Sony or Kindle?

pomorain

Hi, If you were buying an ebook reader which would it be? Which allows the widest choice of books? Also anybody think of any downside to buying a Sony Reader in New York for use in Ireland?
P

Eoin

Can't compare the two of them, but to answer your second question, there should be no problems buying it in New York - it charges by USB.

pomorain

Thanks Eoin.

Accountsplus

There's a lot of info about comparing these.

Look here http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/giftguide_ebook

Just note that the review was written before the kindle international was released and the kindle software has recently been upgraded so that they now support native pdf and the battery life has been increased by 85%.

Accountsplus

Sorry, two other things.

Mobileread.com is a good source of info on readers. They have an individual section on both the kindle and the sony ereader.

Also when considering format look at Calibre software (http://calibre-ebook.com) and Stanza software (http://www.lexcycle.com) gets mentions for sharing with iphone and itouch.

I am just researching at the moment but I am coming to the conclusion that the Kindle would be the best for me.

pomorain

Many thanks, Accountsplus, that's very helpful. Padraig

center15

Of course you can compare them, they are both eReaders!! I have the Sony Touch PRS-600 and I love it. I wasn't a big book reader before but now I buy at least 3 a month, Great thing about the Sony is that it uses ePub open standard so you can buy your books from many sites meaning you can shop around for prices. With the Kindle it's amazon only and the format is stuck to Amazon and you'll have to keep buying into Amazon's ecosystem of eBooks and hardware for life.

Accountsplus

There's a myth about the kindle that you're locked into Amazon.
Thats what I was told when I first expressed interest in the kindle.
However when I researched it the situation turned out to be a bit differet.

Amazon can read .azw, .txt. mobi and.pdf.
You can convert un-drmed epubs using calibre.
In particular, I understand that any free ebooks can be easily converted a format for kindle.
So you can buy books from more sources than just amazon.
Any survey I have looked at has shown amazon to be the cheapest overall for books and to have the widest selection.
Since the nook was launched theres a bit more competition but ircc the sony store was the most expensive.

The best bit of advice I have seen is to search for books you would be likely to buy for your future reader, and check the availability and price on amazon and a selection of epub stores (not just sony). A lot depends on what you like to read.

center15

I use WHSmith, Waterstones eBooks and eBooks.com and can get books 50% on these sites over Amazon when I've checked a few. You don't want to go down the road of converting they never come out looking as good as an original eBook. I know the kindle is actually a great eReader but I just don't like the closed format and that's what is it. You buy a book from Amazon and you don't actually truely own it, it's on Amazon's servers. And we saw them delete people's books that people bought!! a while back with the whole 1984 thing. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10289983-56.html

Accountsplus

That's interesting.
Any survey I have looked at showed Amazon to be the cheapest. I do think that the type of books you buy make a difference.
I have done the test for the type of books I would buy and there is definitely a wider selection on Amazon and they have been cheaper. But maybe that's just for the type of books I buy.
I also note that the publishers are attacking Amazon for selling cheap - they're not mentioning other ebook stores which would lead me to think Amazon are the ones driving prices down.

pomorain

Thanks Center15, I had been wondering if I could buy ebooks for a Sony Reader off the Waterstones site so that's good to know. Padraig

pwd

I'm very happy using my psp and this:

http://download.cnet.com/Psp-Ebook-Creator/3000-2125_4-10499628.html

Accountsplus

I have just come across www.inkmesh.com - a price comparison site for ebooks. "Find free ebooks and compare ebook prices for the Kindle, iPhone, Nook, Sony Reader and more!"

Its US-centric and doesn't show where there are regional restrictions. However on the forums, some people seem to get over Amazons restrictions by entering a US address. Others say this does not work for them. I think its worth worth knowing about.

I have heard theres a European one. If I recall it, I will post it.

Accountsplus

I am posting to quickly. I just saw that inkmesh has a blog and there's an interesting post on the blog about "Amazon, B&N and Sony Ebook Price Comparison". The blog is here http://inkmesh.com/blog/2009/11/30/amazon-barnes-and-noble-sony-ebook-pricing/.
Remember, its US Based.

center15

Accountsplus wrote: »

I am posting to quickly. I just saw that inkmesh has a blog and there's an interesting post on the blog about "Amazon, B&N and Sony Ebook Price Comparison". The blog is here http://inkmesh.com/blog/2009/11/30/amazon-barnes-and-noble-sony-ebook-pricing/.
Remember, its US Based.

The Sony store can't even be used outside the US so there's not much point in comparing really..

I agree both stores offer different things however The Lost Symbol isn't even available for the Kindle.

pomorain

Center15, you say you have been using the Sony Touch PRS-600 happily. Reviews and websites complain of a glare from the screen. How have you found that to be?
Padraig

center15

pomorain wrote: »

Center15, you say you have been using the Sony Touch PRS-600 happily. Reviews and websites complain of a glare from the screen. How have you found that to be?
Padraig

I read about the glare too and those things normally really bother me but I don't know if this makes sense but it's bothered me till I stopped looking for it. One slight adjustment and it goes away, it never bothers me.

