E-readers - seriously?

[bonusweb]

I wouldn't get that sony over the paperwhite. The paperwhite is so much nicer, in terms of screen resolution, battery life, the amount of books it can hold and the backlight. It's worth the price difference. I say this as a person with a gen 2 kindle. I haven't updated because my gen 2 is still chugging along, but if it ever dies, I'm getting a kindle paperwhite immediately.

Sure great but you are already sold on the idea. You asked about cheap.

Sony can hold maybe 1000 books. I can't see it being much of issue. Maybe a ton of PDFs might eventually make an issue of storage.

Battery life is likley the same if not better. But no back light, no 3g, no wifi, no high speed processor, no constant logging and spying or advertising downloading like Amazon does, so sony battery is not needed as much.

Simplicity has some advantages, even beyond price. Also not afraid to haul around or lose $30 device. I just need a device that replaces a book, not a tablet or smartphone, already have and use those.

[Iknownot]

If you used a paperwhite for even a short amount of time you wouldn't select an e-reader with out a back light. I know i wouldn't after trying out a family member's paperwhite and then going back to my gen2. And I certainly didn't see used sony e ink readers going for $30 when I have looked. They were in line with older kindle pricing so around $70-ish or so. At that point, you getting close to new kindle pricing.

Anyway, my 2 cents and all that.

[bonusweb]

If you used a paperwhite for even a short amount of time you wouldn't select an e-reader with out a back light. I know i wouldn't after trying out a family member's paperwhite and then going back to my gen2. And I certainly didn't see used sony e ink readers going for $30 when I have looked. They were in line with older kindle pricing so around $70-ish or so. At that point, you getting close to new kindle pricing.

Anyway, my 2 cents and all that.

Fine but I did provide a link to one for around $30. Its great while waiting for doctor appointments etc. Paperwhite would be cool for reading in bed at home.

Interestingly the higher the font quailty the less you remember. So not too good for items that require you remember the readings.

Kids having textbooks on high def vs book are have trouble remembering

[Eirerogue]

My Dr. Told me he's just waiting until he can get ALL his specialized medical books via Kindle. Studying from Kindle books far easier than paper. You can highlight sections, save lines, paragraphs or pages as notes accompanied by your own thought. If I was in school, I'd want an e-book vs. a 30 pound backpack like kids are carrying now.

[bonusweb]

My Dr. Told me he's just waiting until he can get ALL his specialized medical books via Kindle. Studying from Kindle books far easier than paper. You can highlight sections, save lines, paragraphs or pages as notes accompanied by your own thought. If I was in school, I'd want an e-book vs. a 30 pound backpack like kids are carrying now.

I remember seeing study that brain does not remember as well from eink. Can't find the exact one, but I guess its open for debate. I read mainly stuff I will never be tested on. So moot point for me.

[Iknownot]

I haven't seen that at all. I saw a study on interactive media vs traditional book. There was less retained when interactive media was used.

e-ink is functionally equivalent to paper text/type so I don't see where it would make one difference at all.

You use an e-ink reader in the same conditions and manner and the same way that you would use a paper book.

The main difference is that e-ink readers can be back lit (can read easily in dark rooms) and you can adjust text size (for people having trouble seeing small print).

Aside from that, both formats are the same in actual usage (ie you can take notes both ways, or book mark pages, etc if you have an e-reader with those functions and most have them now).

The one area where I think regular books still are better is for is for quick skimming or quick absorption of information. It's much easier to bounce around or flip through a real book stopping at what catches your eye or following a quick thread of info to get what you need. Yes, e-readers can search for specific exact info so you do get data retrieval that way, but you are still stuck with going to a specifically picked page or bookmark or stuck to the pace of clicking to advance one page so you don't have that same free flow ability to float through the information that a regular book contains.

[stilly]

Everyone hypes the new fangled (ok, not so new) e-readers like Kindle and the like. But I absolutely don't get it. The only feature (for a bookhound like me) that is useful is that they can hold thousands of books. However, that does not outweigh the negatives I've read about them, which is everything:

1. You don't actually OWN the books, you've bought the rights to read them
2. These rights can be rescinded at the whim of the pereson providing them
3. You're paying the same price as an actual book, but don't own it
4. You can't just loan a book to someone without following the express guidleines the provider outlines
5. The cost of a reader itself

Now tell me, where in all of that is the appeal?

LoL. It is for the women and the children...

In all honesty though, I see that there are a LOT of responses. I can not go on and read them all right now because I have to, well, reply and then go to sleep, BUT, this is what you do, get yourself a tablet like the google nexus 7, then get yourself the software e-readers, THEN go to pirate bay and grab all the pdfs you want.

They are free, (yeah you downloaded them...) you own them, and you can do what you want with them.

Plus you can also make your own pdfs and scans and use them for things.

Anyways, I will be going to bed wondering what those other 2 + pages of replies were all about. What monumental discussion did I miss out on? LoL. Okay, I talked myself into reading them tomorrow...

[yellowsulphur]

I haven't seen that at all. I saw a study on interactive media vs traditional book. There was less retained when interactive media was used.

e-ink is functionally equivalent to paper text/type so I don't see where it would make one difference at all.

You use an e-ink reader in the same conditions and manner and the same way that you would use a paper book.

The main difference is that e-ink readers can be back lit (can read easily in dark rooms) and you can adjust text size (for people having trouble seeing small print).

Aside from that, both formats are the same in actual usage (ie you can take notes both ways, or book mark pages, etc if you have an e-reader with those functions and most have them now).

The one area where I think regular books still are better is for is for quick skimming or quick absorption of information. It's much easier to bounce around or flip through a real book stopping at what catches your eye or following a quick thread of info to get what you need. Yes, e-readers can search for specific exact info so you do get data retrieval that way, but you are still stuck with going to a specifically picked page or bookmark or stuck to the pace of clicking to advance one page so you don't have that same free flow ability to float through the information that a regular book contains.

