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irc://us.undernet.org/#bookz
'Nuff said.
I can search and download any book I want in an instant. Perhaps not the very latest bestsellers, but everything else. And for classics/creative commons stuff, there's always Project Gutenberg, Manybooks and of course, Baen.
To me - these sites (and aforementioned IRC channel) are like an enormous virtual library. I'm a scifi/fantasy fan, and these books seldom are single stories- they tend to run into dozens or more books.
While enjoyable to read - I don't think I could ever go back to reading the whole thing from the beginning. Hence I've read Discworld, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Star Wars' New Jedi Order, to name a few.
If I actually went and bought these books, I'd run out of space to keep 'em. But I can quite conveniently carry them on my hard drive, or read them on my phone with Mobipocket Reader, or on my dedicated ebook reader (Infibeam Pi, a rebadged ). No DRM, no remote control shenanigans by the manufacturer, no bullshit.
As far as I'm concerned, if downloading ebooks off an IRC channel or a torrent is piracy, then so is borrowing physical books from the local library. In neither case do the publishers get paid. Show me an ebookstore that charges a reasonable price (cheaper than the physical version for starters and adjusted to local market rates depending on country rather than just directly converted from USD), and has no DRM. Baen offer their books like this, it's a pity Amazon won't.

2. eReader
Though eInk displays are pretty much all the same, anyone have any luck with an eReader that isn't Sony but lets you have flexibility with the device?

I am not exactly sure what your needs are, but with the free ebook manager app Calibre you can put pretty much any of your content on your Sony reader.

If you are looking for more flexibility in how to use stuff you buy from the Sony store, it won't help with that. But you can put your own stuff (and news from the web) on the Sony Reader or many other readers pretty easily with Calibre.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

(Just a happy user.)

There are also non-Sony, non-Amazon, non-B&N e-ink readers, like the Cybook.

http://www.bookeen.com/en/

(I don't have one, it's just the first one that came to mind.)

I can recommend to check out the E-Book reader matrix. Myself I bought a Bookeen Cybook Gen3. The specification is similar to the well known Sony reader (800x600 resolution). In contrast to Sony they make the GPL source code of the non-proprietary parts available. I didn't try to build from source though.

I can recommend to check out the E-Book reader matrix. Myself I bought a Bookeen Cybook Gen3. The specification is similar to the well known Sony reader (800x600 resolution). In contrast to Sony they make the GPL source code of the non-proprietary parts available. I didn't try to build from source though.

I bought my dad a Cybook Opus for Christmas - sturdy, simple, wasn't too expensive, just epub support, no ties to a publisher/DRM. Not used it myself but Dad seems pretty happy.

There are now too many locked-down mostly-read devices, and there's going to be a shakeout. Pick the wrong one and you're going to be screwed.

• Kindle - slaved to Amazon
• Nook - slaved to Barnes and Noble
• Sony E-Reader - slaved to Sony, then Adobe
• Bookeen - slaved to Adobe or Mobipocket, but not both; "For legal reasons Mobipocket and Adobe DRM can not co-exist in the same device."
• PocketBook - "supports PDF, RTF, FB2, FB2.ZIP, TXT, HTML, DJVU, CHM, PRC, EPUB, DOC, TCR."
• HanLin eBook - "PDF, TXT, RTF, DOC, CHM, FB2, HTM, WOLF, DJVU, LIT, EPUB, PPT, Mobipocket."
• Apple tablet - Slaved to Apple
• That new "publisher-friendly" e-books standard. (?)

There's a table of what reads what.

This incompatibility isn't going to last. The market will support one or two incompatible standards. Not five or ten.

We've seen some keen devices, like the Kindle, hampered by their crappy software.

Likewise, the Sony Reader... I have one, and for the $50 it cost me as part of a credit card signup gimmick, I love it. But before I can spend a few hundred bucks on another similar item, it has GOT to be easier to use. Sony's desktop software is poor, and converting other formats for the device is a pain in the rear.

