I’m really interested in the new crop of Sony Readers (PRS-350, 650, and 950), but I don’t think they official sell them in Taiwan. I’d really like to try one before I order it from abroad… Has anyone seen them for sale in Taipei?
If not Sony’s, have you seen any epaper readers for sale around? Amazon and Barnes and Noble readers would understandably be hard to find, but I know that Asus makes a couple (you can find these on ruten.com), and also a Chinese company called Hanvon. I just haven’t seen them anywhere. Thanks!
Funnily enough, the Kindle (and its accessories) are much easier to get here than the Sony readers, which are for the US market and apparently don’t support Chinese characters.
I just got a Kindle 3 for the reasonable price of 5,200NT and I’m very pleased with it. The guy does cash on delivery (delivery to your nearest 7-Eleven) for an extra 60NT: goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21102224311706
There’s an expensive place called Bookpa which sells the Sonys for high prices. You can also find the odd Sony reader on Ruten and Yahoo auctions but again they’re not cheap. bookpa.com/
Apparently the epaper Nook isn’t that great. The LCD one is alright if you want a cheap and rather limited Android tablet.
I would not bother with the Benq, Ausus, etc ones – not great user experience apparently, and not particularly cheap either.
Overall if it’s epaper you want, I’d say get the Kindle 3 for a nice device that you don’t need to worry about too much (and with access to the huge Kindle store). Or get the Sony Daily Edition if you want to pay through the nose for pretty much the best reader out there (with ePub support but no Kindle store of course – also check whether the Sony store will actually work for you if you don’t have a US credit card).
I have a Nook and it’s fine but B&N is VERY difficult to buy from if you are outside the US. They check your IP address and refuse to sell you any books if you are not inside the US. (This can be bypassed, but it’s an extra expense to get sufficient speed.)
Kindle is no better than the Nook because they both use the same e-ink. But Amazon writes better software and everything they do that is Kindle related is smooth and professional. (Politically I prefer B&N but their software seems second-rate to me and I’ve been doing software since 1968.)
There is an e-book management/conversion tool (free) that you should install immediately and look it over. calibre-ebook.com/ You DON’T WANT any ebook format that Calibre doesn’t support. (It also does some conversions.)
With a Windows based machine, you can install both a Kindle and a Nook application and compare them. Neither is exactly what the portable reader looks like, but it will give you an idea what it’s like to deal with B&N and Amazon. Start with free e-books so you don’t have to commit to spending money.
While I have not experimented with the Sony reader (I grew to hate Sony after years of suffering with their mediocre manufacturing and indescribably bad repair of computer tape drives) but it’s also supported by Calibre. The big question is getting the e-books you want in the Sony format. It’s beginning to look like Sony’s e-book format will go the way of the Beta Max.
Good luck! E-books are the way to go! I have almost 400 loaded on my Nook and I use it so much the face plate just broke under the ‘next page’ button. (It hasn’t harmed the operation.)
LATEST NEWS: Amazon is officially selling and shipping the Kindle to Taiwan and if you buy the 3G version, you get free 3G in Taiwan, just like being in the US.
[quote=“Joschka”]Kindle is no better than the Nook because they both use the same e-ink.[/quote]I didn’t think the Nook used the new Pearl e-ink? Reviews say the Kindle screen is better, anyway.
[quote=“Joschka”]The big question is getting the e-books you want in the Sony format. It’s beginning to look like Sony’s e-book format will go the way of the Beta Max. [/quote]Well, the thing about the Sony readers is that they support ePub, which is an open format and still very popular.
Wow! Lots of responses! I was afraid no one else would be interested in ebook readers (yes, thank you dragonbones) in Taiwan.
I AM interested in the Kindle for casual reading, but I’m more interested in the Sony for it’s PDF support, touch screen, and better annotating features compared to the Kindle. I want to make notes in my PDFs, then be able to access those notes on my computer (still not 100% sure if the Sony’s can do this last part though).
Yes, they are way more expensive, big bummer, but one I was aware of.
Another big reason I’m interested in the Sony’s is it’s (gasp) more open platform. I used to be a big Sony hater back in the days of microdisc walkman players, but most reviews say that the Sony is far more open than the Kindle. You can make tweaks in the firmare, there are third party add ons that can be installed, and it supports ePub. And yes, it can do Chinese and other foreign languages just fine, just not titles (system fonts are western only, see post here: mobileread.com/forums/showth … p?t=111431).
And Calibre is the bomb. I love it, even though the only device I own as yet are my laptop and an iPhone.
[quote=“riverteeth”]I want to make notes in my PDFs, then be able to access those notes on my computer (still not 100% sure if the Sony’s can do this last part though).[/quote]I don’t think the Sonys can do that. I spent some time looking for any information on this and couldn’t find anything hopeful. Also, do bear in mind that while the Sony Daily Edition is a bit taller, it’s barely wider than the Kindle. So it’s still not an ideal way of viewing normal (Letter or A4 size) PDF pages. Probably the Kindle DX is best for that, though it’s a bit long in the tooth and of course comments also can’t be saved in the PDF itself.
I can’t find a better place to post this so I will do it here since e-readers are a current topic again.
I got my Kindle Saturday and really like it. I finally figured how to view on my computer and then onto a projection system. I plan on using it in the classroom. I just downloaded the free Kindle PC software from Amazon and it works great. You techy minded people probably figured all this out in 5 minutes but it took me awhile.
