E-readers

I'm currently on the hunt for a good e-reader best suited for my needs and budget and was wondering if anyone had experience with ereaders and could offer some insight.

In a perfect world, I would be able to get a large screen reader (<7inchs) so I can read school PDFs and comic books, along with my ebooks. However, it seems the least expensive and the most accessible is the Kindle DX, which as far as I know isn't even available to purchase in the UK, unless it is shipped over. Meaning $379 for the reader then $50 for shipping, and unsure about customs...

I have looked into the Kindle 2, but I don't believe that one can connect to my laptop via USB and doesn't have an SD slot. Correct me if I'm wrong? Meanwhile it kills me to pay almost a third more than the US counterpart.

I was also beginning to lean towards the BN Nook, but then realized that one is also unavailable in the UK. BN won't even ship over here. I was exploring on ebay and though I would be able to get one here, I'm not willing to pay double the price and the cost of shipping and again, unsure about customs...

Has anyone used the Border's Kobo? It looks nice, though right hand-centric and the screen looks a bit too small. Plus I think, in comparison to the Nook, it only has 8 gray scale.

I looked into the iRex DR800, which has a glorious 8 inch screen. However, they went out of business.

I would also like one that can connect via USB to my computer so I can move docs/etc to view on the reader. I would like an ereader that can view docs, but I think I can cope with converting them into PDFs. So one that could preferably view docs but at least be able to view PDFs.

Also, one with e-ink is very important to me due to eyestrain. Reading 100+ pages on my computer is hard enough as it is...

3G isn't important to me, heck wifi isn't really that important to me either as long as I connect with my computer.

Can anyone make any suggestions? Or which one are you using and how do you like it?

I'm also hunting for e-book readers, though I don't need to handle PDFs.

I've found this site to be quite helpful as far as narrowing down choices - http://www.the-ebook-reader.com/.

From what I've read online, the Kindle's pretty crap at doing PDFs. I think the Sony models have the edge there, if I remember correctly. I don't know if it can do other documents, I've been focusing more on the book side of things and the varieties of e-book format that are supported.

I'd also heard good things about the Nook, but can't find any info online about whether it's usable from the UK (which leads me to believe that it's not).

Hope that helps a bit!

Yes, you can connect your kindle to your laptop via USB. You can browse your file system as normal and drag and drop files across. This is how I get pdfs on my Kindle.

This is fine if you don't want to change your pdf font size or use text to speech. If you do want to do this then you can also use programs such as calibre to convert your pdfs to kindle format, you can also email them to your kindle email address with "convert" as the subject line but I believe there's a charge for this, as a result, I've never done it or you can email them to your Amazon account and save the charge (yourname@free.kindle.com)

There's another converter called PDFReader which doesn't actually convert to a text based file. It converts each PDF page into images and divides each page into halves or thirds in landscape mode for easy viewing. This works well if you have lots of diagrams and don't want to change font size on the fly.

Best source for ebook related news is - http://www.mobileread.com/

I'm really into my kindle and read on it a lot, I haven't done extensive pdf reading on it though as I tend to just use it for Kindle books from the Amazon store. The screen is gorgeous however and I do love it as a gadget, it's actually changed the way I read

I would strongly recommend against the Nook if you live outside of the US. You cannot purchase ebooks from B&N if you have a non-US IP.

If you're not insistant on e-ink, I'd suggest an iPad - there are apps specifically for PDFs and most of the ereader formats. But it has nowhere near the print resolution of, say, the Kindle     If you're curious, someone with a high powered microscope compared the Kindle and the iPad: http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2722

I would strongly recommend against the Nook if you live outside of the US. You cannot purchase ebooks from B&N if you have a non-US IP.

If you're not insistant on e-ink, I'd suggest an iPad - there are apps specifically for PDFs and most of the ereader formats. But it has nowhere near the print resolution of, say, the Kindle     If you're curious, someone with a high powered microscope compared the Kindle and the iPad: http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2722

I second the iPad. I've tried every reader out there, and the iPad has worked beautifully for me. Since it's backlit, I can read in bed without a light on (for which DH is thankful), and I love the landscape "two page" view.  For someone with a fairly fast reading speed, it makes a huge difference to only have to "turn the page" once every other page. Plus, it renders the pages very, very, very fast (as compared to other ereaders especially). Occasionally I get annoyed that more books aren't available, but that's not entirely Apple's fault, and more get added every day. Battery life is also excellent. I've  never noticed any eye strain or anything, and I was reading it for hours at a time when we were on holiday.
I'm still a paper book junkie, but when I ebook, this is the way I go.

