There is an excellent mobilread wiki page which lists free ebook sites (royalty free as opposed to pirate ) as well as ebook lending libraries.
The Sony E-Reader will be available in Switzerland from 3rd April 2009.
Not for Mac users, though
Looks like I'll be waiting for the Kindle 2 which according to some rumours will be available in Europe towards the end of the year.
Shouldn't be a problem using the PRS-505 on a Mac , I don't actually use the bloated, amateur software Sony bundles... but a user community program called Calibre which is Mac compatible. Essentially all you need to do is buy the books and then drag and drop them onto the Reader, on a Mac it should show up as a portable drive.
With respect to the pricing, I would save 200CHF and get someone to buy you one from the Sony Store (Heathrow).
Liked the idea of saving money .. Who doesn't ?
Apart from Heathrow, anywhere else in Europe ?
Wherever you buy your Sony eReader from, you may care to note that books in the US Sony store are far, far cheaper than the UK Waterson's prices.
Just ignore the CD supplied with the UK Sonys Head on over to Sony's US eBook site Install the US eBook software from their download site You'll need a US address for your CC, try 13 Sunshine Drive, Beverley Hills, CA 90210! Buy books and enjoy! RS
I'm reading through the recommendations on e-readers. I've been thinking about buying the amazon kindle, but am concerned that it won't work outside the US (I'm still in the US and moving to Zurich in a few weeks). I know that the wireless net won't work so I won't be able to download books directly to the kindle. I think I'll still be able to download to my computer and then transfer. Has anyone had any experience with it?
You shouldn't have any problems transferring content to your Kindle. However I have to say that the killer feature on the Kindle is the wireless book/newspaper downloads. Without that, I would save the money and bulk and get a Sony 505.
Play.com are selling the SonyPRS- 505 for £149.99, which is an excellent price if you've got family in the UK.
Hi,
I'm new and just thought I'd share that I have the Hanlin v3 (e-ink)for an ebook reader. It's made by Jinke! (Chinese) but is actually rebranded all over the world and sold under other names depending on the country.
The Hanlin is awesome because it reads almost every format known to man. Format Support: PDF, DOC, WOLF, MP3, HTML, TXT, CHM, FB2, Djvu, PNG,
TIF, GIF, BMP, JPG, PPT, EPUB, LIT, PRC, MOBI. It also supports almost any language.
I got mine in April for my birthday and just love it. It's quite practical to use and it doesn't bother me to have the reader in my hands instead of a real book. The battery lasts a long time and Jinke sale extra batteries quite cheap. I ordered 3 with my original order just in case in a year or so I couldn't find them anymore.
Another eReader (still unnamed) will be on the market in Q1, 2010. It is much larger size than Kindle and the others. Size is 8.5" x 11" (more or less an A4 page). Multi format as well. Will work with AT&T in the USA. More focused on business needs/documents.
More info here on the company (USA/UK with production in D).
http://www.plasticlogic.com/index.php
Videos:
I got the Sony PRS-505 a few weeks ago and am very pleased. I'm a Mac user - the software you need is a freeware application called Calibre.
http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/
It's great for converting formats as well, so it's a handy app even if you have any other reader hardware too
For those who might be interested.
This Swiss website has the Sony PRS 600B on special today (within the limit of stocks).
Regular price CHF 459 for only CHF 349 + CHF 9 shipping .
More details on the reader from the Sony.ch website (F/D):
The reviews aren't great I'm afraid, mainly glare and poor contrast. The older PRS-505 with its matt, glass screen still provides the better reading experience.
I was never able to upgrade myself to any eReader gadget.
Somehow, It doesn't feel the same way as a book.
Anyway, from these review's, Sony PRS-600 is the way to go
Barnes and Noble just came out with an e-reader and is marketing it heavily-NOOK. I am not sure the availability internationally
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
I am still in the book camp - mostly as I am in the US now I use the public library heavily
" No. At this time, nook is not for sale outside the U.S. " B&N FAQ section
Just seen these in MediaMarkt in Basel for Sfr149 - seriously tempted....
Surprised I didn't bump into you Pat I've just returned from a lunchtime walkabout and also saw them at that price. There were only three left so I would say move quickly if you want one as the PRS-505 is discontinued. Anyway its a cracking deal, I paid almost double that a year ago for mine.
i bought the PRS-300 from amazon.co.uk for around £160 and love it!
i've already read 6 books on the device and once i get to 22 books, i'll have re-couped the cost of the device in savings on book purchases.
i go the low end model as it was small/pocketable and doesn't have a touchscreen (=glare problems).
i didn't bother installing the sony software, but instead installed Calibre and get tons of free ebooks from project gutenberg.
i reckon ebook readers will be a big hit this xmas and there'll be much better availability of ebooks.
I picked one up from mediamarkt in Basel for 149 as Pat mentioned. They must have got a new delivery as they had at least 40 yesterday.
Note these are all german versions only with all software and settings in german.
I went online and found instructions to reflash the firmware and now I have an english language version for half the price it is everywhere else