View Full Version : EBook readers
Anyone have a suggestion for an ebook reader?
I don't know much about them
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 08:26
Not to sound dumb but I am not sure what an e-book reader is.
I did just get a Ipod Nano for my birthday and I am having a blast getting it loaded with books and podcast for some evening listening on my hike.
Lanthar Mandragoran
10-28-2005, 09:05
I personally like ereader.com (whose reader works on all current operating systems, palm, ppc, windows, mac).
Fictionwise.com (which supports numerous ebook formats, including the one on ereader.com) often gives away free books.
Anyone have a suggestion for an ebook reader?
I don't know much about them
Get a palm pilot (Zire is cheap), then contact me. I have a bunch of books in iSilo format. If I van get it into Word, I can make an e-book of it.
Hell, I have quite a few of the archives off this site that I read offline.
gumby
flyfisher
10-28-2005, 10:13
Not to sound dumb but I am not sure what an e-book reader is.
I did just get a Ipod Nano for my birthday and I am having a blast getting it loaded with books and podcast for some evening listening on my hike.
I'm about to buy my son's 15 Gig Ipod from him (he's getting the Nano)
What podcasts are you downloading. I remember a trailcast by the barefood sisters.
titanium_hiker
10-28-2005, 11:09
wasn't that the barefooT (not food) sisters?
You want it small- hand holdable, like a pda/ipod. You want the screen to be decent so you don't kill the eyes. Price has to be friendly, and so does the wieght. If you already have an ipod for music, then you might save yourself a purchase. However screens are bigger on pdas.
http://www.gutenberg.org is a GREAT resource for free literature- classics all around. Einstien, Conan Doyle, Bronte, Shakespeare, Austen, Machievelli, whatever. Anything that has expired copywrite wise is here. So no newer books. but still, great stuff.
titanium
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 11:16
I'm about to buy my son's 15 Gig Ipod from him (he's getting the Nano)
What podcasts are you downloading. I remember a trailcast by the barefood sisters.
That would be Trailcast. I have them all downloaded for my listening pleasure.
Go to Itunes or just a search engine. Put in Trailcast or Appalachian Trail and see what you get. If you subscribe to Trailcast everytime they add a new topic it will automatically be uploaded to your nano/ipod when you hook up.
Lanthar Mandragoran
10-28-2005, 11:36
Get a palm pilot (Zire is cheap), then contact me. I have a bunch of books in iSilo format. If I van get it into Word, I can make an e-book of it.
Hell, I have quite a few of the archives off this site that I read offline.
gumby
ditto the zire, I like it... only problem is the lowest cost ones don't have a backlight... but show up just fine under sunlight or with a cheapy LED pocket light.
Trailcast is awesome! I hope he's back online soon!
I like the Wildebeat too :D
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 12:16
Trailcast is awesome! I hope he's back online soon!
I like the Wildebeat too :D
I can't seem to down load Wildebeat... I have tried several times.
CAn you explain to this moron what is an e-book?? A book you read online?
titanium_hiker
10-28-2005, 12:30
ebook: (noun) a book that is in electronic (hence the e) format. You can read em online, you can print them out, you can save them and read them offline, you can read them on a pda/ipod/whatever.
It can be in a special ebook format (requiring special software) or it can be in plain ole html(webpage) or text format.
hope this helps. :)
titanium_geek
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 12:32
ebook: (noun) a book that is in electronic (hence the e) format. You can read em online, you can print them out, you can save them and read them offline, you can read them on a pda/ipod/whatever.
It can be in a special ebook format (requiring special software) or it can be in plain ole html(webpage) or text format.
hope this helps. :)
titanium_geek
The first part I understood. E-book = read online
How do you read it on an Ipod??
titanium_hiker
10-28-2005, 12:43
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+read+ebook+on+ipod&spell=1
google is your friend. ;)
right- with a little bit of skimming, You need to have them (the ebook) in ipod friendly "notes" format. I believe there may be tools to convert conventional ebooks to ipodnotesbooks.
hope this helps.
titanium_geek
titanium_hiker
10-28-2005, 12:47
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/06/make_ebooks_for_1.html
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4272.html
http://www.ambience.sk/ipod-ebook-creator/ipod-book-notes-text-conversion.php
more links. :)
Why not just download audio books on your ipod/zire? My husband informs me that he has 20 days of books for my listening pleasure. I am a bookworm but would go bonkers trying to read off an ipod or my zire, the scrolling would give me a headache.
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 13:45
Why not just download audio books on your ipod/zire? My husband informs me that he has 20 days of books for my listening pleasure. I am a bookworm but would go bonkers trying to read off an ipod or my zire, the scrolling would give me a headache.
