But the most important feature of the Kindle is the e-ink which is so much easier on the eyes than a regulare PC/laptop screen.

Anything without e-ink does not make a good book reader. I've given up trying to read e-books on a normal screen.

Ouch! where's the edit button. 'regulare' ??? sorry about that.

I dont know about that. although e-ink is the best, I read books on my ipod touch and its great. very clear and easy to read, and if the white areas strain your eyes in a dark place then just hit a button and it inverts the colors. when its white-on-black theres no problems at all.

I have to agree with Berky on that: My primary fiction reading device for the last 12 years or longer, has been a succession of PDAs. For some reason, I find the small screen to be much less eye-strain inducing than a full-sized one.

Echo the above -- I do most of my reading on my aged Clie' -- in landscape mode, even with the tiny font and backlight to dimmest, I can read easily and with no strain. Best of all, it doesn't bother the wife the way the bedside light does.

Well, perhaps best of all is that a 128mb memory stick holds over 200 books.. means I'm never bored when I need to wait in line.

Question for Berky: what's the book-reading program on the Touch/Phone? Is it any good? Simple text reader or a more "mobipocket" type dedicated eBook reader? This is one of the keys keeping me from Touching, yet...

My friend tells me this is an unusual feature, but on Eee's with XP installed, you can hold down CTRL+ALT plus the arrow keys and instantly rotate your screen 90 degrees in either direction (or 180 degrees).

This works with no matter what's on the screen.

I'm not sure if this is unique to the Eee or just Eee's with XP or what, but it works on mine.

@darex: thats also a fun joke to play on unsuspecting idiots...

I used to use my moms old palm iiic with plucker. I didnt really like it, and Project Gutenberg didnt have anything appealing

Holy cow, this would be great with that touchscreen mod the guy from JKKmobile did.

I love FBReader, and found it the most compelling app on the Nokia N810, but it's not quite as good on the Eee, mostly because of the form factor. It's not quite book-like, and since there aren't any buttons on the screen side of the Eee it means using the keyboard on the left side (or right if you're lefty) to control the page turns. Just not quite natural. The screen is good though, in a super-sized PDA kinda way, and with white-text on black background I find it very easy on the eyes. I haven't tried the kindle, but with all the customizing you can do on the FBReader I imagine just for book reading software-wise it's pretty close, though the eInk tech is probably better on the hardware side. And the real killer app (IMO) for the Kindle is the Whispernet delivery of periodicals, which the Eee doesn't have.

@darex: well FBReader actually has a rotation feature built in, but I tried your trick and you're right - it turns the entire interface upside-down or on its side. Very cool - I don't know what I'd use that for, but maybe it'll come in handy. I didn't know about it, so thanks for the tip. But for the record it's a Windows feature or Eee add-on that works just fine without FBReader.

But does anyone still read? The only book I've read in the past 6 months is that iphone book they talk about here.

@gamecrazychris: Are you being sarcastic? Because since ignorant America doesnt read some other people do in here and in other countries

Incidentally, while the ctrl-alt-arrow does change the screen orientation, it doesn't change the mouse pad orientation. Have to find a fix for that...I'm sure it's somewhere on Eeeuser.

I do most of my reading on my iPAQ. There is so very much good stuff on the internet! Always something to read - and if I think it'll be a long, boring time of it, I'll maybe put some music or a few videos on an SD card as a bonus.

And you can read in bed without disturbing the spousal unit. Nothing wrong with books - I have thousands of them - but you can't fit a month's reading in your pocket in dead-tree format.

My main e-book reader is my Nintendo DS. I think I'm confusing the pirate hunters by actually using my M3 DS Real for homebrew apps - and DSLibris is a really beautiful book reader.

The best part of it is that I can hold the DS like a book, and actually use the two screens like a left and right page. It's interesting what a psychological difference that makes.

@kavendano14: Hey, I read. D:

I like the notion of e-readers in general, and hope that extensive textbook applications become widely available. I also like the notion of ebooks on PDAs as they're so portable.The thing that always bugged me was increased strain from "autoscroll" on most e-readers. on small screens it felt like you had the choice of manually turning the "page" every few sentences, or straining your eyes and feeling like you're playing catch-up following the moving text as it disappeared off the top of the screen.

I currently do all my e-reading on my Palm OS Treo, and have found the line-by-line fade system on ReadThemAll to be by far and away the best. Minimal strain, and you still get the effect of reading top-to-bottom like you would on a normal page without the constant manual turning. (annoying as heck on a tiny screen.) I wonder if having ReadThemAll "spotlight" style scrolling wouldn't have the same effect of minimizing strain on bigger backlit screens too...

your != you're
I'm sorry, I hate myself as much as you hate me. Such is the peril of the GRAMMARNAZI.

