thinking of buying a k3, but have a few questions...

[rafael.s]

So I want to buy an e-reader b/c:
-my wife and I travel a lot and can't take all of our books with us
-we don't live in an english-speaking country, so getting books in english is hard/really expensive.

I've been looking at getting a k3, since a friend is in the states and can bring it to me, but that means I cannot send it back after I test it. Most of the ebooks I have are drm-free pdf's and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get most books I want in that format. I won't use it for technical reading, just for fiction or history books and such. I'm not sure I'll ever really want to get a book from a library if I'm ever at an English-speaking country, so I don't think that's a necessity.
I am also willing to use whatever software I need [calibre, I guess?] to change the book formats [I know k3's don't support epub], as long as it's actually worth it. Would a K3 be a good buy [it's price is kinda my limit, I can't afford much more than that], or is there anything that would suit me better? Thanks in advance!

[tubemonkey]

The Kindle 3 WiFi at $139 USD sounds like a good bet for you. I don't know anything about international use and buying though, but check this link out on book availability from Amazon:

Amazon International

[fjtorres]

No 6in reader will do a particularly good job on pdf.
Unless the pdfs are explicitly targeted at small-screen devices when created you likely won't be satisfied with the presentation.

You *might* be able to get a half-decent HTML file out of a pdf using the free Mobi Creator from Mobipocket.com (install it as the Professional version instead of the personal version to get the ability to import pdf). The Creator will produce a .mobi/prc file that will be Kindle-compatible *and* leave behind a fairly clean HTML file that you can use to produce a better prc conversion if you're not satisfied with the baseline mobi file.

You can test these files with Kindle For PC so you can get an idea of how your documents will look on the Kindle before spending money.

Just bear in mind that pdf is *not* and has never been a true ebook format but rather an electronic paper format. Think of it as a digital microfiche.

[dminoz]

Re PDFs ... if most of your files are PDF, you might want to compare how a K3 renders PDFs, compared with how a Sony PRS-650 renders them. I haven't seen a K3 on the job, but I can say that the Sony does a good job of resizing and reflowing text, and handling graphics. And despite having a 6" screen, the end result is pretty good, and very readable.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by rafael.s

So I want to buy an e-reader b/c:
-my wife and I travel a lot and can't take all of our books with us
-we don't live in an english-speaking country, so getting books in english is hard/really expensive.

I've been looking at getting a k3, since a friend is in the states and can bring it to me, but that means I cannot send it back after I test it. Most of the ebooks I have are drm-free pdf's and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get most books I want in that format. I won't use it for technical reading, just for fiction or history books and such. I'm not sure I'll ever really want to get a book from a library if I'm ever at an English-speaking country, so I don't think that's a necessity.
I am also willing to use whatever software I need [calibre, I guess?] to change the book formats [I know k3's don't support epub], as long as it's actually worth it. Would a K3 be a good buy [it's price is kinda my limit, I can't afford much more than that], or is there anything that would suit me better? Thanks in advance!

All Kindles, in my opinion, have a single advantage over other readers:
Amazon bookstore.

If you're mainly going for PDFs, there are way better choices available.
For example BeBook Neo.

[doreenjoy]

Also, the Sony supports so many formas that you can buy books from just about any e-book provider.

[rafael.s]

Well, now I feel more confused haha. I tried kindle for pc and opened a converted pdf, and it looked fine. But of course, that's not exactly the same as a kindle, right?
I've looked around at other products, like the bebook and a couple of sony readers, but my main limitation is the price. So I was wondering if a few people with different readers can test a file for me on different readers. It's probably asking too much, but I'd appreciate any volunteers that could help me.
I hope I haven't done anything wrong by uploading those attachments, but I would appreciate it if those that test them out comment on their readability. Thanks in advance!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rafael.s

Well, now I feel more confused haha. I tried kindle for pc and opened a converted pdf, and it looked fine. But of course, that's not exactly the same as a kindle, right?

It's not going to look the same on an LCD screen as on the eink but what you need to look at is the formating; proper text flow, no unnecessary/improper line spacing/breaks etc.

If it looks satisfactory in K4PC at various fonts sizes odds are it will be satisfactory in an ebook reader.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by rafael.s

Well, now I feel more confused haha. I tried kindle for pc and opened a converted pdf, and it looked fine. But of course, that's not exactly the same as a kindle, right?

