Below you'll find the E-reader review in progress by the Mann e-reader group. A Word version as of April 5, 2010 is attached below.
From Dan McKee:
"For those interested in eBook usage in the classroom, Princeton has recently posted the report on their pilot project testing the use of Kindles for course readings. You can see the reports (full and summary versions) here: http://www.princeton.edu/ereaderpilot/
The executive summary states: The goal of printing less in the pilot courses was achieved: pilot participants printed just over half the amount of sheets than control groups who did not use e-readers. The classroom experience was somewhat worsened by using e-readers, as study and reference habits of a lifetime were challenged by device limitations. This pilot suggests that future e-book manufacturers may wish to pay more attention to annotation tools, pagination, content organization, and in achieving a more natural "paper-like" user experience. In summary, although most users of the Kindle DX were very pleased with their "reading" experiences with the Kindle, they felt that the "writing" tools fell short of expectations, and prevented them from doing things easily accomplished with paper.
Comparison of E-Readers
| Apple iPad | Apple iTouch iPod Touch | Amazon Kindle 2 | Amazon Kindle DX | Kindle WiFi | Barnes & Noble Nook | Sony Daily Edition | Sony Touch | Plastic Logic Que proReader | |||||||||
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Link | iPad iTouch | Kindle 2 (older 2nd gen) | Kindle DX | Reader Touch PRS-600SC | ||||||||||||||
Available | March (WiFi only) April (WiFi/3G) Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | Now | Mid-April Now | ||||||||||
Price | WiFi: $499-699 3G/WiFi: $629-829 | $199/$299/$399 | $259 $189 | $489 | $259 | $399 | $300 | $379 | $139 wifi/$189 wifi + 3G | $149 WiFi | $299 | $169 WiFi/4GB: $649 WiFi/3G/8GB: $799 | ||||||
Size | .5 inches thick | 4.3x2.4x.33 in. | 8 x 5.3 x 0.36 inches | 10.4 x 7.2 x 0.38 inches | 7.5" x 4.8" x 0.335" | 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches | 8.13 x 4 x 19/32 inches | 6.9 x 4.8 x .4 inches | 8.5 x 11x .33 inches | |||||||||
Weight | 1.5 lbs. | 4 oz. | 10.2 oz. | 18.9 oz. | 8.5 oz. | 12.1 oz. | 12.75 oz. | 10.1 oz | ||||||||||
Screen Size | 9.7 inches | 3.5 in. | 6 inches | 9.7 inches | 6 in. | 6 inches | 7.1 inches | 6 in. | 10.5 inches | |||||||||
Display | Backlit IPS Color |
| Grayscale | Grayscale | Grayscale reading, color nav | Grayscale and color versions | Grayscale | Grayscale | ||||||||||
Touchscreen/Rotate | Yes/Yes | Yes/Yes | No/Manual | No/Yes | No/Yes | Yes/No | Yes/Yes | Yes/? | ||||||||||
Battery Life | 11 hours | 30 hrs audio; 6 hrs video | 7 days with wireless Whispersync on | 7 days with wireless Whispersync on | 3 weeks with wireless on; one month w/wireless off | 10 days/8 hours for Nook Color | 7 days with wireless on | 2 weeks/6,800 (ePub) Continuous page turns; 7,500 (BBeB Book) Continuous page turns | N/A | |||||||||
Storage/Expandable | 16GB; 32GB; 64GB/No | 8 GB; 32 GB; 64 GB/No | 2GB/No | 4GB/No | "doubled storage"/No | 8GB 2GB/Yes (microSD) | 1.6GB/Yes (Memory Stick Duo/SD) | 512 MB/Yes (~ 380MB Dual Memory Card Expansion Slots for Memory Stick PRO Duo™ and SD Card™ up to 16GB) | 4GB; 8GB/No | |||||||||
Input | Touchscreen/Soft keyboard (wireless keyboard available) | Touchscreen/virtual keyboard | Keyboard | Keyboard(kind of hard to use and "joystick" feature not as easy as touchscreen) | Keyboard(kind of hard to use and "joystick" feature not as easy as touchscreen) | Touchscreen/Virtual keyboard | Touchscreen/stylus/virtual keyboard | Touchscreen/stylus/virtual Keyboard | Touchscreen/Virtual Keyboard | |||||||||
Wireless/Bluetooth | 3G through AT&T/WiFi3G plans: up to 250MB, $15; unlimited $30. No contract. Verizon plans | WiFi/Bluetooth | Units sold through Oct. 22, Sprint 3G; Now 3G/roaming through AT&T/NO No | 3G (Whispernet/SprintAT&T) | 3G (Whispernet/AT&T) /WiFi | 3G (AT&T)/WiFi No | 3G (AT&T)/WiFi /Bluetooth | No | ||||||||||
International (as of around 4/10) | No deals yet; 3G unlocked |
| 3G Roaming (AT&T) | 3G Roaming (AT&T) |
| No | No | No | ||||||||||