Books are great and definitely have their place, but e-readers are so much more efficient. I do miss the tactile feel of turning pages though. Here is an example of a book I'm reading now:

[Beleaguered]

I remember seeing study that brain does not remember as well from eink. Can't find the exact one, but I guess its open for debate. I read mainly stuff I will never be tested on. So moot point for me.

This may be the study you were thinking of; it tested various font styles and sizes. It had a relatively small sample size (28), but the researchers noticed that people were remembering more of the sample text when it was presented using a "harder to read" font.

Of course, this little bit in the end discussion is something to keep in mind when thinking about switching fonts on an entire book in your E-Reader.

Moreover, over the course of a semester, any novelty of the hard-to-read fonts should wear off thus reducing the impact of distinctive-ness.

[gorn5150]

I remember seeing study that brain does not remember as well from eink. Can't find the exact one, but I guess its open for debate. I read mainly stuff I will never be tested on. So moot point for me.

I remember a study that said red dye #2 caused cancer. That put a huge hit on M&M's for a decade. Then as is usually the case the study was shown to be FUD.

Know who is behind the study before you think they are graven in stone.

[C.G.]

This may be the study you were thinking of; it tested various font styles and sizes. It had a relatively small sample size (28), but the researchers noticed that people were remembering more of the sample text when it was presented using a "harder to read" font.

Of course, this little bit in the end discussion is something to keep in mind when thinking about switching fonts on an entire book in your E-Reader.

Where is the study on how many people need glasses after reading "harder to read" font for a while?

[Beleaguered]

Where is the study on how many people need glasses after reading "harder to read" font for a while?

Probably in queue behind the study of how many PowerPoint presentations in Comic Sans I have to watch before I scream at someone.

[Nyanman]

Everyone hypes the new fangled (ok, not so new) e-readers like Kindle and the like. But I absolutely don't get it. The only feature (for a bookhound like me) that is useful is that they can hold thousands of books. However, that does not outweigh the negatives I've read about them, which is everything:

1. You don't actually OWN the books, you've bought the rights to read them
2. These rights can be rescinded at the whim of the pereson providing them
3. You're paying the same price as an actual book, but don't own it
4. You can't just loan a book to someone without following the express guidleines the provider outlines
5. The cost of a reader itself

Now tell me, where in all of that is the appeal?

It depends on the store, really. Yes, you have a license from Amazon and Google Play, but other places just give you the book file and it's yours. The rights to read them only really get pulled if an account is banned, they tend to not just take things you purchased with no refund or anything.
I paid far less for any one of my ebooks from amazon or google than the print versions, and for long out of print books and/or ones where the copyright has expired they tend to be free. I have a few hundred ebooks over my libraries and I paid for 5-6 of them, the rest were all free. It greatly beats tracking down a copy of an obscure old book you wish to read and the worry about the care for an old book so it doesn't fall apart.
I've never loaned a print book, as my books are all things I wish to keep and loaning books is best done with ones you don't mind losing. The issues of this with ebooks doesn't bother me in the slightest.
As far as the reader goes, I actually got a tablet computer and loaded the google play app, the Amazon kindle app and the nook app onto it which gives me access to all my ebook libraries. Amazon Kindle I believe now has a desktop app and anything in the google play bookstore can be read in your regular browser, or you can use books.google.com to read books, buy books or for the free books download a pdf of the book. And the pdf download is yours forever.
To me and the amount of reading of old books I do it has saved me a lot of money. A used copy of a photography book I desired was well over $300 for a condensed textbook version of it. It was free for the full version on Google books. There are also some books released as ebooks only and I've found a few of those I greatly enjoy at a price much less than a regular book.
I recommend using google books to get the pdfs or ebook compatible files of books you want and reading them on your computer if you wish to avoid the cost of an ebook reader or tablet.
However, if you're into geekier books Humble Bundle has DRM free ebook bundles for pay what you want prices, AND you can choose how much of your money from a purchase goes to charity, the authors and Humble Bundle.
And as far as Humble Bundle goes, you pay for it once and it's yours. Forever. Just like GOG.

[XCaligulaX]

My Kindle has been my best friend. I take it on all my TDY's and on every deployment, it's small and compact and saves me a lot of size and weight for a person that travels often.

I also don't buy anything. Amazon has tons of free books, and a lot that you can just rent. Many libraries also rents e-books, and of course you could always torrent anything else.

The books will only be deleted if you have your wifi on, and I rarely do with my Kindle because it's not necessary at all.

I share books all the time with friends and family, all I have to do is log on to their Amazon account and I can download anything they have access too. People often do this for book clubs and things too.

My reader was quite cheap, only $70. I don't consider that expensive at all considering that since I've owned it I haven't bought a single book.

[sl0re10]

Everyone hypes the new fangled (ok, not so new) e-readers like Kindle and the like. But I absolutely don't get it. The only feature (for a bookhound like me) that is useful is that they can hold thousands of books. However, that does not outweigh the negatives I've read about them, which is everything:

1. You don't actually OWN the books, you've bought the rights to read them
2. These rights can be rescinded at the whim of the pereson providing them
3. You're paying the same price as an actual book, but don't own it
4. You can't just loan a book to someone without following the express guidleines the provider outlines
5. The cost of a reader itself

Now tell me, where in all of that is the appeal?

I had a pretty good book collection. A lot of it was lost due to rot in storage during moves. I'd like to get local copies of the ebooks in the event the seller goes under... but there is a lot of good to be said for ebooks... If I want to look at any of mine I can bring them up on my phone....