Anybody ever own an Apple Newton?

[thewayne]

I've got a line on one on Ebay, seems to me like it would make a good ebook reader. I don't need the capability to buy new books that the Kindle provides, and I don't like the price of the Kindle or the Sony, sweet machines as they are. So my intent is to download books from Guttenberg for free, I don't really have another purpose for it.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience with it. I look forward to it, I think it'll be fun.

Comments

[apostate-96.livejournal.com]

I haven't worked with the Newton, but I've got to say I LOVE the Kindle that I've got. The new books are OK, but the ability to download them directly from the web is the better bonus. Guttenberg is one place for that, and another is Feedbooks. It also helps that there's free software out there that'll let you transform an MS-Word, HTML, or PDF document into something the Kindle will read.

I'd scoffed at the idea of an e-reader before, but I'll gladly admit to having to eat my words now.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I think the Kindle and EInk are really cool. The battery life is great. But nevertheless, I have a few problems. First, the Kindle is too expensive IMO. Bring it down to about $100-150 and I'd buy one in an instant. Same with the Sony, but I expect the Sony to be expensive because that's what Sony does. Second, there are some specific ergonomic issues that I have with the Kindle, I just don't like the physical design. "Don't like" is perhaps a bit strong as I haven't used it extensively, there are aspects of the physical design that I'm not too keen on. Third and fourth are the ebooks. They're too expensive, far too close to the cost of the physical book. IMO, they should be about a quarter of the cost of the physical book, or you should be able to get both for either the cost of the dead tree edition or maybe dead tree + $5. That would be far more palitable to me.

And finally, DRM. If I buy a dead tree edition, I can read it and give it away or sell it or whatever to it. If I buy an ebook edition, it is bound to my Kindle. I can't lend it to my wife without giving her my Kindle. I can't sell it because I've decided I don't want it, and they're not going to give me a refund. Granted, it's a difficult business model, and I certainly don't have a solution, but I like being able to trade in my used books, I've discovered a lot of authors via used book stores that I'll buy their stuff new.

It's possible that they've changed their DRM model and that I'm unaware of it, but I doubt it.

I've used my Palm TX as an ebook reader, I like the concept. I've read a number of books on my laptop(s), and that works, just not as convenient (and it, too, has spurred new book purchases). The concept of the Kindle really appeals to me, but they have a way to go before I would buy one. The price is stuck at $360, you can't get a better price on eBay! At least some models of the Sony you can get for about $150 on eBay.

[fastlearner.livejournal.com]

My best buddy (at the time) had a Newton. It was pretty sweet, but really, only pretty sweet for the time. The screen was nothing to write home about.

If I wanted a cheap ebook reader today, I'd look into getting an older (like > 5 years but < 8 years) HP iPaq. They had those great screens that were both reflective and transmissive, so you could see it clearly outdoors or in.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Good point. I'm not familiar with models, but that wouldn't be difficult to research.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Ah, just thought of some potential disqualifiers. Outdoors isn't much of an issue, battery life is. I'm not looking for a pocket device, but something for reading in bed and on long flights.

The iPaqs that I recall from 8-9 years ago were not very good on battery life, maybe 3 hours or so tops from a charge cycle. The Newton 2100 is good for 30 hours off a set of AAs.