This program was presented Monday, November 21st , at 6:00 PM, in the Lenawee County Library meeting room.
I. What are e-book readers?
ConsumerReports.org has an excellent review duplicated here with some annotations:
What are e-book readers anyway? They're portable devices, typically with 5-to-10-inch screens, primarily designed to display the digitized versions of printed books. They're typically quite light--mostly 8 ounces or so and up--and are about as thin as many smart phones. Prices typically range from $140 to $400, though some models cost $100 or so.
Most use technologies such as E Ink that rely on reflected ambient light to illuminate their screen. That gives them a relatively long battery life--thousands of page turns, or upward of a week or so in standby mode. Others, however, including virtually all color models, use the LCD screen technology of laptops and many phones. While such LCD screens generally produce type that's less crisp, and more difficult to read in bright light, they're backlit, and so are easier to read in dim light. (How electronic ink works)
E-book readers offer other capabilities, such as built-in music players, but they're designed primarily for reading. You select content and turn pages using buttons, bars, or (on touch-screen models) an onscreen swipe.
Can I read e-books on other devices? You can. The same e-book applications found on readers are also available for many smart phones, PCs, and Mac computers. Some tablet models such as Apple's iPad have their own e-book apps, too. But multipurpose devices are generally less suited to e-book reading than dedicated readers. Their LCD screens typically display type less crisply than reader screens, they run for hours on a charge rather than days, and they're more prone to wash out in bright light. (Amazon's PC Reader)
How do I get e-books onto my reader? They're typically downloaded directly from an e-book store maintained by the reader's manufacturer. Some readers come bundled with unlimited access to a 3G cellular network that allows wireless downloads from those stores wherever you have network coverage--a significant plus. Others allow wireless access via Wi-Fi, which may suffice for many people. A book typically requires a minute or less to download.
Many readers, like virtually all tablets, connect wirelessly only over a Wi-Fi connection to a home network or hotspot. Other units require you to connect the device to a computer to download content. Downloads using a USB cord and a computer are an option with all units, even wireless ones.
What do e-books cost? E-books can be less expensive than printed books. Prices typically range from free to $30 and up. New best-selling titles often cost less as e-books than as hardcovers. Many classic titles that are in the public domain cost only a few dollars or are available free from the Google Books database of more than 500,000 public domain titles. E-book retailers frequently offer free sample chapters. Amazon's books. Also, many Readers allows you to download e-books from libraries, like the Lenawee County Library. Use the DOWNLOAD Audio Books / eBooks link.
The selection of e-books on all the major devices is large and rapidly expanding. That said, not every printed book is available in e-book form and the e-book release is sometimes delayed somewhat, to maximize sales of hardcover editions.
Is other content available? Yes, most readers also allow you to buy magazines and newspapers, either as single issues (typically for prices comparable to buying their printed counterpart) or as subscriptions, which can cost less than subscribing to the printed versions.
Is an e-book reader right for you? E-book readers are much thinner and lighter than a single hardcover book, and can hold thousands of titles. Buying an e-book reader makes the most sense if you're a voracious reader or someone who often lugs books among several favorite reading locations.
A reader can also be a fine choice for the visually impaired. Type size can be enlarged, and a few models also allow fonts to be changed. Amazon Kindle models will even read text to you, albeit in a somewhat mechanical voice.
These devices, including Amazon Kindles, Sony Readers, and Barnes & Noble Nooks, focus primarily on displaying e-books and are all we include in our Ratings. Many also offer newspaper and magazine subscriptions as secondary capabilities that are compromised somewhat by their monochromatic screens. Many have black-and-white E Ink screens, and so offer decent or better type and long battery life, while others have LCD screens, with shorter battery life and less crisp type but the ability to reproduce color.
This type, which include such tablet computers as the Apple iPad, typically offer a color screen, supplemented on a few models by a second, monochromatic E Ink screen. They usually also have a full Web browser, where as dedicated readers may have none, or only a limited one.
E-book readers are portable devices, usually with energy-frugal black-and-white display screens optimized to show the electronic text of digital books. These electronic book readers typically have screens that are 6 inches in size--and thus larger than smart cell phones and smaller than most tablet computers. Tablets with full app stores and e-book apps, Web browsers, and more-robust processors and graphics capabilities typically offer more versatility but have shorter battery life and less readable type than single purpose e-book readers.
This small company makes a variety of electronics products, including the Libre Pro e-book reader.
Amazon's virtual online store opened in July 1995. Its
first piece of hardware, the Kindle, was released in November 2007. The
larger Kindle DX was announced in May 2009 and continues to be manufactured.
