Is eBook reading on PPCs comfortable?

[AndyD]

heh Well, cause I don't have the money to throw around :)

For those who actually use their pdas for reading, is it easy on the eyes? I'm having a hard time imagining myself reading a 400 page book with Ipaq 2210/5's screen.

[ctmagnus]

For those who actually use their pdas for reading, is it easy on the eyes? I'm having a hard time imagining myself reading a 400 page book with Ipaq 2210/5's screen.

It's not too bad. Much better than a CRT imo. But the quality of display on the Pocket PC affects the experience also.

[AndyD]

Well, I was thinking of getting the Ipaq 2215. Screen doesn't seem big enough to do heavy reading. Of course, I'm not accustomed to it so to me it seems like it would be very unlikely that I could ever get through a book on there. That's why I'm a little curious of your experiences with ebook reading :)

[ctmagnus]

What I meant by my previous post is reading on my 3670 isn't too bad. Reading on my 5550 is almost a pleasure in comparison due to the much-improved screen.

Size-wise, it takes getting used to. It's not like all the text on a page in a given book is crammed onto the screen at once though; the text is reflowed between pages so you have a very readable amount on sceen at once. My biggest gripe with the screen layout of reading software on the Pocket PC is it seems like you're flipping to the next page way too soon every time due to this.

Back O(n)T:

For people who own a CRT, a notebook and a newish Pocket PC, how does reading on each compare? I personally hate reading on a CRT (but that may be the stigma I've developed that using a CRT means staying in one spot for a while, whereas using a Pocket PC or notebook for the same task equates to being able to read wherever).

[AndyD]

well, I would never go through a book on a CRT for the same reasons. I was more thinking of how its compared to the actual thing. It's very convenient w/o a doubt but 2215 5 inch screen doesn't seem adequate to me. I was thinking of getting that 5550 as it does offer a little more real estate but that's a lot of money :)

[Kati Compton]

FYI - this thread was split from a discussion about laptops:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16248&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

While it wasn't really all *that* off-topic, issue deserves its own thread...

For those frequent eBook readers - about how much text actually does fit comfortably on the screen? Compared to a regular paperback, that is.

[AndyD]

lol thanks. I thought I was losing it for a moment. I knew I didn't create a thread. So my short term memory is still intact, for the most part anyway heh. So an answer to Kati's question would be great.

[Kati Compton]

well, I would never go through a book on a CRT for the same reasons. I was more thinking of how its compared to the actual thing. It's very convenient w/o a doubt but 2215 5 inch screen doesn't seem adequate to me. I was thinking of getting that 5550 as it does offer a little more real estate but that's a lot of money :)

I'm assuming you mean 3.5" screen...

The bigger screen doesn't actually get you more "real estate", if you're talking about # of pixels. Right now, anyway, PPC's have the same number of pixels no matter the screen size. It's possible that having those pixels be slightly larger will make it easier to read, but it's also possible that making those pixels larger will make the text look more blocky in an annoying way.

[dh]

Since that troublemaker Crystal got me hooked on ebooks, I've hardly touched one of those 20th Century paper and ink things.

I've tried all the different reader apps and settled on Mobipocket Reader since it's features give me the best experience. I've converted most of my MS .lit books to the Mobipocket .prc format and everything works great.

Ebooks are perfect for reading in bed. Turn the backlight to it's lowest setting and read away, without disturbing your spouse.

The only problem is that not all books are available in ebook format. I've been looking for Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath today but haven't found it or his other books yet.

Andy, don't forget to check out the free books from Microsoft every Friday. www.microsoft.com/reader

For people who own a CRT, a notebook and a newish Pocket PC, how does reading on each compare? I personally hate reading on a CRT (but that may be the stigma I've developed that using a CRT means staying in one spot for a while, whereas using a Pocket PC or notebook for the same task equates to being able to read wherever).
CT, I've never even though of using my Thinkpad or my desktop for reading. I only have Reader installed on the TP to be able to download books from MS.

[PetiteFlower]

Well over the last week I've gone through 1100 pages of a 4000 page ebook(page in this case meaning one screen worth of text), and found it a joy. No more desk lamp or flashlight needed, it's great! I only ever read in bed right before I go to sleep so the backlight is what makes it awesome for me :)

[Dave Beauvais]

I find my h5455 very easy to use for reading e-books. I use Palm Reader (http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/product/reader/browse/free) almost exclusively, and often read for at least an hour every night. Really the only thing that bothers me is the case, not the PPC itself. I use a Vaja case that flips up, which makes reading while laying on my back a little uncomfortable due to the contortion my fingers must get into to hold the case open. If I'll be reading for a while, I just remove the iPAQ from the case completely. I also read AvantGo (http://my.avantgo.com/) content and various RSS feeds using PocketFeed (http://www.furrygoat.com/Software/PocketFeed/index.html).

