbook...

Lyzzibug wrote: "Then you would need to decide what kind of backlit you would want. Tablet, e-reader, netbook..."

The decisions never end! Do netbooks have a keyboard that works well? In addition to an e-reader, I'd also like to buy a small device that has wi-fi so I can go online and also has Word so I can use it to write and also a DVD player.

I don't know much about netbooks but here is a link for a wiki page on them...

wikipedia/netbooks

Michael wrote: "What does "root my color" mean? I'm going to go look at the Nook color this weekend but I'm thinking if I don't read any magazines or comics then what's the point in spending more money for the col..."

It's basically hacking the device to allow it to run other programs and use the item to be able to do online transactions, etc. If you root the device, it allows you to run apps on it more like a tablet. I'm still torn on whether to do it or not. I'm a little afraid of messing it up, even though the process is self explanatory. I have a friend that did it to her Nook to be able to adjust the font sizes on her documents (since it only allows you to change the font size on your Nook books), and I'm sometimes jealous of that because I get a lot of free books that only load as documents and sometimes the font is huge so I have to do a lot of page turning.

I agree with Misha. Best Buy is the place to go if you live in the U.S. and want to test drive ereaders. They pretty much have them all.

Oh, and I absolutely think that if you don't plan on reading color magazines or documents, don't even waste time on a backlit ereader, especially if you own a netbook or phone with which you can do light web surfing on. A non-backlit ereader is the best way to go for dedicated book reading. You can always get a clip on light for reading in the dark.

I also wouldn't buy a multi-use device ever if the main purpose of the device is going to be for reading. Go with something that you can hold with one hand and casually keep a finger on the page turn button. It makes for very comfortable reading, especially if you like to lay down and read.

I found Kindle to be the best of the eReaders so far. I did a lot of research and for what I need this was the best choice. I do a lot of reading and travel. Most of the time I run out of things to read on a trip. With this I can not only take enough with me but I am able to read on while riding on the back of the motorcycle. I do not have to worry about pages flapping.:) It is easy on the eyes and I don't ever worry about glare.

She reads while on the back of the motorcycle? Wow, that's pretty talented. My ereader would go flying.

"I am able to read on while riding on the back of the motorcycle"
Quite a daring stunt, wouldn't you say? :)

I have it in a case strapped to a lanyard. And only read on LONG boring highway. Works out quite well. :)

That actually sounds really fun. I may just try that at some point. :)

My luck, a piece of gravel would hit the screen. I can't go a year without having my windshield get a huge crack on it.

Well, Stacia, don't hold your multi-hundred dollar reading device out the window as you're driving down the freeway and you should be able to avoid flying rocks.

I most certainly won't be using it for back of the bike reading. My hat is off to Mrs.

I looked at the Nook color today and it's pretty nice. I'll never do a crossword puzzle on it, but it's really easy to use and no buttons to push, it's all done on the screen. The display is nice and while it's nice that you can view Word documents on the thing, that's pretty useless unless you can edit them. It also has a lot of controls for font, text size, line spacing, margins and background shades.

They told me it's read only and she said they may be adding an app in the future that would allow editing. I looked it up when I got home and there's a way to do that 'root' thing to the device and install a program that'd allow you to edit Word documents. Apparently there are a lot of apps that can run on the reader and they've been blocked by B&N.

http://ebook-reader-review.toptenrevi... - this is a pretty good summary of the similarities and differences. I think I like the Sony best, should I ever get one. Or the non-color nook. I'd much rather have the electronic ink display than the backlit LCD. I have the kindle and stanza apps on my iPod but they do make my eyes uncomfortable.

I thought the Nook Color was the electronic ink display unless you TURNED ON the back light...Anyone?

You'd think I was planning on moving to the middle of the desert or some other remote spot with how much energy I spend laboring over which e-reader to get. In the meantime I keep buying more regular books.

If that chart is correct, the Kindle does not handle ePub format? Assholes.

No, the Kindle doesn't take ePub and I agree. Assholes.