07-20-2006, 11:38 AM | #1 |
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For the Rest of us...
For those of us who haven't leapt gleefully aboard the iLiad Love Train (yet, anyway ), what are you thinking in terms of what you plan to do about an e-reader?
Me, I'm still waiting to see the other two come out. I'm hoping to get a "hands on" look at each of them (even if it's just a few minutes in some store), so I can decide if there's anything that they lack that I just have to shell out for the iLiad to get. I'm kind of leaning toward the Sony at the moment (s'why I went ahead and put this on the Sony thread, it doesnt' really fit well anywhere), now that we're getting some more information on it supporting some non-proprietary formats. Experience with Sony's hardware in the past gives me a higher comfort level than with the HanLin -- I just flat don't have any visability of their track record, unfortunately. I was leaning toward the HanLin, but I think that was mostly out of fear of Sony's dark (DRM) past. With it looking like they've learned that lesson.... DiabloNL seems pretty decided , but what are the rest of y'all thinking? What matters to you between them? What concerns do you have about any of them? And such like that there. |
07-20-2006, 11:55 AM | #2 | |
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I won't choose for the Hanlin because it doesn't give me a feeling of quality. Please note that I said 'feeling'. I have always liked Sony stuff and have a great convidence in their products. The Reader has a lot of benefits for me like the size, weight, cover, price, and design. To be honest I think the iLiad is a little overpriced. Last edited by diabloNL; 07-20-2006 at 12:00 PM. |
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07-20-2006, 01:00 PM | #3 |
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Do realize that the Sony is not going to be released in Europe for the time being. You'll have to import it.
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07-20-2006, 01:03 PM | #4 | |
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I know but that's no problem because I import loads of stuff. I was one of the first that had a Sony PSP imported from Japan. |
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07-20-2006, 02:52 PM | #5 |
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I'm on the fence. Originally, I was definitely going to get the Jinke V2 - it's more open, cheaper, and it was going to come out sooner than anything else. But now it turns out there's no guarantee when it will arrive.
Plus, I work for Sony, so I get a discount on Sony stuff. I don't know how much it will be for the reader, but it will probably make it the most affordable option. And I'm impatient! I want a reader *yesterday*. But then I think "closed platform, fascist Sony format and anti-hacking attitude, and no HTML support!" and I get unhappy. I guess I'll wait until at least the Sony reader comes out, and see what everything is like then. Maybe iRex will announce a cheaper Iliad, or Jinke will get their act together. |
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07-20-2006, 03:26 PM | #6 | |
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I can see that the HTML thing could be a pain, but you ought to be able to convert it to something else, so maybe it would be managable. Unless you need to handle large quantities of HTML stuff, of course. I think that the hacking attitude may vary from group to group and particularly depending on country, so US vs. Japan may make a difference there. Depends on how much is the corporation's edict, I suppose. All of that together suggests to me that the Sony Reader is a good deal more open than we all first expected. I'm beginning to think (hope) that they actually learned something from the root-kit and Librie' debacles. (though it seems they could still use some lessons in use of the letter "o" ) What do you do for Sony, BTW? It sounds like they're keeping you as much in the dark as they are the world at large. Discounts are great, but I'd be pushing for information! For me, I mostly just want to read books. I don't need to take notes, I don't particularly care about the file format (except for not wanting to be trapped, or have to spend huge quantities of time converting), and I don't need anything fancy. Frankly, I think the mp3 function is beyond my interest, unless they decided to support something like Audible.com, for instance. I just want to read, and reduce my library's taking over of my entire home. At any rate, it's not hurting anything. From that perspective, any of the three readers will work, but Sony's price and hardware quality are edging them in front for me. |
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07-20-2006, 05:32 PM | #7 | |||||
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That was tongue-in-cheek, of course. I really do dislike electronics based on a proprietary format, though. Quote:
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Other than that, I just feel more comfortable with a "generic" reader. It sort of makes the hardware just an appliance, a commodity rather than a "platform". Platforms are generally locked down, walled gardens where you play by the grace of the creator (you can read whatever you like, as long as you buy it through Connect). The difference between the early PC and Macs, I guess, or between the PC and gaming consoles. The platforms have their benefits, but I'd rather have a generic appliance. |
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07-20-2006, 06:49 PM | #8 |
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The reader def. I live just outside of DC and there are two Sony Connect stores nearby. I've always liked Sony products, the Illiad is too expensive and I've never trusted communist products so it's really the only choice I can live with.
