Portable eBook Readers

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Barnes and Noble Nook WiFi eBook Reader Best Price
B&N NOOK eBook eReader (Wi-Fi) BNRV100 read anywhere, is Android based and has 2GB internal storage, 6 inch screen, PDF Readers, expandable memory microSD slot, Micro USB 2.0 cable, AC adapter, installed rechargeable…

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The recent surge in the popularity of both e-books and e-book readers has been heavily influenced by Amazon. The Amazon Kindle reader first appeared on the market in November of 2006 and further updates followed with the release of the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and the launch of the third generation Kindle in August 2010. The large display Kindle DX was released in the summer of 2009 and also had an upgrade in August 2010.

Many business analysts forecast that, regardless of Amazon’s influential role in the development of the e-book and e-book reader market, the release of Apple’s iPad would effectively kill off the Kindle. However, after the launch of the third generation Kindle – accompanied by a reduction in the retail price – Amazon has sold out of their readers again. Demand seems to be holding up, and then some, for what is now Amazon’s best selling item.

Some people have accepted e-books quite readily. Others seem to remain attached to traditional physical books. However, for the majority of people the convenience of being able to carry large quantities of reading material around with them, coupled with the ease of operation offered by e-book readers, has turned out to be an attractive proposition. Recent e-book reader price cuts, prompted or at least hastened by the launch of the iPad, have made e-book readers more attractive to many consumers.

Amazon recently confirmed that they are now selling more Kindle books than traditional hardback editions. The low selling priced e-books – they use no paper or ink and have no delivery fees to speak of after all – certainly helps. It can’t be very much longer before e-books begin to outsell paperbacks.

As well as the price, the ease with which e-books can be bought is another influencing factor. Readers can download a book to their Kindle in under a minute, whatever the time of day, just as long as they can connect to the Amazon Kindle store.

One possible stumbling block for many readers was a reticence to be “tied” to any particular e-book reader. This issue has been very effectively addressed by Amazon who have released a large number of free “apps” to allow Kindle books to be read on a wide range of different devices. Currently, Kindle books can be read on the Mac, the PC, the iPhone, the iPad, the Blackberry smart phone and any device which uses the Android operating system. It’s a clever move on Amazon’s part. Not only does it address customer’s concerns about being tied to one particular brand of hardware but every new app acts as a separate retail outlet for Amazon’s massive selection of Kindle books. At the moment, around about 20% of all Kindle book sales are estimated to be aimed at non-Kindle hardware.

It looks as if portable ebook readers are here for the long term and that they will gradually begin to account for a higher and higher proportion of book sales. It also seems probable that Amazon will continue to be a driving influence in the world of digital publishing in future.

Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise and protect your reader.

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It’s been a long time coming – or at least that’s how it feels – but Amazon has finally unveiled its new, upgraded and enhanced Kindle electronic reader. Christened the third generation Kindle by Amazon – but more likely to be known as the Kindle 3 – there are a variety of improvements.

The new features of the Kindle 3 seem likely to press all the right buttons for e-book reader fans. It keeps the same 6″ e-ink technology screen, but the display’s contrast has been improved by 50%, which should make reading even better. Page turn speed, already good in the Kindle 2.0, has been made 20% faster.

The overall dimensions of the reader are shrunk by 21% and the weight is a mere 8.7 ozs – 15% lighter. With the Wi-Fi turned off, the battery will now last for a month – even with the Wi-Fi on, a 10 day life is achievable. On board storage capacity has been increased from 2 to 4 GB, enough for approximately 3,500 books. So the new Kindle is lighter, smaller, easier to read, has an extended battery life and allows users to carry a small personal library with them wherever they go. What more could you ask for from a mobile reader?

For many, a color screen would have been one item on their wish list. However, whilst Amazon have been working on a color e-ink technology display, it is not ready for commercial release at the moment. Perhaps this might be incorporated in the next Kindle 4 release. There is no SD slot available for memory expansion, something which some users may also have liked to see. Nevertheless, considering that the memory capacity is now at 4GB, most people won’t suffer too greatly as a consequence of this.