That what I've done. It was quick and easy. Trouble is I have to refrain from listening to them, they are for the trail!! Dang.
titanium_hiker
10-28-2005, 14:06
that's cool too. :)
good thread CynJ- and not once did we have some ultralighter quip: "Oh yeah, but how much does it WEIGH?" :)
titanium
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 14:11
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/06/make_ebooks_for_1.html
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4272.html
http://www.ambience.sk/ipod-ebook-creator/ipod-book-notes-text-conversion.php
more links. :)
Thanks for the info and weblink. I love books much more then music.
orangebug
10-28-2005, 14:13
I do the Audible.Com routine once per month, getting 2 books for $20. Then I download to my iPod and listen in traffic, while walking, in flight, during exercise or while cooking alone (using an Altec speaker set). The problem with Zire is the rapid discharge of battery and no way to supplement. An iPod can be hooked up to a battery pack for about 40 hours of use.
What amazes me on this thread is the lack of Rants&Raves over using modern media while hiking.
And not once did we have some ultralighter quip: "Oh yeah, but how much does it WEIGH?" :) titanium
lol......
HH --think reading a book on a Palm Pilot :D
I want to get the Lord of the Rings on cd so I can upload to the iPod I am getting for Xmas (note to self: remind hubby that I want an iPod for Xmas!)
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 14:20
I do the Audible.Com routine once per month, getting 2 books for $20. Then I download to my iPod and listen in traffic, while walking, in flight, during exercise or while cooking alone (using an Altec speaker set). The problem with Zire is the rapid discharge of battery and no way to supplement. An iPod can be hooked up to a battery pack for about 40 hours of use.
What amazes me on this thread is the lack of Rants&Raves over using modern media while hiking.
going to go check this site out...
it's the year 2005 electronics are just a way of life. I love the woods and listening to the critters but on a long hike it is nice to have a book or two. With the Ipod I can have multiple books with out the weight so I figure it evens out.
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 14:22
lol......
HH --think reading a book on a Palm Pilot :D
I want to get the Lord of the Rings on cd so I can upload to the iPod I am getting for Xmas (note to self: remind hubby that I want an iPod for Xmas!)
My site is gettting so bad I doubt that I could handle reading a book on a 1x1 screen.
I was browsing the audiobooks on itunes... the entire Harry Potter series is a steal for $599.00 YOU READ THAT RIGHT!!! Wow. That is twice what the books cost.
Lord of the Rings would be good.
orangebug
10-28-2005, 14:23
If you do the Audible.Com thing, please list me as a referral!
Bill Thorneloe
orangebug
10-28-2005, 14:26
Audible will let you buy 2 books - any books - for roughly $20 each month. Now, some of you know I'm a geek. I listen to short books like His Excellency - George Washington, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, John Adams, and other longish history stuff typically.
hikerjohnd
10-28-2005, 14:36
Audible is definitely da-bomb! I just wish the files worked on a few more mp3 players. I just bought an iriver for oral history stuff and love the size/weight/changable battery. It would be nice to have my Audible books work on it... :(
I currently subscribe to about 40 different podcast feeds. I use a samsung 1 gig flash player. It has a 40 hour battery life. I havent tried lithiums yet. I dont know the relative size of audio books but for my current routine, I have more than enough room for the differnent podcasts and radio shows that I download.
Some of the more popular (read ipod) mp3 players dont allow easy use of the device as a drive. If you can drag and drop files to the mp3 player w/o special software, this is really a plus. Here are a couple of programs that can make hiking the AT a little easier if you have this feature.
1. Podcatcher on a Stick - Google it, download it, love it. Put it on your MP3 player. Run it off of your MP3 player. Subscribe to some podcast feeds. Plug into a library computer or buddys computer or hostels computer. New podcasts download directly to the player. Works with windows/apple/linux. Da Bomb!
2. Portable Firefox - Web browser that runs completely off of your MP3 player or USB drive. Allows you to have all of your bookmarks handy. All your passwords for logging on to whiteblaze and trailjournals. Use it just like your web browser, but take it with you. Since firefox is completely open source you can customize how it looks with "extensions" that do anything from showing the current weather and forecast in the toolbars to converting all the text on the screen to what it would look like if the sweedish chef from the muppets wrote it. Very cool! Once you use tabbed browsing, you will never go back to IE.
Hope you all find this content helpful. I know the two applications listed above are great for me when I go between my work PC and my home PC. I can only imagine how convenient it would be when hiking.