Kindle's third generation of e-readers (introduced in fall 2010) includes a
model with Wi-Fi/3G connectivity and a Wi-Fi only model. The Kindle
currently operates on 3G services in more than 100 countries. Kindle now
offers Wi-Fi/3G and Wi-Fi only "special offers" models that have
limited-time offers and ads on the screensavers and along the bottom of the
library. The fourth generation model (introduced in fall 2011) comes with a
5-way controller and is Wi-Fi only (with and without Special Offers). Other
2011 models introduced are the Kindle Touch (with and without Special
Offers, Wi-Fi only, and Wi-Fi/3G models). The third-generation Kindles have
been renamed "Kindle Keyboard." Also introduced is a Kindle Fire, which is a
Wi-Fi-only LCD color device for music, books, movies, and more.
Barnes & Noble's e-book reader, the Nook, the bookseller's first electronics device, entered the market in December 2009. In mid-2010, Barnes and Noble added a Wi-Fi only version of the Nook, and in November 2010 it added the Nook color, a model with a color LCD screen and Wi-Fi-only access and upgraded the software to read kids books, play games, read e-mail, and more. In 2011, Nook's Simple Touch no-frills reader was introduced and Wi-Fi access for downloading books. In late fall 2011, Nook's Simple Touch received a refresh with updated software. Also introduced is the Nook Tablet, which is a Wi-Fi-only LCD color device for music, books, movies, and more. Check out Staples. Also check out Barns & Noble.
The BeBook is manufacturered by Endless Ideas BV, a Dutch manufacturer of home and office electronics products.
This company first began to produce e-book readers for the European market in France in 2003 and has recently moved into the American market.
A company known mostly for its electronic dictionaries and language learning products, Ectaco was among the first of many companies to enter the e-book reader market. It produces a line of jetBook e-book readers.
A well-known name in the MP3 category of products, iRiver introduced its first electronic e-book reader in North America in 2011. Known as the Story HD, the device uses Google's Android operating system.
A Canadian company that has introduced its third-generation device, the Kobo eReader Touch. Using Wi-Fi only, it connects to its own bookstore, Kobobooks.com. In late fall 2011, Kobo introduced the VOX e-book reader, which is a Wi-Fi-only LCD color device for books, social reading, music, books, movies, and more.
Pandigital is well known for its digital photo frames, which it began shipping in 2006. In May 2010, it introduced its first e-book reader, the Pandigital Novel, a 7-inch color multimedia device with an Android operating system that incorporated the Barnes & Noble e-bookstore. While Plandigital has continued to introduce new e-book readers, it also has a line of 7- and 8-inch screens, which also run Android and include Barnes & Noble's e-bookstore.
Sony introduced its first electronic reader, the Librie, in Japan in 2003. In September 2006, its name was changed to the "Reader" and it was introduced in the U.S. Its 2011 model, the Reader Wi-Fi, is a new design that allows direct download from public libraries that are entirely wireless. Staples has one on sale.
Measured diagonally, screens range from about 5 to 10 inches. A 6-inch screen offers a good combination of adequate size and moderate price for most people. It will be small and light enough to slip into a handbag or briefcase.
A few devices sold primarily as e-book readers now have color, and more are expected within a year or so (along with many more multipurpose mobile devices that have e-book capability, such as tablet computers.) On some readers, you can use touch capability to help you choose content and turn pages.
A model with wireless 3G access offers the most flexibility for obtaining new content for the reader, but models with Wi-Fi-only access generally cost less. E-readers that must be connected to a computer can be the least convenient to use, but they are likely to be the lowest-priced. You'll have to choose between cost and convenience. In any case, don't expect to use 3G or Wi-Fi access to the Internet for much except downloading content from the e-reader's dedicated store. At best, readers have Web browsers that are very limited, and our testers have found most to be virtually unusable.
Readers vary in the clarity of type on their screens, and in the contrast between the type and the screen background--both important to readability. In addition, some models take noticeably longer to complete these page turns than others. There are also differences in how quickly competing readers are usable. While these devices' frugality with power means you can leave them on almost for days and even weeks without running the battery down, some models are a few seconds quicker to wake up from sleep mode, or a few minutes faster to boot up from off mode, than their competitors.
Books ordered from the reader's dedicated e-book store all come formatted for the device. Some readers, including the Barnes & Noble Nook, can also accept books from other e-book stores natively--that is, without the need to convert their format. Some such models, including the Nooks and Sonys, accept those formats with digital rights management provisions, too, which allows you to borrow e-books from some public libraries. They also typically support documents of other types, such as Word documents. Other readers are more limited in their support. With Kindles, for example, Word documents and photos in jpeg format must be sent to Amazon for conversion before they can be loaded.
Most readers have the capability to be a basic MP3 player or basic digital photo frame. Virtually every reader brand has other distinctive capabilities. Kindles can read content aloud, in a somewhat mechanical voice. You can lend e-books from Nooks. Some Sonys allow you to handwrite notes or even drawings, using a stylus.
V. Consumer Reports Recommendations: Expect great sale prices before Christmas.
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