Media player and ebook reader?

[Michigan PC]

I'm looking for a media player that I can carry with me often that will allow me to comfortably watch tv shows as well as read books in pdf format. Any suggestions?

 

[Vinnard]

I'd just grab a netbook. Anything small enough to put in your pocket would be hard to read a book on. Maybe an ipod touch would work, too.

 

[Michigan PC]

my only gripes with a netbook are the long boot times and limited battery life

 

[silent-circuit]

Well, the battery life there's little to be done about, but a dedicated fast boot Linux distro would get you in around 20 seconds, less if you worked at it a bit, and do everything you want.

The trouble is that you want to watch videos /and/ read PDFs. A dedicated eBook reader would be your best bet if it weren't for the video requirement (e-ink displays are generally grayscale and don't have the response/redraw times necessary for video anyway) and a PMP like something from Cowon or Archos (probably misspelled) would be better if you didn't want to read books, due mostly to small screen size.

Many PMPs can read PDFs and have better-than-netbook battery life, however, so you may be best served doing a little research, comparison shopping, and one-on-one time with prospective devices yourself.

 

[Dangman]

my only gripes with a netbook are the long boot times and limited battery life

Many netbooks do have 6-cell battery options that boosts their runtime to 7 to 8 hours. And the long boot times are easily overcome by using the custom made Linux distros already installed on many netbooks, as silent-circuit has said.

Anyway, do some research, as s-c recommends, and see which PMP works best for you. However if you don't mind a roundabout way of reading PDF files (like converting them to jpegs, install a webserver, etc) look up PDF hacks on the IPod and Zune

 

[Michigan PC]

I think I found exactly what I am looking for:

the archos 5

 

[Joe Average]

iPod touch using Stanza or eReader, or something else. Just sold one and used it extensively with Stanza for reading, worked great without issues. Still waiting on someone to create the perfect eBook/DAP but, so far, nobody has done it, surprisingly.

 

[prtzlboy]

iPod touch using Stanza or eReader, or something else. Just sold one and used it extensively with Stanza for reading, worked great without issues. Still waiting on someone to create the perfect eBook/DAP but, so far, nobody has done it, surprisingly.

I'm surprised at this myself, as one would think it would be the perfect combo (reading and listening to music). Really, if there's a decent e-book reader for the iPod touch (or iPhone) that would be a good way to go. Don't know since I haven't researched it myself yet.

 

[GoldenTiger]

I've used a pocket PC (now called Windows Mobile Professional) phone for years and years for these purposes as well as net access and a phone... they're perfect .