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what's the best eReader?

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mugs said:
They (Kindles) don't support ePub, DRMed or otherwise. ... you can't read DRMed ePubs like you'd buy from Google/B&N or get for free from your library.
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Our library offers lots of ePub books, so that's why I'm getting a Nook.
 
I only read on LCDs. I spend my days reading and writing text documents on LCDs at work, and I spend my nights reading ebooks on an LCD at home. EInk is clearly better under open sunlight but considering that all of us are reading and posting here on AT on computers that have LCD displays I don't understand blanket claims as fact that reading on an LCD is awful...? How is reading a book any different than reading posts on AT? And the idea that one can only read for less than 5 minutes on an LCD...?

My vote for best eReader is a hacked color Nook running Froyo.
 
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pm said:
I only read on LCDs. I spend my days reading and writing text documents on LCDs at work, and I spend my nights reading ebooks on an LCD at home. EInk is clearly better under open sunlight but considering that all of us are reading and posting here on AT on computers that have LCD displays I don't understand blanket claims as fact that reading on an LCD is awful...? How is reading a book any different than reading posts on AT? And the idea that one can only read for less than 5 minutes on an LCD...?

My vote for best eReader is a hacked color Nook running Froyo.
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The only research I know of says there's no difference, the rest is marketing & fanboyism...

If there was any evidence that e-ink was better, we'd have e-ink desktop monitors.
 
Pliablemoose said:
The only research I know of says there's no difference, the rest is marketing & fanboyism...

If there was any evidence that e-ink was better, we'd have e-ink desktop monitors.
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At 16 colors?
Are you trying to be difficult here?

Everyone has said its just better for READING, nothing else.
And I've used one. Got my mom a 3rd gen kindle for Xmas. Played with it a bit before wrapping it up. The screen really does look like paper and is fantastic for just sitting and reading. It sucks for web browsing but no one ever said it was supposed to do that. You have to dig through a bunch of experimental menus to even get at it.
 
Best Buy has the Nook, Kindle and Sony E-Reader all on display go check them out. I have the Kindle and love it. Epub support is not a big deal as you can convert them to Mobi. If you live near a Barnes & Noble there is some cool things you can do with a the Nook in store such as read any book for 1 hour while in the store each day. Closest B&N to me is about 40 minutes away so it wasn't really a benefit for me.
 
shortylickens said:
Everyone has said its just better for READING, nothing else. And I've used one. Got my mom a 3rd gen kindle for Xmas. Played with it a bit before wrapping it up. The screen really does look like paper and is fantastic for just sitting and reading. It sucks for web browsing but no one ever said it was supposed to do that. You have to dig through a bunch of experimental menus to even get at it.
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If really the only requirement is reading, then yes, I can agree eInk beats even the nicest LCD as long as there's no need for color (I've never personally seen color eInk in any eReader in any store). But I don't personally think eInk is that much better - even with just black and white text. I was reading the Economist on my iPad last night and it was great. Great colors and the text is easily readable. I would think some of the graphs would be really hard to read without color.

There are a lot of people in this thread implying or outright claiming that eInk is required in an eReader and I simply don't agree. My point isn't which is better because I don't think LCDs are better, but whether or not LCDs work well at all. And I think lcd's work fine- again, eInk is better but LCDs work fine.

And for what it's worth, I won a Kindle 2 (3G + wifi) for a paper that I co-wrote. I have one at home but I never use it. I'll sell it one of these days. But it's not like I haven't tried both...

The battery life discussion is a good one... But I personally don't need a months worth of battery life out of an eReader... I just need a long plane flights worth. It's nice not to plug it in but not high on my list.
 
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shortylickens said:
At 16 colors?
Are you trying to be difficult here?

Everyone has said its just better for READING, nothing else.
And I've used one. Got my mom a 3rd gen kindle for Xmas. Played with it a bit before wrapping it up. The screen really does look like paper and is fantastic for just sitting and reading. It sucks for web browsing but no one ever said it was supposed to do that. You have to dig through a bunch of experimental menus to even get at it.
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I guess I've never understood the single purpose device thing...

I've seen and used a 3rd gen Kindle, and it was very good, but aside from the battery life, a dedicated e-reader for me makes no sense...

