Buying an e-reader

[richsc]

.. is going to lick up on the apple model

And never a substitute for proofreading! Lock is what I think I meant to say.

The one ereader that I was hoping for but got crushed by the iPad and cancelled was the PlasticLogic ereader. B&w displays when you have photos and video won't cut it when you have the iPad in color.

It might be a better question to ask, what books do you want to read and then find a reader for them. If all public domain then look for that capability first. If you want a device that does a lot more, figure out if you want to combine the functions of an apple or android tablet.

[Ron Andrea]

You're exactly right. I suppose I'd be happy with a B&W public-domain document reader at first, but suspect I'd eventually (quickly?) feel hindered.

In fact, as I mentioned a page or two ago, since I don't have a laptop or netbook or Android/iPad -type device now, I'd want to do some of those functions. The iPad really catch my attention (despite never having owned any sort of Apple device), but I'd like to be able to download to it (USB port?) and receive email. The market is certainly in flux. New devices appears--in fact or in rumor--weekly.

Doubt if I'll buy anything before Christmas, so I can watch the market evolve a while.

(I'm 63.)

[richsc]

Email on the iPad is built in, unless you need more like corporate blackberry architecture sort of thing, and there is a company we're looking to for that, Good Technologies.

Download what? It is a bit awkward at times: I would like to send iPhone 720p video directly to my iPad, but there several USB like programs for some of this.

Ok you beat me by a few.

[Narukami]

Several of the private schools in this area require their 6th grade students purchase an Apple Mac lap top. They figure it will see the student through the 8th Grade at which point it will be time for an upgrade as they enter high school. One advantage is the fact that all of the required texts are on line so the student is not forced into becoming one of Marius's Mules and hauling a ton of books between home and school. (Even in the 4th grade my grandson's backpack rivaled in weight what I carried in the US Army.)

Perhaps the iPad will hasten this revolution of reducing the student's physical load while at the same time increasing his mental one.

However...

More to the point and to the original question: So Jona, after all of this advice, opinion, and advocacy, just what are you going to do?

:?

Narukami

[Ron Andrea]

Yes, downloading texts is certainly a good idea as well as the reduction in bookbag weight.

[mcbishop]

In case this helps anyone, there are some quite substantial reviews of the Kindle 3 here which explore all sorts of angles, including the use of PDFs on them. It is worth reading the reviews on amazon.co.uk too, but ignoring the 'wow it's brilliant - it's got buttons and stuff!' and the 'it's cr*p 'cos it's not an iPad!' ones at either extreme as there are some quite thoughtful and objective ones there. Much of what holds true for this device will presumably apply to the generic concept of an ereader, rather than just this particular model (which will, naturally, rapidly be out of date, just like that flashless iPad thingy ;-) ) ).

Personally I am still undecided but may well take the plunge in the next week or so.

Mike Bishop

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

I wish i could still buy a slave who would read out books to me in the early evening in my villa....

M.VIB.M.

[Narukami]

Perhaps this will clinch the case for the iPad, particularly for those of you who work in the "filed" or on-site.

http://www.apple.com/ipad/pompeii/

In Pompeii — the longest continuously excavated archaeological site in the world — iPad is revolutionizing how scientists work in the field. Rather than recording notes and sketches on paper, researchers at the site use iPad and apps to capture invaluable historical data faster, more easily, and with far better accuracy.

:wink:

Narukami

[mcbishop]

In Pompeii — the longest continuously excavated archaeological site in the world — iPad is revolutionizing how scientists work in the field. Rather than recording notes and sketches on paper, researchers at the site use iPad and apps to capture invaluable historical data faster, more easily, and with far better accuracy.

And what website do we find that on? Oh my gosh, why it's Apple's! And would 'with far better accuracy' also be true in direct sunlight or in rain (where experience tells there is little to beat pencil on paper); perhaps there is an Apple branded iBrolly or even (ho ho) an iShade... Horses for courses, once again. Just to read an ebook, you can't beat an ereader; to do other stuff (except anything involving flash, of course) use the other thing... unless you're quite happy with whatever else you have been using over the years.

My experience of archaeological computing goes back to 1982 and it is a regular topos to find a '[blank] has revolutionized the way archaeologists have done [x, y, or z]' piece and I don't see such stories ending soon. What matters - and is of real interest - is the data they get out of it in the end!

Just a pity it's not the longest continuously consolidated archaeological site in the world... ;-) )

Mike Bishop

[Narukami]

Now Mike, you're not suggesting that Apple would lie or shape the facts to suit their own purposes are you? Not Apple ... :oops:

I think we need another emoticon for Homer Simpson and his famous "D'oh!"

Pencil & Paper ... Sometimes old tricks are the best ticks.

:wink:

Narukami

[Timotheus]

I am reading this post, and now replying, from my iPad. So here are some of my thoughts.

iPad has apps that let you access iBooks, Kindle, Barnes and Noble reader, and probably any other reader format created.

This allows me to price compare.

Color is a very nice feature. The glare problem isn't that big. I have a screen protector / glare reducer on it mostly to keep it from being scratched and no problems at all.

Surfing the web is convenient and a great bonus over a generic ereader.

And....

While I have not done this the US government has decreed that jailbreaking your electronic device is 100% legal so as time passes there is less and less chance of the iPad or any other device hoeing the way of Betamax.

[Narukami]

... less chance of the iPad or any other device going the way of Betamax.

Ah the Betamax ...

I still have one that works, and I actually use it ... from time to time.

:wink:

Narukami

[mcbishop]

Surfing the web is convenient and a great bonus over a generic ereader.

Well, almost *cough* flash *cough* - in fact the Kindle has an experimental browser too now but this is comparing apples with pears (there even used to be a brand of computers called Pear; you'll never guess who they were imitating ...:-) ) )

Jona's original request was about ereaders and, whilst it is true you can read ebooks and surf in colour on an iPad, I can also do both those things on my netbook and my Android phone (in fact I read the first chapter of the new Bill Bryson book using the Kindle software on my phone and it made a good fist of it). But whilst you can do those things, why should you if a better alternative exists? As someone once asked, 'yes that's very clever, but is it very intelligent?' In many ways the iPad is a piece of tech in search of a purpose (and, other than SJ's dislike of netbooks, they don't yet have a clearly-defined niche beyond being a piece of must-have kit for techies).

Ereaders are lighter and way more battery-efficient then the others, and best of all use reflected light, not transmitted light, so much less likely to give you eye strain (even Steven Jobs can't mitigate that out of the equation). Moreover, colour is irrelevant when reading the equivalent of a trade-paperback novel. If you're lying on your back on the beach reading a book, I suspect an ereader will always win over a smartphone, netbook, or iPad. Stans treason, as they say in Bristol.

Mike Bishop

[Timotheus]

When I go to the beach or a pool I see maybe one person in 30 reading I doubt that glare really matters much beyond a technical fact.

Also my iPad gives me 8 plus hours if battery life as long as I don't have the brightness at maximum. I don't know how long you read for, but that well exceeds my book tolerance.

But in the end Alton Brown said it best though he was talking of cooking utensils as opposed to e-readers an ipads.

Death to the unitasker!!!

[richsc]

In Pompeii — the longest continuously excavated archaeological site in the world — iPad is revolutionizing how scientists work in the field. Rather than recording notes and sketches on paper, researchers at the site use iPad and apps to capture invaluable historical data faster, more easily, and with far better accuracy.

Imagine if the iPad had a camera too! Even Mike would go for that one. Sigh...next version. At least I can fob this one off on my son.