Digital book readers - Kindle, BeBook, etc - Opinions please

[American Patriot]

Anyone used one? Own one?

Comments, opinions?

[Ryan Ruck]

No but I had heard it was pretty small. Around the size of a pop can (a little larger).

They are supposedly talking about releasing a larger, book-sized version because people were unhappy with the size of the initial offering.

Other than that, I hear it is pretty cool.

[Malsua]

The second gen one is apparently much better. I thought about getting one but once you realize you gotta pay for each book, the appeal goes down. It'd be fun for a while but I suspect i'd just go back to regular ole books.

[MinutemanCO]

I'm oldschool. As an architect, I'm a dinosaur. I actually still draw things by hand. In reading, I'm the same way. Can't stand reading from an electronic screen. There's something weird in my brain that just fights against the process of trying to comprehend digital stuff. There's also something cool about actually turning pages. I can't really define what that is.

I guess this post was of absolutely no help whatsoever.

[American Patriot]

Well... MM, there's a little problem with that.

Carrying 10,000 books with me on an ocean voyage is out of the question.

My wife is a book addict (as am I)... and we have a full library in our home. I mean a FULL library. I've given away things like several sets of encyclopedias but we have thousands of paperbacks and hardcovers on everything from text books to SF stories.

now, back to the issue at hand.

Has anyone actually USED one yet?

[MinutemanCO]

Well... MM, there's a little problem with that.

Carrying 10,000 books with me on an ocean voyage is out of the question.

That would be a problem now wouldn’t it? I neglected to put two and two together regarding potentially reading on your boat. Unless they made a nice trailer to haul behind the ship like a dinghy, books are pretty much out of the question.


My wife, when she worked for the Discovery program Next Step, had a chance to use an earlier Kindle. She said the screen actually looks like a book. It’s almost like reading from a PDF of a printed page. Apparently it doesn’t strain your eyes as much as a computer screen. There’s a 9.7” model now with lots of memory (up to 3,500 books).

[American Patriot]

And the cost to go with that version. I think they call it the Kindle DX version. It's around 560.

[American Patriot]

See Details

Display	9.7" diagonal E Ink®
Size	10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"
Storage	3,500 books
PDF Support	native PDF reader
Rotating Display
3G Wireless
Books in Under 60 Seconds
Text-to-Speech
Whispersync
Price	$489.00
Availability	Now

Kindle

Display	6" diagonal E Ink®
Size	8" x 5.3" x 0.36"
Storage	1,500 books
PDF Support	via conversion
Rotating Display
3G Wireless
Books in Under 60 Seconds
Text-to-Speech
Whispersync
Price	$359.00
Availability	Now

[American Patriot]

http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons...p_ob_title_def

[Ryan Ruck]

That's the larger one. Like I said, I've heard people were disappointed with how small the regular one is.

[American Patriot]

Has anyone actually seen one here?

Folks on the other forum are saying it is "too expensive" (sailors). Another forum people complain if you DON'T spend money on something.....

[MTStringer]

Rick, is there some way to convert your home library into files your ereader can load, or are you planning on buying ebooks to fill it? 10,000 new purchases sounds pricey. I've been looking into this and the BeBook sounds like pretty stiff competitiion for the kindle. Appearence wise,the features are pretty much the same, but it has top-of-the-line battery life, RSS compatability, has 512 MB internal memory, and it is compatible with just about every file type and format available, so you can access all sorts of free stuff online. Plus, it's only about $250.00. There's supposed to be a 5" model coming out with an SD slot, but it may be a bit small for my eyes, at any rate. And no, I don't have one yet, but with my eyesight going to hell seemingly faster by the day, it is definitely on my wish list.

[American Patriot]

Rick, is there some way to convert your home library into files your ereader can load, or are you planning on buying ebooks to fill it? 10,000 new purchases sounds pricey. I've been looking into this and the BeBook sounds like pretty stiff competitiion for the kindle. Appearence wise,the features are pretty much the same, but it has top-of-the-line battery life, RSS compatability, has 512 MB internal memory, and it is compatible with just about every file type and format available, so you can access all sorts of free stuff online. Plus, it's only about $250.00. There's supposed to be a 5" model coming out with an SD slot, but it may be a bit small for my eyes, at any rate. And no, I don't have one yet, but with my eyesight going to hell seemingly faster by the day, it is definitely on my wish list.

You're kidding, right?

LOL

I would say, "No, not without a massive amount of work".

I have thousands of books that would have to each be individually scanned, page by page to be converted to PDFs or something. I don't think so.

I'm sorry, but a "computer" is exactly what I DO NOT WANT.

I will have a computer, I can read on it whenever. This is something that will allow me to simply have a "book like device" I can carry around, in my backpack with me, that I can read and have multiple books on it.

Considering that technical manuals are big, heavy and take up a lot of space, I'm thinking that EVENTUALLY they will set the Kindle up to do just that. So, two more years we ought to have "Star Trek PADDs" available.

[American Patriot]

BeBook...

more information please?

[MTStringer]

Basically, I started with online research to see what other people liked and disliked about the various models, keeping in mind my personal preferences, such as, I don't necessarily want the smallest available, as larger font is one of the reasons I'm interested in the first place. Kindle was my starting point, since I shop Amazon quite a bit anyway. However, the kindle is somewhat restrictive in the compatability area, whereas the folks making the BeBook have seemingly bent over backwards to give the owner choice in material, as you have access to their library for free, and as I pointed out earlier this device is compatible with virtually everything out there, as well as the battery life and onboard memory. I scanned several "Top 10 lists" and it was on at least half of them. RSS and SD slot so you can exchange info with others if necessary. For the money, it's loaded with features, I have little info as to warranty issues or reliability, though.
For some reason, the link I'm trying to post doesn't work, so I guess you could simply Google it?

[American Patriot]

Links would be helpful. I'm under a time constraint for the next few days. I'll do what I can to research it myself, but since you already have done so, drop me in some links to help me out a bit.

[MTStringer]

Sorry, Rick, between the garden, crying about how much I hurt FROM the garden,

and being married and harried in general, I didn't have much time yesterday. Today, it

is rainy and the wife is gone so I got a minute to spare. Hopefully, this link will work

out better.

http://mybebook.com/

(Checks link)....budda bing!! They even have a virtual version for you to test.

[American Patriot]

Thanks. I'm kinda harried too.

Ok, I'll check that link out, I appreciate it.

[American Patriot]

MT are you using one of those now or just considering it?

How about anyone else?

I'm going to change the title of the thread to "Digital Books" or something to generalize the thread. I'd like to hear more about what folks think of this idea.

[American Patriot]

How many books can I store in my BEBOOK?
You can store your books either in the internal memory of the BEBOOK or in an extra optional memory card.
The internal storage capacity is made of 512MB (Mega Bytes) of persistent memory. It represents 2.500 standard books in HTML or Text format.

You can increase your storage capacity by using an optional memory card and get an extra storage space up to 4 GB (4 Giga Bytes = 4096 Mega Bytes). It represents 20.000 standard books in HTML or Text format.

I think that sells me right there.

20k books? Ok... I'm considering this STRONGLY now.