E-book readers: Can someone fill me in?

[Winston001]

Primarily I don't like the concept of an e-book but know of people who enjoy books and have moved to an e-reader with pleasure. So its probably an individual choice for each of us to try.

I may be wrong but it seems there are two types: backlit like a laptop, and simple LCD. The backlit ones are harder on the eyes but provide great colour. FWIW I find reading much on a laptop to be a pain - certainly would not try to read a book. But maybe thats cos the print is small and ctrl+ is the easy answer.

The Kindle gets great reviews and is a simple LCD reader. I think the new Kindle 4 is in the offing so it might pay to wait.

The Gutenberg Project has many free e-books.

The downside is electronics. Battery life. Recharging. Reflection in bright light. Breakable.

Call me oldfashioned but I like the solid feel of a book made of paper. It's portable and readable anywhere there is light. Plus you have to try hard to break it.

EDIT: Oh great, not only is there going to be a Kindle 4 but also an Amazon Tablet to compete with the iPad. Decisions decisions. http://notableproductionsonline.com/

[SPman]

I just stuck the Kindle reader on my phone, and also on the laptop. My wife has it on her netbook.
I find the phone easy to read on and compact, got 25 books on there so never short of a read. Easier than lugging around a Peter Hamilton novel! Availability can be problematical sometimes, but, overall not to bad.

[BMWST?]

bought the wife a Kobe?? wifi...lots of books already loaded but all the old ones.She really seems to like it though.reading the screen is just like reading a page.Downside is that new books can only be bought of the whitcoulls site and the content there isnt up to date...may be getting better ,and there may be ways to get other content.....i havent tried

[nallac]

no idea how good these are as ebooks ,as i bought it for the gps maps of oz.....
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics...-393464835.htm
a hell of a lot of stuff on there ebook, media player,crap games but for the price i can't complain.

[phill-k]

We have 2 kindles, they are NOT lcd screens when reading them unlike a computer or tablet screen (not backlit)you very quickly forget what u are reading on, the screen is just like a page in a book but much clearer, and you get lots of options as to typeface size. I purchase from kindle amazon, have downloaded books whilst away in the boat, can go on line with limitations and have an amazon page that lists the top 100 books both free and for purchase. One of the latest methods of marketing books is to give them away free for a time, until the gather momentum I check this a couple times a week at least and have built up a large collection of books, also read a lot of motorcycle adventure books that I doubt you would find in print in NZ.
I love my gadgets and the kindle would be one of the best all time electronic devices I've ever bought it is not like reading on a computer screen it is very much like reading high quality printing even in direct sunlight.

[Winston001]

Quite useful info here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...hould-you-buy/

[Ocean1]

Quite useful info here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-...hould-you-buy/

2. How large of a screen (and weight) do you want?

Hitcher!!!

[Oakie]

I bought Mrs Oakie a Kobo for her birthday and she loves it. I'll try to get her to come on here and say how much but highlights that I've taken in are ...

-two weeks battery life (off USB charge)
-nice backlight screen
-bought it through Whitcoulls but she has worked out how to get books off the Kobo site and other sites. (Kobo site is cheaper than Whitcoulls)
-wireless connectivity is very cool.

[p.dath]

We got the Kindle from Amazon. It's great. It's purely an ebook reader, and does the job really well.

And Amazon have an excellent collection of books for it.

[Ocean1]

'Er indoors has a Kindle, got it before we went on holliday. She can go through half a dozen books a week, and there she was; on the beach with a cocktail and a small library tucked in her bikini top.

[Deano]

How about a pair of surgical grade rubber gloves ?

No Hep C and save lots of $$.

[Usarka]

Fuck Kindle and fuck e-book retailers.

This title is not available for customers from your location in: Asia & Pacific

Thought I'd check these out again, took a sample of 4 books on my 'to-read' list. None available from local sellers (rip-off arse sploodgers that they are), and the overseas cunts won't sell them to me. What the fucked up kind of business model means you don't sell to people because they live somewhere else. It's not like they're physically shipping the things.

Rubber gloves it is, looks like I'm sticking to the hepatitis smeared, flea ridden aids books from the library.

[Virago]

If all legitimate attempts to purchase on-line fail, there's always torrents...

[BMWST?]

wife has a kobe,she is a real book worm she still likes a proper book but loves the kobe when we are out and about.books are cheaper(than the same paper book) through the whitcoulss site.when we first got it it was preloaded with a lot of older books and the choice of newer books was limited,but seems good now,got a book of the site that was not actually in stock in the shop.

[rapid van cleef]

my wife and son both have kobos and love them. they do still get books out of the library but its very handy, pretty sturdy in its case and considering they can both read a book a day saves us a fortune in books which are outrageously expensive here in nz.