I've been contemplating buying an ebook reader for quite some time. I have found it very difficult to discern which product I should buy. Everyone seems to love the Kindle, or the Nook. However, I find it rather scary to limit my book buying ability to just one retailer. I want a device that does it all. I want the perfect device. With the number of devices that are coming out it's a daunting task to say the least. Instead of pondering to myself, I thought I would bring you along with me as I explore what's out there. A few times week I'm going to post an ebook reader and what I learned about it. This may take some time, so I hope you can join me as I plow through these readers in the coming weeks. The ultimate point of this journey is get me an ebook reader I can be happy with (you too for that matter). Once I have gathered enough info on a respectable number of devices I'll try and decide which one to buy. Once I have decided, I'll make my plea to The Asian Overlord (wife) and request it for my birthday.
So here we go. Today I've chosen one that I'd never heard of, but seems promising.
The Bookeen Opus
First one I'm going to talk about is the Bookeen Opus brought to by...ummm..Bookeen. Making ebook readers is apparently all they do. To start my research I went directly to the source www.bookeen.com and downloaded their "press kit". 81.8mb of pressy goodness, and it took an hour to download...wtf? My internet connection isn't that bad. Come on guys this is your one product, an hour for 80mb? Lets hope that every media outlet int he world is simultaneously writing an article on Bookeen and it's put a strain on their system. Anyway, besides the name making me think about penguins...here is what I found out.
Size: 4.2" x 6" x 0.4" That's just about twice the size of an iphone. I have an ipod touch and I like the ability to put in my pocket, but if you are wanting a supplement for an actual book, this seems a bit small
Display: The Opus uses the E-Ink® screen. Which means black and white, but has massive battery life. 8,000 page turns to be exact. There is no backlight, but that's pretty common.
Format it reads: HTML, Txt, PDF, Epub(adobe drm). That's not too bad. I wish it read microsoft's Lit format. That is pretty much the only one that is missing.
Cost: $250..ouch. The only thing that would make this reader really enticing would be a price you can't refuse. $250 is not that price. I'll just use an ipod touch and deal with the size and battery life. Plus there are a million other things you can do with an ipod touch.
Chance of me requesting this reader from The Asian Overlord: none
No comments:
Post a Comment