eBOOKS
ARE HERE! WHERE ARE YOU?
You've heard about them for years, but have you ever seen an eBook reading
device? If you answered yes, you're among a select few. That's why THAT MONEY
SHOW's Betsy Karetnick took to the streets with an assortment of competing eBook
devices to find out what the average person thinks about using these new gizmos.
While nearly everyone in our informal survey agreed that eBook readers are
cool, many said that cost was a big factor in deciding whether or not they'd ever
buy one. Others said they simply preferred the feel of a paper book, while some
were concerned about the availability of the books that they want to read. So
what's right for you?
Well, THAT MONEY SHOW convinced the manufacturers of several competing eBook
reading devices to send us loaners to test-drive. After an informal analysis,
we created the following table to help you compare the pros and cons of each device.
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GEMSTAR
eBOOKS' RCA REB 1100
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Manufacturer
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Gemstar and RCA
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Cost
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RCA REB 1100 is $299. The
upgraded version is the RCA REB 1200 (a color model which wasn’t available
for us to check out) costing $699.
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Description
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The device looks like a
slimmed down version of the classic kids toy, Etch-A-Sketch. The unit comes with
built in software that is designed to do one thing: read ebooks. It’s sleek
and easy to use.
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What e-books are available
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They’ve got a pretty
good selection of current fiction and classic novels in their system. Their non-fiction
categories have slim offerings though.
The process of obtaining
books on their site is a little cumbersome. They hook you up to a toll free number
which connects you to their computer network. Their interface is a little annoying.
Once you are on their network you can only download books you know you want, or
any of the regularly featured selections. For a full list of their offerings you
must download their book lists, which come in category files.
Additionally, you can download
books from http://www.barnesandnoble.com
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Additional info.
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The REB 1200, has a larger,
color screen and costs about $300 more than the model we tested. The 1100 has
a button that is supposed to allow you to listen to music. Push it and you will
learn that this function is going to be offered in the future.
The REB 1100 holds about
10 books.
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Our review
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The best looking, and most
likely to be read device on the market. Kind of expensive though, considering
you can’t do anything else with it: no datebook, no calendar, no playing
mp3 files -- just ebook reading. But if you want a handy mobile way of reading,
this is the best option on the market.
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PALM IIIc
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Manfuacturer
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Palm (hardware)
Peanutpress (software)
Mobipocket (software)
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Cost
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Palm IIIc costs $329
Peanutpress and Mobipocket
software is FREE
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Description
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An advanced version of
the Palm personal digital assistant line of devices, this one features a color
screen and all of the functions you’d expect in a Palm device: address book,
calendar, games, note pad, etc.
Palm doesn’t come
with any kind of ebook reading software built in, so you have to find one, download
it to your desktop computer, and then copy it to your palm device. Even though
the Palm IIIc boasts a color screen, the books read in black and white with the
software we used.
We checked out 2 types
of ebook reading software developed for the palm. They are both easily available
on the web and, best of all, they're free.
The good folks at Palm
downloaded for us a free program available on the internet called Mobipocket (http://www.mobipocket.com).
This website also has ebooks available for download. While the software at Mobipocket
is fine, the selection of books is poor.
We prefer a similar software
made by Peanutpress. The reason: better selection of ebooks for an American audience.
Peanutpress’ software is available for both PDAs that run the Palm operating
system and the Windows CE OS.
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What e-books are available
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Peanutpress has a lot of
books you might actually want to read. Some of the classics are free. They’ve
got Stephen King’s book, "Riding The Bullet," that is available
only online for $2.95 and lots of other more popular offerings. Still, we searched
for 25 titles of books we’d like to read, and only found 3 of them. Checkout
http://www.peanutpress.com.
If you are looking for free books, look elsewhere ... the most exciting titles
on this extremely short list include the Bible and the techie sci-fi thriller,
"The Hacker."
Mobipocket’s paltry
offering of English ebooks and information on ebooks makes a lot of sense when
you consider it’s a French company running the site. They do have a number
of classics that are either free or moderately priced though.
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Additional info.
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Palm’s operating system
runs on the Handspring Visor device too. So any of the free software designed
to allow you to read electronic books on the Palm devices can also be downloaded
to the Visor.
