Digital Book Readers*

[muninnhuginn]

[ooh! a post and not just accumulated tweetings ;-) ]

I rather fancy a Kindle or the Sony whatsit. Just 'cos. I'm an unashamed, unrepentant gadget junkie.

I'm also a long-time wearer of tinted specs, because that way the words don't squirm on the too-white, too-reflective, page leaving irritating ghosts of themselves to make reading hard. (If you can't picture this, then remember what transmissions of overseas** test matches used to look like--pre-digital.)

I'm not the only one. Looby Loo has just acquired specs, with the barest minimum of tint. Her sight reading of piano music has improved overnight.

So, e-readers? Any good? Do they flicker? Can one change contrast? Is e-paper easier to read that a backlit screen? (Note neither I nor LL is bothered by the current generation of monitors: she uses an LCD screen quite happily; I read e-books without hesitation on my crappy old laptop.) Are they migraine-inducing?

And, maybe most important of all, can you change the background colour of the display? (Old books are more comfortable to read than new: cream/pale brown is less harsh than shiny white.) We're happy with black text on something, but would prefer the something not to be shiny white.

All knowledge being contained &c. I'd love to get some opinions.***

*They need a good name. Or is Kindle or something going to be the new Hoover?

** Cricket, that is.

*** Yup. I missed the panel at Eastercon: I was busy negotiating what time I was to be allowed to return to my hotel room. LL wants privacy these days.

Comments

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

The advantage of the dedicated e-book readers is that they only use energy when changing pages. The display requires no power to continue to show whatever page you are looking at. That means that they do NOT flicker.

I don't know if the contrast is adjustable, but they are monochrome and I suspect not.

BUT the contrast is not so good as an ordinary book. There is some reflection from the surface of the screen depending on lighting conditions. Maybe it is a bit like dealing with glossy paper - which gets on my nerves sometimes.

The Kindle I looked at had the page turn button on the top edge on the right, so when you pick it up with your right hand about 50 pages go past. Apart from that it was an object of desire.

Personally I prefer to read e-books on my pda, which I already have to hand nearly all the time, and I can at least adjust the brightness, but it uses energy all the time to run the backlight so battery life is nowhere near as good as for a dedicated reader.