ebooks

I would like to start migrating away from the library of pbooks (paper books) that I have, and more towards ebooks, and a good reader device. Despite Charlie Stross' grumblings on the matter (and I respect him, I really do), I remain optomistic. I think we're within a few years of having good ebook devices and a wealth of new content to fill them with.

Also, there are many times when I would like to finish reading some long website away from my desk. I envision the ability to quickly paste the URL to a more portable device, yank it out of a dock on my desk, and take it with me for reading on the couch. 

Having bought more than  a few shiny technologies in the past, only to consign them to the closet long before I really got my money's worth out of them, I decided to wait for this market to stabilize a bit. So at this time I'm going to make the lowest possible investment ( would have loved to try the Iliad!). The Nokia 770 doesn't have the sexy e-ink screen, but everyone raves about the screen it does have. Additionally it could work well for other purposes (bluetooth GPS? Hmm!) and might even be a neat way to use VOIP phone.

As of July 23 I ordered a Nokia 770 from Buy.com for $140. We'll see how it goes!

Devices:

• Nokia770  ... available for $140. As an ebook reader
  • Formats via FBreader: FictionBook, HTML, plucker, PalmDoc, zTxt, TCR, RTF, OEB, Non-DRM'ed mobipocket and plain-text. PDF is native to the Nokia setup.
  • Screen: touchscreen 9 x 5.4 cm, (3.5" x 2.1")
  • You can get up to 2GB memory cards for the device; search 'rs-mmc' at mobileplanet.
  • See Livia's tips and tricks here
• Irex Iliad (WP) gets good reviews, has a larger screen and you can take e-ink notes. $700, though.
  • Formats:  PDF / HTML (xHTML) / TXT / JPG / BMP/ PNG / PRC (Mobipocket)
  • Screen: stylus touchscreen, approx 12x16cm, 4.75"x6.25"
• Sony Reader (WP) also gets good reviews. Many commercial books available via their DRM'd format. $300
  • Formats: BBeB Book (LRF), PDF, TXT, RTF, DOC. Images: JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP. Sound: MP3, AAC.
  • Screen: (no touchscreen) 90.6 x 122.4 mm (3.57" x 4.82")
  • Can get 20 RSS feeds (Sony selected only)
• Bookeen Cybook v3 (WP). Now selling. $350
  • Now selFormats: Open eBook, PDF, HTML, RTF, and Mobipocket
  • Screen: probably about the same as the Sony Reader.
• Jinke Hanlin Ereader. (WP) May soon be available in US around $300.
  • Formats: PDF,DOC,WOLF,HTML, MP3,JPG,TXT,CHM,RAR,ZIP
  • Screen:
• Franklin eBookman (that's the WP link) is no longer made, but they still sell ebooks for it, and many users love theirs. Around $100, used.
  • Screen:
  • Formats: Mobipocket, Franklin.
• Holly Gates prototype. This lives in the 'wish' category. But it's beautiful, and very possible.
• NAEB have been designing an ebook device forever. I am on their list. They are now selling the Bookeen device at $375 in a deluxe package; this is a $75 savings over the same deluxe package from Bookeen.
• Amazon's Kindle (WP) is here, and it costs $400.
  • Formats: TXT / PRC / MOBI / AA (Audible) / MP3 / AZW (Kindle drm) are native. Can translate HTML / DOC / JPG / GIF / PNG / BMP both plain and from within ZIP. There is experimental support for PDF as well. This is done via email at either $0.10 when output is mailed to your Kindle, or free when mailed to your computer.
  • Screen: 6" diagonal, probably the same dimensions as the Sony Reader. 600x800 resolution, 4-level greyscale. 
  • Approx 180mB avbl to the user for book storage; takes SD cards too.
  • Wireless EVDO at no cost to the owner! This is used for the Amazon store, for Wikipedia and web browsing, and to send translated formats to the Kindle. IE: you send Amazon a PDF document, they translate it to Kindle format, and send it to the Kindle via EVDO. Slick!
• I have an old Vadem Clio. With a 10" screen and unique hinge arrangement, it was an amazing product in its time, but based on Windows CE 2.x and not upgradeable. I am not sure I'd be able to sync or use it today. A new version is apparently in development at Data Evolution, but has not yet made it to market (as of July 2007).