The html issue isn't really a bother for me. I'm in politics for the most part and half of what I read is policy papers in PDF format anyway and it looks like the Reader is perfect for that. I have a large current collection and much of it is in html but seriously people, converting that is a snap. Looks like all I'll have to do is spend a few minutes each week (or every few weeks) converting the html, hardly a hassle. The only problem I have now is comics, I have a lot of them on my computer. I'm not sure those are going to render well at all. On the other hand, there isn't any device that has color anyway (yet) and most are short enough that I can read them on my computer or laptop anyway. |
07-20-2006, 07:08 PM | #9 | |
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07-20-2006, 08:16 PM | #10 | |||||
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Last edited by NatCh; 07-20-2006 at 09:29 PM. Reason: typos |
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07-20-2006, 09:22 PM | #11 | |
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Depending on what software you have to work with this may or may not be possible. Or if they're not secure PDF's you can allways export them to text. I hear what you're saying about China -- I'd prefer not to support a communist regime myself -- however, Bingle is right, I'd be surprised if significant portions of each of these readers didn't originate in China, it seems like everything comes from there these days, at least parts, anyway. On the other hand, China is a good deal less antagonistic these days, and the lot of their "citizens" has improved at least somewhat from all the manufacturing they do, so .... (shrug) what're you gonna do? I'm not attacking your view, or even really disagreeing, but I've largely given up putting it into practice in any meaningful sense. But that too, is another topic, for another forum. Last edited by NatCh; 07-20-2006 at 09:30 PM. |
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07-21-2006, 04:08 AM | #12 |
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For me, the only real reason the iLiad wins is screen size, all the rest are just roadside perks, nice to have but not vital. I want a book reader, and I want it book size, no smaller or larger. I cut out a piece of paper in Reader screen size, and iLiad screen size... the Reader is too small! It means I would have to compromise on font size or text length every time, either straining my eyes or doing constant page flips (I read very fast). If both were 8 inchers, I might well have waited for the Sony.
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07-21-2006, 10:07 AM | #13 |
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I bought a Bookeen for the time being to replace my Ebookwise which won't handle PDFs at all and which I had need for.
I've looked pretty closely at the Iliad and the Hanlin but the Iliad is priced far too high for what it offers and the Hanlin... well I just don't get a good feeling for it's support and reliability and the price is not significantly different from that of the Sony. Sony's policies and software may be suspect, but the quality of their physical products is usually high. So I'll probably go with the Sony. Since it's going to be offered directly in the US it won't take long for someone to hack it. I convert ALL my ebooks into non-proprietary plain text format immediately. Even if that means using a brute force method like bringing it up in a reader and capturing each page of text into a plain text editor using screen macros that are chained together or a VB program or setting up macros to grab hundreds of partial screen captures of large font size and then OCRing them to produce text. I, quite simply, won't tolerate some suit somewhere deciding how and on what device I can read a book. I WILL pay for the book, but I won't accept someone else's dictate as to HOW I can read or WHERE or on WHAT device I own. That's the absolute bottom line. So the formats supported on a device are not as much an issue to me as they are to some people. PDF support is a good selling point, but on the other hand, I have my Bookeen which is color and has a Large screen so PDF support alone is not a make or break issue. I've been quite happy with my old Ebookwise and it only supports one format. And despite what many people say, by lowering the screen contrast and brighness I routinely get 15-20 hrs of use out of a single charge on it. And since I convert everything to plain text anyway, flipping it into the .IMP format wasn't really that much of an issue. My fiancee has appropriated the Ebookwise for herself now. Her first venture into Ebooks and she's in love with it. |
07-21-2006, 10:42 AM | #14 |
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All I can say is that I do my best to avoid them. Can't always do it but often enough I can.
As for the PDF's, no none I deal with are encrypted. And about the page size, I can't believe that Sony would have some sort of filter to automaticlly resize...as for quality, we'll just have to see. |
07-21-2006, 11:14 AM | #15 | |
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I think it's an artifact of the PDF Files themselves -- they're saved with Page size and layout internalized. The ability to preserve that is makes them so valuable, but it also makes them kind of rigid. The ability to reflow the text (adjust to different screen sizes) can be added to a PDF, but it apparently has to be set up when the file is created. I know the Palm PDF reader from Adobe more or less reflows the content for display on the much smaller screen, so it can be done. Perhaps Adobe will expand it to convert for these readers in the coming days. The only drawback I've found in the Palm PDF reader is that the files are HUGE, compared to the original. That seems counter-intuitive when you're aiming to put it on a PDA, but there it is. They're actually significantly larger than the original file (TXT 2.4kb, PDF, 29.6kb, Palm PDF 35kb). |
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