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.

printergirl

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy

MagnoliaBoy

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.

Spaceboy

iguide

Works well in fullscreen. Surprisingly readable.

Guizzy

foxmajik

plus.medic

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

KidDoc

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy

JulianMurdoch

froggy

Doubly so if it's snowing outside!

strider_mt2k

firesign

ludwigk

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?

darex

Mandatory_Field

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.

weatherman

lacodia

Spaceboy

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....

Mandatory_Field

Wwhat

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

Sorry, huge pet peeve.

madchinaman

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).

AndyMac

[www.youtube.com]

discounteggroll

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

yayaba

Playstation3

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

skulldriveshaft

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

skulldriveshaft

skulldriveshaft

smokinjoefission

markarian

Mammoth

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.

berky93

grammarnazi

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...

rparvez

Reilaos~

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.

permissionmag

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.

EllenRose

weatherman

kavendano14

gamecrazychris

@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.

weatherman

dancinbojangles

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

glaeven

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

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...

gyffes

Mandatory_Field

berky93

twg77

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

twg77