@gyffes:
its called books. its really a great application, and works great.

when it starts it shows a list of books and if available it shows their covers next to them. when you tap one it gives you a chapter list, the lsat being the cover image. while youre reading you can change the font, invert the colors, scroll through the chapter rally fast, and other useful things. and if you quit (just tapping the home button, not holding) the app while youre in a chapter, when it starts up next time it will show that book's cover while its loading and then will immediately be back where you left off. great app, one of my favorites.

Ebook readers are no fun if the display isn't epaper.

This isn't going to be the best solution for the simple fact that low-end LCDs have a certain viewing angle at which they look like shit (yes, even active matrix TFTs). They're usually along the vertical axis, since viewing from the side is generally desirable since people often croud around one person's laptop. This effect is most dramatic on cellphones. So, in this configuration, it would be a lot easier to notice the "negative" effect of viewing the screen off-axis.

@Darex: I have a Dell 700m laptop (3 years old). I just discovered that CTRL+ALT+arrow key does the same thing with my Windows XP. Thanks!

@gamecrazychris: dude you're reading a blog

@markarian: not everyone has the same 'viewing' problems at the same time alright.

if it work for you use it - find the limits - if it's within your tolerance you're fine

@permissionmag: damn - now why hasn't someone mentioned the DS when it comes to reading books for so damn long.

send in a homebrew tip - maybe we'll get to see it

@skulldriveshaft: nice :P

@darex, smokinjoefission, weatherman - That's part of the Intel integrated graphics drivers. I actually work on that applet (for another chipset though but it's the same code) and it's part of the hotkey module that is installed with it (hkcmd.exe in your task manager). If you want to reassign the hotkeys open up the Intel control panel and go to the hotkey pane.

Wow, I actually feel a little better about my job after hearing that people use the features :)

read a book read a book read a motha-fuckin' book

[www.youtube.com]

I use EReader Pro on my tablet and Palm TX. Reading on a tablet is very nice as you get the backlit screen and the full size of the tablet screen. The only downside is the weight at 3lbs in slate mode.

The Palm is great for portable use and both the PC and Palm can use the same books.

I prefer the backlit screen to e-paper since I can read in the dark. I have never had a problem with eye strain but I usually have light letters on a dark background (white on blue, white on black, etc).

@ the writer CHRISTOPHER MASCARIA

Since we're talking about "books":
Your're = You Are
Your = Your

Sorry, huge pet peeve.

I can't believe the nonsense I see here, claims people read books on tiny screens with 256 pixel resolution, and claims white shining letters on black is NOT an eyestrain.
You might as well start claiming vista is flawless too..

@Wwhat: Not "claims" dude, reality: I don't know that I agree with the reversed text (white text on black background), but when I say that I've done most of my fiction reading on a succession of PDAs (with 320 x 240 resolution) over the last 12 years, that's just fact (not fiction). As a bona-fide reading prodigy, I actually have some idea of what I'm talking about here. By "prodigy" I'm not exaggerating or bragging, just stating fact. I have read a few thousand books in this fashion, and while it took some getting used to at first, it quickly became just as much of an immersive reading experience as reading on paper. Admittedly I have higher retention from paper, which is why I limit my e-reading to fiction for the most part.

It doesn't seem to be the people at either end of the spectrum that have a problem with reading in this fashion, just the people in the middle. It's the same for a couple of other major readers that I know. Of course I know other major readers who wouldn't touch anything that's not a physical book with a ten foot pole. Seems to be the same with Vista for the most part (since you bring it up): No it's not perfect, but you work around the flaws and get on with it. Point is, YOU may not like it, but those of us who do get along quite nicely, thank-you-very-much. My opinion is based on reading a couple of thousand books this way btw, not a couple of books. You go on thinking it's nonsense, and I'll go on reading....

hahha instead of spending 400 dollars spend 20 and get am old Handheld PC with backlight, fits in a coat pocket too and you can read anywhere.

Hello WWHAT, Vista is nearly flawless! One year with it now -and I'm a happy customer.

@Wwhat: I don't know if it's true for everyone, but it's true for me; reading ebooks on an LCD screen is easier with white text on black background. My theory for this is that there is far less light being emitted with a black background (which means eyes are more dilated and relaxed), and that where the light is being emitted it is dispersing out from the letters rather than dispersing in towards the letters, which leads to greater legibility.

Reading ebooks on PDA screens is something I've done for years, on and off. As I mentioned above the best device I've found for it was the Nokia N810 with FBReader because the screen is nice and hi-res and the overall size of the PDA is small enough to carry anywhere.

