Can you do me a link and tell me more about yours, please?
Gladly...
I have Sony Reader (2nd gen 505 model), which you can see here:
Sony Reader Digital Book PRS-505 (silver) E-Book reader reviews - CNET ReviewsSony have a web page for it, of course, but it's infested with irritating flash so up to you if you want to take a look:
Reader eBook : SonyThere are others, like the Amazon Kindle, Bookeen Cybook and Irex Iliad but I've never seen those in the flesh so can't comment on them.
I wanted a dedicated ebook reader since I first read about the e-ink screens in development a few years ago, but it seemed to take an age for devices to appear that were practical and sensibly priced (some of them are still very expensive in my view).
The main component of these devices is the e-ink screen, which is unlike the displays you have on your laptop, mobile phone, ipod etc. The e-ink technology is designed to mimic paper, so it is matt, "flat", and very easy on the eyes.
I normally avoid Sony products like the plague, having found them over priced and over hyped in the past, and almost always disappointing. However, at the time I made my choice the 505 seemed the pick of the bunch for my needs - I'm impressed with it and very happy to recommend it. A caveat would be that the price seems to have increased since I bought mine, and now looks a little expensive again. No doubt the weakness of Sterling has contributed to that.
It's similar in size to a paperback, but thinner, and so is very transportable. With a decent cover on you can confidently throw it in a bag, pocket or pannier in the same way you could a conventional book. The difference is that with the Reader you are effectively carrying ALL your books. The built in memory is good for perhaps 150 titles, and with a cheap 1 or 2gb SD card you could store, well... thousands.
I've heard that the menu system does slow down and become clumsy if you load that many titles, but I've not tried it so can't comment, it may or may not be true. I have a few hundred books in mine and it works great.
If you travel a lot, or work away from home, or just don't want to lug an armful of books on a holiday (bike tour!), then it's just the ticket. Of course, you don't have to be leaving the house to use one, mine is now my default choice for reading in bed, on the sofa etc. It's genuinely a pleasure to read from and use. It's quite a surprise really, a modern tech device that does, simply, what it's supposed to do, with no drama or complication.
Battery life is very practical, and I comfortably get a couple of weeks or more between charges. Sony claim 7500 page turns, or until the battery discharges itself over time.
I mentioned this in my previous post, but, in addition to being a really convenient package for an entire library of books, one of the things I most love about the Reader it is just how easy and fast sourcing books becomes. For example, when I browsed my way into this thread, the latest few posters were raving about The Road and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. About three minutes later I had both titles downloaded and on my Reader (The Road btw, wow, great book!).
Books need to be converted to a particular .lrf format for use on the Sony Reader, but excellent, free, open source software exists for this purpose (Calibre), which automates the task and uploads to the device. Calibre will competently handle just about any text or ebook format you'll encounter. I strongly suggest avoiding the Sony provided software. I've never tried it myself but the crap they forced me to use with one of their minidisc players several years ago was so hideous it chafes my nuts to this day even to think about it.
There is a vast and growing collection of legitimately free titles online, such as out of copyright classics and also ones that the author has simply released to free distribution. Of course you can also purchase ebook format copies of loads of contemporary titles from stores such as Amazon, and take immediate delivery by download or email.
One thing that does irritate me is the current pricing of ebooks, which frequently are no cheaper, and even sometimes more expensive, that their traditional printed counterparts. This seems crackers to me. There must be a significant saving in not having to physically print, distribute, store and then manually post a book to consumers, but that often doesn't seem to be reflected in the price. Still, that's their choice, isn't it.
Some may disapprove of my mentioning this but I think it's relevant to discussion of ebook innovation, so I will... ebooks are available online in essentially the same way that mp3 music is. If you can find a music CD for sale at Amazon or similar, you can generally find it quickly and simply for free download too, via google, bit torrent or usenet. The same is true for ebooks, whether an individual wishes to use that method is a choice for them, and I'll leave that there.
Understand that these devices aren't like handheld computers or smart phones. They don't do flashy menus with instant response, colourful graphics, mini applications and the like. They display a printed paper book-like image, and have a simple menu to navigate through your collection, make bookmarks etc.
I'll also point out that these devices aren't really suitable for reference titles, such as technical documents or manuals. Anything that has lots of diagrams or charts, or content that you need to search back and forth through for data or information will not work well on a hardware ebook reader (with the possible exception of the very new Kindle DX).
However, for plain old reading of novels or non fiction works this thing is the bee's knees. You can instantly grab almost anything that interests you, take your whole library anywhere you wish, and read very enjoyably on a device that's effortless to use.
There are lots of options now other than the brand and model I have, and this new one looks interesting:
Interead's COOL-ER claims to be the 'iPod moment' for e-readers HTH (sorry for the length).