06-13-2011, 05:17 AM | #136 | |
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Our local Tesco - they have both kindle variants in stock at a "limited" price that basically is the rrp. Call into PC World, and on their display of various tablet devices, they have both the kindle and the PRS-350 & 650. The Sony Readers are considerably more expensive than the Kindle, but with no real selling point over and above the Kindle - I hate to say it, but I really do feel as though the Kindle has almost got the e-Reader market to itself. Well, that and the fact that I found yesterday that Jerry Pournelles latest in the Mote in gods eye series is only available in print and kindle form - its not available for any other platform, at least not yet. |
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06-13-2011, 05:51 AM | #137 | |
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I did have a quick look at the Kindle myself when the 650 was in short supply but decided against it for various reasons. From what I read I could not be fully confident that I would not end up with a device that was locked into the Amazon store. I like to have my device independent of any service, I get my books from the sources I want and not those specified by the manufacturer. Neither my 600 or my 650 are registered with Sony or Adobe and that's the way they will stay. I would rather pay a little more for a better built device that I know I can use how I want and not how someone else tells me to! As I said earlier we will just have to wait and see what happens. |
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06-13-2011, 06:13 AM | #138 | |
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06-13-2011, 06:13 AM | #139 |
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The first reader I bought was a Sony. I love it. Except I find here in the UK, buying ebooks for the Sony is more tricky, they just dont have the range available. As my battery is dying on the sony, I decided to by a Kindle. I have bought the lighted cover, which I wanted, and the ease of buying/acquiring books is probably too easy.
However, the Sony is by far the better quality user friendly reader. I will never forget my first love! Does anyone know where I can buy a replacement battery for a Sony prs505? My DH would like to try and replace it. |
06-13-2011, 07:15 AM | #140 |
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06-13-2011, 08:45 AM | #141 |
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@Ashjuk: Indeed, you are NOT locked into the Amazon ecosystem. I too am very supremely leery of these kinds of situations. However, the fact remains that my Kindle is perfectly happy eating a steady diet of decidedly non-Amazon material. And I am delighted to leverage Amazon's free email conversion service for non-native supported file types, receiving excellent service and results.
I also looked long and hard at the Sonys - I have been resisting a dedicated ereader for years, spending the last few reading on Blackberrys. Now, after living with my K3 for a couple weeks, there are only 3 significant changes I would make to the device: - a much more stylish, thin METAL frame like the Sonys; - better music functionality [purely a luxury and not really essential - K3 is an ereader first and foremost for me, but if you are gonna throw mp3 music support on the thing, you should at least have a halfway decent navigation and control system for music...that the K3 plays mp3 music files ONLY IN THE ORDER it was copied on the device is just plain useless and quite frankly, stupid]; - slightly faster processor to provide snappier navigation outside of actual book reading. It was a tough decision for me between the Sonys and the K3. In the end, I decided to go less expensive, get built-in Wifi and sacrifice the superior eye candy design of the Sonys in favor of the K3. I made a good decision. YMMV of course. And back on topic, I really hope that Sony does not abandon the ereader market anytime soon as I still plan to grab one of their next gen models [if one appears]. Time will tell... cheers, -les |
06-13-2011, 10:06 AM | #142 | |
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I have actually experienced that mobi files are often more easily and better converted into BBeBs than into epubs. |
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06-13-2011, 10:14 AM | #143 |
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06-13-2011, 10:24 AM | #144 | |
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I guess both viewpoints can be considered correct - its the old cup half-full/half-empty thing IMO. Interesting. Will have to check that out and see. Thanks! |
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06-13-2011, 10:31 AM | #145 |
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If you talk DRM, you ARE locked into Amazon. The DRM for the Kindle will only work on a Kindle. Adept DRM will work on a number of different readers. Sony, B&N, Kobo, Bookeen, etc.
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06-13-2011, 10:40 AM | #146 | |
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You can not - migrate the books you have bought at Amazon to some other reader without breaking the DRM and - you can not buy DRM protected books at some other store and read them on your Kindle without breaking the DRM and converting the files first That sounds pretty "looked in" to me. |
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06-13-2011, 11:13 AM | #147 |
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Perhaps most of us here at MR, at least in this thread, are not locked down to any store with any reader we own due to our ability to strip DRM from our Kindle and/or ePub books. Then using calibre we can easily convert one format to another.
The average reader owner probably would have trouble stripping DRM and converting, either because of lacking the tech skills or even just not knowing that these options exist. And if they have trouble stripping DRM and converting, I should think they would also be tech challenged when it comes to transferring ebooks from one reader brand to another, for example transfer all their books from a Sony Pocket Reader to a Nook STR. I've never seen any reader that came with an easy import/export function for transferring books to another manufacturer's reader! Have you? So in my opinion, the average reader is locked into whichever device they buy, though not necessarily locked into the store associated with that device. Therefore JSWolf's old standby argument doesn't support buying Sony over any other major brand, as all major reader brands are going to be a challenge for the average user to transfer books to a reader manufactured by another company. Last edited by jswinden; 06-13-2011 at 11:15 AM. |
06-13-2011, 11:24 AM | #148 | ||
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Last edited by CommonReader; 06-13-2011 at 11:26 AM. |
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06-13-2011, 12:46 PM | #149 | |
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And since I am new to MR, I will take you at your word that your interpretation of locked down is indeed the general consensus around here. FWIW, it seems we have strayed from the OT quite a bit, with some Sony/Kindle comparisons. Certainly was not my intention and quite frankly, I have nothing against the Sony devices - I was in the market for one for a very long time and just never pulled the trigger. Then the K3 Wifi came out and I got a sweetheart deal from Amazon so I finally jumped into the dedicated ereader waters. But as much as I love my K3 so far, it sure ain't perfect - what is? And the Sonys continue to appeal to me on the aesthetic level. So, back OT, I do hope Sony sticks around a lot longer - I just hope they come down from Planet Apple in terms of their pricing... cheers, -les |
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06-13-2011, 01:23 PM | #150 |
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Looks like I opened a can of worms with my comment about being locked into buying through Amazon.
It was not clear to me how content was loaded onto a Kindle. Every place I looked it just talked about transferring via WiFi or 3G from your Amazon account. As I said I like to have complete control over my device and my library - did not like the idea of having to hand this over to a third party. Also the vast majority of my books are in ePub format. I know you can convert them using Calibre but to be honest I really was not interested in having to do that just to be able to read them on a Kindle. Anyway at least I now know that if the worse case scenario does arise and Sony walks away from eReaders, and my 650 packs up, there is an alternative, even if it's not as good as the Sony. |
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