Please, Samsung... Let this thing mount like a USB storage device. Teach it to understand txt, rtf, html, pdb, pdf, and maybe even chm--WITHOUT needing to do any conversion on my computer. And add in whatever DRM-infested format you want on top of it, fine... but please, make a product that's for readers and not PUBLISHERS.

(I have ancient Pocket PC ebook reading software that transparently handles displaying text in all of these formats, even inside zip files. It ain't rocket surgery.

Right now the closest thing to an uber-reader, for my needs, is this thing. Spiffy, but if someone beats them on price, I'd be there.

http://www.bookeen.com/specs/ebook-software.aspx)

I have a CyBook from Bookeen and as a simple e-book reader it is excellent. It has an e-ink display, supports mobi-pocket files and has rudimentary pdf and html support. I've even managed to convert scientific articles from html to mobi and to read on there - figures, equations and all.

It runs on Linux, but the mobi-pocket reader is proprietary.

Not profitable? Ha. I bought a bookreader with a screen identical to the Kindle from http://www.bookeen.com/. The difference? My Cybook Gen3 doesn't have 3G. It cost exactly the same as the Kindle. So selling the device at that pricepoint is very definitely profitable. Amazon just thought it would be a good idea to provide direct access to their own bookstore online, and to do that they had to cut a deal with Sprint. Having done so, they want to lock in their buyers. Me? I load anything I want on my Cybook, from anywhere I want. It reads PDF natively, too. Drag PDF, drop into Cybook books directory. Done. I think I got the better deal.

The reason either device is so incredibly expensive is E-Ink's patents on making the display. They're the ones with the financial motive for advancement. What Amazon is doing sure as hell isn't helping.

I have a bookeen and love it, the caveat not enough writers suppling their books as e-books. Most e-books that I have bought have been much cheaper than the paper books, and I can shop for books at home or work (I work 72 hour shifts). But that damn DRM has to go! http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx

1. Dead-simple operation. Reads e-books, and does very little else.

Check.

2. Minimalist Interface. Possibly the Kindle's greatest shortcoming. Should have no more buttons than an iPod (or, say, the original Game Boy).

Check. 12 buttons including power and a cousin of a d-pad. All but the d-pad and a button in the center of it are very small and on the edges.

3. Books easy to download/retrieve. Should be wireless, though the actual purchase doesn't necessarily need to originate from the device itself (see #1 and #2). Perhaps a hybrid system by which content may be purchased online via web browser, and then "pushed" to the unit wirelessly?

Check. USB.

4. Open access. Any seller must be able to supply content via a common format. DRM is somewhat acceptable, as long as it isn't obnoxiously intrusive (eg. Apple's FairPlay). Free content must also not cost money (tsk, tsk, Amazon)

Check. TXT, HTML, PDF, Mobi PRC (with or without DRM), GIF, JPG, PNG. Looks like a flash drive to Windows and Linux.
cp *.txt /ebookmount
or
Windows Explorer, drag and drop any of the above formats, including any selection you like from Project Gutenberg
or
Mobireader with DRM-enabled library support blah blah blah who needs it...

5. Books must be considerably cheaper than their dead-tree equivalents.

Check. Not actually the book reader's problem, but there's always Project Gutenberg, Tor's giveaways, and Baen Book's giveaways.

6. Large, crisp, legible, glare-free display. Should be able to withstand some degree of abuse. I want to feel like I'm looking at a piece of paper, not a screen.

Check. E-ink display. It's large for some values of large. Bigger than any cell phone screen, bigger than any PDA screen, high resolution (166 dpi), no back-light, so no glare, and it loves bright sunlight. It is grayscale, implementing only 4 shades of gray, so it's not suitable for reading most comic books, but it's fine for text and diagrams.

7. Sleek design. Doesn't need to be revolutionary, but also not ugly. This should naturally follow from #1, #2, and #6.

Check. Physically very sleek. Love it. The right size, the right thickness, the right weight. Fits well in my hand, and lets me read one-handed even more easily than a paperback (no spine to fight with).