I love my Kindle more than I love most things.  (But, I don't need to read pdfs on it).  But I really just love it, it suits my needs.  No eye strain.

I was testing out the ibooks app on my itouch this morning, which is alright, although I prefer a bigger screen.  I suppose the iPad is probably awesome, but since I only wanted an e-reader (don't really have a need for the rest of the bells and whistles), the kindle suits my needs perfectly. 

Occasionally I get annoyed that more books aren't available, but that's not entirely Apple's fault, and more get added every day.

Are you looking in the US bookstore or the UK one? It is my understanding that the UK bookstores have less books than the US ones across the board. Have you used the Kindle app on the iPad?

Are you looking in the US bookstore or the UK one? It is my understanding that the UK bookstores have less books than the US ones across the board. Have you used the Kindle app on the iPad?

The US one, but I like some fairly obscure authors, so I'm not all that surprised when I can't find them. I don't use the Kindle app, mostly because when I first tried it there were formatting issues, but I should look at it again, as I'm sure it's getting better!

If you register your UK-purchased kindle to your U.S. Amazon account, would you be able to purchase US publications? I'm particularly interested in getting the New Yorker. It's killing me to be without it...

I However, it seems the least expensive and the most accessible is the Kindle DX, which as far as I know isn't even available to purchase in the UK, unless it is shipped over. Meaning $379 for the reader then $50 for shipping, and unsure about customs...

Since this post is almost a month old you probably already know that the Kindle will soon be available in the UK, but just in case - the Kindle will soon be available in the UK!

Pre-order at Amazon.

Since this post is almost a month old you probably already know that the Kindle will soon be available in the UK, but just in case - the Kindle will soon be available in the UK!

Pre-order at Amazon.

It already is available. I ordered mine last weekend and it arrived on Wednesday.

Since this post is almost a month old you probably already know that the Kindle will soon be available in the UK, but just in case - the Kindle will soon be available in the UK!

Pre-order at Amazon.

That post refers specifically to the large size Kindle DX which isn't available in the UK at the moment, rather than the normal kindle which  has been for awhile now.

The Kindle DX will be shipping in Jan in the UK I believe.

Since this post is almost a month old you probably already know that the Kindle will soon be available in the UK, but just in case - the Kindle will soon be available in the UK!

Pre-order at Amazon.

That post refers specifically to the large size Kindle DX which isn't available in the UK at the moment, rather than the normal kindle which  has been for awhile now.

The Kindle DX will be shipping in Jan in the UK I believe.

What Cheesebiscuit said But yeah, I'm not ready to spend $400 on an ereader just yet, but maybe in a few years down the road, when there are more and more advanced options, I'll probably splurge. I ended up with the Sony prs 505, which I paid a little less than 90 quid for. Not over the top, but perfect for a first ereader. I'm able to get my school books on there (mostly old public domain political manifestos) and my ebooks and a few comics. I thought that the six inch screen would be too small for comics, but it works just great for me. I might actually stick with a six inch reader in the future... we'll see

equestrianerd, have you decided on one yet?

I am looking at one too... I really really want a Kindle.  I have a laptop and a netbook, but I can't stand reading PDF's on them. Hence I don't think an I pad is the way to go.  I just hate spending $374 on a Kindle DX even though they are nice....

I love how light weight it is and also Staples here in the USA is now selling them so you can go and play with them first.

If you register your UK-purchased kindle to your U.S. Amazon account, would you be able to purchase US publications? I'm particularly interested in getting the New Yorker. It's killing me to be without it...

Not really...I don't think.  I switch back and forth between my accounts when I travel, because the kindle recognizes where you are when you start to shop, so you can't buy stuff from the US on it, despite having the US account.

So, always have to wait a little later after the US releases stuff before I can get it on the kindle in the UK.