printed books or e-books?

I am yet to buy a e-reader, I will do it at some stage, although for me it cannot replace the charme of a paper book, it will just be yet another toy.

PS they mentioned on the news that on the site http://www.24symbols.com/ it is possible to read books for free because there are some ads here and there.

 

i read alot

i have hundereds of book i read fantasy books and the ebooks did not have
them they do seem to be geting them now so may be i will look again
might save me having to buy more bookcases
ps i reread my books al the time

 

Some questions

I'd never really considered e-books until I read some of the posts on this thread. They made me think of getting one for my wife who is visually impaired and needs high contrast and preferably large print if she is to read in any comfort. One of her probs is she has a limited field of vision and to read this post, even if I use Ctrl+ she would have to move her head from side to side to scan each line. An e-book reader could help I think.
Some questions :-
1 -Any views on the best reader in terms of screen contrast and ability to zoom on text?
2 -Any problems in reading in strong sun?
3 -Does any reader have the edge on the range of books available?
4 -What are the costs of downloading like?

I'd love to get one for the OH so she can read in comfort on holiday this summer. Apart from anything else it might be kinder on our baggage allowance :-)

Thanks Miraflores for starting the thread!

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

 

Hi Dave
I shall do my best to answer some of you Qs
I can only quote from my dealing with the Bebook and the KIndle.
Out os those two the KIndle is way ahead of the Bebook and half the price as well.
As its not a backlit devise the sun has no effect on the display. In fact it seems the more light the higher the contrast.
As you can see from the first picture there are settings for Text size, spacing, line spacing and font.





This second picture shows my usual; viewing size text

This one is the text notched up a size or two. It can go bigger


Costs...of downloading books.
As an Amazon product it is obvious they want you to download books from the Amazon site which will be charged to you account and download via wifi and be ready to read within 30 secs... There are several free to download books via Amazon as there are from a multitude of sites across the world. I have never found my shelf bare when I am in need of a book to read.
Its true that a lot of the freebies are classics and no longer copyright. Nothing wrong with the oldies.
We have also purchased 1,500 romance books from a guy on e bay for next to nothing. Truth is I had to convert the file type for use with the Kindle, but once done it will keep OH happy for years.
Ok. There are two types of Kindle. on is wifi at £111 and the other is wifi plus 3G at £150 ish. Depends on what you want.
Extras above the Bebook and could be very handy for your OH is The Kindle has a text to speech function available on most books. This can be used via two built in speakers or headphones.
There also a basic internet browser for surfing.
Sounds like I`m selling the Kindle like I did with the Panasonic. But, thats all I have to compare with Bebook.
Best advise Dave... Get yourself over to the Amazon site and pop in Kindle.
Theres loads of promo about the Kindle and you can also download and view the user manual l.
If I can help anymore just shout.
Good luck.. its a minefield out there

 

Dave - I'm not sure it would be great for your wife to be honest.
You can indeed increase the text size, but because the screens are small, you then get so little text on a 'page' that you're constantly turning them over and you lose the flow a little bit.

Like Capney says, I think the ones with the eInk screens that aren't backlit (like the Kindle and the Sony) are miles ahead. The reason I got mine is that I get a headache if I try to read a lot of text on a normal screen, but I don't have that issue at all with the ereader. For that reason, an Ipad wouldn't work for me, but it does have a larger screen, so it might be better for some people.

I would definitely try one out before you buy. If you go to Waterstones, they usually have the Sony ereaders (and some others) that you can try, and Currys etc have the Kindle.

I'd also check what services your library offers - like I mentioned, ours does ebooks but I don't think they're compatible with Kindle. (Well, not without an awful lot of messing about, that's legally, well, borderline). So that might also be worth taking into account.

But definitely get hold of one, and look at it before you shell out £100.

 

Does it do a good job? Could you, for example, play it in the car to "listen" to the book? presumably not quite as good as Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter?

 

The text to speech is a digital voice, but as those things go it is quite understandable but I think lacks feeling of human speech.
I would suggest it does not have enough volume to listen in a car.

It can also play audible books read by your favorites.
I have not tried this function as yet.
One has to be aware of the file sizes if using audiobooks they tend to be rather large.

 

I want both options for non-fiction - buying a hard copy plus an optional extra of an searchable electronic copy with some limited copying facilities.

Taking gardening books as an example, I think I had around 150 - 200 at the last count, and looking through that lot for something I half remember reading is getting more and more difficult.

Although I doubt a Kindle would have lasted as long as my 30 year old copy of 'Vegetable Expert' with pages stuck together with rain, covered in mud/manure stains, and chewed by mice when it's been left in my shed

 

I wonder if anyone else, like me, likes the smell of a book. If I have got a brand new book, when I open it my first inclination is to smell between the pages!! Wonder what a kindle smells like!!!

Val

 

I use a Kindle, it is convenient and I have many books installed. I am just into the time when my job at the University requires my being there but with very little to do. I can sit and read for hours, if required I can leave it, then come back to it later (it remembers exactly which page you were on), even though it switches itself off automatically. I do have many copies of our operating system magazine (.pdf files) on it as well.