I find that I have no eyestrain at all and can read in lighting conditions that would make a paper books unusable. ClearType (http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/) helps a great deal in terms of character rendering.

... For those frequent eBook readers - about how much text actually does fit comfortably on the screen? Compared to a regular paperback, that is.
I'd guess that a 9 point font -- which is what I prefer -- contains about half a page of paperback text.

--Dave

[JoeMoon]

I have tried reading some stuff on my PPC and find that my arms and hands get tired of holding the PPC up for a long length of time, and from tapping the page down scroll bar every ten seconds. How can you read for an hour while gripping a PPC in one position for so long?

At least with a book, your hands go through less movement since there is a bit more text to read through before you are forced to turn the page.

Joe...

[jkendrick]

I've been reading ebooks almost exclusively for 3 years now and would never go back. About 90% of my reading is with Palm Reader Pro as I find the auto scroll alleviates the page down syndrome quite nicely. I also like the dictionary it comes with.

The few ebooks I read with MS Reader (free ones mostly) make me really miss the auto scroll. I read a lot in bed and anywhere I have free time and I always have my PPC with me for this reason.

I even read in the Jacuzzi every night which bugs my wife no end as she's afraid I'll drop it. Haven't in 3 years go far although I probably just jinxed it. :-)

[KH]

I tallied the number of ebooks I have read on my various IPAQs and the number came up in the hundreds. I just prefer to read an electronic version and will only by a physical book if I REALLY need it and don't expect to see it elecronically any time soon. I have become very willing to wait for a while....

Often I don't have to wait. Palm/Peanut Press often releases books at or before the physical publication date, and Baen books will let you read the first half of the book two or three months ahead of its publication date. (Fictionwise is my other ebook source - I don't usually associate them with

I find these days that I am annoyed by the weight and size of a physical book, particularly if it is hardback and I am reading it in bed. I like the instant-reference that linking ebooks to dictionaries provides, and of course I really enjoy being able to carry a sizeable library everywhere I go.

[Dave Beauvais]

... I even read in the Jacuzzi every night which bugs my wife no end as she's afraid I'll drop it. ...
In this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10624), Crystal mentioned that she read a book in the bathtub by placing her iPAQ in a Ziploc bag. Perhaps that would help eliminate some of your wife's stress. ;)

Incidentally, auto-scroll is a great feature of Palm Reader Pro!

--Dave

[szamot]

I have tried reading some stuff on my PPC and find that my arms and hands get tired of holding the PPC up for a long length of time, and from tapping the page down scroll bar every ten seconds. How can you read for an hour while gripping a PPC in one position for so long?

At least with a book, your hands go through less movement since there is a bit more text to read through before you are forced to turn the page.

Joe...

....PPC is much lighter and easier to hold in one hand that any book out there. Give it a honest try and you will love it. The only thing I do at night is turn the brightness down so I don't go blind.

[Stephen Beesley]

Like many others who have posted in this thread - I am a confirmed ebook fanatic. I started reading and creating ebooks back in my Newton days, but the lack of a physical scroll button (you had to tap on the screen to change pages) made this a less than ideal solution (hey I never said the Newton was perfect :D).

Since getting my first PPC, however, ebooks have become my major form of reading. I pretty much always have at least one ebook on the go at any given time using either MSreader or UBook. I also like to use Ubook reader to read long work papers or the like on my PPC. I just recently finished re-reading the entire Lord of the Rings series (along with some related books like the Silmarillion) on my Jornada and found it a very convienient and enjoyable experience.

One thing that I would say is that having a well placed jog wheel as found on both Jornado's I have owned is a really big help. I sometimes use the dpad for page turning but it is not as convienient as the jog wheel.

Goldtee

[jkendrick]

... I even read in the Jacuzzi every night which bugs my wife no end as she's afraid I'll drop it. ...
In this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=10624), Crystal mentioned that she read a book in the bathtub by placing her iPAQ in a Ziploc bag. Perhaps that would help eliminate some of your wife's stress. ;)

Incidentally, auto-scroll is a great feature of Palm Reader Pro!

