What Are Those Digital Book Things Called?

Kindle?

That’s Amazon’s, here. There are other such devices as well.

Amazon Kindle. (and the price just dropped to $299)

there’s also a Sony one, though i honestly don’t know the name. They sell it at Target.

I use my iPhone to read books and also to listen to audiobooks. I did see the Kindle and if I had the $$ just laying around would try it for the nice big screen. From what I have read you can purchase and download books off Amazon.

The generic term is “e-reader.” they usually use e-ink screens, and areade of plastic or aluminum.

With the Kindle, books must be bought from Amazon, because of DRM. The Sony, on the other hand, can display books from many sources, including .pdf’s.

There are cheap ones (~$100) up to the $450 kindle DX. You get what you pay for.

@eambos have you tried any or own any?

I haven’t used any day to day, but I have used a few. My friends have both the Sony and Kindle, and they are great. The kindle has a larger, more accessible library, while the Sony let’s you read PDFs, which is very usefull.

I’ve also used a $100 one. It had a terrible interface, limited features, and poor construction.

If I had to choose one, it would be a toss up between the Sony and the kindle.

Amazon also developed a Kindle app for iPhone. The app is not be confused with the device. The app is a flavor a e-reader with the benefit that you can buy any book sells for the Kindle read it on your iPhone. That’s a lot of books but for certain subjects

My friend just got the Kindle for her birthday. She absolutely loves it. Plus, in addition to regular books, there are some textbooks you can also download and add to it. I think that should probably save you some money as opposed to buying bound books for class… assuming you’re a student that is.

There are also free e-reader applications for the iPhone, that you can use with PDFs or books bought from, for example, ereader.com or manybooks.net or whatever.

I have used the kindle app for the iPhone and Stanza for better access to free stuff like Project Gutenberg has. I wasn’t sure how much I’d like using the smaller iPhone screen for reading long term since I’ve wanted a Kindle for a while but it’s pretty nice. I’ve been using it a lot more than I thought I would.

If you’re thinking about getting an iPhone go to an Apple store and fiddle with one physically in your hand. Ask questions about available applications and play with one a bit. Besides the reader, phone, and pda stuff, I’m in love with an app called Epicurious. Awesome stuff!

I have had a Kindle for more than a year, and until Friday night I loved it. Suddenly it is acting up, and over the last 2 days I have had to reboot it several times. I don’t know what I will do if I have to send it in for servicing – I read with it every day.

Some of the other e-readers would probably be a better deal since many public libraries lend e-books that a Kindle won’t play, but I got a fantastic deal on the Kindle at the time ($27 because of some Amazon credits I had).

E-books are great for people with disabilities like arthritis or poor vision. I don’t have to worry about a book being too heavy for me to hold, and I can adjust the font size to match how well I can see that day.