I was thinking of an iTouch for the ebook apps but I’m not sure if it would be a good investment. I don’t really want a Kindle they seem too constricting, any advice would be great!

Very few ebook readers read .LIT files, but at least .LIT is easy to convert to other formats. Calibre, free at http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net, will convert non-DRM’d lit files to ePub.

The Astak reader (http://www.astak.com/product.asp?serial=05EZBLK ) reads probably the most filetypes of any of the e-ink readers on the market right now, including both PDF and LIT. The iTouch is a good overall device, but not great as an ebook reader–if you want all the other features, it can work out, but if you’re mostly looking for an ebook reader and won’t miss the other apps, a dedicated reader is the way to go.

Mobileread’s "Which One Should I Buy?" forum is at http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=123 and can help you decide which ebook reader would work best for you; they talk about the pros and cons of all of them.

iTouch is actually not designed for reading purpose. I’ve given my opinion about reading on the iPod and real ebook / pdf reader in a previous answer here, guess it’ll help you decide which to choose:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100611015403AA89ueo

Hope this helps.

it cost $150 for my text book and i can get a ebook reader for the same price, i have the text book in pdf format. so is it ok if i just use the ebook instead of text book.

I’ve a few textbooks on my Kindle reader, and I’ve used it for nearly a year without any problem. It does save me some heavy weights and money as well.

And I’ve compared the most popular ebook readers right now in the market in another answer here, guess you’ll be interested:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100618220022AAmYwZ0

And in case you don’t know, Amazon just put a big price slash on the Kindle, and it is now a good time to get it. I put the link below for you to check it out yourself.

Hope it helps

What are the technological and cost issues if someone wants to make an ebook reader to read text and pdf files and jpg/gif images? For instance, the issues of OS, format recognition, interfacing etc. Are there any books/websites dedicated for such project? Thanks for your response.

You would have to put together quite a team of developers, programmers, and other people in order to do that. I don’t think there is a lot of readily available information on the topic, because I would assume it takes a lot of funds to do that regarding research and development, patents and trademarks, manufacturing, design, etc.

If you’re looking to start a business, then you should get started with putting together a team. If it would be for personal use, you would spend a lot less on an existing eBook reader.

I realize investing in a cheap printer and printing out sheet music would be the way to go, but is there any ebook readers or lcd monitors or something I can put on my piano and see the sheet music that way?

yes, they all can of course…
just use any LCD moniter…
and e book readers dont’ show notes

Im not going to eff around with unlocking software each time i want to put a pdf on it

thanks

The Kindle can read PDF files without any problem. See the section "Files Kindle Recognizes" on the official page here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fhelp%2Fcustomer%2Fdisplay.html%3Fie%3DUTF8%26nodeId%3D200375630%26ref_%3Dhp%5Fk2land%5Ftrans&tag=elec-m-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957

And I’ve given a comparison between the models of Kindle reader here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100422112423AAYwBBx

i have a 700 page pdf ebook and i want to use it on a ebook reader, but the font size is too small and almost can read anything. i want to change the font size for the whole pdf not a page or paragraph and i need the pictures in the ebook. so plz dont suggest converting the file to .txt or .doc. and i have adobe acrobat professional 9.0. thx
as i said earlier im using pdf on a ebook reader and even when i zoom in ebook reader its too small, so plz do not suggest zooming in acrobat reader or any program like that. i want to edit the font size permanently.

At the bottom right of your screen ia a small icon with a + sign on it next to which it says 100%. Click on the small arrowhead to the left and you can zoom the whole page to whatever you like.
Also in the Adobe reader thre is a zoom that goes up to 400% in some documents.

I want to buy an ebook reader. Most of the books that I have are in PDF.

Thanks for your answers.

It is definitely the Amazon Kindle, especially with its coming release of update on PDF handling feature. It adds in zoom and pan for PDF documents:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fhelp%2Fcustomer%2Fdisplay.html%3Fie%3DUTF8%26nodeId%3D200324680%26ref_%3Dhp%5Fnavbox%5Fkrec%5Fsu&tag=searchresult-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957

And I’ve given a comparison between the two models of Amazon Kindle here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100422112423AAYwBBx

I have several books that are around 30MB each. They are primarily full page images. Which eBook reader can handle large pdf’s of this type without freezing/rebooting? Thanks!
I don’t mind scrolling in horizontal view.

The Kindle DX should match what you want. See this article on its ability to handle large complex PDF files:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR3AJNTUT3N59CR%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Frdp%255Fperm&tag=searchresult-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957

There is also a good review here about the Kindle DX:

http://ebookreader.ebestreview.com/kindle-dx-product-review

Is it possible to read all types of pdf file with ebook reader (=kindle, sony)

Yes, PDF can be read on Sony reader or Kindle if they are not protected. Personally, I prefer the Amazon Kindle if you want to use it for reading PDF, as it can read PDF both as native or with conversion to Kindle format. After conversion you do something like change font size for the book.

There are some good user reviews and comparison of different models of the Kindle here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR2DUM7S4XW06QN%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ASIN%3DB00154JDAI%26nodeID%3D%26ref%255F%3Dcm%255Fcr%255Fpr%255Fcmt&tag=searchresult-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957

http://ebookreader.ebestreview.com/amazon-kindle-dx-vs-kindle-2

Hope this helps your decision.