Which eBook Reader Do You Use? [MakeUseOf Poll]

Last week’s poll was What’s your favourite text editor? This caused quite a stir in the comments, rousing some passionate responses.

With 553 votes counted: 20% of MakeUseOf readers head straight for the most basic text editor available on their machine; 15% use MS Word; 7% use OpenOffice; 13% use Vi; and 2% use Emacs. Another 43% went to other editors, with most favouring Notepad++, gEdit, jEdit, TextPad and Nano.

Full results and this week’s poll after the jump.


It’s official: Vi beats Emacs hands down and MS word is still more popular than OpenOffice.

This week’s poll question is: Which eBook reader do you use?

There are many eBook readers on the market. We’re going to find out once and for all which ones are worth buying and what’s worth leaving on the shelf.

Please let us know in the comments your main reason for choosing your favourite eBook reader, too. There’s so many to choose from – if there’s a good reason for or against a particular model, we definitely want to know!

Tagged: • •

Angela Alcorn

Ange is an Internet Studies & Journalism graduate who spends way too much time messing with social networks (see AngelaAlcorn.com or @smange).

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  • Craig Nansen

    Your poll seems biased against the iPad – I prefer iBook on the iPad (not an option on your poll) but also use the Kindle app on the iPad to read books I had purchased on my Kindle (which I no longer use – will sell cheep) and the B&N app to read some books that I have received from them for free.

    • http://vwllss.com William Brand

      Well, reading books isn’t really the iPad’s main thing as shown by the battery use during idle time and backlit screen. It’s right to call it a multifunction device.

    • http://netsavoir.com/ Angela Alcorn

      The multifunction devices are only in the poll because I know that people that have them will rarely buy a dedicated eBook reader as well. Same goes for computers/laptops. :)

  • Craig Nansen

    Your poll seems biased against the iPad – I prefer iBook on the iPad (not an option on your poll) but also use the Kindle app on the iPad to read books I had purchased on my Kindle (which I no longer use – will sell cheep) and the B&N app to read some books that I have received from them for free.

  • Cegabq

    I love my Kindle & have a very hard time reading any print book at all any more. I also love having the Kindle app on my Droid – it’s really handy to not have to tote more than one device when out & about – but at home, the Kindle is still my favorite.

  • Cegabq

    I love my Kindle & have a very hard time reading any print book at all any more. I also love having the Kindle app on my Droid – it’s really handy to not have to tote more than one device when out & about – but at home, the Kindle is still my favorite.

  • William Brand

    Well, reading books isn’t really the iPad’s main thing as shown by the battery use during idle time and backlit screen. It’s right to call it a multifunction device.

  • MerryMarjie

    My Nook rocks! Must have free Calibre software to go with it as it makes transfers easy, plus it finds great content. I love walking into Barnes & Noble and being offered a free e-book when I turn on the Nook, and my hometown library says it will offer e-books to loan by fall. I save the hard books for the bathtub!

    Life is good!

    • Shermia Trueheart

      I just brought my Nook not 3 weeks ago, and you know you can just drag and drop your ebooks if need be, you don’t need any special software.

  • MerryMarjie

    My Nook rocks! Must have free Calibre software to go with it as it makes transfers easy, plus it finds great content. I love walking into Barnes & Noble and being offered a free e-book when I turn on the Nook, and my hometown library says it will offer e-books to loan by fall. I save the hard books for the bathtub!

    Life is good!

  • http://homework.never-ends.net FekketCantenel

    iPod Touch with Stanza. I recently helped a friend get his iTouch/Stanza set up as well; he reports that his mother is very jealous.

  • FekketCantenel

    iPod Touch with Stanza. I recently helped a friend get his iTouch/Stanza set up as well; he reports that his mother is very jealous.

  • Angela Alcorn

    The multifunction devices are only in the poll because I know that people that have them will rarely buy a dedicated eBook reader as well. Same goes for computers/laptops. :)

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  • Elena

    I voted for Kindle, but I also use Papyre, a multi-format ebook reader distributed in Spain: http://grammata.es/papyre/papyre-6-1 (sorry, the web is only in Spanish, but you can get the idea with the pics).

  • Elena

    I voted for Kindle, but I also use Papyre, a multi-format ebook reader distributed in Spain: http://grammata.es/papyre/papy… (sorry, the web is only in Spanish, but you can get the idea with the pics).

  • Sev

    iPad w/ Stanza w/ Calibre to upload from my laptop. Best solution hands down

    • Shermia Trueheart

      No, best solution is the Nook.

  • Sev

    iPad w/ Stanza w/ Calibre to upload from my laptop. Best solution hands down

  • Rose

    Sony PRS-505. It’s awesome. I even have a booklight to clip to the case so I can read in the dark.