7. Page-turn lag must be kept to a minimum.

Check. It's acceptable. I'd like it to be about twice as fast as it is, but I'm sure that will come with time as E-ink refines their hardware.

8. Cheap enough for normal folks to afford. Under $300?

Almost. $350. Cheap enough for normal folks to afford, for some values of normal. I think over $100 is too much for the Walmart shopper definition of normal, and they won't be as ubiquitous as flash drives until you can get one for $60, but I think that time will come. They're just NICE.

I've been waiting 8 years for a product like this one, and I'm glad I waited. I haven't been disappointed. And with good reason. It runs Linux; it's NOT SONY; it's perfectly happy with plain text, Mobi PRC (which you can create yourself), PDF (yuck, no reflow), HTML, and image formats; it lets you customize both your font and your font size, for non-PDF non-image formats; it plays MP3s if you REALLY want it to, and does it in the background while you read, though that eats battery life; it has a LOOONG battery life (5 novels? Mayb

As a reseller for Bookeen I recommend the Cybook. http://www.bookeen.com/overview/ebook-overview.aspx

As for reviews here is a link to the MobileRead Forum. http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=136

Unless of course someone can nominate a third option with features comparable to the ones on offer from the other two corporate behemoths.

Get an Iliad or CyBook. They use the same display technology, they can read standard web content, feeds, RSS, and other formats. They also run Linux.

In contrast to those companies, both Amazon and Sony are trying to control the eBook market rather than producing a universal reader.

http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx from further down. e-ink is a lot easier on the eyes than those little screens. (For the record, I am reading on a 700p at the moment, and before that, another Palm.)
old cheap laptops make decent (if not really easy to port) readers, but as a mass-consumer of e-books, I'm really ready for the e-ink version. Not having eye strain after pursuing a story to it's finish is worth the extra $$$$.

Has to be the Bookeen Cybook Gen3.
http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx
The only thing that could make this thing cooler is a wifi connection.

What most people want from an eBook, can be had for $350 in the Cybook from Bookeen:

http://www.bookeen.com/shop/productdetails.aspx?ProductID=417

What can it read?

from the website:

Almost any digital documents. The Cybook supports many open formats like HTML, Txt, PRC, PalmDoc and PDF. These formats are commonly found on Internet and can be easily generated by many text editors. All these files support font resizing except PDF files which can be zoomed.

How much does it weigh?

from the website:

The Cybook weighs 6.13 ounces (174 grams) battery included.

For comparison:

- a standard paperback weighs 11.2 ounces (317grams)

- a 3.5 inch screen smartphone weighs 4.8 ounces (135 grams).

Yes, Kindle is evil, with its DRM, Amazon store tie-ins, and constant connection to Amazon.

But there are good e-book readers:

http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad

http://www.bookeen.com/

They also support DRM'ed books, but they are very different devices: open, programmable, extensible, and they support open formats right on the device.

E-books have the potential of making books much more widely and cheaply accessible, if they don't get hijacked by companies like Amazon.

The bookeen does not support Linux, even though it is linux-based... go figure. Read the FAQ under point 8 "The Mobipocket Desktop Reader is not available fro Mac and Linux. On these machines, the Cybook is seen as a simple external storage drive and the Mobipocket files must be transferred manually." I guess you could say they are being nice by not deliberately locking-out non-windows users, but if I'm gonna pay that much, then ALL features should work for Linux. Furthermore, it doesn't look like there's a linux prog out there that does the same thing as mobipocket or ereader. I would love to be corrected on this point but that's what I've seen so far.

The specific incompatibility is this: the software that the reader uses for synchronization, "mobipocket", is windows-only. The features seem really cool though - it can even download RSS feeds so you can view them offline. The WINE Entry for this program says it crashes frequently so that's not an answer(Does wine ever work right?)