--Dave

I never thought of a ziploc bag but I'm not sure it would really help. Getting splashed is not a problem- it's dropping it that would really suck and I don't think a plastic bag is very waterproof. :-)

[AndyD]

Well, it looks like I got nothing to worry about then :) I'm that much closer to buying a 2215. Thanks guys for all the replies.

[jkendrick]

For those frequent eBook readers - about how much text actually does fit comfortably on the screen? Compared to a regular paperback, that is.

Auto scroll makes, oh say, the entire book fit on the screen without scrolling. ;-)

[isilver]

I didn't read books until I got the Pocket PC for the following reasons below:

1. Laziness: I liked to read at night before I would go to sleep. Since I didn't want to get up and turn off the light after I was reading I eventually would stop reading.

2. Damage: Books got very easy damaged. I would say that ever 3rd book would fail the test of time. Either with water damage, tearing, missing pages, ect.

3. Bookmarks: I would constantly loose my bookmark causing me great frustrations trying to determine the last page I visited. There is nothing worse then having to read a chapter twice.

4. On Hand: Having my book with me at times when I have time to read was unlikely. It especially become annoying on the long trips I would take out of town. But I always have my Pocket PC with me. Either for work related events or just to play games.

5. Easy to read and scroll: This explains itself. The ClearType Font and short pages really help. My scrollbar located on the left hand side in the middle means I can read with only one hand (5 years ago if someone told me we would be holding books in the palm of your hand I would have laughted at them).

6. Encarta Dictionary: Having a built in dictionary is very convenient.

Don't get me wrong there. This technology is not without it's problems. I have at least noticed too that have agrivated me.

1. Lost Bookmark: On 2 of my books it thought the bookmark was on the last page of the book. This forced me to have to bookmark each time I was done reading. A slight inconvenience.

2. Data Unreadable: I was just recently reading "A History of Nearly Everytthing" by Bill Bryson and there was about 6 pages that were unreadable. Why I don't know. I had to race to the library to read the damaged pages. This is a rare one though.

3. Book Unavailable in E-books format: There are several books that just aren't available in E-book format. This will change with time but for right now it's something that I guess we all have to live with.

Me experience with E-books have been great. That is not many complaints I have with my books. Even the price isn't tood bad when you consider buying a E-book for $12.00 or the hard copy for $40.00.

[JoeMoon]

From the sounds of the responses, it appears that most books are in an electronic format already? Where can I go to find business related books?

Joe...

[blang]

How do you change a MS Reader format into Mobipocket format? I am considering purchasing mobipocket pro but they don't seem to carry my favorite authors.

[dh]

How do you change a MS Reader format into Mobipocket format? I am considering purchasing mobipocket pro but they don't seem to carry my favorite authors.
Download Convert Lit (you'll find it easily with a Google search) and use it to convert the .lit file to its HTML basics.
Then get the free MobiPocket Publisher to compile into MobiPocket .prc format.
I've converted most of my books to MobiPocket format. I've tried all the readers and like this one best by far.

[Crystal Eitle]

From the sounds of the responses, it appears that most books are in an electronic format already? Where can I go to find business related books?

There are a lot of books available in electronic format, but you will still often encounter the frustrating situation where a book you're looking for is not (legitimately) available in electronic form.

That said, however, I've found Fictionwise (www.fictionwise.com) to be the very best source for commercial eBooks. I think you can browse by category, if you're interested in business books. People also have good things to say about Palm Digital Media, though I've never shopped there. Microsoft also has a PPC eBooks portal (www.mslit.com/ppc) that aggregates search results from a number of different retailers, so this may be your best bet if you're looking for a particular title.

[davidspalding]

I would find ebook reading far less comfortable with a PDA that a) didn't have a jog dial for scrolling, or b) a d-pad near an edge for scrolling.

http://www.chromejob.com/images/pda/e125_today_m.gif

Looking at a stock photo of a Casio E-125, you can see that, using Mobipocket's screen orientation feature (registered version, i think), you can orient the PDA to use the d-pad with thumb on either hand. Not sure I could do that with one of the newer, center d-pad designs unless I used it in landscape mode. Believe it or not, when my baby girl's been sleeping on me, I've oriented the screen 180º and used the d-pad with my right thumb. Good balance and grip position.

Also: a larger screen helps. High contrast. High resolution. Any skimping on any of these and I'd never get all the e-reading done that I do. (Current book: THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT by Kim Stanley Robinson. Recent: CORALINE by Neil Gaiman.)