If the above programs havent blown your mind yet, you might even google "portable open office".
Hammock Hanger
10-28-2005, 15:06
If you do the Audible.Com thing, please list me as a referral!
Bill Thorneloe
Oh my Lord... You have just opened pandoras box for me!!!! I'm signed up, downloaded and have aleady ordered books...... OMG!!!!!!
dabomb is right!!
not to mention I just got a Sprint Treo 650 for FREE and they have an audible air connection for that.....
Why not just download audio books on your ipod/zire? My husband informs me that he has 20 days of books for my listening pleasure. I am a bookworm but would go bonkers trying to read off an ipod or my zire, the scrolling would give me a headache.
Most audio books take up quite a bit of emmory space. The MP3 format was originally set-up so that one minute took up 1 meg of memory. You'd need a bunch of external memory to listen to much of anything.
Once you get used to reading an e-book you'll realize that it is great.
ebook: (noun) a book that is in electronic (hence the e) format. You can read em online, you can print them out, you can save them and read them offline, you can read them on a pda/ipod/whatever.
It can be in a special ebook format (requiring special software) or it can be in plain ole html(webpage) or text format.
hope this helps. :)
titanium_geek
Once you print out an e-book it is no longer an e-book, it is now a bunch of pages of a book.
ditto the zire, I like it... only problem is the lowest cost ones don't have a backlight... but show up just fine under sunlight or with a cheapy LED pocket light.
I use a Sony CLie TH-55, pretty high end. You can buy a battery pack that wil recharge the battery. I can read for about 15 hours on mine and listen to MP3s at the same time. The battery pack will recharge 5 times, by then you are in town and can recharge the batteries or buy new ones.
titanium_hiker
10-30-2005, 21:03
re print ebook: yeah, but were did you get it from? :) titanium
re print ebook: yeah, but were did you get it from? :) titanium
Some books are published in a totally electronic format. A word processor is used to make it, then an e-book converter is used to compile it. It is never in the printed realm.
For example, if I make an e-book of the forums on this site it is totally electronic.
Uncle Silly
11-04-2005, 23:59
Most audio books take up quite a bit of emmory space. The MP3 format was originally set-up so that one minute took up 1 meg of memory. You'd need a bunch of external memory to listen to much of anything.
Well, not technically, but ok. That 1 Meg/min figure is approximately what you need for good-sounding music. Lower encodings take up less space, but don't sound as good.
The nice thing about audible books and talk radio is that they don't need to sound as crystal clear as music. You can encode in a lower bitrate and drastically improve your time/space ratio. Good stuff.
You still want an mp3 player capable of storing a few gigs: tunes, a language instruction set, and a good set of books. :-?
MedicineMan
11-05-2005, 00:22
it is reality isnt it? on this last 4 day hike i did in northern Va i enjoyed a movie or two in SVGA format on my PDA (Return of the King and The Patriot)...the compact flash card 4gb can hold almost 4 movies......nice to get sleepy to when hanging in the hammock....
and thanks to a friendly hiker I have the AT Database downloaded into the PDA via Adobe for Pocket PC.....I like technology but dont think i would watch a movie while sitting in the shelter.
titanium_hiker
11-05-2005, 11:11
I think the "not in a shelter" is the fact that this is individual media- not good for sharing.
Well, not technically, but ok. That 1 Meg/min figure is approximately what you need for good-sounding music. Lower encodings take up less space, but don't sound as good.
The nice thing about audible books and talk radio is that they don't need to sound as crystal clear as music. You can encode in a lower bitrate and drastically improve your time/space ratio. Good stuff.
You still want an mp3 player capable of storing a few gigs: tunes, a language instruction set, and a good set of books. :-?
That's true, I currently resample mine at 8 kbps. I can get 15 songs that originally were 52.6 megs down to 3.3 megs, that's about a 94% reduction in size. I personally can't tell the difference in the lower encoding, but then I have quite a bit of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) due to my speciality while in the US Air Force.
On a 256 memory stick on my SOny CLie (Palm OS) I have 125 songs, and 75 books along with a medical and regular dictionary as wells as many applications. It does everything I need.
Later, gumby
Nightwalker
11-05-2005, 17:36
Get a palm pilot (Zire is cheap), then contact me. I have a bunch of books in iSilo format. If I van get it into Word, I can make an e-book of it.
Hell, I have quite a few of the archives off this site that I read offline.
gumby
I just got a Palm Tungsten E2. Lots cheaper than my Pocket PC was. The battery life is unbelieveable. Charges in the field with 4 AA batteries. A multi-format reader comes with it. E-book, PDF, Word, Excel, etc. and etc.