Here's a good review on the kindle and sorta against the Sony's. www.reghardware.co.uk

butts

Pomorain, in a previous post I linked to the the following video as it's one of the best I've seen for the PRS-600 (play the video in HD). The issue with regard to the extent of the problem of glare is something that varies alot from person to person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVEv6AOw3HM

MysticalRain

I purchased the Sony Touch ebook reader and had to return it a week ago. The glare was just too much for me. I know doesn't bother some people, but it was just too annoying for me to put up with. In the end, I got the iRiver Story instead.

DirectEbooks

MysticalRain wrote: »

I purchased the Sony Touch ebook reader and had to return it a week ago. The glare was just too much for me. I know doesn't bother some people, but it was just too annoying for me to put up with. In the end, I got the iRiver Story instead.

As a matter of interest whats the iriver like? looks like a nice piece of kit

MysticalRain

DirectEbooks wrote: »

As a matter of interest whats the iriver like? looks like a nice piece of kit

As far as readability goes, it's excellent. Great contrast and good viewing angle too. It doesn't have wireless, but that wasn't a requirement for me. You don't need any third-party software to transfer books to it either. Your computer just detected as another USB device.

parsi

center15 wrote: »

I u You buy a book from Amazon and you don't actually truely own it, it's on Amazon's servers. And we saw them delete people's books that people bought!! a while back with the whole 1984 thing. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10289983-56.html

Not quite correct - your kindle will survive happily with wireless turned-off. You can downlaod books from Amazon over-the-air or direct to your PC. If they're on your PC then they can never be deleted.

Ghost Train

center15 wrote: »

And we saw them delete people's books that people bought!! a while back with the whole 1984 thing. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10289983-56.html

In fairness to them a week later they did admit it was the wrong thing to do and made an apology

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our "solution" to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we've received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.
With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-10294586-248.html

pomorain

Thanks all. I think I'll go for the Sony PRS-300 as an entry level reader that got very good reviews. Padraig

robinph

Anyone know of places with the Sony 300 in stock, and not the pink version which is all I've seen about?

Argos seem to have it in silver, but for €270 which is a bit steep compared to the €180 that Sony stores have it marked on the shelves for, despite not in stock.

MysticalRain

robinph wrote: »

Anyone know of places with the Sony 300 in stock, and not the pink version which is all I've seen about?

Argos seem to have it in silver, but for €270 which is a bit steep compared to the €180 that Sony stores have it marked on the shelves for, despite not in stock.

Powercity appear to have the silver model in stock:
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=20-12-RS300S

ifconfig

On the Pat Kenny morning show this morning Adrian Weckler mentioned that the Amazon Kindle could be used to download titles in most foreign destinations with some kind of travel SIM (at no extra cost... i.e download costs absorbed by Amazon even when roaming).

Is that really true ???
I think even Pat was taken aback by that.

center15

ifconfig wrote: »

On the Pat Kenny morning show this morning Adrian Weckler mentioned that the Amazon Kindle could be used to download titles in most foreign destinations with some kind of travel SIM (at no extra cost... i.e download costs absorbed by Amazon even when roaming).

Is that really true ???
I think even Pat was taken aback by that.

Yeah it's true more or less. The travel SIM is a load of bullsh*t though, it "just works". I believe it's different for American People buying the Kindle they have to pay 50c extra per book when away, But I that doesn't apply to anyone else.

robinph

center15 wrote: »

Yeah it's true more or less. The travel SIM is a load of bullsh*t though, it "just works". I believe it's different for American People buying the Kindle they have to pay 50c extra per book when away, But I that doesn't apply to anyone else.

The international prices are just more expensive than the US ones to start off with, free books on the US Kindle site cost a couple of dollars on the International version, and there are charges for getting pdf's converted and downloaded direct to the Kindle as well which the US users do not get. Couldn't actually figure out the way the charging works when US user is roaming or International user is roaming outside of their home country.

ifconfig

center15 wrote: »

Yeah it's true more or less. The travel SIM is a load of bullsh*t though, it "just works". I believe it's different for American People buying the Kindle they have to pay 50c extra per book when away, But I that doesn't apply to anyone else.

I think I see what you are saying... So an Irish customer who buys the Kindle for 255Eu delivered from Amazon gets a SIM which will enable them to do 3g downloads of content and there is no surcharge for downloading ?
It is just US customers who have to pay a download surcharge ??

Also .. has anyone used any of the readers Sony, Kindle, coolreader, etc to read PDF content, eg: tech books (O'Reilly, etc ) ? including PDFs not necessarily fashioned for an ebook ?

center15

ifconfig wrote: »

I think I see what you are saying... So an Irish customer who buys the Kindle for 255Eu delivered from Amazon gets a SIM which will enable them to do 3g downloads of content and there is no surcharge for downloading ?
It is just US customers who have to pay a download surcharge ??

