e-reader comparison chart

[firecat]

This one includes something called the Aluratek Libre, which I haven't heard of before. The OH says it's not actually for sale yet but when it is it apparently will cost $120. It has LCD screen with no backlight instead of e-ink, and a smaller form factor than any others except the Sony.

http://www.borders.com/online/store/MediaView_ereader-comparison-chart

Comments

[maize]

Lately, links in your posts are coming up as plain unclickable text. I'm not sure what's going on there, as it's happening on DW as well as LJ.

[firecat]

Sorry about that; for some reason "disable autoformatting" keeps being checked on the posting page.

[maize]

Also, that chart is pretty misleading in terms of memory. The Sony PRS-600 is shown as having 380MB of memory. That's probably true. But it doesn't mention at all that it has both SD and Memory Stick Pro Duo card slots for expanding it to pretty much whatever size you want. Given how cheap SD cards are (thus making such expansion trivial and making it possible to even use multiple cards if you wanted to) that seems like a really important detail, especially as not all of the listed models have expandable memory at all.

[maize]

I should have thought through my responses more thoroughly so I didn't have to make a punch of consecutive comments. :)

It also leaves off several file formats for the Sony devices that it mentions for others. For example, it mentions a number of image formats including JPEG for the the Nook and Kindle, but doesn't mention them for the Sony, even though the Sony also supports them. This gives a misleading impression that the Sony supports fewer formats.

It also doesn't mention the PRS-900 "Daily Edition" or the Kindle DX, both of which are larger devices. The PRS-900 has 3G Wireless and landscape mode as well as being bigger, compared to the other Sony models. Since those are two of the features on the table that they claim the Sonys don't do, it feels like a big omission, to me.

[firecat]

Thanks for this info! On the SD cards, another link I found says that the Aluratek Libre also accepts SD cards and apparently even comes with a pre-loaded one.

[maize]

That's very cool! I think that Kobo really pushed a move in the market that I hope continues by coming out with a respectable ePaper-based reader for only $150. All the prices started falling, then. Also, I think there have been more readers that do fewer things, which I think is a good thing. It's a complete waste of technology to me that my Sony Reader is also an mp3 player, for example. (I have heard it suggested that you could use this feature for audiobooks, although I don't know if Audible supports the Sony Reader.) And I find the touch screen frivolous (it also reduces the sharpness of the text slightly and increases the glare). I really would have liked a device pretty much just like my old PRS-505 that's gone to the technology afterlife, although it also extraneously had mp3 support. Something that just reads books and does it very well at a very modest price. I have heard some quibbles about the Kobo device, but it seems like that's what they're aiming for, and many people do like it.

[firecat]

Yeah, I see two ways to go, either a full-featured PDA that includes reading capabilities or an inexpensive dedicated e-reader, but not something that kinda tries to be a PDA.

I'm leaning toward the PDA though and holding out for the next generation of iPod Touch, because having audiobook capability does matter a whole lot to me, and I'm not convinced that ePaper/eInk does.

[snippy]

I have the Barnes and Noble nook, and I really like it. I've tried the Kindle (a friend at work has one). I like the bigger screen on these devices, because I read fast enough that a small screen doesn't work well for me.

[tedesson]

I've been reading ebook on my droid phone, and haven't been tempted to pick up a dedicated device.

Though one of these companion robots sounds fun:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/05/science/05robot.html?ref=general&src=me&pagewanted=all
Is that the sort of thing your mother might like?

[firecat]

I think my mom would like the Paro, yeah.

[cheshyre]

For information on ebook readers, http://mobileread.com is an old favorite -- and their wiki @ http://wiki.mobileread.com/ has incredibly detailed feature comparisons.

I used to have a link to another interactive ebook device comparison chart, but can't find it right now.

[firecat]

Awesome thanks!