If you have decided to join the world of e-books, you may find yourself confused and torn between which e-book reader you should get. The most popular e-book readers on the market are Kindle and Sony e-book. Here is a brief review of the e-book readers that will help you get a better idea between which one is right for you.
Kindle 2
When Amazon launched Kindle, it was revolutionary. The new Kindle 2 is even more amazing because it is smaller, lighter, and easier to use. Unlike the old Kindle, you don’t need a PC to sync it with to access the internet and download books and other materials. What makes Kindle so unique is that it takes only a few seconds to download the information you want.
The screen has been designed to look like a real, printed page. It’s almost hard to tell that you are reading an electronic book and not a printed book. To make the screen appear like paper, Kindle uses 16 shades of gray and there is no backlight. This reduces the strain on your eyes and the screen also doesn’t have a glare, which means you can read it outside when the sun is shining directly on it.
To turn the page, there are two buttons on a five-way controller that you can click on to jump around. If you need to take a break from reading for a little while, you can simply turn off the device and it will save the last page you were reading, making it easy to save your place. If you like to listen to books on tape, Kindle 2 has a great feature. It has a speech function, which means it can read the entire e-book to you out loud.
Kindle 2 can hold up to 1,500 books and it has access to over 300,000 titles. The font size is adjustable, making it easy to read. Kindle is also quite light and small, feeling and looking about the same size as a paperback book.
Kindle is priced at about $299, making it not terribly expensive, but not always affordable to everyone. Although Kindle 2 is great and amazing, it does have it’s limitations. Perhaps the biggest limitation is the fact that it does not have an expansion slot. Once you fill it up, you are unable to add more memory to continue downloading files. The other downside is that Amazon will charge you 10 center every time you download a word document. The other downside is that you have to buy everything for the device. With Sony, they have developed a free ePub domain where you can check-out books just like you can with your local library.
Kindle does not come with a carrying case, leaving it vulnerable to the elements when you are walking around. The battery is also sealed inside Kindle, much like the battery to an iPod, which can become frustrating if you need to replace it.
Sony e-book reader
Once Amazon launched Kindle and it received overwhelming popularity, Sony quickly took the time to develop and launch their own e-book reader. The Sony e-book reader is actually quite popular as it offers most of the same features of Kindle for the same price and it goes a step above by offering free book check-outs.
The Sony e-book reader is about the size of a DVD case and it light. To protect the e-book reader, it comes with a leather case. With the leather case and the thin screen that is embossed with a metallic border, it is a little heavier than Kindle, about 8.8 ounces total. The other thing that sets the Sony e-book reader apart from Kindle is that it has a memory card expansion slot, which is great when you fill up the memory with books. Like Kindle, the screen is easy to read and it doesn’t include a backlight, making it easy to read in the sunlight. You also have the ability to change the font sizes, making it much easier to read.
Although the Sony e-book reader comes with some great features, it does have a few things that make it difficult to use. One of the annoyances is that it takes a couple seconds for the screen to refresh when you click the buttons to turn the page. The menu is also a little cumbersome to learn and to use. Sometimes navigating through the device is a little sluggish. It also takes at least 30 seconds to fire up completely so you can use it.
Right now the Sony e-book reader only holds about 80 books, but with the expansion slot you can obviously hold more. The other frustration is that you don’t have the library to download from like you do with Kindle. Since Amazon was set up as a book company originally, it is only natural to assume that they will offer more book titles, and they do.
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