Etext sources

• manybooks.net free books
• Mobipocket. I am not sure how to tell which books are 'non-DRM'.
• Orielly now has many of their books in PDF. You can buy the whole book, or just the chapters you want. But PDF will basically suck on small screens.
• Baen Free Library

Using the Nokia 770

Just some quick hits so far. After about a day of ownership, I am pleased with it - as an ebook reader. In all other functionality, not so much.

• Physically the device is smaller than it looks in many of the web pictures. Really just a little larger than an ordinary pocket calculator. It's comfortable to hold in the hand.
• The slide-on cover is, at first, a little awkward. But it looks like it will provide great protection for the device; and it's not hard to get used to.
• Setting up the device for my wireless WEP network was easy.
• Browsing the internet is ... possible but not pleasant. The screen is only a little larger than a business card, so web pages have to scrunch up pretty small.
• Installing FBReader was a breeze. Just go to the maemo.org website, find it, and click the install button there.
• FBReader works pretty well. I needed to experiment with the font/backround colors a bit, as the screen is quite bright and I found this tiring my eyes! I ended up with a black backround and a light greyish-blue font to minimize that.
• The reading experience via FBreader is surprisingly good, once you have the brightness, colors and fonts setup to your liking.
• FBReader remembers where I am in a book; I don't have to do anything to make that happen. But I found myself wishing I could created extra bookmarks for interesting passages.
• The button placement is a little suboptimal. It's not uncomfortable ... but it could be more comfortable. I'm thinking this in the context of reading a book and turning pages. I tried both right- and left-handed; either was do-able.
• Out in bright sunlight, there's too much glare off the screen to read from it.
• Downloading books from manybooks.net was very simple: 1) connect the N770 to laptop via USB (sorry, browsing that site on the N770 itself is just too painful!). 2)  Create a 'books' folder on the N770's MMC card. 3) download (As mobipocket or plucker format; either works fine) to that folder. 4) disconnect from USB, use FBReader's 'add book' button to import it to the library. 5) manually add in the author information.
  • Steps 4 and 5 shouldn't be necessary, but they are. For some reason the N770 cannot actually access the MMC card while USB is plugged in. And neither format seemed to include a way for the Author info to be automatically extracted from the ebook.
• In about a half hour of browsing manybooks.net I found, downloaded, and imported ten books into the FBReader library. So now I can easily carry a week or more of spare-time reading in my back pocket. Which was about half the reason for getting this!
• I am glad I didn't buy an extra RSMMC card for the device. It comes with a 64mb RSMMC card, and the books are taking 1-2 megs apiece. So there's plenty of space!
• I've read from the device for about 2 hours at a stretch so far. And the battery meter didn't even drop a bar.
• The sharpness of the screen is really good. I still want to try e-ink (because of that brightness thing I mentioned) but reall, this is the next best thing.
•  The other utilities on the N770 are, so far, a bust. Basically the handwriting recognition sucks (as on everything I have tried), and while the onscreen keyboard is usable, I can't imagine myself standing around anywhere entering text that way.
• I take it back - the calculator is useful.
• I won't bother to review the device as a music or video playback thingy. I have no need for either. (Hence, no need for the larger RSMMC card as mentioned above).
• The stylus is ... usable. But small and easy to lose. When at my desk I am glad I have this Fisher 4-in-1 pen with stylus; it is a lot more comfortable. 
• Would like to find some way to synchronize contacts to my gmail account.
• The unit will not charge from USB.
• In fact the USB cable seems only to connect you to the RSMMC card in the unit, and to do so by excluding the N770's own connection to the RSMMC card.
• I wish I could drop it into a charging cradle at bedtime, and have the screen go bright with a clock. But there's no charging or sync cradle available. And even when plugged in, the screen will dim/shutoff in 5 minutes or less. No getting around this!