looking for a simple e-book reader

[rockager]

looking for a simple (no frills) e book reader to which i can transfer PDFs from my computer and read them on the go. any suggestions?

[TheSqueak]

This one (http://www.coolreaders.com/swf/360-cooler.asp) might well be what you're looking for

[powerpleb]

I've got an Onyx Boox which is a reasonable reader.
Only it doesn't handle PDFs all that well. You either have to zoom in on the original formatting and have it cut lines of text out at the bottom (very annoying) or have the ereader reformat the text itself so that you get left with massive gaps when each page ends. If I were you I'd be road-testing any ereader with your PDFs not just the EPUB, MOBI or whatever formats they typically use for examples.

[drawkcab]

The best reader for .pdfs is the pocketbook range. They use a customizable linux OS with various applications that makes it much much easier to work with .pdfs. They also let you expand the memory with an sd card which is nice because .pdf files eat up a lot more memory.

The most popular model is the PB 360 which is small and portable and it comes with a cover, although they are just about to release 4 or 5 newer models for the fall. Obviously they will cost more than a Kindle but if you already have your reading material in .pdf, you might think it is worth it to buy a PB.

Here is a great forum for more info on ereaders:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/

[tdrusk]

I have this (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665921188). Got it used on amazon. I like it and it reads pdfs.

[pwnst*r]

looking for a simple (no frills) e book reader to which i can transfer PDFs from my computer and read them on the go. any suggestions?

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1577473

[perspectoff]

FBReader

sudo apt-get install fbreader

[pwnst*r]

FBReader

sudo apt-get install fbreader

I think he's looking for something that utilizes e-ink like a true e-reader.

[Rodney9]

http://www.sony.com.au/product/prs-650

6.0” stylish reader with paper-like touch-screen, audio playback and extendable memory (Black)

Slim and light Reader with easy to use touch-screen puts thousands of your favourite stories at your fingertips. Effortlessly turn the page with a swipe of a finger or find the meaning of a word by using the built-in dictionaries. The glare-free screen reads just like a real book, even under the sun

* 6" E Ink® Pearl glare-free touch-screen for the ultimate reading experience
* Large book storage up to 1,200 eBooks (tens of thousands more with extra memory card)
* 2 full weeks of reading on a single battery charge of 10,000 continuous page turns
* Audio playback lets you enjoy music as you read
* 12 Built-in Dictionaries
* Wide choice of supported formats such as EPUB, PDF, Text, RTF, Word and BBeB, so you can read practically anything

[mamamia88]

i see the kindle advertised for $189 and $139. doesn't seem too unreasonable

[sanderella]

If you want to display pdf's on your ebook reader you've got to be careful. Most of them don't do pdf, and the ones that do are poor at formatting (eg the Sony).

[pwnst*r]

http://www.sony.com.au/product/prs-650

6.0” stylish reader with paper-like touch-screen, audio playback and extendable memory (Black)

Slim and light Reader with easy to use touch-screen puts thousands of your favourite stories at your fingertips. Effortlessly turn the page with a swipe of a finger or find the meaning of a word by using the built-in dictionaries. The glare-free screen reads just like a real book, even under the sun

* 6" E Ink® Pearl glare-free touch-screen for the ultimate reading experience
* Large book storage up to 1,200 eBooks (tens of thousands more with extra memory card)
* 2 full weeks of reading on a single battery charge of 10,000 continuous page turns
* Audio playback lets you enjoy music as you read
* 12 Built-in Dictionaries
* Wide choice of supported formats such as EPUB, PDF, Text, RTF, Word and BBeB, so you can read practically anything

Wow, that's twice the price that I paid for my Kindle. No offense, but that's a ripoff.

[LMP900]

Another vote for the Kindle, assuming you're looking for an e-ink device. Great contrast, folders, zoom ability, and password-protected idle screen.

[pwnst*r]

and the ones that do are poor at formatting

If the .pdf is properly formatted in the first place, it's not an issue with the Kindle.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

You can check out the different ereaders on youtube to decide what is best for you. I am really liking the new Sony PRS-650. They have done a nice job with it in my opinion. It is a little pricey. If I had the money I would go with it. But since I don't I am going with the Kindle WiFi version. I don't need it for PDF's though.

