Are the current ebook readers good enough for reading programming books (containing diagrams, source-code, screenshots, and so on)? How good are the search functions or the possibilities to set bookmarks, to use a book as a reference?
I'd like to hear opinions of ebook reader owners to help me decide whether or not I should buy an ebook reader.
(I know this question already exists, but it's over one year old and new ebook readers are now available)
Very subjective. Nothing I've used yet has been good enough for me.
This article may help:
http://gizmodo.com/5152092/giz-explains-why-there-isnt-a-perfect-ebook-reader
I use Mobipocket Reader on my Blackberry for books. While the phone's are limited in resolution, any images included in the document can be rendered (that I've seen). It's worked well for me so far, and I can import from a lot of different sources to the desktop program.
I own a Sony Reader PRS-505. I can't compare it with other ebook readers because it's the only one I've used.
I do use it to read programming books, but it can become frustrating really fast. In my experience, code samples are mostly illegible on the screen. Sometimes the structure of the snippet can be restored by zooming out, but at the expense of having to look at microscopic characters.
No search function, slow turning of pages at times, etc. These things are in their infancy and it shows.
That said I'm happy with it as a portable library. I carry many books with me that I can glance over anytime I'm free. You can always pick up something you didn't know even if the reading experience leaves a lot to be desired.
I have bought a few of the O'reilly books for use on the iPhone.
They aren't perfect by any means but the convenience makes it worthwhile. The text size is adjustable and the images seem to display OK
If you want to buy commercial ebooks then amazon's kindle seems to be the obvious choice. The way it delivers books using Whispernet make it easy to use and you can buy stuff via your standard amazon account. I know that the harware isn't as good as it could be and some people are worried that Amazon is getting a monopoly worse than google - but it seemd to be inevitable. Why Kindle is the answer
I use Google Reader on mobile phones a lot (Nokia E51, G1) and it's hard to read any source code on small screen (even on 3.2" screen of G1).
I would invest into Kindle DX (if you live in US) following recommendation of Scott Hanselman.
Kindle is now available in many countries and Kindle DX version can even show any PDF emailed to it.
My Kindle does a great job in reading e-books, but, I found that converting a PDF to a format that it can use better makes the code and figures not turn out correct, but I get many books from Manning Publication, and they will make an e-book version available for free, if they have one ready, if you bought directly from them. So, last night I installed two, and it is as good as the PDF on my PC.
The Kindle can now handle PDF files, but the source code is very difficult to read, unless you switch to landscape mode, but then you have a much smaller screen area to read on.
I have the smaller Kindle, I expect that the larger Kindle will display PDFs better, but it seemed to large to easily handle, so I can't speak for that version.
I too have the Sony PRS 505 and also find it difficult to read and search programming books.
The pdf read and caching time is very slow. Also the pagination of source code snippets leaves a lot to be desired, it often doesnt know how to wrap lines (i suppose this is because in novels a sentence can be split anywhere and its still readable, not so with code)
Search is the main issue (or lack of search). I find that you just cant get that 'flick through pages' ability that we have with real books. Now this is more of an issue with programming books, because often you want to flick past a section that you already know. Whereas with novels you generally read the whole book in sequential order.
I am hoping the ipad with the flick gestures will be my saviour. But then i will be sacrificing the ability to see the screen outside in direct sunlight :-(
perhaps not too big an issue, i dont get to program in the park too often.. uk often raining :-(