Native Formats | EPUB; Audible; Kindle (through app); iTunes;additional formats NA additional formats through apps (including Kindle, Nook, Google eBookstore, Stanza, etc) | EPUB; Audible; Kindle (through app); B&N Nook (through appadditional formats through apps (including Kindle, Nook, Google eBookstore, etc); other ebook readers like Stanza ; etc | Kindle (AZW), Native PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC | Kindle (AZW), Native PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC ; Native PDF | Kindle (AZW), Enhanced Native PDF, TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC | EPUB, eReader, Google eBookstore; PDFs, MP3s, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP. | EPUB, Google eBookstore, PDF, JPEG, BBeB, TXT, RTF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP , MP3, AAC | EPUB, PDF, Google eBookstore, BBeB, TXT, RTF, Word, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, MP3, AAC Native PDF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, BMP, ePub, and TXT; Will work with Office, HTML via Que software | ||||||||||
Platform | Open to approved third-party developers | Open to approved third-party developers | Closed now but SDK has been released for upcoming beta and store with approved third-party developers | Closed now but SDK has been released for upcoming beta and store with approved third-party developers |
| Closed | Closed to developers; open in terms of multi-format, non-DRM use. | Closed to developers; open in terms of multi-format, non-DRM use. | Closed | |||||||||
Browser | Safari | Safari | Yes (experimental) in U.S., Japan. NA in most countries. | Yes (experimental) | Yes (experimental) No | No | No | No | ||||||||||
Available Content | Number of iBookstore titles N/A; Kindle Store; iPhone apps |
| "Over 150,000" iBookstore titles; and other ebookstore content through apps; access to public libraries through OverDrive; public domain | "Over 150,000" iBookstore titles; and other ebookstore content through apps; access to public libraries through OverDrive; public domain | More than 750,000 ebooks, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and popular games & active content (Numbers vary internationally); public domain | More than 750,000 ebooks, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and popular games & active content 400,000-plus books, more than 130 newspapers & magazines, 8,000 blogs (Numbers vary internationally) 400; public domain | More than 750,000 -plus books, more than 130 newspapers & ebooks, newspapers, magazines, 8,000 blogs blogs, and popular games & active content (Numbers vary internationally) | 350,000 books for sale, public domain; about 30 newspapers, magazines. Google Books brings titles to 1 million | Includes public domain, access to public libraries through OverDrive | Includes public domain, access to public libraries through OverDrive 350,000 books for sale, public domain | ||||||||
Bookstore | iBookstore; Google eBookstore; any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | iBookstore; Google eBookstore; any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | The Kindle Store iBookstore | The Kindle Store | The Kindle Store | Barnes and Noble eBookstore, Google Books eBookstore | Sony eBook Reader Store (converting to EPUB this year), Google Books eBookstore, Borders eBooks, any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | Sony eBook Reader Store (converting to EPUB this year), Google Books | QUEreader.com (powered by Barnes & Noble); periodicals from Dow Jones, others. | Books, Borders eBooks, any store that sells ePUB or PDF versions of ebooks | ||||||||
Book Sharing | Across devices, apps on same account | Across devices, apps on same account | Between devices, Kindle apps on same acct.; 14 day book lending coming "later this year" | Book Sharing | N/A |
| Between devices, Kindle apps on same acct.; 14 day book lending coming "later this year" | Between devices, Kindle apps on same acct.; 14 day book lending coming "later this year" | 14 days on many titles | No | No | No | ||||||
Microphone/Speakers | Yes/Yes | Yes/No | No/Yes | No/Yes |
| No/Yes | No/Yes No/No | No/No | ||||||||||
Archive | Apple iTunes (local) | Apple iTunes (local) | Amazon (in the cloud) | Amazon (in the cloud) | Amazon (in the cloud) | Barnes & Noble | Sony | Sony | ||||||||||
Annotation Plastic Logic | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Y | Y | ||||||||||
Highlighting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
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Ease of movement between books |
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Y | Y | |||||||||||||||||
Formatting and page locations/ease of citation |
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| Resizeable font and page locations on iBookstore titles; resizeable font and page numbers as well with Google ebooks | Resizeable font and page locations on iBookstore titles; resizeable font and page numbers as well with Google ebooks | Resizeable font but only percentage of books not page locations | Resizeable font but only percentage of books not page locations | Resizeable and expanded selection of fonts but only percentage of books not page locations |
