Sunday, December 12, 2010

Which E-Reader?

Like Fairyhedgehog a few months back, I'm considering getting an e-reader. I need something that reads PDF files—not just PDF books, but PDF files. So far the Kindle seems to fit that requirement, and with all the free books I've downloaded from Amazon on my Kindle app on my Blackberry, I wouldn't be surprised if the Kindle has already paid for itself. I know, now that I'm editing, that an iPad would be a better product for my needs, but there's no way I can afford that at the moment.

Thoughts?

6 comments:

Sylvia said...

I love my Kindle ... but the one thing I'm not crazy about is its PDF handling. You can't resize and so I end up with more than a page per screen in order to get the text at the size I want for fast reading. I don't know what would be better for that (other than the iPad but yeah, stupid price for a reader). I just thought I should mention it as PDF readability is the one aspect of the Kindle that I find disappointing.

Stacy said...

Thanks, Sylvia. The Sony Pocket reader looks like it works for PDF files. I've read that its "quirk" is that it shows the same page number until all the text from that page has appeared on the screen, but I think I would kind of like that. So I don't know. Right now, the Kindle is cheaper, so that's a factor in my decision. I think for the price I can afford, I can't expect perfection. (Which is a really sad thing to say when you're spending $140 or more on something.)

fairyhedgehog said...

I like being able to read ePub files - which I can on the laptop. Although the Sony reader is dearer I admit I'd be more inclined to get it - although can it read Kindle books too?

Stacy said...

I don't think any other reader is compatible with Kindle books. You can get the Kindle app for most smart phones (it's free), but I think Amazon's format for the Kindle is different than pdf and e-pub books. My question is, can I read e-pub books on the Kindle? I'll have to do some digging to find out.

Sylvia said...

You can convert them (and html and Word .docs etc) using Amazon's free service and drop them onto the Kindle and they read fine.

Stacy said...

Oh, that's great to hear, Sylvia! Thanks!