Best eBook Readers
Some day soon we may reach the point where we have the ability to download and read books complete with illustrations, tables, the ability to mark up the text or any manner of other things just like we do with regular books. But the difference will be the ability to have several hundred or even several thousand books on a small tablet not much larger than a regular novel is today. Although we are moving in that direction, we are definitely not there yet... at least not for the majority of us.
While there are at least a dozen competing pieces of hardware for this market there are only three real contenders in the U.S. market - the Sony eReader, the Amazon Kindle, and the Barnes & Noble Nook. For the others there are various problems with lack of support, lack of marketing channels, lack of books available in a proprietary format, or any host of other problems. After examining several that I was either able to obtain or supplied by readers of the Readers Preference Reviews site all were eliminated as viable options except for the three mentioned. Note that I was unable to test the iRex iLiad or the Hanlin as they did not supply a test unit and noone among our readers actually possessed one. At nearly four times the street price for the Sony eReader it is easy to understand why the iLiad is not particularly popular. Although it seems to possess some features not found in other readers they are also not particularly important features to most readers.
The Sony, Kindle, and Nook eBook readers have come a long way and are continuing to evolve. Many things are so similar that they are not relevant issues in deciding which one is your best choice. They use the same display technology, are relatively easy to read even in bright sunlight, and have similar battery life.
I found the Sony and Nook to have a superior ergonomic design for the average person. The buttons are well placed and convenient without being in the way for normal use. With the Kindle it is easy to accidently change pages and several of the additional buttons were generally in the way no matter what you were doing. So while adding a function that some will find convenient on occassion it adds an inconvenience all the time. Of course the formats supported directly by each of the readers is different since each prefers their own proprietary format. However, Sony directly supports the most non-proprietary formats including BBeB eBook format, PDF, RTF, and TXT. It also directly converts Word documents to RTF during the transfer process to the device.
At this point in time any of these will be a good solution for reading a basic fiction novel. Just words and chapters with no index, footnotes, or other formatting works great on all of them. The Nook has the greatest number of books available to purchase with almost three times the number available for Kindle. The Sony has the smallest number of books available from Sony but supports the widest range of formats for purchase from other sources (except the proprietary Kindle format). With the Sony you have to download the book to a computer and then transfer it to the eReader instead of downloading it directly to the unit.
When it comes to non-fiction books the Nook is also the clear winner with Sony coming in second and Kindle a dismal third. The pdf support with the Kindle is generally not only annoying but also inadequate. Although you send the file to them and they return it in the correct format for the Kindle it often has formatting problems. On the other hand the Sony directly supports pdf files. But it has its problems too. Unless they have been created in a manner that allows the reformatting of text flow they generally end up with text that is so small that it is almost impossible to read. But the formatting is perfect. On the other hand, you can use free software like Calibre that allows you to convert the pdf file to Sony's format and it does an excellent job except when there are graphs or charts or illustrations. Sometimes it worked well and sometimes it did not. But it did end up in a format that you can enlarge and read easier. The Nook, on the other hand, had the most elegant support but it still is not there when it comes to graphs and charts and other non-text items.
In its attempt to differentiate itself from the others the Kindle seems to have lost its focus. New added features tend to be more on the social network area instead of improving itself as an ebook reader. With a web browser and the ability to send passages to facebook or twitter and similar it is heading off into an area that has little to do with reading. On the other hand, the Nook has added features like the ability to electronically lend a book to another Nook user, so I would tend to think that its continued focus on its primary user will result in better and better features.
The bottom line is most people who spend most of their time with works of fiction will generally be happy with any of them but might find the Nook the best based simply on the book selection. People who read the classics, non-fiction, and higher quality fiction works will generally prefer the flexibility of the Nook. Those who prefer the feel of a solidly built product will probably prefer the Sony (it just looks and feels sturdier). That being said, the industry still has a long way to go in terms of non-fiction books and many may want to wait to see what happens in the next iteration. But, if I had to purchase one today the Kindle would be my last choice as it continues going through its identity crisis, Sony would be second at least until it provides better support for graphs, charts and images in pdf files or similar, and Nook would be my first choice. The Nook has the largest book selection, the best support for technical books and their unique formatting needs (though still far from perfect), and the ability to lend a book to another Nook user on a temporary basis. This is by far the most promising product at this time.