Thinking about buying an e-reader device? Which one should you buy? Kindle? Sony Reader? Or do you wait and get Apple’s new iPad? I’ve just spent 3 days attending sessions at the Publishing Business Conference in New York City about e-readers and the future of publishing. (See my posts about the current status and the future of the publishing industry.)
Modern e-readers provide a very nice experience in reading. E-paper devices are not backlit like a computer screens, so they are very easy on the eyes. It’s very similar to reading ink on paper. They are slim and lightweight and allow you to sit back and enjoy reading. And you can’t beat the average price of about $9 per book.
E-readers are still a bit clumsy for reading magazines, but they work great for reading text-based books. (It’ll only be a few years until larger, color, foldable e-paper readers will be available for a great magazine experience.)
So, back to the original question, which device should you buy?
- Kindle (Amazon): Is the most popular reader. It has lots of momentum, but you are limited to Kindle’s proprietary content format. (Although there are free tools that can convert standard ePub files to Kindle-compatible files.)
- Librie and Reader (Sony): I like my Sony Reader. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and easy to read. Books are available from the Sony library and other sources (see overdrive.com), since this reader accepts files in the standard ePub format, as well as PFD, RTF, Word documents, text documents, and Sony’s own .lrf, and .lrx formats.
- The iPad was introduced recently by Steve Jobs and is getting a lot of hype. It’s not yet available in the market. The iPad has a multi-touch color display, which will open great opportunities, especially for magazines. Hoever, the iPad has a backlit computer screen, not e-paper technology. Also, it will have slow connectivity until 4G networks are more broadly available. If you’re the type to buy the latest, greatest Apple product, this is definitely for you (if you have $499). But if that’s not you, it’s probably not worth buying.
- Finally, you may want to consider the PocketBook , which has 75-80% of the market share in Europe and is just starting in the USA. It is an open reader that reads all e-book formats, except Kindle. It holds 1,500 books, plus external memory available up to 32 G. It supports all languages (you can add your own fonts), has 6 font sizes, allows you to create your own folders and themes, and allows firmware upgrades. (This is important because the technology is changing so quickly.) You can also download games and new models have text to speech and handwriting to text functions.
If you’re not willing to pay a few hundred dollars to get an e-reader today, don’t write off the idea completely. In 3-5 years, the devices will come down in price to $100 or even $50. The devices will also become lighter, have better color, and roll up or fold up to fit in your shirt pocket.
The Adam by Notion Ink will hopefully be another interesting factor in the market this year. The Pixel Qi screen appears to be a cross, or be able to transform between a backlit screen and an e-paper screen. See Notion Ink’s Adam tablet – Yet another Desi Challenge to Apple iPad / Amazon Kindle.
As an Apple fanboy, I’ll admit I’ve got my biases but I think your description of the iPad is incomplete. Besides being an e-reader, it is also a tablet computer with which you can browse the internet, do email, and run thousands of applications already available for the iPhone (including scriptures, games, stream Mormon Channel, etc.).
Also, I don’t understand the “slow connectivity” comment. It is WiFi enabled and for extra you can buy a 3G enabled iPad to connect to AT&T. There’s been no comment about its capability whenever 4G networks go online. Its connectivity should be as good as the WiFi or AT&T service is for any other device.
The iPad may not be the best option if you’re looking strictly for an e-reader but I think its much greater capabilities outweigh its slightly greater cost compared to the other e-readers. Of course, its not out yet, so its a little premature to say for sure. But I’m looking forward to checking it out and hopefully getting one eventually.
The Kindle is not limited to Amazon’s proprietary format. It also natively reads unprotected Mobipocket, text, and pdf files, as well as Audible and Mp3 formats for audiobooks. Additionally, Amazon will convert html and Word files for free. As you said, if you want to read ePub files you will have to use a third-party program to convert them.
lds.org already offers Mobipocket versions of the scriptures, manuals, conferences, and magazines for free. These work for the Kindle without any conversion:
http://www.lds.org/handheld/newarchive/0,18495,344-1-81-2,00.html
There are many other sites with free or paid material compatible with Kindle, LDS and secular.
I own and love a Nook ereader, but I am having difficulty locating the scriptures in a format that I can use as easily as using a hard copy of the scriptures. I would love to tote my ereader to church rather than carrying the heavier and bulkier quad scriptures with me. Unfortunately, I have not found the scriptures for my ereader that are as easy to use, i.e. locating book, chapter, and verse easily. Do you know of any source that has this format for an ereader?
Thank you for your help, and I love and share your site with friends and relatives, LDS and non LDS alike. Keep up the good work.
Jim
Jim,
The Church plans to have an ePub format of the English Bible and Book of Mormon available within a few weeks. That format should work great on your Nook.
I am also looking for the LDS Scriptures that are compatible with the Nook ereader.
Has anyone had any luck yet with that. If so, where did you find them.
Thanks.
I also just purchased a Nook and found these sites for LDS scriptures.
http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1790
http://www.icentricity.net/my-ebooks.aspx
Each month I produce the Ensign and New Era in the Kindle format. If your interested in getting a copy send me an email at zippitydoda@gmail.com