Cheap MP3 downloads have been available for years now and I still can’t throw a stone in a shopping centre without hitting a music shop or two. I don’t see how the sale of books is any different, not to mention the increased selling capacity of a global store front.

Someone decided to do an RIAA style study of online sharing of books. In response, Eric Hellman has done up an awesome article about the implications of physical book loaning. Consider the fact that as few books are released in digital format, a physical book must b purchased to create the digital version. Almost sounds like the same thing a library does… (almost)

My personal opinion is still the same, make the content available for people at an appropriate price and most will do the right thing by you. Publishers should embrace the change because there is NO WAY they can stop it.

I have read several short stories, a few hundred pages of study notes and demonstrated the device to many of my friends, all without recharging. I have also gone about getting many more books to read. So far I have found the PDF files are the most versatile but interestingly, the formatting of PDF defines what reading options are available.

Some PDF files will only render at the full page and will not allow zoom, others will allow text zoom and rotation but will hide images, yet others will zoom, rotate and scale images. Once you get the viewing correct, reading is a pleasure. I am in the middle of 3 separate books currently and it keeps my place holder, I just jump between then depending on what I feel like.

Holding the device is much lighter and more comfortable when you take it out of the protective cover. I have also found with the wrist strap on, I can hold and turn pages with one hand comfortably. Just takes practice to balance the book, which I figure we all learned on paper-backs as children.

I have had the device lock up once when reading a TXT file. I’m not sure if it was caused by the device of a corrupt file but I had to hard reset the BeBook then use the PC and delete the file from the device and copy it again. Moral of this story, it is a good idea to store a copy of your books in a separate drive just in case they are lost or damaged.

I would definitely recommend anyone thinking about buying an eReader bite the bullet, purcahse one and start filling your library. Unfortunately, for books who’s authors or publishers that refuse to release content in digital format, your only moral option is to buy a physical copy of the book and obtain a digital version. For all that hassle, I would much prefer just to purchase a digital copy.

I finally received my accessories from BeBook on Thursday; strangely they shipped several days after the BeBook reader. I was pleased to find a number of PDF books and reading resources on the SD card because the device only shipped with the User Guide. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be anything worth reading.

I ran a firmware update on the device which was a very easy process. This should be very easy for basic users to do and left all the books stored on the built-in flash intact.

On that, I’m yet to find any digital books that I am interested in reading available in Australia. The Harry Potter series, Tomorrow series & Ender’s Game series are not available for download in any eBook format. Lord of the Rings is only available in secure ePub format which the BeBook new firmware doesn’t support. This is where the Kindle triumphs, but is also its downfall. If you ever decide to use a non-Amazon device, all the books your purchased are useless. It is DRM in MP3′s battle all over again.

As for reading, in reality it takes two hands to turn the page of a regular book. I have found a few comfortable reading positions but you need to use two hands to turn the page, so I will stop complaining.

Anywho, I have read about an hours worth of content so far:

• It’s light, I mean you just don’t realise how light. The protective case is heaver than the book. wow.
• Its square, I’m still trying to find a comfortable reading position. I have found Landscape is nicer but I can’t rotate txt files.
• The screen just looks like the fake phones in shops. You don’t think it moves till you press the next page button.
• LAG!!! There is serious lag wit this thing. You basically need to press the button two lines before you finish the page. It takes about that long to render the page before it even does the 1 sec screen change.
• It displays my current PDF based study material nicely. I will see how this goes moving forward.
• It will even charge off an Apple power to USB adapter. (Unlike the kindle)
• Lots of page turn buttons but it is strange to hold.

From my reading the developers for the BeBook welcome feedback and regularly release firmware updates. I plan to add my suggestions and see how it goes.