In addition to the various upgrades, Amazon have reduced the price and introduced a new Wi-Fi only model for those who don’t see the need for a 3G connection. Just $ 139 will get you the new entry level Wi-Fi only model, with the 3G plus Wi-Fi version available for$ 189. The new Kindle 3 now comes in graphite, the same as the new DX model, in addition to the original white color.

Amazon has also opened a dedicated UK Kindle store on their British website. UK customers will no longer need to get their Kindles shipped from the States. To begin with the UK Kindle store will have 400,000 Kindle books available. It seems reasonable to suppose that Amazon may consider opening other dedicated Kindle stores for its other “local” websites in France, Germany etc. in the future.

The Kindle 3 seems to be in high demand. Potential customers currently face a 4 week wait before their readers are shipped. It does start to look as if reports of the Kindle’s imminent demise at the hands of Apple’s iPad were somewhat premature. The new upgrades, the lower prices and the fact that there is no monthly payment for connectivity, will be very appealing to many consumers. It looks as though the launch of Amazon’s new Kindle 3 may serve as a timely reminder of just how influential the company is, and will continue to be, in the world of books in general and e-books in particular.

Learn more about the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.

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Amazon is enjoying great success with its latest third generation Kindle reader right now. An upgrade – which includes a new display with 50% better contrast, a new smaller and lighter body, quicker page turns and a doubling of memory capacity from 2GB to 4GB – accompanied by a price cut and the introduction of an entry level Wi-Fi only model, has seen demand for the Kindle reader really take off.

Currently, the new upgraded Kindles are out of stock and prospective customers face a wait of three to four weeks before any new ones start shipping. Kindle books are now selling more than conventional hard cover editions on a regular basis. It can only be a matter of time before e-books begin to sell more than paperbacks.

Amazon has also launched a dedicated UK Kindle store so that UK customers no longer need to have their Kindles shipped across the Atlantic and can pay for their Kindle purchases in their local currency. It seems reasonable to assume that similar “local” Kindle stores will be opened for other Amazon international websites such as France, Japan, Germany etc. in the relatively near future.

Just at the moment, everything seems to be coming up roses for Amazon. Although many industry analysts predicted that the release of the Apple iPad would sound the death knell for the Kindle, there is little evidence to suggest that this is, in fact, the case. Amazon’s policy of releasing free “apps” to allow Kindle books to be read on a variety of different devices looks to be paying dividends. So, considering what a huge success they have had with their first manufactured product, it’s probably no surprise that Amazon is reported to be considering developing prototypes for consumer gadgets other than the Kindle in their Lab 126 research facility.

Amazon has made no comment on what they may, or may not, be developing, but it has been suggested that they may be looking at mobile phones and music and/or movie players. However, industry watchers suggest that, if Amazon wanted to enter the market with another gadget, then they would need to ensure that they add value rather than simply releasing another piece of personal electronic tech onto the market.

A great deal of the success of the Kindle reader must be attributed to Amazon’s strong association with books and reading in general. The massive choice of Kindle books on offer – more than 630,000 and increasing every day – and the fact that these can be read on so many other devices has been a real feather in Amazon’s cap. Any new gadget that Amazon decided to launch would probably need some similar type of support in order to achieve anything approaching the level of success enjoyed by the Kindle.

Discover the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you customise and enhance your reader.

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Right now, Amazon is having a busy time of it. They have just announced the upgrade of their massively successful Kindle 2.0 and Kindle DX readers and pre-order rates are very high at the moment. Stock levels of the third generation 6″ Kindle are depleted and consumers are now pre-ordering to get their Kindle shipped, on a first-come-first-served basis, within four to five weeks.

This latest upgrade includes a higher contrast display, more memory, quicker page turns and color choice of graphite or white . The 6″ display version has had its overall dimensions reduced by 21% and is 15% lighter, at 8.7 oz. Amazon has also released an entry level Wi-Fi only model of the 6″ display Kindle for customers who do not foresee the need for a 3G connection.

