Ebook Readers

[andygates]

It's a new Apple device, so we can be sure it will be:

* Expensive
* Lovely
* A conduit to spending more money via Apple online stores

The eee is much more likely to be a game-changer.

[pcolbeck]

I had a play with a Sony Ebook in Waterstones. When it changed pages it flashed the text horribly is that normal or was the unit failing ? It also took about three seconds to change page. Felt well made though.

[geraldc]

it's normal. The page flashes in reverse, i.e. white text reversed out of black, then goes to black text on white. It's how the displays work, as energy is only used when the page changes or something.

At first you think it's strange, then you realise you can't actually read fast enough for it to affect your reading. i.e. if you're flicking through pages it's annoying, but when you find out that it goes to the exact page when you power up, you never really need to flick through pages at speed.

[TimO]

I guess it does mean that it works well for a book which you are going to read totally linearly (eg a novel), but is probably less good for a reference work which isn't indexed well.  If you need to "scroll" through a book to find something, at 3 seconds a page, it could take a while for a reference book with hundreds or thousands of pages.

I quite fancy using one to cart around reference works.  If I could afford some of the O'Reilly's in a portable electronic for, it would be so much easier than having to carry a few heavy paper editions around.  Even currently it's more practical to carry a laptop with PDFs of some of our reference works on (scanned in).  The spacecraft EIDs (Experiment Interface Document) and handbooks for the EGSEs (Electronic Ground Support Equipment) are fairly huge A4 binders.

[andygates]

Aside: There's one instance when the Cooler doesn't flash properly (zoom font then page back) and you can see why it does it quite clearly, then - the ghost of the previous page persists through the current one. 

(The Cooler's faster than the Sony though )

[red marley]

My experience of the Sony is that page refresh is more like one second. It pauses for longer at the start of new chapters (perhaps 2-3 seconds), presumably something to do with the way content is cached in the device. For a linear read it's not a problem, especially as you end up anticipating the delay and pressing the new page button just before getting to the end of a page. I wouldn't want to use it for very non-linear reference, especially as the Sony at least has no search facility other than through tables of contents.

[andygates]

If the OS does get around to making their mapping free, I'd hack up a script to convert regions into A4 PDFs suitable for greyscale viewing (this may require some modification of colours), and then read them using an ebook viewer.

OSM data is bendable like this, and I'm considering doing it. There's an app called OSM Atlas mentioned in the wiki that builds PDFs from locations and zoomlevels. 

I'd optimise it for 800x600 and choose a printable stylesheet, mind.  800x600 is the native resolution of all the small readers at the moment.  PDF zoom nav mostly sucks...

[Tewdric]

I've failed to load OpenInkpot as yet as I only have Linux and Win7 64 boxes here, and it would seem it will only play with 32 bit windows.  The free "classics" library is extensive, but the formatting is, in the main, poor.  The jury is out but it appears that waiting for the Eeeee may be a wise move, or that paying the Kindle premium may actually be reasonable value.

[andygates]

What device are you using?  (And what makes you think that the Kindle will display a badly-formatted book any better?)

[tonycollinet]

Been discussed before I know - any up to date recommendations?

[rusky]

A guy at work has the Sony one, he's very pleased with it.

There's no backlight si little eye strain & readable in bright sunlight. The downside to this is it can't be used for bedtime reading without some sort of light source.

I think there's a newer Sony & Kindle due out soon that adds to the supported formats.

T3 did a comparison a few months ago, I'll try & scan it in tonight if you like.

[tonycollinet]

Not interested in a Kindle, due to the closed nature (very restricted file formats - only from Amazon)

Favourites so far are Sony prs300, and Iriver Story. Not sure I want a keboard on it though, which would put the Sony ahead.

[rusky]

Have a look here..
eBook readers: Six of the best review | T3.com

[andygates]

I still have and rate my Cool-er.  Did me proud for a week away from base (Greg Bear, Iain Banks and Neil Gaiman, all on one charge). 

There seems to be a split forming between the travel readers - the A5 devices that you'll read on the bus, train, beach or wherever - and the big lovely stay-at-home devices.  My feeling is that the travel reader is like a music player, and will be a commodity thing soon; for home toys battery life is irrelevant so I'd get an ipad and embrace the slickness.

[Wombat]

Showing my higgerance here, but are there any that will display common or garden PDFs?  I often have to read lengthy documents that are available as PDF only, and a more portable reader than a laptop would be handy.  its not so much for reading proper books!  I have slightly the same issue as with music, what I wish to listen to or read is very unlikely to be the stuff available for download.

[rusky]

From what I can see, just about all support PDF

[JT]

Mrs JT has a Sony ebook reader and loves it apart from the markings on the buttons have begun to wear off after only a few months.

The (windows) library software that comes with Sony readers is absolute pants as well.

[Gruff]

The (windows) library software that comes with Sony readers is absolute pants as well.

