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I am thinking of getting a ebook reader, at the moment i am leaning towards the iriver story, for expandability.

The question I have is i have quite a few technical manuals that i use in my work that are in pdf format. I know it can read these but can anyone tell me what the quality of ebook readers is for reading pdf documents?

Sh*t.

From my experience with ebook readers, the only one worth getting is the iPad. I might be biased here but all other readers are just utter cr*p. They're slow, hard to use, very few actually have colour, and they tend to use their own format and won't read PDFs

I know it's relatively expensive, but from what I hear the iPad is a joy to use. And even if the built in app won't read PDFs, I can almost guarantee there's an app that will (I use Dropbox on my iPhone for reading PDFs)

Fairly recent thread on similar query:
http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic26982.php

The iPad is indeed brilliant. It reads PDFs beautifully and is super easy to use. The normal Apple haters, usually those who can't afford them, love to criticise it, but it's incredible.

Hello,

I have had practically every ebook reader going. I started with a BeBook, tried the Kindle, the Sony Reader, the iLiad, the iRiver Story and the Nook (not available here yet). Fujitsu are developing a colour one too.

I quite like them, even though they're not colour, so might make pdf's a bit boring in B&W. The iPad is OK, but I found it a bit cumbersome, and glare on the screen from the Sun, or fluorescent lights can be a bit distracting. eBook readers don't suffer from this.

I mainly stick to ebooks anyway, which are downloaded in pdf, epub, lit, doc, rtf or txt format. I'm using the iRiver Story now. I have the Steig Larsson books on it for the train, plus a couple of techy manuals, and some comics, as it can handle the cbz/cbr format for reading comics. You can also store music on it as mp3s to listen to as you read. I'm not sure if the iPad can handle this level of multi-tasking yet...

The iPad wins for comics though, as you can buy a comic reader app for it, and read your comics in full colour.

By the way, I'm not an ebook reader obsessive, I just get to test them for work purposes.

Hope this helps,

What do you think are the benefits of an ebook reader compared to a netbook? The netbooks are a bit cheaper and can do more things can they not? Just curious to find out, if anyone here could compare them. Thanks. LP.

In short, netbooks are just low spec laptops. ebook readers and the ipad are designed to be held on a train, on the beach, or just lounging on your couch.

They also do one thing (or in the case of the ipad, a few things) and do it well

So it depends on what you want really. If you want a cheap laptop to work on, you certainly want a netbook. If you want to read books and watch movies and stuff, you want an ebook reader/ipad

mark_c1975 wrote:You can also store music on it as mp3s to listen to as you read. I'm not sure if the iPad can handle this level of multi-tasking yet...

Yup, you can play music in the background. Not much else though... yet

(PS. did you know you have the best job in the world? )

Le Petit Bateleur wrote:The netbooks are a bit cheaper and can do more things can they not?

Which makes ebook readers better than netbooks. They do one thing, and they do them well

You shouldn't really compare the two, they're two totally different things. It's like comparing a kettle with a toaster. I've explained the difference above

For movies on the train, I'd go for a PMP (which I also get to play with for work purposes)

Archos 5's are good, however they don't support all codecs. You have to pay extra to download more codecs. The Microsoft Zune is good, however you have to sync it with software, just like an iPod Touch.

Creative Zen X-Fi's are excellent. There's no syncing with software, you just plug them into your PC (or Mac) and drag-and-drop files onto it. Philips do a good one called the Muse, but I use a Zen X-Fi 2 for my train journies.

I get to fiddle with every gadget on the market. I'm a data recovery tech, so we need to know if we can get data off a gadget if it breaks. So we buy in 2-3 of each gadget on the market, play with it, break it, and see if we can recover the data, or fix it.

It's good fun!

i love my zen x-fi...

so easy to use, upgradable storage/memory card slot too which is very useful (and sensible)...love the custom EQ too, very sensitive...

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I dont think the ipad is what i want it just seems like a glorified laptop screen really and defeats the object of the other readers with regard to eye strain.

I am not bothered if they are black and white. Also i am not bothered about mp3 really i want it to do the job i get it for just to read the ebooks.

iPads are far from a glorified screen When they become available in the UK, pop along to your local Apple store or reseller and play around with one, see what you think of them. I've not been lucky to be able to get my hands on one, but I know a few people who have and I hear they're as good as they say they are

I do have an iPhone though, which has a similar screen. All I can say is eye strain is really not a problem. Electronic ink, in my opinion, is a bit of a dud technology right now and isn't as good as they claim it is. Sure, it's clear, but it's also very slow. LED powered screens is the best we have, until the next generation (oil based) electronic ink comes available. And reading on modern LED/LCD screens isn't that hard on the eye. I read the paper every morning on my iPhone and read ebooks from time to time, and never have any problems

And to be honest, I think that electronic readers are a bit of a stepping stone technology. I reckon within the next few years technology companies will start developing their own equivalent of the iPad, and these will become the device that we use to read ebooks (because they can do more stuff) - a bit like how everybody uses smartphones now

The annoying thing with iPads is that you can't just drag-and-drop stuff onto them. You still have to sync with iTunes. You can download books from iBooks, but there's only books available that Apple approve of!

I've got loads of pdf's, and ebooks, and I found it a bit of an effort to get them sync'd to the iPad we got in. The good thing about an eBook reader is it connects via USB, will mount as an external device, and you can drag files to it, without worrying about that pesky DRM.

Plus most have an expandable SD Card slot for extra storage.

The Kindle, and the Barnes and Noble, still need to be sync'd with software, which is annoying.

If you're thinking of an ebook reader, download 'Calibre'. It's freeware, and is a very useful ebook library management tool. It can also sync files to any reader, and will even convert files to the correct format for your reader.

I still like Apple stuff though. I love my MacBook Pro and iPhone, but I won't be buying an iPad. Check out the HP Slate, just one of the alternatives out there, and as Kolm says, there will be more.

kolm wrote:Electronic ink, in my opinion, is a bit of a dud technology right now and isn't as good as they claim it is. Sure, it's clear, but it's also very slow.

The only thing my Sony Reader is ever slow rendering is high resolution images that happen to occur in some PDF's. For ordinary text it's no slower than turning a page.

I bought a reader after ages of indecision and am really happy with my choice. I personally though do not like having "one shoe fits all" technology, I prefer gadgets that are specifically made to do each thing well, therefore I own a laptop, netbook, reader and mp3 player as well as an antique phone (good battery, holds a signal and low and behold I can phone and text).

Granted if I want everything at once it's a bit of a load to carry around, however I generally have each for specific times eg. mp3 player and reader for train vs real book and stereo for home.

It's personal preference and very subjective but if you are looking only for something to read ebooks on I would avoid over complicated fashion accessories and stick to a ronseal - does what it says on the tin - approach.

I agree that they're far from perfect, Mark. It's only the 1st generation afterall. But I think it's the future nontheless

And I'm very impatient when it comes to tech speed, A_n_t