A TechHead in the Land of Hoons: Kindle

In my last post I just wanted a very quick note about the range of eBook readers and their formats, with a few links to other sites. Interestingly, a number of readers made very insightful comments and additions, which made the whole post much more comprehensive, not to say informative.
Just a quick follow-up, with a bunch of links. A day or so after my post Google announced their new (long-discussed) eBook service, which created a small stir, and then a big one.
Complaints included a notable US bias http://bit.ly/egGGUk or http://bit.ly/fg6Llo , which seemed to annoy people, and then a reaction from other booksellers, including Borders http://bit.ly/gtfvnC, calling it "...not a legitmate bookstore." and Amazon, who quickly went on the attack with Kindle for the Web http://bit.ly/ea2jop .
To wrap up, here is a link to a grumpy UK site http://bit.ly/fKPpl6 and a West Australian view, if you missed it http://bit.ly/gYMVaB .
I have to say that I feel like I'm watching a swarm of early adopters squabbling and I'm happy to just sit back and wait for the dust to settle before I decide where to spend my hard-earned.
So maybe I (and not a few libraries) will wait for next year before committing to an eBook relationship.

Further to our previous posts and comments about eBook readers I thought I'd have a quick look at this years choices. Last year I remember being dismayed that I couldn’t buy a Kindle at this time of year. I’m not actually sure, now, if it was because the Kindle wasn’t available, or I was too poor or whatever, but I do recall wanting but not getting an eBook Reader.

This year the range of choice is quite simply whelming (not quite overwhelming but getting there) and there are factors that need to be considered.

Not least amongst these issues is what format your preferred eReader uses or supports. As a technology trainer I am fully aware that most technological neophytes have absolutely no concept of file formats and I’m sure some eReader purchasers are going to be a bit surprised one they discover the 'joys' of unsupported formats.

I was going to do a quick summary of what to look for in an eBook Reader but I discovered that Harvey Norman have done most of the hard work for me at http://bit.ly/g0gdTa . It is worth mentioning, however, that they do not talk about the different kinds of screen. Essentially, you can get e-Ink (like the Kindle) or LCD (like the iPad). There is a lot of discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of both but I’m inclined to join the ‘eInk for readers, LCD’s for everything else’ team (as succinctly explained here http://bit.ly/f73sp7 ). These matters also directly relate to battery life and usability beyond reading digital books. (I am so not getting into a discussion of touchscreen versus buttons, either!)

Below is a very brief list of available readers right now. It is not comprehensive and I strongly urge you to research your choice before you buy; I have a strong suspicion that we, as library staff, are going to hear a lot of opinions about different readers over the coming months and a lot may be based on which model was bought.

Here are a couple of websites that are decent places to start researching your choices: http://www.ebookreaderreview.com.au/tag/best-ebook-reader or http://bit.ly/fbxDu9

(Note, I am including the iPad, despite it not technically being an eBook reader. With the size and shape it has I can’t imagine why you would buy one over an iPhone unless it was to use it as a reader. Now there is an opinion to incite bitter reactions.)

Migear 7 eBook reader

http://dicksmith.com.au/product/A3451/migear-ebook-reader-7-quot-tft-colour-purple

Supports PDF, TXT, EPUB, CHM, RTF, HTML

$129

GHT E-Reader

http://www.jbhifi.com.au/portable/mp3-players/ght/e-reader-7-inch-black-sku-54465/

Supports Ebook, txt, pdf, epub, avi, divx, mp3, jpg, bmp and others

$124

iRiver reader

http://www.jbhifi.com.au/portable/mp3-players/iriver/6-inch-e-book-reader-sku-52677/

Supports ePub, mp3, txt, doc, ppt and others

$343