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I will definitely try it as an e-reader and see how it compares to the Kindle.

It would make Kindle look pretty bad. A friend of mine likes to read out at the beach and in less than a few minutes the Kindle screen fades in direct sunlight. The iPad is going to be media rich in comparison:eek:
 
I'm certainly going to be using it for all of my tech books and documentation. That is my primary reason for purchasing. I put off buying a kindle, nook etc because of the way they handle pdfs. If it does nothing more than allow me to keep all this in one handy location I'll be happy. Movies, games, productivity apps will just be an added benefit. I'm sure it will replace any periodicals it can. I live in a ruralesque area and can only get the New York Times delivered on Sundays. The closest thing to a bookstore in 60 miles is Walmart (ugghh). Unless the screen causes eyestrain I predict this will be a solution for 80% of my reading material.
 
It would make Kindle look pretty bad. A friend of mine likes to read out at the beach and in less than a few minutes the Kindle screen fades in direct sunlight. The iPad is going to be media rich in comparison:eek:

Yes the glossy iPad screen would really work well in direct sunlight. :p

Good luck not going blind. :eek:
 
I have a lot of pdf material. I used to print half a dozen at a time. If were to print all of the material I have stashed in my hard drive, I could buy lots of iPads instead. I want to buy an iPad, but I don't have a clue as to whether pdfs are combatible with the iPad out of the box and whether iBooks have DRM? What's ePub format btw?

Thanks a lot (First Post)

Hey there, welcome to MacRumors!

The iPad will allow you to read PDFs. I don't think there is a dedicated document reader, but emailing them will enable you to read them. PDFs are definitely compatible with iPad right out of the box.

Books off the iBookstore are ePub files with iTunes' Fairplay DRM on them, so they are DRMed. ePub is a file format (like .jpeg or .doc) for encapsulating books, so I guess you could say that it's its own format. Any-and-all ePub books are compatible with iPad, you can just add them through iTunes.

I hope this answers your questions!
 
I am going to use the iPad as an e-reader although this wasn't the main purpose of this purchase. My wife has a Nook and loves to read on it so I may give ebooks a try:cool:
 
No more paper books

I've been holding on buying new books until my iPad arrives. The iBook store is the main reason why I am getting the iPad. I can't wait! The dictionary and the voiceover are two important features for somebody like me, who is not a native English speaker.
 
Appeal= The possibility to have >3000kg worth of books/magazines/comics/manga/manuals, compressed into 0.68kg.

I'm pretty sure that's how they make book juice....

I'm definitely excited to read on this thing....next year after it's established and huge amounts of content is available.:)
 
me me me me

I was going to buy a Kindle in January for my business. I need to read a ton (especially PDFs).

But, since the iPad was just around the corner at close to the same price (and by my favorite company in the world) I waited.

The bonus is I get all the wonderful stuff iPad can do that Kindle can't, ever.

It's also an awesome companion to my laptop. I can have my PDF on my iPad while writing on my laptop if I want.

So many options.
 
I will be using the iPad to read books, magazines and newspapers. We anticipate traveling at least 3 month in our RV every year where space is at a premium and I would rather have ebooks than real books. Actual computer use goes down when on the road which is just fine with me. The iPad should perform everything I desire to do on the road computer wise.

One clincher for ereader of choice is the landscape mode where you hold the iPad in two hands and see two virtual pages similar to reading a real book.

I've taken to preferring to read my hometown newspaper, Minneapolis Star Tribune, on the road via the Olive Software ePrint edition that is identical to the actual printed paper rather than their normal web site. The Star Tribune said they were working on developing a print edition for the iPad as well but haven't set a date. I imagine other newspapers will be doing the same.
 
I'm pretty sure that's how they make book juice....

I'm definitely excited to read on this thing....next year after it's established and huge amounts of content is available.:)

The amount of content is already incredible, as the ipad supports epub, pdf, cbr, cbz, html with the correct apps.

Magazines coming can be found as ebook which are shared on the net. And what about all the comics which had been digitized since the start of broadband?
Not to mention all those PDF-books scattered on the net?
 
I already own a Kindle and still envision primarily reading e-books on that. I really like the e-ink screen because it's so easy on the eyes (I tend to read for a couple hours at a stretch when I do), and 2 weeks or so of battery life is great.

Having said that, I'm sure I'll buy a few e-books for the iPad just to have them as alternatives, and especially if Apple has some books in e-book format that Amazon doesn't.

However, I do think I'll be reading magazines and newspapers on my iPad because I tend to read them for shorter periods of time and there are going to be lots of photos and such that of course will be much nicer on the iPad.
 
I'm really excited to use the iPad as an ereader. I'm going to read popular books that I didn't read in high-school (and re-read the ones that I thought were boring and skipped out on) as well as re-read some favorites that I haven't read in awhile, many of which I've already downloaded since they are free in the public domain.

I don't have a problem reading books on the Amazon Kindle app, so I don't think I'll have any issue reading on the iPad.
 
Already adding ebooks to itunes

While you can't access the ibook store i decided to see if i could add epub ebooks from other sources, already have quite a collection...

Now i just need the ipad so i can read them.
 
I'll be using it as an eReader though it is not my primary reason why i'd be purchasing the iPad. I'm really looking forward with watching videos, web-surfing, reading books and maybe games on it, and many many more :D
 
A lot of people will pull up a book, say "yep, it lets me read books," and then go back to Facebook.

I doubt many will sit and spend 2 hours reading at a time.

The guy who said the Kindle's screen fades in direct sunlight has no idea what he's talking about. It looks its best in well-lit places. The brighter the light, the easier it is to read.

The Kindle is genius for sitting and reading text for extended periods of time. But the world is full of people who don't do that, and constantly gripe about why the Kindle doesn't do things it was never intended to do and shouldn't do, such as surf the Web competently. Those people will convince themselves (in many cases have already convinced themselves) that the iPad is a "better e-reader than the Kindle". Then they'll go about their lives reading no more than 1,000 words at a time.

I think the iPad might be good for newspapers and magazines, but I really find it farfetched that more than a handful of people will read War & Peace or The Brothers Karamazov start to finish on an iPad.
 
The Kindle 2's problem with direct sunlight fading the text is well documented. I've had three K2s now replaced from Amazon. I haven't had an opportunity of late to try out the latest iteration of the K2 I've received, but I've had every model from the day it was introduced. It is a very real problem Amazon has tried to combat.
 
Hey there, welcome to MacRumors!

The iPad will allow you to read PDFs. I don't think there is a dedicated document reader, but emailing them will enable you to read them. PDFs are definitely compatible with iPad right out of the box.

Books off the iBookstore are ePub files with iTunes' Fairplay DRM on them, so they are DRMed. ePub is a file format (like .jpeg or .doc) for encapsulating books, so I guess you could say that it's its own format. Any-and-all ePub books are compatible with iPad, you can just add them through iTunes.

I hope this answers your questions!

Thanks a lot. Really covers my question.
I think I 'm buying one after all:)
(Though they,re going to take a while to reach the other side of the Atlantic:confused:)
 
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