Hi,
I was thinking of getting missy a e-book thingy for her birthday which I assumed would be quite straight forward but as usual it’s a blasted minefield
with all sorts of technical cr$p 
Anyone got one that they think is worth having? Would need to be about the size and weight of a normal paperback and have lots of titles. Yeah I know
feck all about them really 
Are they just rubbish or worth having?
Cheers 
[Edited on 24/9/09 by Mr Whippy]
i have two you can have if you want:
1. guide to passing OASC
2. guide to passing GAMSAT
Not sure she wants to be in the RAF or work in a hospital though...
ah no I mean the reader thing, not actual books. Haven't got that far yet!
ah sorry, i follow, I did consider explaining that e-books don't really have a size or weight but thought better of it
SNAP!
I have been following Sony Readers on ebay for about a week now. Guess what for, a pressie for the Missus!!!!
Far as I am aware the Sony Readers are about the best in regards to software licensing and stuff. As far as I know you just download a book, stick it
on and read it.
I saw a fella having a cuppa tea in Covant Garden reading away like they do in London. It looked fabulously cool. Why he could have tea at home and
read I don't know.
I have set myself the unrealistic budget of £100 but I think I am gonna have to up that.
For all gadget reviews I always use the gadget show web site, they did e-readers:
http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/jon-test/jon-tests-e-readers
Sony came out best, old review though.
Have a look at the reviews on Amazon as well, the software doesn't look great for organising and loading your books.
[Edited on 24/9/09 by Jasper]
[Edited on 24/9/09 by Jasper]
I've had a Sony eReader now for a couple of months... quick verdict, its great - buy one.....
Longer verdict....
Good stuff...
Books are easy to get hold of, cheaper than normal (see below for come caveats) and in some cases (old books out of copyright) free..
The contrast is excellent, and the size of the text is scalable, so if its darker (remember no backlight) you can make the text bigger
Hundreds of books per memory stick, and it plays MP3's etc as well (though if you do, it eats the battery)
Less good...
Best to go to the USA sites to buy the books as they have a much better selection, problem with that is you have to pay by PayPal and give a US
address (I won't do obtaining illegally as I like reading too much!)
Battery life is good, at least a couple of weeks reading a few hours a day, but the charge time is long (4 hours by USB from flat), so a mains charger
is a good investment.
Sometimes, especially when you make the text bigger the page wrap is a bit odd, so you might only get a few lines of text on a page, but that
isn't a problem really
Overall, great, about to buy another one for my wife!
Chris
Edit to add - the book managing software with it is rubbish, but there is a bit of software called calibre which is great - like iTunes for books....
much better!
[Edited on 24/9/09 by chrsgrain]
^^^ what he said, especially about Calibre. The cover with the built in light for the Sony Reader is quite spiffy too, lets me read at night without
keeping the mrs awake.
I've found book prices to be a bit variable, some are more expensive than actual paper copies. They are getting rapidly cheaper though, and the
available catalogue keeps growing. If Google get their way then they will soon be offering pretty much everything that has ever been printed, which
will be nice
so you have to pay over £100 for the electronic box which in the way of all electronic media type boxes will have at least one 'feature'
that will annoy the cr*p out of you AND you then have to then pay for the 'books' as well.......... what's wrong with a paperback?
simple, cheap (especialy secondhand) and does being a book perfectly without any need for electrickery......... plus you get to go into bookshops
which are wonderful places which should be encouraged not replaced 
It's something I'd buy only if I did a lot of travelling abroad, don't see the point of lying in bed reading one .....
And my wife and I like the same books, which means we would have to buy two readers, or a digital and a real copy.
Seems like a lot of money for a pretty gadget.
quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
It's something I'd buy only if I did a lot of travelling abroad,