[Geege]

I thought to start this thread for all hand held or other portable electronic books & readers. There has already been an interest in a book sub-forum on here and my wife & I are thinking of buying a book reader to read in electronic file format. She loves books and I love gadgets so it seems a great idea!

However despite being able to buy e-books easily as an alternative to printed, there isn't a good range or availability for dedicated e-book readers. When people buy an e-book, most buy it to read on their laptop.

Does anyone own an e-book reader? We were thinking of the "Sony Reader" but this is still quite expensie and I'm not sure if the new gadget technology has caught on yet. Any other brands available?

What is a Reader? : Sony

[IronGiant]

If or when the book forum gets off the ground I'm sure it will incorporate ebooks and readers etc. I've not heard anything yet though...

Dave

[GBDG1]

I've had a go with a few. They're not quite there yet - don't get me wrong they are perfectly usable but give it 2-3 years and they will be much cheaper and better. If she is into classics then basically any book over 100yrs old is free.

[Sonic67]

Well for a start the Nintendo DS has a cartridge with a 100 classic books on it. If you have a DS you might want to try it. I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes stories and re-reading Henry V on it.

I also have a Google G1 phone which does have downloadable books you can read on it.

You might want to read this:
BBC NEWS | Technology | Sony launches Amazon challenger

Some e-readers:

Play.com (UK): DVDs, Music CDs, MP3s, Video Games, Books, Electronics & Gadgets - Free Delivery - Search Results: e-reader

[whiskyboozer]

I reckon the Sony effort is a bit on the big side really, should only ever be the size of your average paperback. Ok so yo can get so many books on it at the one time but at the end of the day most people only read one at a time.

I use my iPhone with the e-reader app from barnes and noble.

[shodan]

Originally Posted by whiskyboozer

I reckon the Sony effort is a bit on the big side really, should only ever be the size of your average paperback. Ok so yo can get so many books on it at the one time but at the end of the day most people only read one at a time.

I use my iPhone with the e-reader app from barnes and noble.

I use my phone. LG Arena. Also use it for films, music, radio, audio book, internet, maps and GPS and occasionally phoning and texting!!!

[GBDG1]

I have tried using iPhone but backlight hurts ya eyes after a while. Stanza gives you free access to somethink lik 25,000 books.

[gavan]

Originally Posted by Geege

I thought to start this thread for all hand held or other portable electronic books & readers. There has already been an interest in a book sub-forum on here and my wife & I are thinking of buying a book reader to read in electronic file format. She loves books and I love gadgets so it seems a great idea!

However despite being able to buy e-books easily as an alternative to printed, there isn't a good range or availability for dedicated e-book readers. When people buy an e-book, most buy it to read on their laptop.

Does anyone own an e-book reader? We were thinking of the "Sony Reader" but this is still quite expensie and I'm not sure if the new gadget technology has caught on yet. Any other brands available?

What is a Reader? : Sony

I have the Sony PRS-505 and it's excellent. I've read about 20-30 books on it so far and am in the middle of one at the moment. The reading experience is very close to a real book, it's nothing like reading a book on an LCD screen like you would with an iPhone or laptop which can be tiring on the eyes.

As for the price, Sony are bringing out a few new models (including a sort of shrunken-down 505) so you can get good deals on the old one. I've seen the 505 going for as little as 160 quid on various Hot Uk Deals.

Google are about to make tens of thousands of books freely downloadable (as Adobe ePub files) which the Sony can handle very well plus it's dead easy to convert from other formats if you do a little research. All of my commercial ebooks have been for other formats which I have moved to ePub. Given that you can choose essentially between so many formats you have access to a huge range of titles at some competitive prices if you shop around between online stores.

[FruitBat]

I noticed that Borders were plugging the Elonex eReader with 100 (classic) titles for 189 quid. I did a quick search, but couldn't find what the list was.