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Best PDA To Read e-Texts On?

Posted by simoniker on from the was-it-gutenberg-for-you-too? dept.

GabrielStrange writes "I've been thinking for a while now that I'd like to own some sort of portable device on which I could read e-Texts. This device should be able to read both simple text files (i.e. Project Gutenberg e-Texts) and more complex formats, like Plucker, Acrobat or Microsoft Reader. It should have a fairly high-res display with a backlight that would be easy on the eyes... but doesn't particularly need to be a color display. I'd like it to work with at least one (if not both) of the machines on my desktop, which run Linux 2.6 and MacOS X Panther... And to use a USB port. And I'd like it to have a built in, rechargeable battery, because I already have enough devices to worry about batteries for. And, of course, I don't want to pay very much for it. Anyone got any recommendations for such a device? It's proving to be almost impossible to even obtain an actual list of devices that have these features."

5 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. iBook by Tyler+Eaves · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You can probably pick up a used iBook for under $500. I can't imagine wanting to read large volumes of text on any PDA.

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    TODO: Something witty here...
  2. Try 2 of the 3 by chrispyman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ha... nice try, but no such device exists. You can only have 2 of the 3 items... Take your pick of:
    1) Good resolution
    2) internal battery
    3) low price

  3. For Ebooks by TheKidWho · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would definetly recommend the Tapwave Zodiac, the orientation of the device, and the size of the screen make it perfect for ebooks.

  4. $15 Handspring Visor and the Weasel Reader by gdad2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Its funny you posted this. I've just delved into this for the first time with the old Handspring Visor I've been toting around. I paid $100 for it when it was new, but I just picked one up at a yard sale for $15. (Both 8MB) I used the Weasel reader, so I don't have to pay anything for that. (Although it doesn't like my version of ZLib. Throws a warning message but continues all right.) I've been reading Eastern Standard Tribe by Cory Doctorow and I got a copy of Free Cultre by Lessig. The Visor has a backlight that lets me read without waking up the Mrs. Its been a lot of fun for me because this is the first time I've really applied open source software. I've *read* about it all over the place, but this was the first time I ever really found a *personal* benefit. I've seen Tiger Direct advertising old Palms for $45. Doesn't seem to take much to get into the OSS EBook thing.

  5. Re:No such thing? by nprefontaine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Be very wary of the Zire series though, not all of them have backlights. Find a used Clié or M515 instead, for around the same price.