Also .. has anyone used any of the readers Sony, Kindle, coolreader, etc to read PDF content, eg: tech books (O'Reilly, etc ) ? including PDFs not necessarily fashioned for an ebook ?

Yup that's it! The US and World Kindle are indentical it's just goes by credit card address.

Accountsplus

Just to clarify some points about the kindle. I know it feels good to knock big companies but there's some stuff being posted that's just not reliable.

The difference between the US kindle 2 and the international kindle is the modem. The US kindle used the Sprint EVDO which is only available in the US.The international kindle uses a built-in 3G (HSDPA) and EDGE/GSM wireless modem. (Maybe thats what Weckler was on about.)

There are also some restrictions on web-browsing, reading blogs etc for the international version to keep costs down.

Amazon did a deal with Sprint for wireless delivery of ebooks in the US. The price of ebooks in the store includes an element to pay for this. US customers downloading outside of the US had to pay an additional charge because they were using an international carrier element. However they could avoid this by downloading to PC and doing a USB transfer of the ebook. By the way, the US is not fully covered by Sprint so some people have had to rely on PC downloads anyway.

Amazon have been trying for some time to do a deal, like the Sprint deal, for outside of the US but were unsuccessful. Eventually they went with US AT&T who make their roaming arrangement available to Amazon. Prices for ebooks to international customers include an element to pay for this. This is higher than in the US because AT&T are paying roaming charges.

Additionally, many European companies charge VAT on ebooks even thought there is no VAT on the paper editions. The carrier charge and the VAT elements all explain why ebooks are dearer for international customers.

The reason Amazon cannot sell some ebooks to international customers goes back to the Publishing Contracts. Some authors do different deals for different regions. For those authors, Amazon will have to do a deal then with two or more different publishers. It seems that the UK/European publishers have been less open to selling books as ebooks.

International customers have posted that they get over the geographical restrictions by using a "real" US address and buying with a gift card. Buy the gift card and then pay for an ebook with a gift card, so the European credit card is not an issue. You download to a pc rather than wireless. (Apparently, several people haved used Obama's address and it worked.) However, if you change your address back to International later you will probably lose access to the US versions of the ebooks.

The issue with the deletion of 1984 arose because Amazon did a deal with a publisher who, it turned out, did not have the rights for the US. The Publisher who had the valid rights took action and forced Amazon to stop selling the ebook. Amazon took huge stick for their decision to delete the ebooks and issued the following apology "This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission."

The deletion of 1984 led to a lawsuit which was settled on September 25, 2009, with Amazon agreeing to pay $150,000 divided between the two plaintiffs, on the understanding that the law firm representing them, "...will donate its portion of that fee to a charitable organization...". The settlement also saw Amazon guaranteeing wider rights to Kindle owners over their eBooks:

It is possible to buy ebooks from Stores other than Amazon. For example, Fictionwise, which is owned by Barnes & Noble, sell .azw formats, the Kindle format.
Kindles can also read .mobi format but not DRMed .mobi's.

Amazon are planning on opening a UK kindle store but first they have to sort out arrangements with all the publishers and that doesn't seem to be easy.

There's a lot of information out there on the Kindle whether it be on Amazon's own Kindle discussion boards or other independent discussion boards.

As customers, we need to have at least two good e-readers or else we will leave one company with a monopoly and that will not be good for anyone. It would be better if the Kindle was more open but I think that will come - from Amazon or elsewhere. As the Kindle operating system is Linux, I cannot understand why it hasn't happened already.

pomorain

I went for the Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300 in the end. Only started playing with it yesterday but I like it both for a book I downloaded from Waterstones and for reading newspapers/magazines, downloaded through calibre-ebook.com.

PDFs appear too small on the screen to be readable but calibre converts them to epub format for the Sony and the result is just fine. Haven't tested this out but so far as I know the PRS-300 doesn't show jpgs so if that's important to you this isn't the one for you.

Only glitch was the Reader came from New York and I could only register/activate by choose North America as my region on the Sony website. That means I can't buy ebooks from the Sony store because it only gives me USA and Canada as my choice of credit card addresses. But I can download happily from Waterstones and other sellers so it doesn't matter - though I thought the Sony Store prices were good compared to others.

I'll report back in a month or so about how I'm getting on.

Thanks to everyone for their info. It's appreciated.
P

robinph

I didn't like the way a couple of pdf's appeared on my PRS300 either, but converting them to epub and it is a much improved read, just a few unwanted headers and footers appearing in the middle of the pages but I can cope with them. I like the calibre RSS download as well for getting news feeds converted into ebooks on the reader as well.

unkel

MysticalRain wrote: »

Powercity appear to have the silver model in stock:
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=20-12-RS300S

Thanks a million, MysticalRain

My wife's an avid reader and she's been going on to me about getting a kindle / ereader for ages. I looked into it today and came across this thread. Bought the PRS300 today in Powercity (pretty good deal at €159.95) and it's working great. She's reading a book on it now

mink_man

sony