I am considering buying an e-book reader, I used to read a lot but most of 
my favourite books are falling to pieces with constant use.

Has anybody used one of these or do you know anybody who has? Ideally it 
should be waterproof but they don't seem to have reached that stage yet. 
My main concern is whether I will be able to read the print without having 
to zoom and scroll all over the place.

-- 
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant

Jeff Gaines wrote:
> I am considering buying an e-book reader, I used to read a lot but
> most of my favourite books are falling to pieces with constant use.
>
> Has anybody used one of these or do you know anybody who has? Ideally
> it should be waterproof but they don't seem to have reached that
> stage yet. My main concern is whether I will be able to read the
> print without having to zoom and scroll all over the place.

I can't help with personal experience but I did read this in the Sunday 
Times and found it fascinating, iirc it tells you all about the different 
ones and how incompatible certain e-books are with certain readers etc, hope 
it helps
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article4681846.ece


-- 
http://www.reverbnation.com/robgreen
http://www.robgreenmusic.110mb.com/
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/astrochickster/ScottishHighlands

On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:47:02 GMT, jackie green wrote:

> Jeff Gaines wrote:
>> I am considering buying an e-book reader, I used to read a lot but
>> most of my favourite books are falling to pieces with constant use.
>>
>> Has anybody used one of these or do you know anybody who has? Ideally
>> it should be waterproof but they don't seem to have reached that
>> stage yet. My main concern is whether I will be able to read the
>> print without having to zoom and scroll all over the place.
> 
> I can't help with personal experience but I did read this in the Sunday 
> Times and found it fascinating, iirc it tells you all about the different 
> ones and how incompatible certain e-books are with certain readers etc, hope 
> it helps
> http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article4681846.ece

Ouch! £200 and upwards for an ebook reader - I can get a lot of second-hand
paperbacks from the charity shops for that amount and I can sell them or do
swoppsies when I've finished with them :-)
-- 
MCC

On 12/10/2008 in message <WslIk.70607$E41.26882@text.news.virginmedia.com> 
jackie green wrote:

>I can't help with personal experience but I did read this in the Sunday 
>Times and found it fascinating, iirc it tells you all about the different 
>ones and how incompatible certain e-books are with certain readers etc, 
>hope it helps
>http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article4681846.ece

Thanks Jackie, very useful :-)

I'm looking for ebooks at the moment, the reader is no good without books, 
there seems to be a fair selection available.

-- 
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
If you ever find something you like buy a lifetime supply because they 
will stop making it

"Jeff Gaines"  wrote in message 
news:xn0fwc4ps73q6qr002@news.individual.net...
>
> I am considering buying an e-book reader, I used to read a lot but most of 
> my favourite books are falling to pieces with constant use.
>
> Has anybody used one of these or do you know anybody who has? Ideally it 
> should be waterproof but they don't seem to have reached that stage yet. 
> My main concern is whether I will be able to read the print without having 
> to zoom and scroll all over the place.

The Gadget Show tested them last series or the one before. There was one 
which flipped the page rather than scrolling. Unfortunately I wasn't paying 
too much attention to the names.
-- 
Sandra
People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did, but
People will never forget how you made them feel.

Jeff Gaines wrote:
> On 12/10/2008 in message
> <WslIk.70607$E41.26882@text.news.virginmedia.com> jackie green wrote:
>
>> I can't help with personal experience but I did read this in the
>> Sunday Times and found it fascinating, iirc it tells you all about
>> the different ones and how incompatible certain e-books are with
>> certain readers etc, hope it helps
>> http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article4681846.ece
>
> Thanks Jackie, very useful :-)
>
> I'm looking for ebooks at the moment, the reader is no good without
> books, there seems to be a fair selection available.

I think one of the main points of that article though is that not all 
e-books are compatible with the different readers, so you may find that 
whichever reader you buy has limited books?

-- 
http://www.reverbnation.com/robgreen
http://www.robgreenmusic.110mb.com/
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/astrochickster/ScottishHighlands

Rabbit wrote:
> "Jeff Gaines"  wrote in message
> news:xn0fwc4ps73q6qr002@news.individual.net...
>>
>> I am considering buying an e-book reader, I used to read a lot but
>> most of my favourite books are falling to pieces with constant use.
>>
>> Has anybody used one of these or do you know anybody who has?
>> Ideally it should be waterproof but they don't seem to have reached
>> that stage yet. My main concern is whether I will be able to read
>> the print without having to zoom and scroll all over the place.
>
> The Gadget Show tested them last series or the one before. There was
> one which flipped the page rather than scrolling. Unfortunately I
> wasn't paying too much attention to the names.