    And this is a second vote for Calibre as a ebook management piece of software. The fetching of metadata and covers plus the ability to put books on the ebook reader in author sort (lastname, firstname) makes it worth it’s weight in gold!

    • Shermia Trueheart

      Compared to the Nook (the best one), and the Kindle (the next best), ALL of the SONY ebook readers suck horribly.

  • Rose

    Sony PRS-505. It’s awesome. I even have a booklight to clip to the case so I can read in the dark.

    And this is a second vote for Calibre as a ebook management piece of software. The fetching of metadata and covers plus the ability to put books on the ebook reader in author sort (lastname, firstname) makes it worth it’s weight in gold!

  • Anonymous

    AluraTek Libre

  • flink

    AluraTek Libre

  • Bob

    Where’s Kobo???

  • Bob

    Where’s Kobo???

  • BobbYD

    I’ve got an Asus T101MT netvertible which works perfectly with the kindle for windows application. Other windows based ebook readers just don’t work as well

  • BobbYD

    I’ve got an Asus T101MT netvertible which works perfectly with the kindle for windows application. Other windows based ebook readers just don’t work as well

  • Inflt48

    I use an Ectaco Jetbook Lite. Selling points for me were, uses rechargeable AA batteries, has slot for SD card, allowing 16gb card, plus internal 512 mb storage, cost (I paid $99 at Newegg). It has not wireless, but for my use, it wasn’t needed. I downloaded about 20 gb of ebooks, used Calibre to convert them all to epub format, eliminated duplicates, and am set for life. I won’t ever have to buy another book.

  • Inflt48

    I use an Ectaco Jetbook Lite. Selling points for me were, uses rechargeable AA batteries, has slot for SD card, allowing 16gb card, plus internal 512 mb storage, cost (I paid $99 at Newegg). It has not wireless, but for my use, it wasn’t needed. I downloaded about 20 gb of ebooks, used Calibre to convert them all to epub format, eliminated duplicates, and am set for life. I won’t ever have to buy another book.

  • http://twitter.com/dimitri_ha dimitri

    i used to read from my netbook, rotate the screen to get a longer page view. now i also used a Bookeen Cybook Opus. it’s a lightweight ebook reader with a reasonable price in my country.

    it has an expansion slot for micro SD, up to 16GB, with a big 1 GB internal memory. i don’t need the keyboard, could customize my font type and size. use it with adobe digital ed (in Windows) and calibre (in Linux), they give me all my reading pleasure.

    my only complain is i can’t read PDF files with comfort in it, must resort to my netbook.

  • dimitri

    i used to read from my netbook, rotate the screen to get a longer page view. now i also used a Bookeen Cybook Opus. it’s a lightweight ebook reader with a reasonable price in my country.

    it has an expansion slot for micro SD, up to 16GB, with a big 1 GB internal memory. i don’t need the keyboard, could customize my font type and size. use it with adobe digital ed (in Windows) and calibre (in Linux), they give me all my reading pleasure.

    my only complain is i can’t read PDF files with comfort in it, must resort to my netbook.

  • Peter Klancic

    I use the Iliad as my main Reader, I’ve also gor a CyBook 3 which I use less often, both using Mobi books. I’ve now ordered a Kindle as Amazon are now selling these in the UK. I’ve just ordered a DVD of EPUB books to try out. I’m not sure about buying an EPUB reader as the proces seem steeper for the books and there is less choice than Kindle.

  • Peter Klancic

    I use the Iliad as my main Reader, I’ve also gor a CyBook 3 which I use less often, both using Mobi books. I’ve now ordered a Kindle as Amazon are now selling these in the UK. I’ve just ordered a DVD of EPUB books to try out. I’m not sure about buying an EPUB reader as the proces seem steeper for the books and there is less choice than Kindle.

  • Rmurray Reid

    I use Calibre’s E-Book Reader. I like Calibre because it will just about read anything and convert to whatever you want. Top Notch!!

  • Rmurray Reid

    I use Calibre’s E-Book Reader. I like Calibre because it will just about read anything and convert to whatever you want. Top Notch!!

  • CJ

    I use eReader on my Palm PDA.

  • CJ

    I use eReader on my Palm PDA.

  • Shermia Trueheart

    I just brought my Nook not 3 weeks ago, and you know you can just drag and drop your ebooks if need be, you don’t need any special software.

  • Shermia Trueheart

    No, best solution is the Nook.

  • Shermia Trueheart

    Compared to the Nook (the best one), and the Kindle (the next best), ALL of the SONY ebook readers suck horribly.