Is this reader really helpful for a PHD student/researcher who reads PDF very often?

Can anyone share experience ?

It seems to be the best option for reading PDF formats right now, although the option to view in landscape view would be a definite plus.

I read a lot of pdfs that I've printed from websites, and like to make notes on them, and I've been VERY pleased with the recent update that lets you click a single button and turn a web page you're viewing on the LCD side into a pdf or epub document on the ereader side, which you can then save/annotate/whatever.

So if you're reading articles online and want a very easy way to not only read them, but convert them to pdf and store them, and also allow you to highlight, write notes, add text notes, then this is a great device for that. It's fine for pdfs that you already have on your computer, but the ability to convert on the fly from an open web page is really a stellar feature.

Wow! I didn't know it had that feature. That might open a lot of possibilities. So I could go to a web site like www.grtbooks.com and turn texts into PDFs?

@ ebook8
Hello, speaking strictly as an undergraduate student, I must say using the eDGe to work with PDFs was one of the major reasons for purchasing the device. Below is my personal experience with PDFs and how I have used it so far (this is my first semester with the eDGe).

My school books are in PDF form. Along with my books, any handouts or additional outside materials that I collect I normally scan or save them into PDF form. I rely heavily on the eDGe to help me organize my content and the extraction of content. Before when I only had books, I did the typical student routine of highlighting, annotating, and post-it notes. One of my main difficulties was going back to review my inputs and figuring out what I did on what page. With the eDGe, all of my highlights, annotations, and post-it notes are added to the table of contents (TOC) automatically as I make entries. I can check the TOC and look for only a certain type of content, a combinations of contents (highlighted info only, highlighted info and post-it notes, etc.), or everything at once. I feel I have a deeper interaction with the material. When I interact with the TOC I can rename the entries for my bookmarks, annotations, post-its, and highlights to suit my taste and needs. It offers me a lot of flexibility in dealing with the materials.

The added bonus I get with the eDGe that I don’t get with physical books or even other digital outlets (ex. CourseSmart) is I can attach out-side sources. When reading my PDF materials sometimes I use the browser on the tablet (lcd side) to look up information on the web. Depending on the type of information, I sometimes simply “attach the webpage to the specific area I am concerned with in the PDF or I save the webpage and turn it into a document or image and link it to a PDF or keep it as additional information. I like that I can “attach (or link) one PDF to another; for example, if I am reading the core reader in a particular section and I have a handout or article that is related. I can link the core material to the specific page of the article and the link is recorded in the TOC for easy access. I also like the options if I don’t want to link to another PDF but only want a small section. The piece being reference, I can take a “snapshot of it and attach the “snapshot to my core material and when I click on it the core material remains and I can see the “snapshot on the LCD side at the same time.

Along with using the ereader side, I can use the DocToGo on the LCD side to view two different PDFs as the same time.

Above are some of the basic features I use daily in my course of study. You may want to PM done (he is part of the Entourage Staff), he can probably give you a location of a school that is near you that has the eDGe and you can possibly check it out yourself. I really like the eDGe because it give me the flexibility to decide how to interact with the information: how you name material, organize it, link it, etc. In the beginning I took the time to sit down and played with the many features to put together a plan of how to use it.

I don’t know if this helps but that’s my experience so far with PDFs.

I would definitely recommend the edge for Phd students. I have all my pdfs on this device, its great because I can read research papers in the park. And I can carry my whole library with me and make markups. Plus you can doodle ideas onn the eink side...

Originally Posted by jsfiller

Wow! I didn't know it had that feature. That might open a lot of possibilities. So I could go to a web site like www.grtbooks.com and turn texts into PDFs?

Yes, although you'd get a different pdf for each web page. I just looked at a random book and the main page was a set of links for a new page to each tablet of Gilgamesh. So, click on one of those and you can get the entire tablet as a pdf, but then you'd need to do the same for each of the 11 tablets.

This beats the heck out of my previous process: view an article from a web page on the macbook, print/save to pdf in a specific folder for transferring to the edge, periodically put those files on an SD card and load them onto the edge. Now, it's just browse to a page on the LCD side and click the "send to e-reader" button. It shows up on the e-ink side for reading, and if you want to save it to the library, you can click the add to library icon. If you want to just read it but not save it (helpful if you're outside and just want to be able to see it better) then no need to do anything with the file. It will "go away" the next time you open a document on the e-ink side.

Originally Posted by jsfiller

Wow! I didn't know it had that feature. That might open a lot of possibilities. So I could go to a web site like www.grtbooks.com and turn texts into PDFs?

I tried this site, and yes it worked. I use my edge a lot like Kemar does. I rarely bring anything else to class any more.

Well, that is definitely a big plus on the Edge's side. I haven't purchased yet. There's a couple of more things I need to find out, before I invest $500, but I'm definitely moving closer to purchasing. There is very little this doesn't do that I want.

This may be more of an undergraduate thing, but since some undergraduates may peek in, I thought I would also post one of the uses for the highlighting and linking. In my History Class, my instructor is very accommodating and actually provides a handout sheet with her review questions for all the readings that she assigns from the books, handout and articles. When I am reading I take the time to do one of two things. Initially I highlighted areas that correspond with her review sheet and rename the highlight to reflect the question. Now I take the scanned review sheet and each question I link it either to the direct text or "snapshop" (depending of how long the text is). It may not sound like much but it really helps when I review.

Those web pages sent to the eink as epub or jpg are saved in public in internal storage, if you don't add them to the library you will still have them, you will just be unable to annotate them. You should move to external sd or delete eventually, in the interest of space.

^ Good to know. I'll have to check that folder then to make sure I'm not accumulating files. I usually do add to library, but sometimes I've just been outside and wanted to see the web page better.

Kemar, I really like your study method. Thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by sarah11918

^ Good to know. I'll have to check that folder then to make sure I'm not accumulating files. I usually do add to library, but sometimes I've just been outside and wanted to see the web page better.

Plus if you have added to the library you now have 2 copies of that file.

That's weird. I went to Internal Storage > public > web_epaper_docs and there were two folders: tmp (empty) and a website domain that I know I'd sent to ereader. But, only that one document from that specific domain was there, and I know I've sent a bunch of stuff to e-reader from my browser. Maybe I had been deleting from the ereader side when I was done with a file without remembering that I'd done so.