Why I Think the Apple iPad with iBooks Will Make a Great eBook Reader

Submitted by Chris W. Rea on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 20:00

Since last year, I've used a Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch Edition to read ebooks. I spend a good amount of time on the train each day and an ebook reader is a great way to take a selection of books in a light package.

While I was initially enthusiastic about my Sony, I grew to want something better. I'm looking forward to the Apple iPad as a replacement for my Sony. In this post, I'll mention some of my experiences with the Sony Reader, and how I expect the Apple iPad to compare.

Sony Reader Experiences vs. My Expectation of the iPad:

  • Taking too many notes appeared to slow down the Sony Reader considerably. I do appreciate the Sony Reader's autonomy (time between battery charge), but it seems to come at the cost of processing capability. Whereas, Apple's iPad will have a considerably faster processor. Since the iPad will function as much more than a book reader, it should perform very well for book reading specifically.
  • On the Sony Reader, I was disappointed being unable to add additional dictionaries for word lookup. I sometimes read books in French, and I wasn't able to load a French dictionary on the Reader to supplement the English dictionary. Whereas, the Apple iPad will have access to the App Store and a multitude of third-party dictionaries. But: I wonder if iBooks will support word lookup in a third-party dictionary app or book?
  • The Sony Reader suffered from limited on-device storage. The PRS-600 model I purchased only offered 380MB usable storage. I quickly filled that with a variety of ebooks. I added an expansion card, then discovered books present on expansion cards behave poorly, such as significant pauses at certain page turns. Whereas, the iPad will have generous on-device storage – 16GB and up! Sadly, the iPad will not support external expansion.
  • Sony's "Reader Library" desktop application was required to purchase books from the Sony Store, and was the recommended way to manage books on the device. To say the least: Reader Library was a very poorly designed and executed piece of software. While it aimed to provide an Apple iTunes-like experience, it was slow and crashed a number of times. I cursed Reader Library. Whereas, the iPad will use iTunes. I expect purchasing books from Apple via iTunes or the iBooks App to be as straight-forward as buying music or videos from iTunes today.
  • The Sony Reader lacked connectivity. I wanted a reader that would also serve well for reading blog subscriptions (RSS feeds) and the Sony Reader's support for that was dismal to say the least. While it offered some form of RSS-to-PDF sync, it left much to be desired. Whereas, the iPad has a web browser and the App Store will offer many third-party RSS feed readers, some with sync-in-advance and some with live reading functionality.
  • The Sony Reader was only black and white. While that type of display was more "paper-like" than any I had seen before, the lack of color was disappointing. A lot of the ebooks I had purchased had color pictures or diagrams. The iPad will have a nice high-resolution display. While the iPad likely won't be as useable in direct light or sunlight due to glare, it should provide a better overall experience.
  • The Sony Reader lacked decent zoom and scroll. I could select from a fixed number of text sizes that were adequate. But, when it came to images sometimes I could zoom in but the image would be chopped off at the right. I'm hoping the iPad will offer multi-touch zoom capability in iBooks similar to that available on the iPhone, so I can zoom in or out an image to see as much or as little detail as desired.

On the plus side for the Sony:

  • The Sony Reader had respectable battery life. I expect the iPad to be comparable – it's said to have a great battery – but not necessarily better than the Sony. The iPad obviously has more muscle and even with a better battery, the added muscle likely consumes much of that additional battery power.
  • The Sony Reader had support for the open EPUB format. I purchased a number of titles direct from publisher that are free of any DRM (Digital Rights Management) and I hope to bring those titles directly over to the iPad.
  • I liked that the Sony Reader could be plugged in to my computer with a standard USB cable. It would show up as a USB mass storage device. The iPad, on the other hand, will require Apple-proprietary sync cables and iTunes to manage the device content. I think in this regard I'll be taking a step backward... but gaining much in return.

So, are you looking forward to getting an iPad to use it as an ebook reader? When I've finally got my hands on an iPad and have done some reading with it, I'll write about my experience with it. Until then, happy reading!