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Our review
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Reading on the Palm is
an annoying way to read digital books ... probably the most annoying way. The
screen is small. And if you ever wondered why we have paragraphs, this format
is a great reminder .. you’ll miss them when they are gone. The best thing
about this device is the abundance of free ebooks and the ability to carry books
around without adding any extra weight if you already own a Palm or Visor.
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ADOBE
ACROBAT eBOOK READER PLUS
A.K.A. GLASSBOOK
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Manfuacturer
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Adobe
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Cost
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$39.00
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Description
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Glassbooks, from Adobe,
is software that allows you to read ebooks on a personal computer running the
Windows operating system.
You can purchase and download
the software online. Like a lot of Adobe software products, the lowest-grade version
of the software is available as a free download.
We were running this software
on a very cool computer that was supplied as a test model by Adobe. The SONY VAIO,
which definitely makes the software look good, having a color monitor that shows
off the programs graphical abilities to good effect.
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What e-books are available
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Not as many books are available
in this format yet as for the other formats on the market. It seems especially
lacking in the classic literature arena where many of its competitors excel (probably
because there are no copyright issues to wrangle over.) But even though they only
offer 3 or so classic books of fiction, they are all available for free.
You can also buy ebooks
that can be read by Glassbook software at
http://www.barnesandnoble.com
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Mac compatible
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A mac version is expected
in the Fall of 2001.
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Additional info.
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Adobe is developing similar
software that will run on PDAs.
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Our review
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The coolest format for
those who already have a PC and are in a hurry to read an ebook. The major downside
is that this service probably doesn’t offer the ebook you want just yet.
Hopefully they will in the near future. It’s especially great for viewing
books with photos and illustrations, which show up as crisp, clear graphics. We're
holding out for the PDA version, because how often do youwant to break out your
laptop to read a book anyway?
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MICROSOFT
READER for the POCKET PC and desktop PCs
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Manufacturer
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Microsoft
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Cost
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Free
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Description
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Microsoft Reader is built-in
on all new pocket PCs running the Windows CE operating system. PC users will have
to download the free software, which is available at http://www.amazon.com
and http://www.barnesandnoble.com
Sounds simple, but it’s not. Because although Microsoft Reader is the name
of the software for both the Pocket PC and the PC, the software is different for
each device. A bait and switch tactic or just bad planning,?
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Mac compatible
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No.
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What e-books are available
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A good selection of books
for the desktop PC version of Microsoft Reader is available at http://www.amazon.com.
At http://www.barnesandnoble.com
you can find books that will run on MS Reader for either the desktop PC or the
Pocket PC. Keep in mind that many of the books on these commercial sites are available
for free download elsewhere.
For instance, 1,200 free
e-books are available online at the University of Virginia's web site. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/. Many of these same books
are sold at the for-profit online bookstores.
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Our review
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Got a desktop PC or a Pocket
PC and want a lot of books you may or may not ever read? Then this is the format
for you. First of all, it’s free. Nothing wrong with that. It’s about
as good as the free palm OS-based software formats, but it has a lot more books
available for free. So for cheapskates on the run, why not check this one out?
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eBOOKMAN
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Manfuacturer
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Franklin
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Cost
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The EBM-900, Franklin’s
entry model costs $129.95 with all the fixins -- microphone, speaker, multimedia
memory card for memory expansion and 8 MB of built-in memory. The next step up,
the EBM-901 sells for $179.95 and sports a backlight, enhanced polarized display
and free content offerings. The EBM-911 retails for $229.05 and includes up to
16MB of memory and additional free content.
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Description
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A stand alone ebook reading
device. We didn’t get one to play with, but they say they’ve got a built-in
schedule and an address book in addition to the ebook reading functions.
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What e-books are available
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Currently, dictionaries,
bibles, entertainment, children, health, general reference, entertainment and
freign language titles are available.
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Additional info.
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Franklin boasts that all
eBookman models display 87% more info than a typical handheld -- looks like we’ll
have to wait and see. On this system you can download books in the Microsoft Reader
format (not yet -- but MS assured us it would be available soon for the eBookman)
or choose from Franklin’s own library, listen to audio books, download MP3
files, and use personal assistant features like the organizer, address book, and
to do list. You can also download books from http://www.peanutpress.com
as well.
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Our review
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Who knows? We didn’t
get to check it out -- either they aren’t proud, or they’ve got supply
issues, but the EBM-901 and the EBM-911 can be purchased on Amazon.
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Check out the archives for more great stories.
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