@Spaceboy: that's certainly an option for those on a budget who just want to read ebooks, but for those who want more from their devices and can afford it, the point of this article and discussion is FBReader works on the tiny Eee PC which is about the size of a trade-paperback book. Which is hardly revelatory, but it might be news to some.

@darex: @weatherman: I just tried the screen rotation trick on my Eee (with the default Xandros), and it didn't work. I guess it's specific to the XP video driver. :-(

I played with a Sony PRS-505 E-Book Reader recently.

The eInk is quite impressive, but is it normal for the entire screen to become momentarily awash with "black" graphic between each page turn? If it were backlit, it would be the equivalent of a "flash" in your face between each page. How annoying!

If it can't transition from one page to the next without all that drama, I say it's not ready for primetime. I can't believe the engineers found this to be acceptable! Is the Kindle the same?

Giz, this article is bs. Gimme a break kindle mode? Does it handle thousands of page flips on a single charge? Can you purchase amazon kindlebooks wirelessly via evdo? shit, does this app give the eeepc any of the Kindles exclusive features? No, it does not. So either you're battling touretts, or you have no idea what a kindle is. What this article should say is: "eReader software exists, and this is not news"

as much as i love my eee, i'll just stick to actual books, thanks. i have no interest in the kindle either. call me a luddite if you like.

@firesign: I've also use different methods over the years but still derive the greatest enjoyment from reading a paper book.

Doubly so if it's snowing outside!

@strider_mt2k: I'm the same way. but this is what really dates you. I can't imagine giving up paper books. In the end, we all have our own generational hold-backs.

Sigh. Yes, you can read books on a zillion other devices. No, you can't read any of the books I actually want to read. I'm plowing through the entire Gunslinger series, having just re-read all of Terry Pratchett. Someone show me how to do that on my EEE PC.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the OLPC XO. I'm using one right now, and the e-book reader is great. The screen flips round and folds flat against the keyboard. There are four buttons, a directional pad, and a "rotate" button accesible then. You also have the LCD screen which when the backlight is off, is readable in FULL sun. It's a mite slower than other tops, but I like it.

Go get 'em "Get EM SteveDave" I was going to say the same thing. The XO screen is great with fantastic batter life and an excellent form factor...

...if only my 3 year old hadn't torn the keyboard letters off!

So anything capable of displaying an eBook in portrait mode is going to be called Kindle-like? Holy christ. I hate you journalists.

This is the most retarded thing I've read all day, and I read Reddit...

I read my paper on the Eee. I download the PDF before going to bed and read it the next day with Acrobat on the bus.

Works well in fullscreen. Surprisingly readable.

Where can I get a Eee?
[www.i-guide.ro]

@weatherman:

if you want to use your EEE to read a book, more power to you. Have fun eating into it's 3 hour battery life, while my Cassiopeia A11 which runs on AA batteries has more than 7 hours even with backlight on.
Plus, it's smaller than a book.

Now we need the EeePC Nintondo DS Mod.

@KidDoc: I've heard a lot of stories similar to that on the OLPCnews forums. Maybe they should have put a "fun for ages X thru X" on the front. Mines fine,and while I have a lot to learn about linux, I like my little XO. It runs about as fast as my 350mhz G3 tower running OSX 10.2.8, which is way more operating system than it should be running.

Actually, I was skeptical myself. I got my new EEE PC with Windows preloaded yesterday. Played with it a bit and wasn't sure if I was going to keep it or not. I had actually been looking at a Kindle, for the same price as the EEE PC, for a while. Then, I went and got the EEE PC instead (yes, mostly as a toy -- I already have a 20" iMac and 13" MacBook). Wasn't sure if I liked it or not -- the screen does take some getting used to, not to mention the tiny keyboard.

Loaded up EReader Pro on it (for Windows), since I already have a "bookshelf" of dozens of books purchased online from ereader.com. I have been reading them for years on my Treos and I have had no problems with them, other than the constant page turns. Anyway got eReader Pro loaded up and was still kind of 50/50 on it, UNTIL I saw the screen rotation trick above. My gosh, that made all the difference in the world! It's a keeper for me now. I compared it to my friends Kindle and I like my setup better. Sure, ePaper is okay, but I like the backlit screen, since I read in bed and my hubby hates the light being on. With the screen rotated my setup was every bit as acceptable as the Kindle. Thanks to the person that posted that.

BTW, while there are skeptics who don't like reading on an electronic device (which is fine, to each his own), there are some of us who have no problem whatsoever with it. I ALWAYS look for books I am interested in electronic format BEFORE i go and buy a hard copy as a last resort.