I enjoy reading from a traditional book, but I sometimes use digital media for traveling light, quick reference, or text searching. A digital reader is my preference for magazines and journals. Less paper. In conjunction with a textbook, a digital copy allows text search and quick reference. The book is still a great reading technology, and completely wireless.
Digital readers should meet the following goals: organize texts, portability, text search, and easy reading. Other benefits include multiple bookmarking and personal annotations. Below I list a few digital readers and organizers.
Stanza on iPod
Stanza by Lexcycle is a reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Select titles by list or cover flow. Organize selections by title, author, subject, and recent reads. Supports multiple bookmarking, adjustable font, and zoom by pinch. Search for titles online from ebook services. The optional desktop tool allows the user to add selections from existing collections or export to Kindle. Stanza is free from the iTunes App store.
Amazon Kindle 2 is a wireless tablet reader supporting bookmarking, text search, and annotations without the need for a computer. It uses EVDO network (a data network used by some cell phones) covered by the original purchase price. A grayscale screen, but try Kindle for iPhone to enjoy color. The Kindle 2 price is equivalent to over forty paperbacks.
Zinio is a reader for digital magazines. The interface includes page turning animations and allows embedded media and hyperlinks. Magazines maintain their look including ads. A few magazines, such as PC Magazine, now only deliver in digital format. With a 22 inch monitor, many magazines end up life-size allowing full page reading. Supports text search, annotations, and reading your library on the road with an iPhone.
Papers for Mac, iPhone, and iPod touch is a PDF organizational tool aimed at those with hundreds or even thousands of PDF documents. Organizes by author, journal, title, or user created categories. The current version (1.9) lacks text searching, but includes annotated notes and keywords for search. Besides keeping organized, Papers aids in locating research papers through online repositories such as Google Scholar, Citeseer, PubMed, ACM, ADS, and IEEE Xplore. Papers is best suited for researchers, students, and anyone that regularly refers to many PDF documents. Casual readers may prefer Stanza or Kindle.
Need more to read? Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort providing free ebooks of titles with copyright clearance including many classics.