It also edits them there MS formats.
What I'm getting at, besides the "Palms are cool" thang, is "get a copy of OpenOffice.org." it exports to PDF, as well as reading, editing and saving to all of the above mentioned MS formats.
Get a Palm. Get OpenOffice.org. Read all you want on the trail with little weight. My Palm weighs 4.7 ounces. Less than one paperback, and it'll carry more books than I can read in five years!
Cool!
NightReader
Nightwalker
11-05-2005, 17:39
That's true, I currently resample mine at 8 kbps. I can get 15 songs that originally were 52.6 megs down to 3.3 megs, that's about a 94% reduction in size. I personally can't tell the difference in the lower encoding, but then I have quite a bit of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) due to my speciality while in the US Air Force.
I hear semi-ok. Tinnitus, but no tin ear. I sample at 64 kbps and use the WMA format. That's like 128 kbps with standard mp3 encoding. I can get a lot of CDs on an SD card. :D
Nightwalker
11-05-2005, 18:00
that's cool too. :)
good thread CynJ- and not once did we have some ultralighter quip: "Oh yeah, but how much does it WEIGH?" :)
titanium
4.7 ounces in my case. whether I take one book or 100.
:D
MedicineMan
11-05-2005, 23:05
4.7 ounces in my case. whether I take one book or 100.
:D
and that would include an incredible AT DATABASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nightwalker
11-06-2005, 00:09
and that would include an incredible AT DATABASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has anyone else found that one or more of the picture links are broked?
SunnyWalker
12-30-2010, 01:11
I am an owner of a Sony eBook Reader Pocket Edition. I just also bought their Daily Edition. It has free WiFi to Sony eBook Store (really good). I have also downloaded boks from Internet and they worked fine. You may also tap public libraries with the Sony eBook Reader. Not all Readers will allow this. The features both have are very good. I don't really think you can go wrong though, no matter what brand you get. Just ask yourself how "tied down" do you wish to be? That is, some brands you can only get stuff from their "store". -Chaplain ps. Pocket Ed- batt lasts 2 weeks! Daily i about as good and it depends if you use it with the WiFi on. If not, the charge lasts quite a long time -I think two weeks again. That is pretty practical for a hiker. -Chaplain
Powder River
12-30-2010, 11:54
The thread was from 2005. :D
SunnyWalker
12-30-2010, 19:22
Kindle and the Nooks look pretty good. Proprietary though. Sony avoids this.
SunnyWalker
02-16-2011, 23:14
After thinking about it I don't think I would take an ebook reader to hike a thru hike. Its just too much added weight. Tho it's "light" it's "heavy".
After thinking about it I don't think I would take an ebook reader to hike a thru hike. Its just too much added weight. Tho it's "light" it's "heavy".
Dunno Chaps, a Kindle weighs 8oz(less than a lot of paper backs) and it can carry a lot more "reading material".
SunnyWalker
02-19-2011, 00:11
Hey, yeah, we need to compare the weights on all the ebook readers. I'll weight the two I have and post them here tomorrow.
JaxHiker
02-19-2011, 16:13
Kindle and the Nooks look pretty good. Proprietary though. Sony avoids this.
How are they proprietary?
lanecohen
02-19-2011, 17:49
I bought a Sony Reader Pocket Edition for my thru (March 7) and it is perfect! It fits comfortably in one hand and holds hundreds of books. I don't know if it is still going on, but when I got it about a month ago they were having a special on them at Borders for about $120. Def. recommend. :D
Northern Lights
02-19-2011, 18:00
I just bought a kobo, in comparison to the kindle it only holds 1000 books compard to 3000 with the kindle. All else seems to be the same.
I bought a Sony Reader Pocket Edition for my thru (March 7) and it is perfect! It fits comfortably in one hand and holds hundreds of books. I don't know if it is still going on, but when I got it about a month ago they were having a special on them at Borders for about $120. Def. recommend. :D
Probably have a sale going on. After all, they DID just file for bankruptcy. :p
Incidentally, here's a comparison of a Palm Clone from 2003 and the latest Kindle from Amazon. I have a friend who used his palm clone for e-reading and took the plunge to get a dedicated e-reader. It's the same file(short Star Wars story) which gives lie to the "Kindle is proprietary" myth floating around.
There was another poster who assumed that the Kindle would "generate quite a bit of light". Well...as you can see, the Kindle generates no light.
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy210/Ryan_Crierie/PalmClie.jpg
SJ-20
http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy210/Ryan_Crierie/Kindle3.jpg
Kindle 3