In which she decides

[zeborah]

Every ereader has its advantages and disadvantages. For a while there I got locked in a loop of:

• The PocketBook 360 is cheap and exactly what I require but doesn't do DRM or note-taking(*);
• Sony whatsit-650 does DRM and note-taking but is less cheap and doesn't have the native format/unicode flexibility I want;
• Nook and Kobo are cheap and do DRM but ditto on format/unicode;
• PocketBook Pro 602 gets me my format/unicode back and has DRM and l33t internet access (so rudimentary notetaking might be kludgeable) but is less cheap and doesn't appear to have the neat 360 features that'd be good for my RSI;
• The iTouch has so many bells and whistles the noise makes my head hurt just thinking of them - great for people who need them but right now I need to avoid them.

(*) Highlighting and/or excerpting sections does not constitute "taking notes" and I'm mildly grumpy at the plethora of ereaders which advertise it as such.

Pondering more, I ruled out the Nook and Kobo because, a little like the Kindle albeit not as severely, they're still attempting to tie you to a single ebookstore. (iTouch has the same issues.) Even if one can very easily get around this I want something that feels more source-neutral.

And while I shouldn't have to pay extra for proper Unicode support (how hard can it possibly be?!) I'm willing to; coming to that realisation I ruled out the Sony too.

Choosing between the PocketBooks, it was basically cost+lookfeel+physical flexibility vs native DRM-coping. And on further ponderation, I decided I don't at all mind having a further incentive to preferring/supporting DRM-free material; and if I do come across something DRMed that I not only must have but must read on my ereader, then I have the technology (and I now believe it's legal in New Zealand) to remove it on the grounds of section 226E(1) of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act and on the grounds that reading a book you own is a permitted act which, if not explicitly mentioned in Part 3 of the Copyright Act, is kind of assumed by the things it does explicitly mention. Restrictive licenses are a separate issue from copyright law but I'll read the small print when I come to it.

I don't think I've only come to this conclusion because I fell in love with the Pocketbook 360 as soon as I saw an image of it -- but it probably helps. :-)

(Ivory. Best image is at the bottom of the page.)

Comments

[keieeeye]

Man, looking on ebay, with postage included a Nook can be obtained for US$150 or so but a Pocketbook runs up at more like US$180. But, the Nook only handles pdf and epub, because it's a loser, and apparently page turns are slightly slower.

[zeborah]

Not looking at a Kobo at all? (I think it's NZ$199 but I don't know about postage, or if they're available in one of the remaining Whitcoulls stores here.) Don't know if it's possible to buy the Nook instore here somewhere, at an electronics store more likely than a bookstore.

If you do want the Pocketbook then don't get it on eBay - including postage it's US$170.49 from pocketbookreader.com! (+$20 if you want the extra memory card and wallcharger but I forewent those.) Hopefully mine will be here in a week ish and you can play.

I think ePub is the main format really (excluding Kindle stuff) and Calibre can do lots of conversions if you need, which might help if formats are the main thing holding you back.

[keieeeye]

Yeah on the Whitcoulls website they're NZ$199 with free shipping. Going through the three again I decided I preferred the Kobo to the Nook and eventually decided on that. I don't think I really need the extra formats that the Pocketbook offers and I do like the look of the Kobo. (In lilaaaaaaac.)

Apparently the Whitcoulls store on Cashel St has free WiFi for you to buy ebooks for your Kobo! Uhhhh.

[ajk]

If I was seriously looking for a dedicated ereader, I'd look very hard at Cybook. But that's just because of an aspect of its history. Didn't think to recommend it for the good reason that I have no actual experience with it.

[zeborah]

It probably would have lost out, given my idiosyncratic criteria, but it does look very nice - I'll remember it as a possibility in case anyone asks me for recommendations in future.

[zeborah]

Handy! Hey, and I've got a voucher for a sub from the Cashel Mall Subway store, so you could have lunch at the same time!

[green_knight]

Congrats on the new toy - hope it arrives soon.

I am currently experimenting with e-book conversion. Calibre, to put it frankly, sucks - the PDF-to-epub inserted a return at the end of every line, and the RTF-to-epub introduced a one-inch margin, which on an iPhone screen is not ideal.

I have an inkling that I'll be likely to create the files by hand - epub is a zip file and the contents are XHTML, and so far learning the syntax and creating a useful stylesheet once seems a better route than getting garbled code from an automatic conversion.