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I found the E-Book Reader I want!
16 years ago
General
2009 was an odd year for me. I spent half of it waiting for my disability hearing, a couple months getting ready to get to the hearing itself, and the rest of it waiting for a result.
I've been unable to write anything worth the space it's taking up on my hard drive. I've been trying to polish the stories I've already written, but have been finding that difficult as well. I think one of my problems is that I haven't been reading nearly as much as I used to the last several years, and for me reading may be what primes the pumps.
Since 2007 I've wanted an E-Book reader, but haven't been able to afford one. Now I've committed to saving up for an Astak EZ-Reader Pocket Pro.
Amazon provides a digital bookshelf for their Kindle, which they then use as a bit on the bridle of their Kindle store. If you displease them you can lose access to all the books you've bought that are stored online. It's rare, but it's happened, so I don't want to risk it or support them with my money. Not to mention the idea that they can remove a book from your Kindle, as happened with Orwell's 1984 after a mistake was made with copyrights. (The book has gone into public domain in some parts of the world and was reprinted, but in the US there's still another 25 years on the copyright. The reprint was sold when it shouldn't have been, so Amazon removed the book from the Kindles of people who had bought it.) I find that prospect frightening, and it all stems from corporate abuse of Digital Rights Management.
Barnes and Noble appears to be following Amazon's lead with their e-book offerings, so I won't be reading from a Nook. Sony, as a company in general, appears to regard their customers as little more than bags of ambulatory cash. Sony Online Entertainment screwed up Star Wars: Galaxies by not listening to their customers. Sony Vaio at the outset was line of computers that were high on style and mediocre (or worse) on function. Sony Playstation 3, and then Sony Playstation Portable Go are both fine examples of a corporation deciding they know what customers want better than the customers themselves do, then overbuilding and over-marketing. I've learned that it's best to avoid Sony as a brand, so their E-Book reader is out as well.
Now, Astak's Reader (EZ Reader Pocket Pro is such a mouthful, and I've never liked things like EZ in place of Easy) looks like it has everything I've been looking for and then some. Hallelujah. It supports a wide range of either DRM-protected or DRM-free books (20 DRM-free formats according to their press release), that was my primary concern once everyone adopted e-ink screens. It has a SD card slot that will work with up to a 16GB card, meaning you can carry a ridiculous number of books with you wherever you go. It connects to the computer through USB, this seems like something obvious that most readers should have, but most of the service-attached devices (Kindle, Nook) do not have any means of input beyond your internet bookshelf, so that the user is tied to their service. Beyond that, it plays MP3s, lasts for (up to) 8000 page turns on one battery, and has a removeable/rechargeable so you can swap it out when it goes flat. Astak has worked with Adobe to allow their device to do what they're calling "PDF Reflow" which sounds impressive if it means they're using Adobe's algorithms to re-work PDFs for display on their 5-inch screen. And finally, it comes in Black, White, Blue, Red, Pink, and Purple. I think I want the red one.
I've been unable to write anything worth the space it's taking up on my hard drive. I've been trying to polish the stories I've already written, but have been finding that difficult as well. I think one of my problems is that I haven't been reading nearly as much as I used to the last several years, and for me reading may be what primes the pumps.
Since 2007 I've wanted an E-Book reader, but haven't been able to afford one. Now I've committed to saving up for an Astak EZ-Reader Pocket Pro.
Amazon provides a digital bookshelf for their Kindle, which they then use as a bit on the bridle of their Kindle store. If you displease them you can lose access to all the books you've bought that are stored online. It's rare, but it's happened, so I don't want to risk it or support them with my money. Not to mention the idea that they can remove a book from your Kindle, as happened with Orwell's 1984 after a mistake was made with copyrights. (The book has gone into public domain in some parts of the world and was reprinted, but in the US there's still another 25 years on the copyright. The reprint was sold when it shouldn't have been, so Amazon removed the book from the Kindles of people who had bought it.) I find that prospect frightening, and it all stems from corporate abuse of Digital Rights Management.
Barnes and Noble appears to be following Amazon's lead with their e-book offerings, so I won't be reading from a Nook. Sony, as a company in general, appears to regard their customers as little more than bags of ambulatory cash. Sony Online Entertainment screwed up Star Wars: Galaxies by not listening to their customers. Sony Vaio at the outset was line of computers that were high on style and mediocre (or worse) on function. Sony Playstation 3, and then Sony Playstation Portable Go are both fine examples of a corporation deciding they know what customers want better than the customers themselves do, then overbuilding and over-marketing. I've learned that it's best to avoid Sony as a brand, so their E-Book reader is out as well.
Now, Astak's Reader (EZ Reader Pocket Pro is such a mouthful, and I've never liked things like EZ in place of Easy) looks like it has everything I've been looking for and then some. Hallelujah. It supports a wide range of either DRM-protected or DRM-free books (20 DRM-free formats according to their press release), that was my primary concern once everyone adopted e-ink screens. It has a SD card slot that will work with up to a 16GB card, meaning you can carry a ridiculous number of books with you wherever you go. It connects to the computer through USB, this seems like something obvious that most readers should have, but most of the service-attached devices (Kindle, Nook) do not have any means of input beyond your internet bookshelf, so that the user is tied to their service. Beyond that, it plays MP3s, lasts for (up to) 8000 page turns on one battery, and has a removeable/rechargeable so you can swap it out when it goes flat. Astak has worked with Adobe to allow their device to do what they're calling "PDF Reflow" which sounds impressive if it means they're using Adobe's algorithms to re-work PDFs for display on their 5-inch screen. And finally, it comes in Black, White, Blue, Red, Pink, and Purple. I think I want the red one.
V.