I think this was the winner........
http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/audio-video/sony-reader-prs-505
-- 
Pete C
London UK

Jeff Gaines  wrote:

> I am considering buying an e-book reader, I used to read a lot but most of
> my favourite books are falling to pieces with constant use.
> 
> Has anybody used one of these or do you know anybody who has? Ideally it
> should be waterproof but they don't seem to have reached that stage yet.
> My main concern is whether I will be able to read the print without having
> to zoom and scroll all over the place.

With e-book readers the key is the availability of books. Some makes
will lock you into a specific proprietary format, Sony I'm looking at
you, which can limit your choice of material.

I've used e-readers on Palm devices and currently on the iPhone which
has a couple of very good options.

Some software you might want to take a look at is Stanza which does a
fine job of converting formats and gives access to a huge library of
free books as well.
<http://www.lexcycle.com/>
-- 
to email me please go here
http://www.dream-weaver.com/email.html
Moving Overseas? Get a quote. 
http://www.overseasmovingsolutions.com

ray wrote:
> Jeff Gaines  wrote:
snippy
> With e-book readers the key is the availability of books. Some makes
> will lock you into a specific proprietary format, Sony I'm looking at
> you, which can limit your choice of material.
snippy

This sort of thing really pi**es me off. My recently purchased Hitatchi 
camcorder is the same. I can only download and edit with their software. No 
other software I've tried even recognises a cam is connected!
-- 
Pete C
London UK

On 12/10/2008 in message <jqoIk.70683$E41.51263@text.news.virginmedia.com> 
jackie green wrote:

>I think one of the main points of that article though is that not all 
>e-books are compatible with the different readers, so you may find that 
>whichever reader you buy has limited books?

Absolutely - I want one that takes Mobipocket format. I have down-loaded 
their PC reader and a couple of sci-fi books so will be reading on the 
laptop tonight!

-- 
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
If you ever find something you like buy a lifetime supply because they 
will stop making it

On 12/10/2008 in message  Pete C wrote:

>I think this was the winner........
>http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/audio-video/sony-reader-prs-505

It's had some good reviews but uses a proprietary format unfortunately.

-- 
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
There are 10 types of people in the world, those who do binary and those 
who don't.

On 12/10/2008 in message <1iopov1.1ed857h16ajy0rN%datasmog@hotmail.com> 
ray wrote:

>With e-book readers the key is the availability of books. Some makes
>will lock you into a specific proprietary format, Sony I'm looking at
>you, which can limit your choice of material.

I am inclined to go for an iRex, it takes Mobipocket format and has a 
slightly bigger screen.

>Some software you might want to take a look at is Stanza which does a
>fine job of converting formats and gives access to a huge library of
>free books as well.
><http://www.lexcycle.com/>

Thanks, I'm down-loading it now - it's 5 time th size of Mobipocket!

-- 
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
There are 3 types of people in this world. Those who can count, and those 
who can't.

On 12 Oct 2008 19:44:33 GMT, "Jeff Gaines"
 wrote:

>On 12/10/2008 in message  Pete C wrote:
>
>>I think this was the winner........
>>http://fwd.five.tv/gadgets/audio-video/sony-reader-prs-505
>
>It's had some good reviews but uses a proprietary format unfortunately.

I played with the Sony one a few weeks ago.  It isn't a book
replacement.  If you plod through books page by page its useable but
page turning takes seconds and you can't easily flip backwards and
forwards. As for sticking your fingers between the pages......The
electronic Index was dire.

Reading it wasn't as enjoyable as a book (even a ratty old paperback),
it isn't as easy to hold and despite quite a good screen it isn't
print resolution which makes it a bit wearing.

Nice concept which might become more useful in a few years but not
yet.  Certainly find somewhere where you can sit with one for a few
hours and try to read before buying - it looks really flashy at first
but that wears off quickly.

Jeff Gaines  wrote:

> On 12/10/2008 in message <1iopov1.1ed857h16ajy0rN%datasmog@hotmail.com>
> ray wrote:
> 
> >With e-book readers the key is the availability of books. Some makes
> >will lock you into a specific proprietary format, Sony I'm looking at
> >you, which can limit your choice of material.
> 
> I am inclined to go for an iRex, it takes Mobipocket format and has a
> slightly bigger screen.
> 
> >Some software you might want to take a look at is Stanza which does a
> >fine job of converting formats and gives access to a huge library of
> >free books as well.
> ><http://www.lexcycle.com/>
> 
> Thanks, I'm down-loading it now - it's 5 time th size of Mobipocket!

I used the Mobipocket reader on the Palm Lifedrive and found it ok. I
had a conversion app that enabled me to convert some crufty MS .LIT
formatted books into a readable format, but it took ages to do. I find
Stanza to be very quick at similar conversions.
Mobipocket is the basis of the Amazon format used on the Kindle.


-- 
to email me please go here
http://www.dream-weaver.com/email.html
Moving Overseas? Get a quote. 
http://www.overseasmovingsolutions.com