AMAZON KINDLE vs SONY READERS

I was waiting for the new ASUS reader with color screen, looks pretty sweet and very functional.
I read a great deal of tech documents usually a few PDF a night. A E-reader is a great idea for this or just normal books..

Well, my iPhone isn't cutting it as an e-reader (the screen size forces me to flip pages every 5 seconds, and battery life isn't particularly great with apps), and the Touch (I'm getting soon) is essentially the same thing...was strongly considering the Kindle, but the Asus looks great. Any news on US release?

id wait but if i was getting one now id take the sony. no big brother style deleting of books whenever they feel like it

Be careful of the Asus. If I remember correctly they are releasing two models and the one with duo screen is going to be more than $163. If you by an Ebook reader, you will probably want one that has access to an online bookstore. Both the Kindle and Sony readers do. The PlasticLogic reader, if it ever gets released, will be compatible with the Barnes & Noble online store and there are now rumors that B&N may even be coming out with their own reader, smaller than the PL one.

Currently all online bookstores use DRM. This means you cannot buy an Ebook for Amazon and use it on the Sony, and vice versa since they use different formats. You also cannot share books with other people but there are some exceptions. For example, with the Amazon store, you can have the same book on up to six devices but all devices must be registered under the same account. I believe Sony also lets you register up to six devices but I'm fairly certain the DRM restricts you from using a competitor's Ereader even if they accept the same format (e.g. Epub).

With virtually all readers, you can load and read public domain books. There are even several websites (e.g. manybooks.net) where the books can be downloaded in the format of your choice (e.g. .azw for the Kindle). This saves you the trouble of having to convert a book into your format or avoid sometimes weird formatting issues (justification, etc.).

I have a Kindle and I love it. The main reason I got it was to read public domain books although I have bought some from the Kindle store using Whispernet which is extremely convienent. With the current Sonys, you need to download and transfer all books and must use their PC software, although they are coming out with a WiFi model later this year. Also, some of the Sonys have a touchscreen which have had mixed reviews.

Regarding the Kindle, no you cannot borrow Ebooks from the library, mainly because it doesn't use the Epub format which is what many libraries use. Many people are hoping this will change although it is not known if this could be done via a software update on the Kindle. It would make sense for Amazon to add the Epub format though since Sony does and have made it their standard.

Finally, just some additional points on Ereaders. One of the advantages is that E-ink is easier on the eyes than an LCD screen, although some people can deal with reading on an LCD over an extened period of time better than others. Currently, all major Ereaders are grayscale. Color readers are still a ways away. A color E-ink reader has been released in Japan but it costs about $1000 and the color isn't nearly as vibrant or bright as LCD. E-ink readers also don't have backlighting, which many people are frustrated to find out after they make their purchase. Again, the technology isn't quite there yet. Sony tried releasing a reader that was lit by LED's from the sides but it was discontinued since the lighting made the screen harder to read.

If you'd like more info on the Kindle, let me know.

The Asus is certainly interesting.

However, there are still rumors that Apple is going to release a tablet/touchscreen device. With the success of the iPod and iTunes, one wonders if they might be interested in capturing the written word, as well. Apple might even be able to get AT&T to allow 3G access for the purpose of downloading books and newspapers.

I also find the Kindle and Sony interesting, but I cannot bring myself to fork over the big bucks for one right now. I think prices have to go below $100 before they really take off. It'll probably be a few more years before readers really take off. Prices have to come down and the DRM has to be straightened out or eliminated.

Looks like distributors are moving towards ePub as the default format for ebooks, a format that Kindle does not currently support.

More and more retailers are looking to offer as many formats as possible, so that whatever your device, you can buy from them. Publishers are obviously trying to get onto every format and reader possible.

Right now Sony looks like the most versatile, but holding off another 6 months would probably be a good idea...the readers are still in their infancy and publishers/distributors are still trying to figure out how to make it work.

Kindle is still the iPod of readers.

iRex looks like the best to me.

The Asus to me is little more than a cheap, dumbed-down netbook ... judging from the price the screens won't be of very impressive quality. The real rub is that it won't be e-ink, and in my eyes that means it isn't an e-reader at all. LCDs hurt, man.

Does the Kindle have native support for PDF?

I have a Kindle and love it. I also use it to sync w/ my iPhone. Technically, you can't use it for your local library's digital content but it will play Mobipocket epub files w/ a python script. Google 'kindlefix'. Your book 'expires' after 3 weeks just like the library but it'll work.

You can use a program like Calibre and convert different formats to work on the Kindle. I use the OSX version but it also runs on Linux and Windows.

You can wait a long time for the Apple tablet. The Sony readers are nice too. But I like my Kindle w/ my iPhone so multiple people in my house can read at the same time. Not always needed but definitely so on family trips. I also gave up my newspaper delivery and get it on the Kindle, something you can't do on Sony. My cost of newspaper delivery dropped all the way down to $5/mo w/ the Kindle. When I was overseas, I just downloaded the files on Amazon and loaded them up and still had a paper. Sony can't do that.

The big one does PDF natively, but the smaller requires some sort of conversion process.

Scribd is a pretty cool upcoming site for ebooks (large publishers as well as self-published whack-jobs: everything under the sun) that is largely PDF-based.

big/small?

Use calibre to convert the PDF files yourself.