Choices Choices - which reader do i buy

erithian · 04-17-2009, 06:19 AM

Im in a bit of a quandry as to which reader to buy, as there seems to be a large amount of variation out there.

My plan is to use the reader for the majority of my reading, in particular on holiday where currently most of my suitcase is taken up by books. As I read a lot of Sci-fi / Fantasy I want to make sure the reader supports books in the format - or failing that be able to convert to a suitable format easily. In particular i have a lot of .lit books already which would be nice to use.

The second thing i want to use my reader for is for reading PDF files. As a roleplaying gamer I often have to cart around lots of books for the games I play. I have most of these books in a pdf format so would like to use the reader for these and therefore save carrying all the rulebooks around. The issue is that some of those pdf files are simply scanned images. Im also not sure how important the level of grayscales will be for this.

I'm based in the UK and it would seem epub is becoming the preferred format for new books so I want to make sure I can either read them natively or easily convert them.

With regard to budget and devices - Ideally under £500 would be best although if a reader has the right features i might be able to stretch it. Also portability is important thus making the irex 1000 too big. I like the idea of a touch screen but that may just be the gadget freak in me

,

I'm currently torn between the Irex iliad2 and the sony prs700 although im happy to consider anything else

Any Advice / recommendations are welcome

Grant

Mrgauth · 04-17-2009, 08:45 AM

Oh boy, I do not envy you having to make a choice like this. I have been studying them all for 4 months now and still haven't made a choice. I can only wish you the best of luck. Unlike me, I bet you CAN decide and will thoroughly enjoy it.

Good luck.

wallcraft · 04-17-2009, 11:53 AM

Based on your need for PDFs, the iLiad Book Edition is probably your best choice. Its 8" screen really is better for PDFs than a 6" screen. The PRS-700 probably has the best PDF support of any 6" device, but its zoom mode is not persistent between pages and I think that will make your image based PDFs a chore. You might be able to pre-processes them into better PDFs for the 6" device though. Several other 6" devices will be coming out with mobile Adobe Digital Editions in the next few months, so there may be competitors for the PRS-700's 'best 6" for PDFs' crown.

The iLiad has limitations (e.g. its 12-15 hr battery life and no sleep mode), and there will be no further software from iRex for this device. Its built in reflowable ebook format is MOBI, and its MobiPocket Reader app is ok although with fewer features than provided on other MOBI-capable devices using the same base software. I always use FBReader on my iLiad for MOBI and for LIT (although I convert these to OEB first on a Desktop PC). Note that FBReader is DRM-free, and if your LITs have DRM this will need to be stripped (which may not be legal where you live) before they can be read on any EInk-based reader. The same is true of ePubs, which FBReader does not fully support - but Calibre can convert LIT and ePub to MOBI for FBReader or the native MOBI Reader.

04-17-2009, 06:19 AM	#1
erithian Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Surrey, UK Device: none	Choices Choices - which reader do i buy Im in a bit of a quandry as to which reader to buy, as there seems to be a large amount of variation out there. My plan is to use the reader for the majority of my reading, in particular on holiday where currently most of my suitcase is taken up by books. As I read a lot of Sci-fi / Fantasy I want to make sure the reader supports books in the format - or failing that be able to convert to a suitable format easily. In particular i have a lot of .lit books already which would be nice to use. The second thing i want to use my reader for is for reading PDF files. As a roleplaying gamer I often have to cart around lots of books for the games I play. I have most of these books in a pdf format so would like to use the reader for these and therefore save carrying all the rulebooks around. The issue is that some of those pdf files are simply scanned images. Im also not sure how important the level of grayscales will be for this. I'm based in the UK and it would seem epub is becoming the preferred format for new books so I want to make sure I can either read them natively or easily convert them. With regard to budget and devices - Ideally under £500 would be best although if a reader has the right features i might be able to stretch it. Also portability is important thus making the irex 1000 too big. I like the idea of a touch screen but that may just be the gadget freak in me , I'm currently torn between the Irex iliad2 and the sony prs700 although im happy to consider anything else Any Advice / recommendations are welcome Grant

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04-17-2009, 08:45 AM	#2
Mrgauth Addict Posts: 206 Karma: 310 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Tulsa OK Device: K3	Oh boy, I do not envy you having to make a choice like this. I have been studying them all for 4 months now and still haven't made a choice. I can only wish you the best of luck. Unlike me, I bet you CAN decide and will thoroughly enjoy it. Good luck.

04-17-2009, 11:53 AM	#3
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	Based on your need for PDFs, the iLiad Book Edition is probably your best choice. Its 8" screen really is better for PDFs than a 6" screen. The PRS-700 probably has the best PDF support of any 6" device, but its zoom mode is not persistent between pages and I think that will make your image based PDFs a chore. You might be able to pre-processes them into better PDFs for the 6" device though. Several other 6" devices will be coming out with mobile Adobe Digital Editions in the next few months, so there may be competitors for the PRS-700's 'best 6" for PDFs' crown. The iLiad has limitations (e.g. its 12-15 hr battery life and no sleep mode), and there will be no further software from iRex for this device. Its built in reflowable ebook format is MOBI, and its MobiPocket Reader app is ok although with fewer features than provided on other MOBI-capable devices using the same base software. I always use FBReader on my iLiad for MOBI and for LIT (although I convert these to OEB first on a Desktop PC). Note that FBReader is DRM-free, and if your LITs have DRM this will need to be stripped (which may not be legal where you live) before they can be read on any EInk-based reader. The same is true of ePubs, which FBReader does not fully support - but Calibre can convert LIT and ePub to MOBI for FBReader or the native MOBI Reader.

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