Use this instead:

http://calibre-ebook.com/

It's an excellent, and free, ebook management app, and works very well with my Sony reader.

It's simple and efficient - add book to Calibre library, it handles the conversion to the Sony .lrf format and uploads to the reader unit.

My A5 sized Sony unit is great, one of the best tech gadgets I've ever bought. They've updated their line now and there are more rival models so I don't know how they shape up to current competition.

[tonycollinet]

Showing my higgerance here, but are there any that will display common or garden PDFs?  I often have to read lengthy documents that are available as PDF only, and a more portable reader than a laptop would be handy.  its not so much for reading proper books!  I have slightly the same issue as with music, what I wish to listen to or read is very unlikely to be the stuff available for download.

I've read a lot the last couple of days. Pretty much all will read PDF, but most screens are not big enough to show the whole page, and due to the update cylce of the e-ink displays, they are not good at panning around a zoomed view.

There are some recently released models with much bigger screens, that may be more appropriate if PDF is your main reason for getting one. But they are on the more pricey side.

[andygates]

PDF assumes A4 viewing space*; small screens must and shall suck thereat. 

There's some reflow tech that will display them less suckily, but since PDF authors can make them in a variety of stupid ways (text as images, mostly), it's never going to be 100% reliable. 

Convert to epub in Calibre and use that instead.

PDF is a good argument for an iPad.  Big, colour display means that when some arse has used an image of orange text on grey in their PDF, it isn't a tiny picture of grey on grey, but a proper-sized bit of colour text. 

PDFs suck donkey ball smoothies.



* Not specifically A4, but near as dammit: they're a paper printing format, portable document as in portable piece of paper with stuff on it.  This is so oldschool it makes Techno Jesus cry and Techno Viking put on some darkwave and break out the UV body paint.  Whenever a page is formatted for A4 (or Letter; PDFs auto-scale between the two) and viewed on a non-A4 thingy, it's going to look naff.  Ebook formats allow the content to reflow and resize without just zooming in and out.  Epub is the industry standard, Kindle have their own standard too, and there are others.  Good readers will read lots of formats, and Calibre will convert many more for you.

[Cunobelin]

I bought a Sony PRS 500 shortly after they came out and would not be without it. My only gripe is that it does not fit on top of the Bar bag... the new smaller PRS 300 however will

The machine does magnify PDFs making them readable text, but cannot cope as well with some diagrams or tables.

I have all my travel details on mine either in word or PDF format, including web pages saved in PDF format for laces of interest.

If you are an avid reader you would not regret the purchase.

[Wombat]

Rusky and Andygates, thanks for the update.  I have indeed experienced PDF on small devices such as my iPAQ PDF (work issue, 2003 vintage and still going strong), and its not much fun.  As you say, the reflow business is pants.  My Tomtom is capable of displaying some sort of ebook, if its epub compatible I might try a conversion just to see.  Not that I'd use the Tomtom as an ebook reader except in extremis.

I was even musing over getting a Archos 7, or maybe an Eeepad, and using it as an ebook reader as one of its uses.  However the reliance of such devices on WiFi as their only internet access rather screws them for me, as I spend most of my time in more rural areas when away from home.  One of the reasons I sold my EeePC was because relying on Wifi for access isn't really workable for me.  Whilst I suffer dreadfully from gadget hunger, I do want one "flat thing with a display" to perform several tasks.  At present I have a full size laptop, and a cheapo smartphone that does at least allow me to collect emails, and rather limited web browsing. 

Next problem with those is working out the problem caused by Virgin seeming to have decided that whenever I download an email, it deletes it from the server, even though the portable devices in question are configured not to do that... Grrr.  There are only supposed to delete from the server when they make it to my main PC!

[tonycollinet]

So I ended up buying a Sony PRS300

I seem to like it - read one book already, and partway through another.

[citoyen]

they're a paper printing format, portable document as in portable piece of paper with stuff on it.

Yup, they're designed to be printed and read on paper. Think of them as the modern answer to fax machines and you'll get the point.

The problem you're talking about is not a fault with the format but a fault with the way people use it - a lot of information that's made available on the web as pdf doesn't need to be printed, ergo doesn't need to be in pdf form.

Compare and contrast audax routesheets, which are a prime example of a document that does need to be printed with layout preserved, and where the convenience of electronic transmission is a genuine boon.

You're absolutely right that ebooks should never be distributed as pdf.

d.

[Wombat]

I wonder if our beloved government would condescend to publish its myriad documents (of which I have to read a distressing number) in an ebook format.  It is their accursed reports that I need to read in all sort of places in odd "spare" minutes and they are all published as PDF.  Some of them are hundreds of pages long, and you are only sure they are utter crap by the time you have finished reading, although you suspect as much from the first page.  I resent having to print 200 pages of what I am sure is going to be garbage, just so I can read it.

I'll find time for a test convert to epub sometime soon, but holiday beckons first, and there's a lot fo work to get thorugh including today's training session, and I haven't really finished preparing for that....