E-readers

[Circuit]

Do you guys have any experience with e-readers?  I want to get one, but I don't know which one to get.  It would be wonderful if someone could give me advice.

Assuming the answer is yes, these are the features I'm looking for:
-E-ink screen (for better readability and battery life)
-Capability to read PDF files.  This is very important because I'll probably read PDFs more than anything else.
-Good controls
-Not too expensive (preferably <$100)

Thanks in advance.

[x]

I use my kindle all the time, it supports PDFs. I put all my lecture notes and textbooks on it instead of carrying around 90 kgs of text at uni.

[Zoo]

I like them, but I don't. I can imagine using one for school, (textbooks, notes and such) but I hate how they advertise them with people using them on a beach. They won't replace books until they have a way to replicate book-smell. Every different book has a different smell, old books, new books, books that have garlic hidden within them. It would be great if I never had to buy a book again, but they charge so much for books I could get for 50 cents in real life. (for example, to get the Lord of the Rings trilogy on the iPad, it's more than 15 dollars, I bought all of them at a Goodwill store for 50 cents, which includes The Hobbit)

In conclusion,
If you want to use it for school with textbooks and notes (and getting away with playing games in class) that's fine, but don't expect it to replace books. I suggest just getting a kindle of the cheapest variety, if you want it just to read books.

[Connors]

And just think how many real books you could buy for the price of one Kindle!

[Zoo]

Haha yeah. Textbooks for college are expensive though. That's why I would get one, to save money on textbooks.  Not for casual reading.

[Circuit]

Thanks for your responses guys.  Keep them coming.

I use my kindle all the time, it supports PDFs. I put all my lecture notes and textbooks on it instead of carrying around 90 kgs of text at uni.

Yeah.  The light weight is another reason why I want an e-reader.  A Kindle or Nook Touch weighs less than a book, but it can hold 1000's of books.  Also, call me lazy, but I imagine that it would be nice to not have to hold a book open with my hands.

I like them, but I don't. I can imagine using one for school, (textbooks, notes and such) but I hate how they advertise them with people using them on a beach. They won't replace books until they have a way to replicate book-smell. Every different book has a different smell, old books, new books, books that have garlic hidden within them. It would be great if I never had to buy a book again, but they charge so much for books I could get for 50 cents in real life. (for example, to get the Lord of the Rings trilogy on the iPad, it's more than 15 dollars, I bought all of them at a Goodwill store for 50 cents, which includes The Hobbit)

In conclusion,
If you want to use it for school with textbooks and notes (and getting away with playing games in class) that's fine, but don't expect it to replace books. I suggest just getting a kindle of the cheapest variety, if you want it just to read books.

My nose doesn't work as well as it used to, so I don't think I'll miss the smell.  As for the price, $15 is actually very reasonable for a set of 3 novels.  Although I have to admit that $.50 is an amazing deal.  There's no beating the deals that you can get on used books at Goodwill, or at garage sales, or the like.  But I don't plan to buy a lot of books.  I have some textbooks in PDF format that I want to carry with me.  Also, if I want to, I can borrow books from the local library.

And just think how many real books you could buy for the price of one Kindle!

That's a good point.  But I really want the light weight and carrying capacity of an e-reader.  They have other advantages as well, such as having built-in dictionaries, note-taking functions, and the capability to download free books.

Haha yeah. Textbooks for college are expensive though. That's why I would get one, to save money on textbooks.  Not for casual reading.

I spent (or rather, my parents spent) over $500 to buy my textbooks for this semester, just to find out afterward that only 1 of the 3 was really needed.  One was available for free as a PDF, and another one isn't even being used in the curriculum at all.  Instead we're reading a different book written by a completely different guy in PDF format. 

[Zoo]

Ouch.

[Gan]

Kindle sounds like a good cheap idea. iPad is for if you want higher quality. Take notes while reading, then play Angry Birds during the dull lecture...
Plus the retina display makes reading really nice I bet.

[Connors]

Retina display is that what it's called?
I remember the Kindle had a great screen for reading with good resolution. And it doesn't seem to need lights behind it, it looks more like a printed document.

[Gan]

Resolution is meh on the Kindle. Refresh rate is lower than meh.
It is very easy to read in direct sunlight though.

iPad would be better suited if your classes were generally indoors.

[Circuit]

I like the new iPad, but I think that the backlit display would make my eyes hurt after awhile.  E-ink is much better for reading for extended periods of time.  The Kindle Touch and Nook Simple Touch screens look just like newspaper.  And believe it or not, the Nook is capable of running Android apps, although that requires some hacking.  I saw a guy on YouTube running Angry Birds on it.  (It's barely playable, but, it runs...)   

[Zoo]

Kindle fire. That's my favorite. iPad is awesome, but WAY too much for me to pay for.

[DarkL2030]

I have one of the Kindles from the generation immediately preceeding the current one (I don't think its all that different). I got it primarily for PDFs since for grad school I have a ton of articles and books that are difficult to acquire in physical form. The e-ink screen is awesome, but unfortunately it totally fails at reading pdfs. Invariably they are either shrunk way too small to read, or displayed cut off, and the scrolling function is COMPLETELY awful, it takes forever to refresh the screen and then it scrolls too much and overall just does not work at all. With a bunch of cropping and converting and OCRing I've been able to convert some of my files into a readable form, but its far too inconvenient. Also, browing totally sucks. When you use books other than for just leisurely cover to cover reading, you need to be able to open them up to specific pages and flip through them rapidly. This is highly inconvenient on a Kindle, with the slow refresh rate and the page by page advancement. I'm very disappointed in the Kindle, its only good for reading fiction basically which is not what I need it for. Don't want an iPad or some other BS so for now I'm still stuck reading PDFs of the laptop, or, preferably when possible, printing them out. Hopefully they will come up with a simple eInk reader that is good with PDFs and better designed for academic use.

[Circuit]

I'm posting this from my new Kindle Touch.  The e-ink screen is less than ideal for the task.  It literally took me about 7 minutes to log in and write this message!   

HTML5 GM kind of works.   

[Zoo]

5 seconds. iMac.