Also noticed... ebooks can sometimes cost more than their paper-based counterparts.

"Hypothetical" competitor to the kindle? There already are such devices which predate Amazon's own release as well. This one looks good. Again, a highish price but it looks better than Amazon's own (Linux support being one of, though not the top, reason for that). Sadly, like the Kindle, it has also sold out completely, but I'm seriously thinking of putting one on order.

Major other readers don't have wifi or evdo.

Bullshit.

http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx

http://www.irextechnologies.com/

Both of those run Linux and are programmable! They can download and render PDF, blogs, and HTML on their own, free.

You have to download content to your computer and transfer it to your reader. You can do the same thing with kindle for free.

It's not clear that the Kindle can even do that; does it even read standard formats without a separate "conversion step"?

The Kindle seems like a giant step backwards.

Moreover, there's the even more aesthetically-pleasing, less DRM-ridden Bookeen Cybook for $350. Does it run Linux? Yes.

There actually is another new e-ink based reader out as well; the Booken - Cybook http://www.bookeen.com/

It supports books in Mobipocket format along with PalmDoc, HTML, Txt and PDF (with restrictions on a few of these formats).

Also supports playing of MP3's

Price is $350 or $450 depending on the bundle.

I think ebook readers are a great idea, especially when they can be extended so I could get my favourite newspaper on it (the Independent in the UK). I thought this one looked better than the Amazon one and I thought about getting it. It's still too pricey for what it is, though. When these things are cheaper, I'll consider it if I can still find one then that's under my control and not some DRM infested nightmare.

Rumors are flying around that Amazon is going to release their own e-ink device any day/week now. A version of it went through the FCC a while ago since it might have a wireless modem in it. It will probably be more expensive than the Sony, but might have the ability to download newspapers and magazines directly.

Bookeen is coming out with their own device any day now that's really similar to the Sony reader but will use different file formats. They all read RTF, TXT, etc... but if you want to buy a new book, it's likely to have DRM in the file. The DRM file format that the Sony uses is different from the DRM files that the Bookeen and Amazon Kindle will use.

The Iliad is bigger and can render letter size PDF files without the hassle of the smaller devices. It has wifi and a writable screen that you can take notes with... but it's supposed to be slower and more than twice as much money.

I want one really bad, but I'm waiting to see what Bookeen and Amazon finally release before I throw down my cash. Sure they're all kind of expensive, but you can load up with free classic books from Project Gutenberg and you'll save money in the long run (if you read a lot and are too lazy/busy to make trips to the library).

http://www.mobileread.com/
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/11/amazon-kindle-meet-amazons-e-book-reader/
http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/03/kindle-edition-books-appear-on-amazon-reader-launch-imminent/
http://www.bookeen.com/
http://www.irextechnologies.com/

The latest version of Adobe PDF reader IS a dedicated ebook reader, if you accept software in that category. And you can get an Adobe reader for just about every platform. At this time there aren't any really viable dedicated hardware readers, although people keep trying. If you look on Amazon's ebook list you'll see that almost all of the books are available in PDF format. PDF is the predominant format used for lending books through libraries (and many public libraries lend them), mainly because the Adobe software is free and relatively platform neutral.

With a good PDA, you get better resolution than normal text...

I too am a huge fan of reading on the PDA but... even a super high res PDA screen isn't sharper than real print. Sharp ENOUGH, sure.

I'm DONE with paper, for the most part. uBook on my 640x480 Axim X50V is just sick, and even on my last iPaq (only 320x240) it was very usable.

What the world really needs is a cheap ebook.

- Screen at least 640x480, greyscale
- Good backlight
- CF or SD slot
- A few fonts w/ bold, ital, underline
- Software that digests open formats: Palm DOC, RTF, HTML, TXT

Basically, it would be uBook on a dedicated monochrome device for about $150. Kind of like the Cybook but slashed down to essentials.

ebooks won't really hit it big until they are cheap enough that you don't cry when you leave one on the bus.