Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thegadfly]

...to those of you who have one, or know about them, which little downloady-booky-read-y-thingy would you recommend, and why?

I intend to buy one when I am back in the US in about a month, as the idea of having dozens of books (dare I say hundreds? thousands?) in one handy little device makes me giddy with anticipation. I am looking to hear pros and cons from folks that have or have used them -- yes, I am doing online searches for information, but I am also hoping to hear from folks in a more interactive (ahem) forum. Did you get one and have buyer's remorse? Have you found some downloads easier to get whilst in Korea? What do you like and dislike?

Thank you in advance.

[Darkray16]

I bought the Kindle DX. Love it. It's large enough(9" screen) to read comics on it and it has free wireless internet(not-WiFi) that even works in Korea. My only gripes are that the mp3 player is a bit basic; you can only stop, play, and skip song. The web browser is a bit slow and cannot load most websites that are graphics heavy. Also, there is no expansion slot for expanding the storage(3GB built-in).

Besides that, its freakin wonderful. I love the E-Ink format which works perfect even under direct sunlight.

[egrog1717]

I've got a Sony PRS-600 that I picked up from another poster here...

Touch screen, SD card slot for extra memory, lets you read WAY more formats than a Kindle, and has a really easy drag and drop interface... Download your books from whatever torrent site, library site, or online book seller site you want (including Sony's own store) and drop them into your reader ... Also plays MP3s and displays pictures... Only drawback is the lack of wi-fi, but that's never been something that I've been on the go and said "Man, I wish I had wi-fi on this thing..."

[thegadfly]

Thanks for the responses so far -- I kind of assumed the wireless internet thing would not work here, so it is good to know that it does -- if I am going to get a toy, I want the toy that gives me the most options.

I know this is silly, but do your readers have a sound effect for turning the page? Sort of like how some digital cameras have the option of making the shutter sound and button click? (A new toy should be pleasing in many ways, and though it is silly, I DO like the sound of the page turning.)

[NYC_Gal]

I used to use the first gen kindle all the time. The newer ones make me drool. I've got an iPad now, but the kindle is by far the best reader because it's not lit up, so doesn't kill the battery as quickly. It's more like a book.

[thegadfly]

NYC Gal,

What makes the Kindle better for you than the IPad -- is it just the battery life and the price? I know the IPad also functions as a reader, and I know it is bigger and more expensive than a reader, but it is also a toy I considered in the "reader" category....

[KevinLS]

I played around with the Nook back around Christmas time at home in the states. Thing is effin' awesome, made better by the update.

But you can't download books or use it for many of the cool features outside of the USA. So that sucks

[Forward Observer]

I gots me the ipad, mainly because you can surf the web, email, etc. with a flick of your finger. And the games of course


App store has a lot of free books as well.

[thegadfly]

Thanks to all that have chimed in -- what about the things you DISlike about whichever you have used -- what are the features that you find bothersome -- for example, I have a new PSP, which I got when my old PSP gave up the ghost...and the old one weighed more and was thicker...but that made it feel like a substantial piece of hardware. The newer, thinner one feels more like a flimsy toy...all of the readers look small and light -- are any of them TOO waifish and wispy?

Yeah, yeah, I need to just go fondle some and find out, but since I can't do so for a little while, I have to be satisfied with just the thought of it....

[EstlHope]

I have a nook, and I absolutely love it! I considered the three main e-readers (nook, Sony and Kindle) and decided that the nook was the best for these reasons:

1. You can replace the battery on it. On a Kindle or Sony, if your battery dies (as all batteries will do at some point) you have to completely replace the entire device, but on the nook you just have to buy a $30 replacement battery.

2. The nook (and Sony reader) have expandable memory with mini SD cards. Nook has 2 gig of on-board storage (enough to hold about 600 books) and can expand up to 18 gig (which is almost 18,000 books). That was a definite downside to the Kindle.

3. Nook (and Sony) have access to the entire free collection of Google Books. I love the classics, so this was a huge bonus for me. I don't have to pay again to replace my collection of classics.

4. Nook (and Sony) can read ePub format books from any store, as well as any PDF document. Again, this is something that the Kindle can't do.

At this point, it was very much between the nook and the Sony device, so I went to stores and played around with both of them.

