# E readers or stick with ipad?



## praire_guy (Sep 8, 2011)

I have,an ipad and love it. In regards to ebooks I can read iBooks , kindle books, and Sony,reader books as well as library books. 

Basically download the ipad app and the ipad becomes what you need it to be. 

Problem is I saw my friends kindle and thought the reading experience was better than the ipad. 

So now I get a Sony reader for x mas and I can only read Sony book, not iBooks, or kindle books. Even importing PDF files to the reader is a chore. 

It sucks. I know there are ways to get around this but why should I have to? If the ipad can do it all why do the other readers lock you into their format? Wouldn't that be a selling feature to be able to read all formats?

I'm torn because I love the iPads ease of use but I enjoy the dedicated e reader screen for reading books. 

Any easy way to read kindle books or iBooks on the e reader?


----------



## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

This is why I love my iPad. I wanted an reader, but my techie spouse said that he didn't want to spend all his time converting formats with me. I believe talbot of the e readers are quite proprietary as hats how they make their dollars.


----------



## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

you can't read on an iPad at the beach, or on a nice sunny day outside - that's why we have both.

Nothing beats those e-ink screens, and formats aren't usually a problem if you use the public library systems. Pretty convenient.


----------



## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

One big disadvantage of the tablets as e-book readers is the weight. e-readers are much lighter to hold in one hand for hours.


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We have a Kobo, an iPad and an Android smartphone. We use them all for reading at different times. Kobo outside during the day, iPad and Android inside.


----------



## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I have kobo touch. It's great for long reading sessions in bed. No eye strain from looking at a glowing screen, and it is very light to hold in one hand. They are also very inexpensive. Kobo is a very open platform. The problem is playing in the walled gardens--don't let yourself get locked into Apple's or Amazon's ecosystem. Kobo has apps on every platform, and supports epub, the open ebook format. It also lasts for many hundreds of pages on a single charge, and a good month on standby, longer if you turn it off when not in use. Tablets are power thirsty...


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We lent our Kobo to a traveling friend when we separated with them in Europe. It lasted for 2 weeks without a recharge (I needed the charger for my Android). Great product for the price. Even does email/websurfing (although not well).


----------



## martinv (Apr 30, 2009)

We bought two Sony Ereaders this fall after trying them out for two weeks. Also tried a Samsung 7" tablet.
Preferred the light weight and easy to read screen of the ereaders.
You don't have to read only ebooks bought through Sony. 
There are lots of books out there that are legal to download and of course many that are not so legal.
If you have a PC here is how:
Download "Calibre" from the calibre.com. This a great ebook library organizer.
Create a new folder anywhere on you computer (except on your desktop) and call it ebooks or simply books or anything else as long as you remember that is where you want to download any ebooks to.
When you have an ebook in this folder you can add it to calibre by clicking on the "add books" icon in calibre.
It then shows up in your calibre library. With calibre open you can view the book or send it to your device (in your case the Sony ereader)via a USB cable.
The nice thing about calibre is that it can convert ebooks from one format to another automatically.
Basically, most of the world uses .epub files for ebooks (Sony uses .epub). Kindle uses .mobi but not to worry, calibre can convert .mobi to .epub easily for you.
It took me a while to figure this all out on my own but it works great.
We now have about 400 books on the ereaders. Will I read them all....well no, but there is always the delete button.
A final thought. We now both read more than ever because of the ease of use of the ereaders. The increase in font size is the best feature there is!


----------