All of this is accompanied by a price drop. The 6″ Kindle version Wi-Fi only model retails at $ 139, with the 3G plus Wi-Fi model on sale for $ 189. The large format Kindle DX model is now available for $ 379. These represent significant price reductions over the Kindle 2.0 launch $ 359 price and the recent DX model price of $ 489.

A great deal has been made of the impact of the Apple iPad on Kindle reader sales. It seems likely that the launch of the Apple iPad has prompted, or at least hastened, the latest round of e-book reader price reductions. However, the above prices are considerably lower than the entry level iPad price and, for a lot of customers, the fact that 3G is available with no monthly fee will be seen as a very positive aspect of the Kindle price plan.

As well as the upgrades to the hardware and the price reductions, a dedicated UK Kindle store will be launched for the first time. Consumers in the UK will no longer require to have their Kindles shipped across the Atlantic. The UK Kindle store launches in August 2010 and will, in the first instance, have around 400,000 Kindle books available. It seems probable that other Amazon websites could have their own Kindle stores soon and that customers will be able to purchase their Kindles locally.

The recent price drop in the e-book reader market may be an indication that the market, although still relatively young, is maturing. Lower hardware prices will shift the emphasis from hardware sales towards the sale of the e-books themselves. Amazon, who have an interest in the sales of both hardware and books may be better placed than companies who are primarily concerned with hardware manufacture and sales. Whatever the future brings, and it seems likely that the future of reading will have a strong digital element, Amazon seem likely to remain a very influential player in the development of the market.

Check out the Amazon Kindle for yourself and view the wide range of Kindle accessories available to help you personalise your reader.

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• Interesting Kindle 3, eReader updates and news (ireaderreview.com)

Will Portable Ebook Readers Explode In Popularity Like The Ipod?

It seems that MP3 players like the iPod have always been popular. Walk around any town and you’re likely to see people, young and old, with the familiar white earbuds in their ears. Since our society is moving to such a digital and downloadable format, can we expect the same thing to happen with books?

If you have a look at Amazon’s Kindle web page or Sony’s Sony Reader web page, the answer is quite clear. There are some companies that are pulling hard for wider usage of digital books. If you look at the sales numbers, however, the answers aren’t so clear. Physical book sales make up the vast majority of book sales in total.

It seems that the majority of those who read books aren’t quite ready to totally make the switch. This might be because they prefer the feel of having a book in their hands, they aren’t ready to fork over the money for some of the higher priced machines, or they are just wary of investing in technology when what they are using now is ‘working fine.’

Still, it did take a while for MP3’s to take off as well. Once they did, they REALLY did. If those past trends are any indication, it’s what we can expect this time around as well. Part of the reason for that is because there are so many great features that come along with reading via ebook.

For one thing, you can store an awful lot of books on those devices. The space-saving feature alone is worth it for many people. You can also factor in the cost savings. Once you’ve purchased the device you can save a lot of money by buying digital versions of books rather than physical versions. It’s also great because instead of waiting until you can find the time to go to the store, you can have what you want in just a few clicks.

Using an ebook reader stocked with ebooks is also easier to travel with. They are far more useful for business meetings, quick reference in class, and for pulling out when you find that spare minute to read. Every book you need is literally right there at your fingertips instead of back on a bookshelf somewhere where you can’t access them all the time.

Is this enough for most people to make the switch? It probably will be in the future. As more books become available and more advanced (and less expensive) devices make their way onto store shelves you can expect it to become more mainstream. Thought, it’s not exactly like the industry is hurting now! The costs of selling ebooks is insanely low, which benefits companies and consumers.

Some people will want to buck the trend for sure. There is something nostalgic about the smell of old library books. Still, convenience, cost, and the ‘cool’ factor usually trump things like nostalgia. As our world becomes more and more digital, book lovers will likely make the leap as well.