Heartily encourage Kindle purchase. The lighted case is great!
To get that specific functionality, you’ll probably need to go to an iPad. iAnnotate does this beautifully, and will export the annotated PDF. Great for things like marking up textbooks, etc. Concidentally, the iPad2 fits perfectly into an B5 document holder pouch.
If you are set on the eInk, then as Joesox mentioned, the Kindle DX is probably the best bet if you want to read PDFs. If you are looking for more functionality, then the iPad deserves a look, particularly the iPad 2. I’ve been using an iPad for the last year as the only way I read anymore (including magazines, news and books), recently went to an iPad 2, and wouldn’t do it any other way.
[quote=“mabagal”]I’ve been using an iPad for the last year as the only way I read anymore (including magazines, news and books), recently went to an iPad 2, and wouldn’t do it any other way.[/quote]Fair enough. But I’ve done a fair bit of reading on the iPad too and I actually much prefer the Kindle, despite the smaller screen. Easier on the eyes, lighter in the hands, and fewer distractions. Apparently quite a few people have both a tablet and an e-ink device, seeing them as good for different things.
You can certainly do that with the Kindle. It puts all your notes in a single file, which means that if you’ve made notes in ten documents, all those will be in the same file, although the notes for each document will be organized together.
The only problem I see with PDF files is that if you don’t want to have to scroll right and left, up and down on the screen, you’ll need the large Kindle, not the 6" one, which is what I have, because it doesn’t reflow the text in PDF files. You can zoom in and out, though. If there aren’t any tables and graphs in the file, that can probably be remedied by converting the PDF file to Kindle format. I think, but am not sure, that this is possible in Calibre, which I use for conversion of Gutenberg and other books and for downloading newspapers and magazines to read on the Kindle. Through that software, I get a large part (all?) of the New Yorker for free, for example, and the Economist, since I am a subscriber to its online version.
Please…simply, can someone tell me where to buy a non-Kindle ereader (not a tablet) in the Taipei area. Not really interested in a long discussion…I want to now where? Thanks…
[quote=“taijack”]Please…simply, can someone tell me where to buy a non-Kindle ereader (not a tablet) in the Taipei area. Not really interested in a long discussion…I want to now where? Thanks…[/quote]All the usual places for electronics like Nova or Guang Hua Digital Plaza.
I bought one at – darn, what’s the name of the place – those computer stores with the bright yellow fronts on them – in Taipei last month. I returned it after a day. I think it was an Asus. I’d had a Kindle (bottom-end model) in the States and this was not up to that standard.
We’re in the States, so I got my husband a Kindle Fire for Christmas. He hasn’t turned the thing on yet, but when he does I’ll let you know how it goes. It will get to Taiwan eventually.
For myself, since I deal with many, many PDFs (not only for work, as a document reader, but also in the form of scanned books that I have, many of which are quite long) I swear by my iPad. The iPad also handles all my musical scores and sheet music in pdf format. I originally purchased a low-end Kindle with hopes of having a very light, very portable pdf reader, but the performance just wasn’t up to what I had hoped for. Way too much pinching and zooming, and the resolution was not very good after you finally got it so you could read it. Basically a lot of messing around for stuff the iPad does better (probably based on size, and, of course, price).
Thanks but in both of those places everyone had plenty of tablets but no stand-alone e-readers. Perhaps, I didn’t check every vendor but if they are there they are very scarce. Certainly, Nova in Taoyuan has none.
There are at least a dozen places in GuangHua that have e-readers of one kind or another – I know this after a multi-hour quest for a Kindle there a few months ago. In the end I couldn’t find one, and got one from the US instead.
I would say that while I love my Kindle to death for reading books, I wouldn’t use it for anything else at all – every time I have to touch the keyboard or menu system it’s just a long tedious chore. I would swap for a model with no keyboard without hesitation.
If you want to scroll smoothly around pre-formatted documents and add annotations and such, a tablet really does seem like the way to go.
Thanks but in both of those places everyone had plenty of tablets but no stand-alone e-readers. Perhaps, I didn’t check every vendor but if they are there they are very scarce. Certainly, Nova in Taoyuan has none.[/quote][quote=“Brendon”]There are at least a dozen places in GuangHua that have e-readers of one kind or another – I know this after a multi-hour quest for a Kindle there a few months ago. In the end I couldn’t find one, and got one from the US instead.
I would say that while I love my Kindle to death for reading books, I wouldn’t use it for anything else at all – every time I have to touch the keyboard or menu system it’s just a long tedious chore. I would swap for a model with no keyboard without hesitation.
If you want to scroll smoothly around pre-formatted documents and add annotations and such, a tablet really does seem like the way to go.[/quote]
I guess I could again there but as I pointed out I don’t want a Kindle product (completely tied to the Amazon store and DRM) or any kind of tablet…no matter whatever anyone else’s opinion or experience happens to randomly be. Thanks again.
I guess I could again there but as I pointed out I don’t want a Kindle product (completely tied to the Amazon store and DRM)[/quote]
Actually they’re not. I’ve got eBooks from places other than Amazon on my Kindle and there’s no issue with DRM. If you buy/download books from elsewhere though, AFAIK you have to transfer it from your computer first though, but that only takes a few extra seconds.