[Gatemaze]

My colleague got a Kindle (3g) I got a Sony prs650 (price comes down to me paying 20 british pounds more as sony has a vat claimback or smth)... No comparison between the two... Sony beats Kindle hands down... Was nearly going to buy a Kindle a couple of months ago... so glad I waited for the prs650 to come out... But I suggest you go to a Sony shop and try it out first and see whether it suits you...

[pwnst*r]

My colleague got a Kindle (3g) I got a Sony prs650 (price comes down to me paying 20 british pounds more as sony has a vat claimback or smth)... No comparison between the two... Sony beats Kindle hands down... Was nearly going to buy a Kindle a couple of months ago... so glad I waited for the prs650 to come out... But I suggest you go to a Sony shop and try it out first and see whether it suits you...

"Beats it hands down" in what respect?

[Docaltmed]

I'm surprised to see so much support for the Kindle really only handles DRM material without difficulty.

The Nook handles multiple formats without charging you fees for modifying to a proprietary file format. Couple that with Calibre and you have a great combo.

[Gatemaze]

"Beats it hands down" in what respect?

Pretty much everything:

1. Openess as epub to proprietry kindle format... Result you can buy books from more than one distributor and make sure you get the best prices which I did with the two books I have recently purchased and the final price was better than amazons in these cases.

2. Touch monitor... once you touch you never go back.

3. The way it handles pdfs... touch better than kindle and this is after testing

4. Size... Touch is smaller than the kindle and the virtual keyboard works fine for me...

5. It can use sd cards so with one ebook reader i can have a very big library of books (and music if necessary)...

6. The lack of wifi and 3g is not a problem as after trying to browse the web with the kindle it proved to be too much of a painful process... yes it would be nice to have 3g access on the prs but the ebook readers are not mature/fast/user friendly enough for this... so although initially i fell for the wifi/3g advertisement as i thought it was a cool feature but after testing it its a no-go.

7. I could go to detailed comparison but ouf...

And finally looks... it simply looks so much better than the kindle...

But dont get me wrong anyone... I think amazon has a very good customer support and prices and the kindle (wifi only) is quite cheap and a very good product (good e-ink monitor and you can read nicely your kindle books)... if you are on a budget and want an ebook reader (but be tied to getting your books from one dealer) then go for it... althgouth there might be other cheap options out there too... I just like the prs way better...

as soon as i resolve one little issue with transferring drm epub books to it through linux then it will be full funcitonal with my linux desktop

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I'm surprised to see so much support for the Kindle really only handles DRM material without difficulty.

The Nook handles multiple formats without charging you fees for modifying to a proprietary file format. Couple that with Calibre and you have a great combo.

The kindle handles non DRM Mobi files just fine. Amazon also has a larger selection of books to choose from. If you have other non DRM formats they are easy to convert to mobi using Calibre. Amazon will also modify other file formats for free as long as it is not DRM protected. Not sure where you get your information.

[c00lwaterz]

pdf can read e-books

[drawkcab]

I'm surprised to see so much support for the Kindle really only handles DRM material without difficulty.

The Nook handles multiple formats without charging you fees for modifying to a proprietary file format. Couple that with Calibre and you have a great combo.

:confused:I'm surprised to find that Linux/FOSS techies haven't discovered the Linux-friendly Pocketbook lineup of devices yet:

http://www.pocketbookreader.com/ :guitar:

[Gatemaze]

:confused:I'm surprised to find that Linux/FOSS techies haven't discovered the Linux-friendly Pocketbook lineup of devices yet:

http://www.pocketbookreader.com/ :guitar:

Hmmm... It seems interesting... if monitor is good (no reflections, good contrast), the page turn is fast enough, it is light/compact enough, good support for reading pdfs, be able to keep notes and maybe have a touch screen and a competitive price definitely would have given it a look if I knew about it before buying my PRS...

[Jazzy_Jeff]

:confused:I'm surprised to find that Linux/FOSS techies haven't discovered the Linux-friendly Pocketbook lineup of devices yet:

I looked at all the choices available when I bought my Kindle. It pretty much came down to price for me. I am on a very limited income.

[matthewbpt]

I ordered a Kindle a few days ago, still waiting for it to arrive, but from the research I did the Kindle is perfectly good if you have many ebooks in different formats. As long as the non Kindle formats are not DRMed, it can read mobi and pdf and txt, and amazon provides a free linux program to convert non-DRMed epub files to mobi on the command line, and Calibre does it too, so the format argument against Kindle doesn't hold IMO. I shall report back when I actually receive it with my true verdict!

