There’s only so much we can do about the ebook prices but so far, the cheapest ebook seller I’ve found is BooksOnBoard.com.

For example, you can buy Tanner’s Scheme at :
Fictionwise.com for USD7.99 (non-member) or at
Booksonboard.com for USD6.27 (no membership purchase required and price differs according to format, but not by much).

PDA’s just have too short a battery life, are too fragile, too buggy, and the screen too tiny to even be in the running.

I have given up on the Cybook. *sigh* The continued wait and delays make me leery of purchasing. My fear of technology rears its ugly head. I mean, just how buggy can a device that’s been in development that long be? And why would it be? It just makes me leery, but I will probably see what reactions it gets if it ever releases.

You can’t use the Connect software, but the Sony Reader will read RTF files (which may be alot better than the PDFs for reflow-ability) and PDFs without conversion. So you can just drag and drop those non DRM’ed books to the device.

I’ve had the HP IPaq with a 4″ color screen (bigger than the Palm TX); an iPhone and a Sony Reader and for reading, if you don’t miss the backlight, the Sony Reader is the best. I like having a backlight so my iPhone is my more favored device right now.

But before I had the iPhone, I was really enjoying the Sony Reader. If you do any kind of out door reading, the screen quality was just phenomenal.

It is a one trick pony, but as Ann Bruce said, it does its one trick really well.

If you have any more questions, do ask because that is what we are all here for – a community of readers to help each other out.

The pretty Palm TX on the other hand has it own full blown version of Adobe Reader which…

Allows the transfer and viewing of Adobe Digital Rights Management (DRM) protected eBooks.

I would look around this weekend for a best buy or something and go check it out.

Jane, the sales at the computer shop didn’t mention anything about being able to plug the Sony 505 to my Mac. He was talking about using SD cards to tranfer the files w/c would mean that I have to buy extra peripherals for my Mac to be able to do so. Also, some of my ebooks are in Word format which I converted into PDF files. I can convert just about any files into a PDF format with my Mac by using the print function and saving it as PDF file. I don’t know if these PDFs will be readable on the Sony 505 or even the Palm T/X.

Teddy, does the TX function well as an ebook? Is it easy to read? It’s display is smaller than the Sony 505. I haven’t seen a demo as it is currently out of stock but I have put my name on one and they will inform me as soon as the stocks come.

Sorry about all these questions but I’m new to this. I dislike reading my ebooks on a desktop computer as I like to be comfortable when I read. I really need to get a portable reader.

I would simply buy it online at Best Buy online and purchase the extended warranty if I was going abroad. Oh and get the proper recharger for the country you are in.

It is not hard to create these open gadgets. In fact Engadget had a story on these new DIY Color Windows CE PDA models that you can order with all these different options including touch screen, ultra fast cpus, big screens and all you need to do is make a case for it. Starting at 200 bucks.

Sony does not handle anything but their particular DRM in the most lackluster grey scale. You cannot use Adobe PDFs on it with DRM. I would just rather spend my money on something that is up to date, color, with a back light, and runs eBook reader software that I can also update unlike the Sony which I think is gonna be easily blown away by an open system solution here real soon here.

The Sony is grey scale and flimsy buttoned, no wi-fi, no touch screen, and really let’s face the fact it is a high priced dog with lots of fleas next to what any Palm can do.

TP – I don’t know about you, but I hate people touching my monitors and leaving their icky fingerprint smudges. And, yes, the PRS-505 is a one-trick pony, but it seems to do that one trick very well. When I read a book, I’m not interested in surfing the web or doing anything else. I just want to read.

After further comparison, I’m edging towards the PRS-505 instead of the iTouch because I really want a device that does a heck of a job mimicking paper.

Of course, I’ll eventually give in and buy both. But I’m a geek.

Maya – That’s so wonderful that you did that. I am sure that everyone’s combined action helped.

Brenna- the new Sony ebook reader functions as a USB storage device so supposedly Mac users can just transfer over books that way. You’d just have to put them in a readable format.