Electronic Books
 

About 3 Christmases ago I was about to buy the wife a Sony E-Reader, she put paid to that idea and said that she wouldn't be seen dead with one instead of a 'proper' book.

Now, that's understandable as she's old fashioned and doesn't take kindly to 'gadgets'!

But, one of her friends has an Amazon Kindle and her friend loves it (even though this friend is into proper books!) .... so, I dragged her kicking and squealing into the Sony shop this afternoon and told the Salesman to 'do the business with her' ;) ..... anyway, she now is warming to the idea!

I am very aware that the Kindle is taking the market by storm and Sony may be left behind - but, and this is important to 'her indoors', the Sony has a MP3 Player built in. She very much likes the idea of reading and listening to music at the same time. I'm not sure the Kindle can do that?

The Sony has expansion via a SD card and their own Memory Card ... this means that the Sony is expandable to whatever you choose it to be. It had a 2Gb internal memory and the Kindle has 4Gb .... but, as the Sony has the card memory I doubt it really matters?

The Kindle has Wi-Fi and 3G (free) ... not sure the wife will use that capability at all.

Also, the Salesman said that the Kindle will only allow inputs from items/books from Amazon and nowhere else (which seems a bit tightfisted of Amazon!) ... but, the Sony can download from anywhere AND has access to far many free title and mags. than the Kindle.

I'm sure someone on here has done research and plenty will have jumped one way or another ..... can I pick your brains?

Am I missing anything glaringly obvious? Why is the Kindle selling like hot cakes when the Sony 'seems' to offer so much more?

Yes, the Kindle at £150 versus the Sony at £199 may have a bearing - but, if you take the cost of the device out - which is the best?

All comments welcome :D

What was the question ?

:rolleyes: :lol1:

Sony or Kindle e-Reader ....... and why?

You answered your own question :)

EH?

Where, what, how, when??

They're both the best Pete. or not. Whichever way a poster replies to your question, no doubt you'll find some reason to argue the toss over it :D

So, they're both brilliant, or cr@p. :p

Wait for the Kobo Touch :D

Sunday Times supp today reviews best places to source text, with Amazon being "the biggest, cheapest and simplest ebook store", thers plenty of freebies to download, particularly classics out of copywrite. Mrs D loves her kindle (not candle ;) ) I'm sure you can store tunes on it. (If you want the supp give me a shout.)

D

Cheers, Dunk.

I assume they didn't review the readers themselves?

Anyone here used Google Books - and, is it true that the Kindle cannot access these?

Also, maybe you can store music on the Kindle - but, can you actually play it and listen on headphones?

if your wife will not use the free 3G, on the Kindle, why quote the price of that version?

non 3G version is £111

Do you know how much memory an e-book is? About 300k. Do you really need more that 4GB?

Not true. You can download books direct from the internet from some book sites, such as http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page. Also, when you connect your e-book to your computer you can copy any e-books you may have as it shows up as a removable storage device.

" so, I dragged her kicking and squealing into the Sony shop this afternoon and told the Salesman to 'do the business with her' ..... anyway, she now is warming to the idea!"


What sort of business? I didnt know you were into that kind of thing Pete.

Pete,

Wife has had both as e-reader broke. She loves her new knidle and would not go back to the Sony. I have also used her kindle to access internet , email whilst abroad.

Kindle wins hands down. It looks better , has better battery life and the the non 3g is £111.

Chip

get 'er a library card , she wont know the difference, mainly cos she likley doesnt even exist :rolleyes:

If books are purchased from Kindle's store then they can only be read on a Kindle due to the DRM. As others have mentioned, you can add DRM free files (Project Gutenberg, FeedBooks, and many other sites). It might be better to go with a device that uses Adobe DRM, as that tends to be able to be read by various devices, plus, if so inclined, you can read them using Adobe's Digital Editions software on your PC.

Love books.hate computer screens and digital watches

Mr Lewis my m8 has a kindle for sale if you want 1 used twice PM me

but seriously cos your saving ****loads on Fuel and Tax buy an IPAD, its the best Kindle reader by far and also has IBOOKS and all the other guff u can get, yeah ok 500 quid but come-on its the wife aint she worth it :P

one thing though and you nailed it importing stuff other than amazon is a good thing.

I came across 5 gig of Kindle content the other day, every book by everyone and the IPAD wont use it as it only likes whisper sync, i can however use them on my pc as this will allow directorys.

If the sony allows this then my money would be on the sony.

Thanks for that snippet - I had no idea there were two versions .. this is why I have asked here, to get some info.

.........just buy a Kindle, there's so much free stuff about if you want the classics :D

Shaun

On point 1 - she wants her music on it as well ... so 4Gb becomes small.

Point 2 - the Sony salesman said that the Kindle was tied to Amazon only .... you indicate it is drag and drop, is it? Will it accept ANY e-book you have on your PC wherever it came from?

Thanks, Chip

Does the Kindle include a MP3 Player?

Yes, point taken, but - if you can get lots of Free stuff on the Sony (as you are not tied to Amazon) surely the cost advantage disappears quite quickly?

And, as I said above, the ability to listen to music whilst reading (on the same device) seems to be a high importance. No idea if the Kindle can play music as well as display books?

See post 22 :)

Shaun

Thanks Shaun ... it seems it can play as a MP3 Player - but, it doesn't say if you can listen while also reading a book?

I think it was the Sunday Times yesterday that said the Kindle also has the cheapest books compared to others. Personally, I have Kindle for my Android phone and it works a treat. Wouldn't bother buying an actual Kindle device. The phone does it all.

I personally prefer the sony e-reader.
If you are not keen on paying for books I've heard that there are many sites where you can download all the latest books in epub (the most common book format) for free although I've never tried that myself.
Whatever you decide though, I would recommend that you download Calibre e-book management software as you can use it to change the format of any books to suit your chosen reader.

Pete,

Yes you can listen and read at hte same time.

Listen to Music & Podcasts
Transfer MP3 files to Kindle to play as background music while you read. You can quickly and easily transfer MP3 files via USB by connecting Kindle to your computer

Check out the reviews here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revi...owViewpoints=1

Could be a nice little earner if you think about it.

Les ;)