Sony ebook reader vs. Kindle

[MNJetter]

Which is better? I know the Kindle has more books. I also know that Amazon has been accused of limiting the supply so that they sell out and look really popular, which is why they're not in stock right now. But I can't find any reviews or anything online that seems to give a definitive judgment.

Does anybody here have an ebook reader? I know there was a thread about the Kindle a while ago when it first came out, but it's been around for a good stretch now and I didn't want to dig the old thread out from thread heaven. Besides, this discussion isn't just about the Kindle, but specifically about the differences or advantages or different advantages between different e-readers. If there are any good ones other than Sony and Kindle too, I'd love to hear about them.

[nanashi]

I had a kindle and I loved it.. Then three weeks later I stepped on it and broke it. Bad thing about kindle is that warrenty doesn't cover constumer accidents (which I can't exactly blame them), but there is no repair for the Kindle (I'm not sure about the sony one.) So if I wanted another one, I'd have to buy another one.

Good things about the kindle include that it has some internet properties on it and I've heard that you could email with it if you really really needed to. Mostly it's limited to viewing just text on simple webpages, and wikipedia. Also, if you get a book from Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/) or any other site where the book is too old for publishers' copyright, you can email it to yourself and it'll email it to your Kindle in kindle-book format.

I know nothing about the Sony.

[Kannon]

I've researched for some time now about eBook readers, pretty much since the first one was made. Unfortunately they are a bit expensive for me, so I've been looking but not buying for some time. I can't say I'm a fan of the Kindle's proprietary system of books, I guess it was my understanding that you get your ebooks from Amazon, nowhere else (I could be wrong, feel free to correct me...). In my opinion, the Kindle is hideous (not something many buying an ebook would take in to account, but it is for me). I just don't like the huge piece of plastic and chunky design. I heard awhile back a rumor about a Kindle 2, and if I remember correctly, it had a pretty sharp concept pic with it. I'm a big fan of the design on the Sony ebook reader, but again, it's like 400 dollars iirc, and I'm not ready to drop that much on an ebook reader. The ones that come to mind mostly are the ones with the foldable screens (OLED screens) that roll in to itself, and then roll out and flaten when you want to use it. I don't know if it ever was created, but I was really interested in that one. Anyway, I guess this post wasn't much help, but wanted to show interest in any opinions on these two readers or any others out there that someone fancys.

[nanashi]

Just to let you know. You can get books everywhere, not just amazon.com. The thing is, it will have to be formated into 'kindle format', which just involves emailing it to kindle and a few seconds to a minute (at most) later, it will arrive on your Kindle or your email depending on where you set it to send back to. And as I hated the design when looking at the pictures on amazon, I was surprised that it wasn't as clunky looking as the pictures make it out to be. It was actually pretty nice and I thought I would hate the design by what the pictures showed. I miss my Kindle.

[Kannon]

Ahh cool, thanks for the info.

[mawande]

I'm in Japan. I want something I can use here.

[MNJetter]

Since book downloads are internet-based, it should still be pretty easy to get ebooks in Japan. The reader, if it's not available in Japan, can probably be shipped internationally via amazon.com. At least, that's how I got a few CDs and books while I was there.

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm not going to get one yet, but I can use all the opinions I can get. It sounds generally like, though there are more books available for kindle, the sony reader has a better screen. I'm sure amazon won't be able to keep up their exclusivity for very long if other companies are making better (and less expensive) products, so I might go by screen quality in making my decision.

I was also tempted by rumors of the ebook reader that you could roll up and put in your pocket, but have heard nothing about its actually being made yet.

[stsparky]

Sony and Brookstones' have had shills pimping the Reader. I'm waiting for "smart paper" tech to be cheaper. Until then — I'm sticking to actual books.

[Kannon]

Quite liking the Kindle 2.

EDIT: Dammit after further reading I find out there still isn't any folders, and they removed the SD card slot. Still want one, but the impulse to preorder has at least subsided. Still going to wait on buying an electric book...

[mawande]

I'm wary because of the number of times I get a "service not available in your country" when trying to check something I want to see out.

[Digital Masta]

You know...e-books will actually never serve me any good because I get motion sick. So I can read in most moving vehicles, planes being the only ones that I can and that's assuming they are large planes that don't really move much once in flight. So whenever read I'm at home.

[PopCulturePooka]

Actual Books > e-books

Forever

[mawande]

Actual books are grand. Except I gave all of mine to the library because they were rotting in my darned damp house.

[MNJetter]

I too prefer actual books, but I am such a bookworm that I want more books than I can possibly keep right now. I would have to put them in public storage, or dedicate an entire room of my apartment to their shelving. So I figured that, someday, I would keep only those books that I wanted to put on display -- collectors editions and all-time favorites -- and buy the rest as ebooks. But not till ebook technology has gotten to where I know I like it.