[davidspalding]

Further examples, on a Casio E-125 (note that the GIF has indexed color, so the Cleartype ON example may not be accurate on your monitor).

http://www.chromejob.com/images/pda/mobipocket%20landscape%20gray%20on%20black%20cleartype%20off.gif (full screen mode, but Gigabar in foreground to take capture)

http://www.chromejob.com/images/pda/mobipocket%20landscape%20white%20on%20black%20cleartype%20on.gif (not full screen)

For me, pretty darn readable. I can get 1-2 full size paragraphs on screen. Don't have to scroll nearly as much as I would with Reader 1.0.

[Pat Logsdon]

Recent: CORALINE by Neil Gaiman.
Excellent book! I've loved Gaiman since the Sandman days. Can't wait for the movie version of "Neverwhere", if it ever gets made. :)

Back on topic - I have an Axim (center directional pad) and I probably read about 2,500 e-book pages a week (currently working through CJ Cherryh's sci-fi stuff (Shonjir at the moment), and re-reading Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series).

I've found that the jog dial is a little too sensitive, but the directional pad is placed just fine for long hours of reading. Ubook also has a neat Autoscroll feature that I've just started using. If I set it to scroll one line every 1.5 seconds, I can read at my normal pace without touching any buttons at all. 8)

[PetiteFlower]

I use the jog dial on my axim to scroll, or I just tap the screen. I'm using Palm Reader. I have WriteShields on so I don't have to worry about smudging the screen if I use my fingers on it so most of the time that's what I do :)

[Autarch]

Download Convert Lit (you'll find it easily with a Google search) and use it to convert the .lit file to its HTML basics.
Then get the free MobiPocket Publisher to compile into MobiPocket .prc format.
I've converted most of my books to MobiPocket format. I've tried all the readers and like this one best by far.

Thanks, dh. I've been using MobiPocket Reader a little and have been wondering how to do this. I generally like the Mobi reader, except that it reverts from landscape to portrait if I zoom a figure. Have you seen this, and do you know a work-around?

[dh]

Download Convert Lit (you'll find it easily with a Google search) and use it to convert the .lit file to its HTML basics.
Then get the free MobiPocket Publisher to compile into MobiPocket .prc format.
I've converted most of my books to MobiPocket format. I've tried all the readers and like this one best by far.

Thanks, dh. I've been using MobiPocket Reader a little and have been wondering how to do this. I generally like the Mobi reader, except that it reverts from landscape to portrait if I zoom a figure. Have you seen this, and do you know a work-around?

I don't really use landscape mode very often so I can't help with this.

Last night (thanks to yet another helpful suggestion here) I changed the colours to black background with light grey text for reading at night. I've always found my Axim to be a bit too bright, even at the lowest setting. Using this new colour combination is perfect for reading in a dark room.

One thing I'm doing right now is having a bunch of books on the go and reading the one that seems right at a given time. At the moment I'm reading:

The Gathering Storm by Winston Churchill - MobiPocket
Facing Ali - MobiPocket (one of the free MS books)
Seven Pillars of Wistom by T E Lawrence - MobiPocket
The Grapes of Wrath - MS Reader. This is the first .lit file to defeat my efforts to convert to .prc format. I always get an error when trying to compile the HTML files. Still I do use MS Reader from time to time so it's no big deal. This masterpiece has to be in my top 5 books of all time list.

[davidspalding]

... Last night (thanks to yet another helpful suggestion here) I changed the colours to black background with light grey text for reading at night. I've always found my Axim to be a bit too bright, even at the lowest setting. Using this new colour combination is perfect for reading in a dark room.

Color me "flattered." :D

[dh]

... Last night (thanks to yet another helpful suggestion here) I changed the colours to black background with light grey text for reading at night. I've always found my Axim to be a bit too bright, even at the lowest setting. Using this new colour combination is perfect for reading in a dark room.

Color me "flattered." :D
Hey David, I've enjoyed following the ebook advice you have kindly posted here and at Brighthand. One of the nice things about these sites is that anyone, who wants to, really can learn something new every day.
When I got my Axim, I had no idea that the PPC platform was so good for reading. It's allowed me to read a lot more than I ever did with paper and ink books, especially the classics that I should have read when I was younger.
I really hope we get to the point where all new books are automatically released in ebook formats as well as conventional.
Only problem is, my wife is starting to notice that I use my Axim when I wake up (for checking the BBC News), and when I go to sleep, (for reading). I see trouble brewing :lol:

[Jereboam]

I'll chime in and say that I am also an ebook nut.

