Ebook Reader Advice

[Mutley]

Kobo is the company that now provide for Smiths.
I am in dispute with Smiths. They sold Ebook tokens - buy a token, download a book.
Then they jumped into bed with Kobo (I have an email from Smiths to say they were very excited about that!).
Kobo refuse to accept the Smiths tokens because Smiths received the money originally. Smiths refuse to accept the tokens because they don't sell online Ebooks any more, their partner Kobo does it for them.

I doubt that is really anything to do with your query. I did give in and buy an Ebook from Kobo for the Sony Reader (Epub).
It was a simple process to pay and the download transferred without problems.

I don't know what the format is for Kobo, check that it either takes other formats or that Calibre will convert for you if you wish to buy Ebooks in other formats.

[Nicolina]

looking at the specs Kobo has a 2Gig memory plus SD card slot and a battery charge that lasts 1 month. Kindle has a 4 Gig memory and lasts up to 2 months on a single charge. Kobo also accepts books in Mobi format and pdf, the same as Kindle. It also accepts ePub.
Prices are from about £79 for the Kobo and £109 for the Kindle. A certain large computer store are giving away a £10 voucher at the moment with either one.
hope this helps
Elaine

[olliecat]

Megan, Muts and Nicolina - thanks for the further links and information - very useful. I've still not decided, sigh! I'm such a terrible shopper as it takes me ages to make my mind about anything, (no comments from any males out there thank you very much.)

Tomorrow is computer fair day and so I will see if there are any e-readers there. If not then on Monday I will go and see what they have at the shops. As an aside, earlier on I was playing with my mobile and I found a Kindle App which I downloaded along with some free e-books from Amazon. In bed tonight it will be paperless reading for me just to see how I get on. I do know that my initial stab was not that successful as every now and then I would hit the wrong place on the touch screen and lose my place in the book. I'm assuming a mobile is not the best e-reading device but I will bear this in mind during my paper-free test tonight.

Well, after all this and assuming I do find the perfect e-reader for me, I wonder if I'll be able to part with any of my paper books. It also occurs to me that it will cost quite a bit to replace my hundreds of books with e-versions. Hmm!

[MythicalMarian]

Remember, too, that several e-readers will read pdf files, which is very useful for taking any family history stuff with you when you're on a research trip. I have scanned all wills and certificates onto my PC and made them into pdfs, and have backed them up to my Kindle. Very useful if you need to just check a date or fact when tackling another batch of papers or microfilms at a record office/library.

[Nicolina]

Calibre will actually convert files from pdf although it can take quite a while to convert some. I also use my Kindle for family history and my Levro II for reading, but may switch them over.