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By David Rothman

STAReBookThe Dear Author gals have sounded off on their choices for e-book devices, software and e-book publishers for romance readers.

At least in the first two categories—I plead vast ignorance on the third—Jane and Jayne make lots of sense even if I don’t agree with them entirely.

E-book hardware

Some possibilities in Jane’s article are:

(1) eBookwise machines for the budget-minded who want a backlight.

(2) The Sony Reader for people who want to read DRMed best-sellers on an E Ink machine (may the iLiad soon gain that capability!).

(3) The expected Baen Bar machine for E Ink fans (looking perhaps a little like the photo) who want the read books in HTML.

Warning: the ConvertLit and Amberlit programs mentioned in this section are not legal for typical e-bookers in the States, alas. Thank you, Hollywood (sarcasm alert).

(4) PDAs for use with different programs.

What’s more, as Ja(y)ne might add, PDAs have backlights for reading in many romance fans’ favorite place: bed.

In the PDA category, my favorite for the typical buyer is the Palm TX, which you can get used for less than $200, complete with built-in WiFi. Please note that DA does not mention specific PDA models.

Software

(1) Mobipocket.

(2) eReader

(3) Microsoft Reader.

I’d suggest that the gals watch Adobe Digital Editions, which will is in beta for PCs and Macs and soon will have a PDA version. As for software for pub domain works, the DA ladies like uBook.

For PalmTX folks, I’d rec the PalmFiction reader.

Publishers

Just a quick excerpt: “First, a Romance reader wants to read all the books available at e-publishers like Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, Liquid Silver, Triskelion, and Whiskey Creek Press and so on. These books are available in many formats. My preferred formats would be either ‘html’ or ‘lit.’ Second, a Romance reader wants to read all of the books released by NY publishers. These books are called ‘secure’ because they have a lock on them like iTunes songs have.”

 
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