Comments on: A $155 used Web tablet vs. e-books’ Tower of eBabel: Shades of the old Cybook

By: Mark Apple

Mark Apple — Sun, 23 May 2010 11:33:19 +0000

Great David. I am always looking for cheap E-book alternatives. Some people are quite satisfied with reading on their hacked E-pods, that can run mobipocket 4.8 and e-book.

I still love my Cybook. I use it almost everyday. It seems to me that the newer E-ink devices are leaving out the most important features, like a dictionary.
Moreover,Wise in my opinion is: it is a great e- book solution.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Wed, 23 May 2007 19:35:23 +0000

Thanks, Ellen. Yes, I fondly remember my eBookman and wonder what it would have been like with a better screen. With Mobipocket, however, my Palm TX is pretty close to what you want, and it does a lot more than just read e-books. David

By: jkOnTheRun

jkOnTheRun — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:35:43 +0000

Windows CE Tablet as a book reader: lessons learned…

I’ve been following David Rothman’s self-made eBook reader for the past few weeks and thought now would be a good time to share his efforts. He has a number of posts regarding a Windows CE touchscreen tablet, the DT375, he bought used for $155; using…

By: Ellen Hage

Ellen Hage — Wed, 23 May 2007 12:03:33 +0000

Great review David. I am always scanning the Web looking for cheap E-book alternatives. I have a Vadem Clio that works well, but so far I haven’t found an older version of MS Reader for it. Some people are quite satisfied with reading on their hacked E-pods, that can run mobipocket 4.8 and ubook.

I still love my Cybook. I use it almost everyday. It seems to me that the newer E-ink devices are leaving out the most important features, like a dictionary, and adding features I don’t need, like MP3 capabilities.
I wish that instead of re-inventing, someone would just update one of the older e-book devices. My vote would be for the Ebookman. I think a color screen, rechargable battery, the addition of more reader software, and updated Mobipocket would be enough. Oh well, dreams are free.

Ellen

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Wed, 23 May 2007 04:14:55 +0000

But Jon, it does matter in the retail marketplace. Ideally Microsoft will at least let its reader read the IDPF format. As shown by its recent ad deal, Microsoft is getting into some content-related things, and if I were an entertainment conglomerate with a publishing arm, I would not want to be at Microsoft’s mercy on format matters. Too many Microsofty things tend to have hooks. – Thanks. David

By: Jon Noring

Jon Noring — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:17:02 +0000

Certainly it would be nice if Microsoft would embrace the IDPF “epub” standard, but it doesn’t really matter if they do or not. In my opinion, their format based on Vista (the “Presentation Foundation”) won’t go anywhere in the marketplace, especially for e-books.

And more importantly, all Windows’ OS allow third party applications, so companies like OSoft and Adobe (dotReader and Digital Editions, respectively) will port their “epub” reading systems to it.