When Amazon.com first came out with their Kindle, I had no intention of buying one. I already had a Sony Portable Reader and was quite happy with it. However, the Kindle marketing department are sneaky bastards. They sent me the Kindle for a free “no risk trial”. I thought I would use it and send it back after 30 days.
Yeah, that didn’t happen.
There were several reasons that I liked it more than the Sony, mainly b/c of the Amazon Whispernet. The Whispernet is good and bad. Good b/c I can connect wirelessly (no monthly charge) directly to the Kindle store and buy whatever I want, whenever I want. Bad b/c I can connect wirelessly (no monthly charge) directly to the Kindle store and buy whatever I want, whenever I want. It’s true, I buy way more ebooks now than I ever did before.
The only real problem I have (aside from no backlight) is that it doesn’t take .pdf formats. I had the first Sony (PRS-500) and it didn’t take .pdf’s either. Well, it did, but the font was so itty-bitty, that I couldn’t even see it. When I decided to keep the Kindle, I had to research whether or not you could format a .pdf to be compatible. The answer was yes. I could email a .pdf attachment directly to my Kindle. At no charge.
So, I’ve been emailing myself .pdf’s (of e-books I bought before I owned the Kindle) and it’s been working out well. Of course, the Kindle version is better as far as page breaks go, but it works. Then, last week, I emailed myself a .pdf and they charged me. Sure, it was only $0.15. I just checked their help website and since the second generation Kindle, they’ve changed their policy on transferring non-supported files. Oy. Thanks for letting me know, Amazon.
What kind of eReader do you have? Do you have problems with formatting? What do you like/not like about your eReader?
You can convert pdf files to mobipocket using mobipocket creator (free program on the website).
It’s a few more steps, but hey, allows you to put pdfs on your kindle, effectively. (And free if you click and drag using the usb.)
What limecello said. I use mobipocket to convert PDFs and word docs and anything I want to dump onto my kindle. 🙂
Personally I think ebooks are way to complicated for me to get into. There are too many different formats and I am never sure which format works best with what device. It is all way too confusing and requires to much effort on my part. Hey, I like things simple.
I have the iPod Touch. I use it occasionally but it is not my prefered reading method. I still read about 90% of my books in old fashioned paperback form.
I will let you others pioneer the way to ebooks. Once the newness wears off, I’ll think about buying a reader like Sony or Kindle.
How did you manage a free no risk trial for 30 days?! I would LOVE to try one out before buying. Right now I use my Blackberry which actually works very well. I use mobipocket for my PDFs and it works great. I have debated about a Kindle or Sony, just haven’t taken that leap yet. I would love to know how it compares to the eReader on the BB.
I love my Kindle2. I have only sent one non-kindle book to it and it I had Amazon format it for $0.10, but now they have changed their pricing it is $0.15 per MB which I heard about from another blog site. I totally agree with you, Amazon should have let us know. Other than that I am very happy with my Kindle and am glad I purchased it over the Sony.
Lori – How are you reading Kindle on your iPhone?
I have the iTouch and so I can buy Kindle books, which is way too easy with the 1 touch button. Jill D. you can get the kindle app as well as ereader app and others through the app store in itunes. I have just recently started reading again because of my iTouch. I also can read my ereader books on my blackberry which is also very convenient. I’m curious about the Kindle but I light the backlight most of all since I like to read at night when the kids are in bed.
Melanie, Oh, I didn’t know that there was a Kindle app for the iPod Touch. Thanks for letting me know! Does this mean, whenever Kindle has a free ebook, I can get it free too?
Thanks, lime. Obviously I didn’t do enough research. Which surprises me b/c I research everything. LOL
April, I haven’t tried reading anything on my Blackberry yet. I’ve been meaning to give it a try.
Melanie, I would love it if it had a backlight.
I have an Astak EZReader (aka Hanlin v3 aka BeBook) – it reads pdf, rtf, mobi, lit, etc. There’s a great matrix at mobileread.com that compares the readers and the formats.
I have Sony PR-505 — I love it. It works well for me and its cute (I have the red one) I don’t have any problems with formats so far. I have also used Stanza on my Ipod touch — okay to.
Love Love Love my Sony Reader. I did some research on it before I forked over the money and found that the reader covered all the bases I needed. I don’t tend to buy my ebooks from amazon so the wireless thing was not a sacrifice to give up since I would not be using it. The format was a big issue and I refused to pay to get my books ‘transfered’ into the format the books needed be. I am a bit techie and wanted to retain full control on what gets on the reader.
I loved mine so much I bought one for my daughter last xmas and recommneded it to her Aunt who just bought herself the new 700 model.
I have a Sony 505. I like it, and am comfortable formatting files, but I really wish it had a built-in dictionary. That’s the only feature I really lust after. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with the device.
I have the Sony 505. In the beginning I wanted a Kindle, but then learned you can’t categorize your books. Angela James on twitter helped me, b/c she has all of them. I stay at home a lot so it’s not necessary for me have the wireless, but it is very necessary for me to categorize books. I read a lot of series and don’t always remember the titles and the order, categorizing helps.
With Sony 505, you don’t have a backlight but the text is sharper. So I got it and a book light and haven’t been disappointed yet.
I have the Sony 505 and have been very happy with it. I can understand what you are saying about the small print, but some ebook retailers offer a SONY PDF version and it doesn’t have all of the excess white border, which makes the text larger, without messing up the page formatting. LOVE it even more with this version of PDF.
I think it’ll get worse now with the Kindle DX. Since it natively reads PDFs.
I still love my ebookwise, but I do have a few that I’m reading with Stanza and Kindle on my iPhone.
I have an ebookwise and haven’t wanted another ereader since I’ve had it. No ereader jealousy for me. lol I haven’t had a problem with it ever and it has a backlight. Perfect.