Which ereader should I buy, and why?

The Sony looks best to me. The Kindle misses on two important file formats – ePub and PDF.

Google Books has over a million free ePub titles. Project Gutenberg has ePubs, too.

Thank you! I’m leaning toward the touch mostly because te pocket is just to small, as well as what you said. I appreciate your info!

Assuming that you are young with good eyesight, why not an iPhone.

There are apps which enable one to access the exact same sources as any of these other devices and then some.

So for the same few hundred that you pay for one of these other products, you will also have a gps unit and a phone which can access the net as well. Several devices for the price of one.

I’m old with good eyesight, and have an iPhone. I completely wipe out my battery too fast on trips. I tried reading on it for a while, but it just didn’t do it for me. Too small, not enough battery, not close enough to a page looking for me. It works in a pinch, but I want something to seriously load up with books that I can bury myself in.

Thank you, though, Buttonstc.

I’d wait a while—a whole crop of new ereaders is due out early next year.

Yeah, rumor has it that Apple may come out with one which can also be used as a tablet computer. Sounds sort of like an updated Newton to me. And the Newton was an excellent product which still has a fan club of users. It really was way ahead of it’s time. Be interesting what comes of it.

If @Buttonstc is correct then I would wait for the Apple… or just get a netbook and the software to read the e-book files.

Seeing as you already have an iPhone, you should just download the Kindle for iPhone application. Completely free, and you get access to the entire Kindle library just as if you owned an actual Kindle. No need to pay Amazon or Sony hundreds of dollars.

or just get a netbook and the software to read the e-book files.

Ereaders have a huge advantage in battery life over netbooks.

For the Kindle, Amazon claims, “Long battery life. Leave wireless on and recharge approximately every other day.”

Sony says the Touch runs, “up to two full weeks of reading (7,500 continuous page turns) on a single battery charge”

I think the second full generation will be better and cheaper.

If you can I would wait for them.

I had the same question before

I have a Sony Reader (the old, old PRS-500), but I love it dearly. Do not buy the new Sony Reader Touch. Apparently, the “touch” tech gives the screen a glare that makes reading difficult, and that’s the entire purpose of the device, right? Forget the Touch and get a regular Sony Reader if you’re going Sony.

The Kindle is nice and and all, but I still kinda don’t trust Amazon after that remote-deleting of 1984 debacle. Plus, it seems to me that the hardware keyboard takes up a lot of space on the device and doesn’t have much use.

The Nook is my current favorite ereading device and the one I recommend to people looking to get a device. I haven’t played with one myself, but I like that the LCD screen can serve multiple purposes, like browsing books AND as a software keyboard. It’s easier to navigate on a Nook because the LCD screen has a better refresh rate than the E-INK screen (the Kindle makes you navigate through the E-INK screen and I imagine it would be slow and annoying). Best of all, it’s running Android, which means the software behind the little screen can be updated wirelessly and people will write apps for it. Think about all the possibilities: a dictionary app to look up words (which I think is already included, btw), an app that fetches the Wikipedia information about the book or author you’re reading, an app that connects to your LibraryThing account, etc. The only drawback I can think of is that the LCD screen might drain your battery slightly faster, but B&N still claim a battery life of around 10 days.

If you don’t need the wireless capabilities or the fancy LCD screen, I’d suggest going for a Sony Reader (non-touch screen). I personally have an extremely large ebook collection on my computer, literally enough for several lifetimes, so buying an ebook over the wireless would be a very rare occasion for me. For the less tech savvy, those without ebook collections or those who’d enjoy the extra features offered by an LCD screen (like word search, annotations and notes, etc.), the Nook appears to be an excellent choice. If I had the money, I’d probably go with the Nook anyway just to see what developers come up with for the extra screen.

@jaytkay True, but considering how much less functionality they have, they better have some saving grace. And considering the price difference between e-readers and my Aspire One, I would expect battery life comparable to a TV remote; months. Maybe when the price comes down I will change my mind, but we’re talking a price-drop of at least 60%, so it will be a while.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the help.

Kindle just got a software update that allows it to display PDF and ePub formats. Reviews suggest the Nook to be sluggish, a firmware update may imrprove things. Sony is a very open device, but has no 3G plan for over the air downloading. Pick your poison.