[drawkcab]

Pocketbook supposedly has the best .pdf support you can find. The screens aren't as nice as the new Kindles and Sonys though. Not being able to expand the memory on the Kindle really irks me even more than the lousy .pdf support.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

Pocketbook supposedly has the best .pdf support you can find. The screens aren't as nice as the new Kindles and Sonys though. Not being able to expand the memory on the Kindle really irks me even more than the lousy .pdf support.

I know what you mean. I mean really, I think everyone wants to put more than 3,000 books on their Kindle at one time.

[drawkcab]

I know what you mean. I mean really, I think everyone wants to put more than 3,000 books on their Kindle at one time.

Some of us are academics and could use a good portable library like that. I hate trucking a suitcase full of research material around with me every time I travel for extended periods.

[Gatemaze]

I know what you mean. I mean really, I think everyone wants to put more than 3,000 books on their Kindle at one time.

Well pdfs, music files tend to be large... Also nice to share files... But I understand what you mean... I just hated it when mp3 players broke the 1GB limit...

[matthewbpt]

Well I have had my Kindle for 3 days and I must say I am most impressed. Coupled with Calibre ebook management program it's a dream to use. The screen is really clear and easy to read, the UI is also simple and intuitive IMO, its size and weight is spot on, the battery is holding out well but still haven't used it enough to say whether Amazon's advertised battery life is acurate. I had many ebooks in ePub and html format but I had no problem reading them as I simply converted them to mobi using Calibre, which converted them perfectly. I also converted some ebook PDFs to mobi to take advantage of the extra features doing so provides. I am quite satisfied with it. I have never used any of the other readers mentioned in the thread though so I can't say if it superior, but pricewise for me it is definitely a winner. I am curious to try some of the other ones available to compare the experience, I can't imagine it would be vastly different though ...

PS. About the non expandable storage, I can't imagine ever needing more than what is provided anyway, could I possibly read that many books!

PPS. The text to speech mode with the synthetic voice is horrible, I find it hard to fathom that the publishers would find this threatens audiobook sales because I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to listen to a book with this feature. To me the reader of the audiobook is as important as the book they are reading and I thoroughly enjoy listening to audiobooks, read by Stephen Fry and Martin Jarvis especially. Do any of you use thiss feature?

[Jazzy_Jeff]

Well pdfs, music files tend to be large... Also nice to share files... But I understand what you mean... I just hated it when mp3 players broke the 1GB limit...

This is true, but I personally don't use my Kindle to listen to mp3's. I prefer to use my mp3 player for that. I only read on my Kindle so I am very happy with it so far.

[beloved88]

After reading this thread, i think I'll go with the Sony Reader Touch, but I'm considering the PocketBookReader, but i really want to play with it first before I'm sold on it.

[drawkcab]

After reading this thread, i think I'll go with the Sony Reader Touch, but I'm considering the PocketBookReader, but i really want to play with it first before I'm sold on it.

The pocketbook 302 is only $200 now. It has wifi and a touchscreen. The only complaint I've heard is that the touchscreen is glossy. I think it's a better and cheaper choice than the Sony.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the 602 for Xmas which has a more readable screen. According to most folks on mobileread forums, the pocketbook 360 is a legendary device and the company is great.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=206

[mendhak]

I've got both the Sony Reader and a Kindle. In terms of simplicity and no frills, I don't think you're going to find anything at all. Nothing's simple. :D

You want to read PDFs, I suggest you get Calibre software, I believe it is in the repositories so a search on Synaptics Package Manager should get you something. Calibre is almost invaluable if you're going to be dealing with documents and readers. You can use it to convert formats, including PDFs, into other formats.

So - put your PDF on your reader (both of them can read PDFs) and if the PDF has been formatted right, it will display fine. If not, use Calibre, convert them to epub (For the Sony PRS) or mobi (For the Kindle), copy on, and read away. If someone gives you an epub, convert to mobi, put on kindle. So on and so forth. Calibre. Get it. Calibre. Calibre.

In terms of aesthetics, the Sony reader is quite good to hold as it caters to the holding-book-by-crook-of-thumb-and-index-finger mode, whereas the Kindle doesn't. Both, though, have good build quality.

However, I don't particularly see the benefit of a touch screen as you lose some quality of screen. Maybe for others, not for me.

In terms of availability of books, the Kindle has a much larger collection of books for you to choose from.