Are you ready to take the leap into the digital book world? Get reviews of the hottest portable ebook readers here to see which device is best for you. Be sure to take a look at the kindle vs sony ebook reader comparison as these are the two most popular devices currently available.

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As a youngster, I remember waiting for my allowance every month so that I could purchase my favourite new book at my local bookstore. Nothing delighted me more than escaping the nuisances of the real world by curling up in my bed and flipping page after page to continue the fantasy world.

Books are important, especially for young people and the only way to improve literacy. For this reason, e book readers are equally important in today’s world.

The world of books can often be intimidating, especially for young adults. However, e book readers are an important technological marvel that can deliver hundreds of books within minutes at your fingertips.

In case you didn’t know, most e book stores will offer you trials or free book downloads. This makes for a great bonus if you want to download free “books” to your reader.

There are several reasons to justify purchasing an e book reader but to start with, why not the gift of literacy with a touch of convenience? You or your loved ones can download books in a matter of seconds. Your children can take a reader to the poolside, read a book using a reader at the beach, or on a summer family trip.

Also consider purchasing an e book reader to lighten the load on your bag. Why carry tons of books when you can download them onto a powerful digital reader that weighs almost nothing? This will greatly lighten the load on your back and spare you from back pain.

E book readers are for everyong, adults and young people alike. Whether you’re into technology or not, this amazing invention will bring out the love for reading.

As parting words, if you don’t know which digital reader to purchase, begin your search with the Kindle or one of Sony readers!

Chris Jacksom loves everything technology. He is a geek that loves to fiddle with hardware and software and loves to spread passion about about books and e book readers in real life or on his website.

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If you think there’s no way you could ever get used to curling up with an portable ebook reader, you haven’t given the Kindle digital ebook reader a chance. Load up a good book and you’ll soon forget you’re reading plastic rather than paper. You’ll also wonder how you ever did without it. The Kindle portable ebook reader makes buying, storing, and organizing your favorite books and magazines effortless. You can take your entire library with you wherever you go and switch from reading the latest New Yorker to the latest best-seller without rolling out of bed. In my few days using it, I was won over: The Kindle reader is the future of publishing. The best ebook reader device.

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5 Reasons Why Portable Ebook Readers Are Better Than Traditional Books

Ebook readers are gaining in popularity with each passing day-and for good reasons! The technology has improved at incredible speeds over the last few years, and consumers are reaping the benefits. The benefits to owning these readers are enormous and you can’t help but fall in love with these devices after learning more about them.

Benefit #1: Carry Your Whole Library

The first benefit is that you can take nearly any book you could ever imagine wanting or needing with you in one paperback-sized package. That means no matter where you are, you’ll have the books you need for reference or pleasure reading. This is a huge, huge benefit that can’t be stated enough.

Benefit #2: Super Lightweight

The next benefit you’ll really love is that the latest editions of the most popular ebook readers are very lightweight. In fact, they are generally around 10 ounces or so. That means they are not only the same size as your favorite paperback novel, they are around the same weight as well. You won’t get any strain on your wrists and you can have just as pleasant a reading experience as you’ve ever had.

Benefit #3: Easy Access

A benefit you really can’t overlook is the ease with which you can buy new titles. Gone are the days where you had to hop in your car, dig through the bookshelves at the store, and wait in line. These days you can click a few buttons and have the exact book you want delivered to your computer or ebook reader instantly. That kind of service just can’t be beat.

Benefit #4: Customized Reading Experience

Have you ever been reading a book but gave up because the typeface was too small? Or, have you ever gotten to a part that was good and lost your page? Both of these issues can be very frustrating, and both of them are solved when you use an ebook reader. You can easily change your reader to display in a larger font. Also, most of the great book readers out there will automatically save your place for you, as well as allow you to electronically ‘dog-ear’ pages. These are just two of the many features you can customize on your reader.