I travel a lot, and having a whole bunch of ebooks frees a lot of space in my laptop bag, not to mention making it much lighter. I also find it much more comfortable to read an ebook in places where it would look weird to wander in with a paperback, like office receptions, restaurants and so on. Great time killer while you are waiting around.

I concur with those who liked Mobipocket....IMHO the best reader currently around, although as with all of them there is serious room for improvement. I would really like to see one open standard for ebooks, which satisfies the disparate concerns of both buyers and sellers of ebooks, ie DRM that it easy to implement and easy to live with. I also can't help having a nagging suspicion that I won't be able to read any of the ebooks I buy now, in ten years time. That would not be good.

Fictionwise and Blackmask are my favourite ebook haunts, as well as the Baen Free Library which is great for scifi tasters. The free ebooks from Microsoft are also great at the moment.

The screen on my 5450 is great for reading, and Cleartype really does work as advertised. A jog dial would be great though...the tap screen to turn page feature of Mobipocket helps, even if it is a bit quirky.

As also mentioed, reading quietly in the dark without disturbing your better half is a winner. I pathologically cannot sleep unless I read for an hour or so.

Currently reading Inside Delta Force, very interesting and surprisingly well written, recently read most of the Honor Harrington series, and next up is Rice and Salt.

J

[famousdavis]

I credit my PPC with a literary renaissance in my life. I got my first PDA this past March, and one of the things it came with was a few public domain ebook titles for MSReader.

Now, I'm the proud papa of four children (ages 7, 5, 3, 1) and I flat-out don't have time to curl-up with a good book at anytime in my life. The best I can do is read a few pages while in the "library" of our house, or while waiting in a long line somewhere, or a few minutes before falling to sleep at night.

Most of my reading for the last 15 years has been academic (At age 38, I finally got my B.S. degree in 2001!). But I really like the PPC platform, and so I tried reading my first eBook shortly after I got my PPC in March: The Secret Garden.

I read the first one or two pages, and then sidelined it. Just too many other things I was learning to do with my PPC.

Now my PPC environment is "settled" and I have installed about all the software that I think I can reasonably use often enough to warrant purchasing it.

A few weeks ago, I thought I'd try reading The Secret Garden once again. And I became an eBook convert shortly thereafter!

I love the compactness of reading an eBook in a 4-ounce device. I like that no one has to see what book title I'm reading unless I choose to share that info. I like that I can read at night, in bed, while my spouse sleeps peacefully beside me, undisturbed.

I like that I can read without my glasses on (I'm near-sighted). I like that ClearType makes the characters look smooth, not jagged.

I finished The Secret Garden in just a few weeks, and then followed-up by finishing Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Gray. Now I'm reading one of the free eBooks offered by Microsoft this week.

I have no trouble with the reading part. What's frustrating, then?

Looking up a word in MSReader is slow and somewhat cumbersome (though I have MS's free dictionary installed). Lextionary 2.0 doesn't interface well with MSReader. I have open topics elsewhere on this forum regarding problems with highlighting text and taking snippets of a copy-protected eBook for use in, say, a dictionary or in a Word doc.

Nevertheless, The Secret Garden is the first novel I've read in about 20 years. I doubt I'd have ever read it -- or any of the other novels I have my sights on -- had it not been for the PPC platform.

But I feel I'm an anamoly. My wife would never attempt to read an eBook, and my visiting brother scoffed at the notion. Certainly, there is something very tactile and enjoyable about a real book. Certainly, it's easier to just pick-up a book and begin reading it -- instead of powering-on a PPC, getting through the sign-on password, opening the reader of choice, opening the eBook, selecting the option to get to the last page read.

So it truly is a matter of personal preference, and whether a book is read from a clothbound cover or a handheld PDA is dependent mostly upon the impressions and preferences of the reader, and not the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the medium used.

[davidspalding]

Famous, I don't think the MS dictionary is even meant for anything other than "in book" definition lookups. Finding a word in Encarta is a pain.

Not so with the Oxford dictionaries for Mobipocket's reader. I have shortcuts in a "References" folder on my start menu, and can find a definition in < 30 seconds. Likewise, definition lookups from an eBook are quick and easy, as they are with MS Reader.

[Nausicaa]

I just bought an eBook, but I can't activate my MS Reader!! Microsoft's server seems to be screwed up!