The Sony device was nice because it had the full touch screen, which was nice for navigation. It had a fairly significant lag time when turning pages or trying to do any other sort of navigation, but the technology is still in its infancy, and that sort of thing is easy enough to fix with software updates. I like to annotate my books, so I thought that the touch screen with its stylus would be perfect for this. However, the screen wasn't overly sensitive so the letter had to be quite large before it would recognize them. There also wasn't any way to expand the margins, so there wasn't really any space to write anyway. I left the store very disappointed. I was afraid that I was going to hate every e-reader out there, and be without all of my books when I moved overseas.

The next day, I went to a Barnes and Noble story to try out the nook, and I fell in love with it. The device is compact and slim, but it feels very sturdy. It has a nicely contoured shape so it fits well in the hand. I have a leather case on mine now, and I frequently forget that I'm not holding a traditional book. I really like the fact that it has page forward/back buttons on both sides so I can comfortable turn pages no matter how I'm holding it. The nook has a keyboard in the color touch pad below the main reading screen. It is possible to highlight a section of the text, and then basically attach a sticky note to it where you can write as much as you want. This process isn't quite as intuitive as writing on a page with a pen, but it is the best on the market right now. The touch screen responds very quickly, which doesn't always match with what is going on on the main screen, but the most recent update did help with that problem.

It comes with wi-fi as well as access to a 3G network in the States. The 3G wouldn't work in Korea, but the wi-fi would continue to work. As far as I know, there are no immediate plans to expand overseas with those networks. It is true that you can't purchase books quite as easily for the nook as you could for the Kindle. However, if your device is connected with wi-fi, you could go ahead and buy books directly from the device. You could have a friend/relative back home buy the books for you from BN's website, and then load them to your nook using the USB cable that comes with it. Or, if you wanted to buy them yourself, it is quite easy to set up a VPN with a State-side server.

The battery life on the nook is good. I read constantly and use the device for several hours each day, and I only have to charge it once a week. It only takes about three hours to go from empty to fully charged. With the most recent update, there are several games that you can play (sudoku and chess) and there is a beta version of a web browser. The browser works well for basic surfing (email, news, etc) but it can only connect via wi-fi. Magazine subscriptions are relatively cheap (I subscribe to the New Yorker for $2.99 per month, for example) and they are delivered via either the 3G network or wireless internet.

It is wonderful to be able to carry 600 books around in my purse! The search function is nice if there is a particular passage that I am looking for. One of the drawbacks is that the nook doesn't support non-Roman alphabets at this point, so I can't load a Korean/English dictionary on there yet. But all in all, I'm quite pleased with the purchase and I look forward to continuing to get lots of use out of it!

[thegadfly]

Thank you Estlhope -- that was exactly the kind of information I was hoping to get -- I really appreciate you taking the time to write and help out!

I didn't even realize that the batteries were NOT replaceable -- I kind of assumed they were proprietary but rechargeable, like the PSP.

Thank you to everyone that has posted, and please chime in if you have an opinion.

[NYC_Gal]

[oskinny1]

Every night this week I have read at least an hour with the iPad and have had no problems with eye strain. You can easily turn the screen brightness down in the ibook program and if you use the Kindle app you can change the background to sepia to make it even easier on the eyes.

The ipad is great because you can do so much more with it and can use any epub book that is published(aka, free books), you can't do that on some of the readers like Kindle (correct me if I'm wrong though).

The battery is not as long, but unless you are going to be on an island with no electricity for a few days, you don't need to worry about it.

[NYC_Gal]

[cassimira]

just wanted to respond to a couple of points estlhope and others made... a few more pros and cons to the various devices to consider.

Yes, the newer kindles don't have the capacity for expandable SD card storage or replaceable batteries. However, you can still buy the original kindle model, which has both of these features... and the battery for it is only $20! Also, you CAN read pdf's, but you do have to pay a small charge to convert them, which I confess is a bit ridiculous.... unless, of course, you pull some programming magic and crack the kindle... (possible, but breaks some of the other features.)

I went through the same dilemma about a year ago, and eventually decided on the kindle. While I liked the openness to formats inherent in the sony (the nook wasn't available yet), I found that the kindle library was larger, and included a larger number of new releases. Also, many authors offer free versions of their books in the kindle store. However, this was a year ago, and I'm not sure about the current size of the other devices libraries.

In addition, to me, the screen really does matter. The kindle reading experience FEELS more like reading a book.... no flicker, no bright light... just ink on a page. If you ever notice tired eyes or headaches after looking at a computer screen for a while, the kindle might be the best choice for you. However, if this isn't something that bothers you, then maybe one of the other readers would work just as well.

However, the kindle technology for annotating is pretty clunky, which can be irritating. it does sound like the nook does this better.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your choice!