Benefit #5: Easy to Use

Many people are afraid of devices like these because they fear it will be too difficult to use. That’s not the case at all with the ebook readers that are on the market these days. They are very intuitive and styled so that even someone who is new to using such technology could figure it out with just a small learning curve. After all, there should be nothing difficult about getting connected to the books you want to read!

Clearly, there are a large number of benefits that come along with owning an portable ebook reader. These benefits are so strong that it’s easy to see why they are becoming more and more popular.

If you’ve never considered getting one of these portable ebook readers before, now is definitely the time!

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Check out these Portable Ebook Reader images:

iRiver Story eBook Reader Review

Image by Andrew Mason
Posted via email from Coder on Fire. Blog

iRiver Story Portable eBook Reader

Image by Andrew Mason
Posted via email from Coder on Fire. Blog

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Increase in the Demand for Portable Ebook Readers

The new wave of electronic book readers allows people on the move to take their favorite books and magazines along with them. Digital format certainly weighs less than an equivalent stack of books.  In addition, the convenience of being able to gain access to the latest best seller or desired reading while on the move is undisputed. Amazon’s Kindle design and Sony make the most popular portable Ebook readers at present.

Advantages of Ebook Readers

The typical electronic book reader will hold as many as 200 books, so you can carry almost all of your home library along with you in convenient form. The electronic book reader often ways only a few ounces, so it is easy to tuck into a purse or suitcase.  The titles that are available on the New York Times Best Sellers’s list can be purchased as an ebook so that you always know the latest best read.  Because you don’t have to be connected to a computer in order to take advantage of the reader, you can read whenever you have a few minutes to spare. When you find a book you want to read, you simply download the book in digital format.  It only requires a minute or so and you can be reading your favorite classic.

Using the Portable Ebook Reader

The convenience of the lightweight electronic book reader has already been described.  There are other features of the typical reader that make it a ‘must buy’ for anyone who loves to read. For example, the size of the font can be adjusted so that persons with vision limitations can still take advantage of the convenience of the ebook reader.  Once the optimum size has been determined, the font can be selected as the default size. Ease of use is another reason to make use of a electronic book reader.

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The Bookeen eBook reader series now includes the 6 inch Cybook Gen 3 and the very portable and stylish 5 inch Cybook Opus.

Cytale were pioneers in the ebook reader and were the first European company to make a dedicated ebook reader in 1998. Cytale failed in 2003 but two former Cytale engineers bought the rights to the Cytale Cybook Gen 1 and founded the French company Bookeen.

The Cybook Gen1 was their only product until 2007, when they began selling the Cybook Gen 3, their first eBook reader to use an E-Ink screen. In 2009 Bookeen announced a new product – the Cybook Opus – a smaller edition of the Cybook Gen3 but with some improvements and a sleek and chic new look.

Cybook Gen 3

The Cybook Gen 3 is an ultra-light ebook reader that uses E-ink screen technology. The Bookeen Cybook Gen3 looks very classy with its frosty black finish and its ultra slim design – definitely good looking and stylish. The Cybook is truly a portable ebook reader as it is only the size of a paperback, the thickness of a magazine and the weight of a mobile phone.

Functions of the Cybook Gen 3

Connection - To transfer your ebooks and documents to the Cybook Gen 3 you connect it to a USB cable from your computer and copy your data to the Cybook memory. You can also use a SD card and copy your data in it and transfer the card to the Cybook.

Read eBooks – You can access more than 50,000 digital books that are in Mobipocket format. These contemporary books are from publishers like Random House and Penguin – there are now more than 200 ebook stores that support Mobipocket prc format. You can also acquire thousands of classic free public domain books.

Read Documents – You can read different kind of digital documents like PDF documents, HTML or TXT. These document formats can be used directly without any conversion.

Read the News – With the Cybook, you have the option of downloading and reading RSS feeds from online websites by using Mobipocket eNews software.

View Photos – You can display photos and pictures in JPEG, GIF or PNG formats which are automatically resized and converted to grey levels.