Correct. Kindle4PC is a uses a different rendering engine. The Kindle Previewer is a better preview tool. It's distributed as part of Amazon's Kindle publishing program and is available on this page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000234621

It's a rather faithful previewer for the Kindle hardware appearance. It even replicates the Kindle's own font.

...So I was wondering if a few people with different readers can test a file for me on different readers. ... I would appreciate it if those that test them out comment on their readability.

Both are quite readable on a Kindle 3 if, and only if, you have very good eyes. They display well, but the text is in the 4-6 point size range. Well within the Kindle's ability to properly display but too small for most people to read comfortably over an extended reading session. If you rotate the screen to horizontal display, the text size is much better though still a bit small, but you have page through 3 screens to read a single page.

[rafael.s]

Originally Posted by dwig

Correct. Kindle4PC is a uses a different rendering engine. The Kindle Previewer is a better preview tool. It's distributed as part of Amazon's Kindle publishing program and is available on this page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000234621

It's a rather faithful previewer for the Kindle hardware appearance. It even replicates the Kindle's own font.



Both are quite readable on a Kindle 3 if, and only if, you have very good eyes. They display well, but the text is in the 4-6 point size range. Well within the Kindle's ability to properly display but too small for most people to read comfortably over an extended reading session. If you rotate the screen to horizontal display, the text size is much better though still a bit small, but you have page through 3 screens to read a single page.

Would it be too much of a pain to ask you to post pictures of the quality?
I'll +karma you like 50 times

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

Also, the Sony supports so many formas that you can buy books from just about any e-book provider.

The Sony supports only one commercial eBook format - ePub - just as every other ADE device does. You can buy no more, and no fewer, books with a Sony than with any other ADE device.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Sony supports only one commercial eBook format - ePub - just as every other ADE device does. You can buy no more, and no fewer, books with a Sony than with any other ADE device.

Just to expound on that... pretty much every ebook reader out there only supports one ebook format with DRM (even Nook and Jetbook technically only support ADE epub, they just include the ereader DRM in their ADE support). A lot of readers support a number of formats, but by and large additional support is only for non DRM'd books. Since most places that sell books without DRM support a wide range of formats, its not really an issue.

I think technically even the new Sony's still support DRM'd LRF books, but unless you have been buying books from Sony since the PRS-500/505 days, this is probably not an issue.

--
Bill

[dwig]

Originally Posted by rafael.s

Would it be too much of a pain to ask you to post pictures of the quality?
I'll +karma you like 50 times

Here are two pix of my K3's screen with your math book open. One is in the standard portrait view and the other is in the landscape mode. The PDF's font isn't the best for screen display, but the K3 manages to display it reasonably well in both modes. The size is a bit small in portrait, but readable. Its much better in the landscape mode, provided you don't mind each PDF page taking 3 screens to read.

Both images are sized so that if you have a photoediting app that respects the embedded PPI specification, they will print to life size. The ruler is included in each shot so you can judge the print size.

Printing will give a vastly better impression of the readability. Computer monitors are much much lower resolution (read: 1/2 the resolution) of the Kindle's screen (Kindle=~192ppi; computer screens=72-122ppi, typically 96ppi). Viewing the images at the proper size on a computer screen will result in less readable text than viewing the Kindle directly. Printers are much sharper, given high grade paper, making printouts closer to the real thing.

http://happythursday.com/dwig/PF-Pos...-Landscape.jpg
http://happythursday.com/dwig/PF-Pos...3-Portrait.jpg

[rafael.s]

Thanks a lot! That helped me make up my mind

[Gwen Morse]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

No 6in reader will do a particularly good job on pdf.
Unless the pdfs are explicitly targeted at small-screen devices when created you likely won't be satisfied with the presentation.

You *might* be able to get a half-decent HTML file out of a pdf using the free Mobi Creator from Mobipocket.com (install it as the Professional version instead of the personal version to get the ability to import pdf). The Creator will produce a .mobi/prc file that will be Kindle-compatible *and* leave behind a fairly clean HTML file that you can use to produce a better prc conversion if you're not satisfied with the baseline mobi file.

Also try "PDFReflow"

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfreflow/

Works very well on fiction-type PDFs (ie: no fancy tabling or the like). I don't have any fancy PDFs to test. Every now and then it does totally choke and produce a single giant paragraph. I've seen this happen with two pfs out of the ~50 I've fed it, which I find more than acceptable results.