HN Explorer

Ask HN: Do you use an eReader? Why? Why not?

6 points by contemplating1 ↗ HN
I am trying to decide whether to get one or not, and am curious to hear what every one has to say about them here. I will be reading an array of styles of books, from novels, to technical books on development. So, what are your opinions on eReaders based on your experiences with them?

10 comments

[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 45.4 ms ] thread
armenarmen
I did briefly, but ended up preferring hardcopy books because: -I can flip through pages -Write notes and highlight where I want -One less thing to worry about getting stolen

They are cool, but they are not for me.

CrazedGeek
Yes, a Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight. I don't read technical books on it, but I love it for reading novels on the go. It solves my two big issues with paper books: the integrated light source, and automatically saving my place. The second one wins me over because I've had bookmarks fall out myriad times and it's kind of a pain to find the specific page I was on.
contemplating1
Thats great, those are two of the reasons I was looking to get Simple Touch GlowLight; plus it is much lighter than carrier around some books. Unfortunately I am planning to read some technical books as well so I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on how it works on that area.
LarryMade2
Keep in mind there's a wireless glitch with the simple touch, it may not like your router. Had to set up a separate 801.11b router to talk to the simple touch as it didn't like connecting to our 802.11n mixed mode one.

I think this is specific to the simple touch model. It's my wife's eBook so I cant comment on the technical books part. Though I would research PDF usability if that is a factor for you... Might be limited on book file size.

lifeguard
Yes. I wanted to have several titles at hand in a small package. I also use calibre to convert technical pdfs to MOBI. And to manage my ebook library. I don't use amazon, just torrents or sometimes direct purchase from publisher.

I like the readability and form factor of my little black and white kindle.

contemplating1
And in MOBI format on Kindle, the content seems to be pretty readable - even for technical books with pictures?
lifeguard
Yes, the MOBI quality has been very good for commercial ebooks and even clibre made ones. But I do not know about color.
tonteldoos
Exactly the reasons I bought mine, and for at least one of them, I'm loving it (Kindle 4 - non touch version).

I have some technical books on it, but mainly ones where I want to get through the content, as opposed to using it as a reference (nothing beats hardcopy for that). I've started reading recreationally again for the first time in nearly 8 years after buying it, and it's been absolutely awesome. I can take it to the park with my son, and read while he plays, or weekends away, etc, and not have to pick one or two books due to luggage restrictions.

I have an htc One, Nexus 7 and a Acer Chromebook - all devices that I could use for reading electronically, but usually, the Kindle wins hands down.

Pros: - Compact - Extremely readable, even in direct sunlight - Generally cheaper books - Samples (these are awesome from Amazon - a few clicks away and you can read the first 5% or so of the book for free) - Crazy battery life, compared to other devices (~2 weeks) - Good price point, compared to other devices

Cons - I tend to stay up late reading again, which my wife is not too thrilled about ;)

swah
So, the best place for reading Letter/A4-sized PDFs is still the computer? :/

(I bought and sold an iPad - it didn't felt very mobile).

Concours
I have a galaxy tab 10.1 tablet (Kidnle App, Google books), mainly for other stuff , emails, newsreading , etc... but I also use it for Books and am very happy with it. I however prefer Hardcopies when available, has more to do with perceive value, since there's mostly no big price difference.