(...kicks hacked nook with Kindle app under the couch)
 
i just got a nook color and rooted, easy and safe to root so far. nook reader, amazon kindle app, google books app, adobe reader app. and everything else on android. plus everything i buy from the android market works on both my phone and nook just with the single purchase. wireless tether to my phone for internets. best gadget purchase ive made in quite a while.

as far as the e-ink vs lcd arguement, its not really an issue for us. we spend hours a day reading things on the computer, reading on an lcd screen really does not hurt your eyes unless you are one of those people who dont use computers at all.
 
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Pliablemoose said:
I guess I've never understood the single purpose device thing...

I've seen and used a 3rd gen Kindle, and it was very good, but aside from the battery life, a dedicated e-reader for me makes no sense...

(...kicks hacked nook with Kindle app under the couch)
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Yeah, books are worthless. I mean all you can do is read them, no games, no net, no phone they just sit there.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
Yeah, books are worthless. I mean all you can do is read them, no games, no net, no phone they just sit there.
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I'm definitely not saying books are worthless, what I am saying is that for me, I can't see owning a dedicated e-reader. The color nook is awesome rooted and hacked, if I were in school, and reading a lot of texts, I'd consider an e-reader because of it's battery life and convenience.
 
Pliablemoose said:
I guess I've never understood the single purpose device thing...

I've seen and used a 3rd gen Kindle, and it was very good, but aside from the battery life, a dedicated e-reader for me makes no sense...

(...kicks hacked nook with Kindle app under the couch)
Click to expand...

Honestly, it all depends on how much you read. If you're an avid reader who reads a book a week (or more), then an LCD tablet simply isn't going to cut it. E-ink is popular because it actually imitates the thing it's replacing...books.

Sure, I read on a daily basis a lot on LCD (forums, news, etc), but it's just different when reading books. Paragraphs tend to be longer, and you generally read for a longer period without taking a rest. I don't know about you, but when I'm reading something on my computer LCD, if I don't rest my eyes after a few minutes, I experience some discomfort. I don't have to do that with e-ink.

I rather do go with a single purpose device for a lot of things anyway, since they're a lot better than your jack of all trade devices. Hell, I carry a cheap point and shoot camera with me instead of using my phone's camera. Admittedly, the camera sucks, but it's still 10x better than the phone's camera.

I use the Kindle 2 as my e-reader. Most of my content is purchased off of the amazon store, and the few things that I get in non-drm epub, I just convert it with calibre. I've bought a couple of things off of the nook store as well and just stripped the drm and converted it to the mobi format.
 
I played with a nook color at barnes and noble and it seemed pretty decent. If the 2.2 upgrade happens next year I might bite for one. The screen is decent and fairly responsive and it is basically 1/2 the price of galaxy tab. Not sure if it has an ips screen but it seemed to have decent angle. The other alternative would be the archos 101/107 but I havent' seen them.
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However as others noted if you like to read at the pool (or outside in general) you are probably better off with e-ink. My usage is a bit different I'm looking for something to play movies and read email when traveling.
 
I have had a Kindle 3 wifi model for about 2 months now. I agree with what some other folks have said about how you want to use it. If you want to read books then I say go with one of the e-ink devices. The battery life is just awesome on the kindle. I bought the wifi model because I didn't think it was worth 60 more bucks just to have the option to download a book over 3g. Plus with that 60 bucks I got the nice case with the light built-in.

One thing nobody seems to mention much is Calibre. Calibre can easily convert files and get them on whatever e-reader you have. It is a pretty slick program. I have it setup to download articles from specific web sites and send them to my kindle too.
 
fatpat268 said:
Honestly, it all depends on how much you read. If you're an avid reader who reads a book a week (or more), then an LCD tablet simply isn't going to cut it.
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I don't agree. I read a book a week or more and I only use my iPad. I'm 40 years old, don't wear glasses (no LASIK either) and in the past year I have read over 70 books all on the iPad except a couple on the kindle. Plus I have the iPad Economist subscription and read that too. In the past two days (because I am on vacation) I read one whole book and I'm about 35% through another - all on an LCD.

Again, I'm not trying to claim LCDs are better than eInk for reading... I honestly don't believe this to be true. But I strongly disagree with any one who says you can't read ebooks on an LCD... Because I do this pretty much every night for an hour or three.

And it's not like I'm an Apple-crazed guy either. I recommend the color nook personally. But I do like single devices. When I get on a plane, I pull out my iPad and read, watch movies, play games, listen to music and podcasts. I'd just as soon not juggle two devices... And I like the backlit LCD on the late-night plane flights as well.

If people prefer eInk and,like their Kindles, I think that's great. But I don't agree with all the FUD that gets posted about the viability of LCDs.
 
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