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Individual registration/sign in | Yes |
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| Yes | Yes and can create group account | Yes and can create group account | Yes and can create group account |
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Resizeable fonts | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||||||
Screen Resolution | ? | 480 x 320 pixels (163 ppi); | 600 × 800 pixels (167 ppi) | 825 × 1200 pixels (150 ppi) |
| 600 × 800 pixels (167 ppi) | 600 x 1024 pixels | 600 × 800 pixels | ||||||||||
Shades | ? | ? | 16 | 16 |
| 16 | 16 | 8 | ||||||||||
Integrated Dictionary | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||||||||||
User-replaceable battery | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y? | Y? |
| Directory Organization Capability |
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Text-to-Speech/Accessibility | Y | Y | Y (experimental) | Y (experimental) | Y (experimental and now voice menus for accessibility) | N | N | N |
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Operating System | Mac iPhone/Touch | iOS 4 (like iPhone) | iOS 4 (like iPhone) | Linux Mac iPhone/Touch | Linux | Linux | Android/Linux | Montavista Linux | Montavista Linux |
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Platforms | Apple iPad | Apple iTouch | Amazon Kindle 2 | Amazon Kindle DX |
| Barnes & Noble Nook | Sony Daily Edition | Sony Touch | ||||||||||
Springer ebooks and articles |
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| PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | Enhanced Native PDF support (dictionary, notes, etc) |
| Y | Y | |||
Elsevier ebooks and articles | PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support |
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| PDFs through GoodReader or other PDF apps; with iOS 4 iBooks now has integrated PDF support | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | PDFs can be formatted as AZW through email conversion or transferred via USB | Enhanced Native PDF support (dictionary, notes, etc) |
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Google Books eBookstore and Scholar |
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| (depending on publisher restrictions) | Y | Y | Scholar: yes, depending; eBookstore: no | Scholar: yes, depending; eBookstore: no | Scholar: yes, depending; eBookstore: no | Y | Y | Y | ||
Internet Archive | Y |
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| Y | Y except EPUB versions | Y except EPUB versions | Y except EPUB versions | Y | Y | Y | ||||
CUL collections | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | depends on format (Y for PDF) | Y | Y | ||||||||||
Ebrary |
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My iLibrary |
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NetLibrary |
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Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | Y but dependent on publisher and institution limits (10 pgs/PDF per download) | |||||||||||
NetLibrary | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | N (though with forthcoming EBSCO integration it looks like 60 PDF pgs at a time can be downloaded) | Hathi Trust |
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Books 24/7/Safari |
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Overall Rating |
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Based on Comparing E-Readers | January 2010, first published Jan. 29 and was last updated at 10:30 p.m. ET Jan. 31. // Edited by Staci D. Kramer. Based on manufacturer information, additional reporting.http://paidcontent.org/table/e-reader-comparison-chartand Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e-book_readers and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_formats
Other readers/mobile devices to possibly consider in the future:
- Samsung Galaxy Tab: http://galaxytab.samsungmobile.com/
- BlackBerry Playbook: http://us.blackberry.com/playbook-tablet/
- Aluratek Libre
- Entourage eDGe
- HP Slate: 8.9" screen; runs full Windows 7(no Apple Store approval process); NY Times reports 6" Slate running Android coming as well; can run Kindle app
- Dell Mini5/Streak: launching in summer; Android-based with 5" screen (larger than iTouch and iPhone); no Kindle or Nook app for Android but other ebook apps for non-DRM books (Overdrive possibly available)
- Google Chrome OS (maybe by winter)
Children Display