Listen to Music- Like most ebook readers, he Cybook can also act as a MP3 player – you can read while listening to music with the headphone connection.

Features and Specifications of the Cybook Gen 3

• Device Size – 4.7″ x 7.4″ x 0.3″ (118 x 188 x 8.5 mm)
• Weight 6.13 ounces (174 g)
• Screen 6″ E Ink screen – 600 x 800 pixels, 166 dpi, B&W, 4 greyscale
• Features – Daylight readable (no backlight), Portrait and landscape mode, 11 control buttons (no touchscreen)
• Audio – 2.5mm stereo headphone plug
• Battery – Rechargeable built-in Li-Polymer battery (8,000 page flips on one charge)
• Processor – 200MHz
• Memory – ROM memory: 8 MB, RAM memory: 16 MB, Storage memory: 64 MB
• Data Formats – HTML, TXT, PRC, PalmDoc, PDF
• Connectivity – Mini USB, SD Card slot
• Firmware 1.5 Update – 12 font sizes on all prc, html and txt files, Zoom, Create folders, Speed-up page turn
• Firmware 2.0 Update – Support of Adobe Digital Edition epub and pdf files, 12 font sizes on all ePub, txt, html files
• Available Accessories – USB charger, Protective cover, 2GB SD card, stereo earphones, extra battery

Summary of the Cybook Gen 3

As far as 6 inch ebook readers go, the Cybook Gen 3 is an adequate ebook reader that does the basics of storing and reading digital books. It is stylish, light-weight, and slim and now has the ability to read the ePub format which will make a difference to the number of ebook titles available. Some customers have complained about the poor post-sale support and that the device freezes up occasionally. At $249 though, you would be better of with the new Cybook Opus.

Cybook Opus

The 5 inch Bookeen Cybook Opus is the newest ebook reading device from Bookeen. This is truly a portable ebook reader that does indeed fit in your pocket and can be held comfortably in one hand. It is also the lightest ebook reader on the market at only 5.3 ounces.

Features of the Cybook Opus

With its large 1 GB of internal storage memory, the Cybook Opus can store more than 1,000 books. The Cybook Opus has a higher 200dpi e-Paper screen compared to the 160dpi of the Gen3 but still uses only 4 greyscale. The screen position can switch from portrait to landscape mode automatically with its accelerometer.

With the ePub format, the Cybook Opus has access to over 200,000 contemporary digital books and thousands of free classic public domain ebooks. The digital bookstore for Cybook Opus can be found at www.booksonboard.com/opus

Specifications of the Cybook Opus

• Device Size – 4.2″ x 6″ x 0.4″ (108 x 151 x 10 mm)
• Weight – 5.3 ounces (150 g)
• Screen – 5″ E-Ink screen, 600×800 pixels, 200 dpi, B&W, 4 greyscale
• Features – Daylight readable (no backlight), Automatic switch in Portrait and landscape mode, 9 Controls buttons (no touchscreen)
• Battery – Rechargeable and replaceable built-in Li-Polymer battery (8,000 page flips on one charge)
• Processor – 400MHz
• Memory – RAM memory: 32 MB, Storage memory: 1 GB
• File Formats – HTML, TXT, PDF, Secured and non secured Adobe ePub and PDF
• Connectivity – Mini USB, micro SD Card slot

Summary of the Cybook Opus

If you want an ebook reader with the ability to store and read over 1,000 ebooks, that is also exceedingly chic looking, then the Cybook Opus
is worth considering. Many customers, especially women, love the design and look of the Opus and appreciate its small size and light weight. Also, the fact that it doesn’t have a touchscreen makes the display very crisp and easy to read.

Hopefully Bookeen will improve their customer support and the frequency of their firmware updates as several customers have complained about this. On the whole, it is a viable option for people looking for a basic ebook reader that fits in your pocket and is ultra-light, slim and chic.

Related eBook Reader articles…

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• E-book readers to stay pricey next year (reghardware.co.uk)