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TECHNOLOGY | ELECTRONIC READERS hold thousands of pages, but they are clunky and costly, and the choices are limited.

SHOULD YOU spend hundreds to read a novel on a hand-held, battery-powered, electronic reader when you can just, well, pick up a book? E-books do offer some compelling features, such as allowing you to carry a shelf-full of books in one hand. And if you're determined to be on technology's cutting edge, there are few devices cooler right now. But so far, only 43,000 of the most curious among us have bought the devices, though researchers predict anywhere from 2.6 million to 28 million in use by 2005.

After perusing pixels on the three leading electronic readers, we're betting on the low end of the scale. No question that these devices boast some high-tech conveniences and seem plenty cool at first glance. But for sales to move from thousands to millions in the next few years, the technology needs to evolve, the price needs to come down, and more digital reading material needs to be made available. That's a tall order, even as quickly as technology moves these days. But if you're an optimist, read on for reviews of the main machines.

Ease of use. The Commuter's Friend Award goes to the REB1100 Gemstar eBook, manufactured by RCA ($299; www.ebook-gemstar.com). At 18 ounces, you can hold this paper-backsize reader in one hand--"turning" the pages by pressing a button--and use your other hand to dangle from a strap or bar on a packed bus or train. (But expect to draw some attention. One of our testers noticed a fellow commuter trying so hard to watch that he finally asked if he was reading too fast.)

The 1100 has a flat, 5.5-inch-diagonal, black-and-white screen. The touch-sensitive, liquid-crystal display, with 320-by-480-pixel resolution and a good backlight, is pretty easy on the eyes. Both the 1100 and its fancier cousin, the REB 1200, have built-in modems that allow you to download reading material directly from Gemstar, bypassing your PC.

You can pack about 20 books (8,000 pages) into the 1100's 8 megabytes of memory (which you can boost to 72 MB, or 70,000 pages, for $100). The rechargeable lithium-ion battery keeps chugging along for 20 to 40 hours of use.

The eBook allows you to operate the controls with either hand. You can also increase the size of the print, much to the delight of some testers who didn't have to use their reading glasses. On both the 1100 and the 1200, you can search for, underline and highlight text, add bookmarks and notes, and access a built-in dictionary. But with all the handy features, the screen still doesn't rival the clarity of a printed book.

The Lap of Luxury Award goes to the RGB1200 ($699). The 1200 is larger (7.5 by 9 by 1.25 inches) and heavier (33 ounces) than its less-expensive cousin, and it seems more like a book. Its soft, leatherlike cover opens the way a book does to reveal an 8.2-inch backlit touch screen in sumptuous color, with crisp, 480-by-640-pixel resolution. It holds 3,000 color-rich pages, or about 5,000 text pages in its 8 MB of memory, but you can upgrade to 128 MB for about $200. The rechargeable battery lasts only five to ten hours. The biggest drawback is the price.

Compared with RCA's eBooks, Franklin Electronic Publishers' eBookMan EBM 911 ($230; two other models sell for $130 and $180; www.franklin.com/ebookman) seems more like a personal digital assistant with some bookish qualities. It is about the size of a PDA and weighs 6.5 ounces. You can upgrade from 16 MB to 64 MB for $100. The display is larger than, say, a Handspring Visor's. But with a resolution of only 200 by 240 pixels--and a very weak backlight that makes the text appear gray on pale blue-green--reading is hard on the eyes even with an enlarged font and almost impossible in anything less than optimum light. The relatively insensitive touch screen is more like a hit screen.

The eBookMan also plays audio books and has an MP3 player (though the built-in speaker is not very clear) and boasts PDA functions, including a memo pad, address book and schedule planner. It doesn't come with a modem, and though it is fairly easy to download books on a PC, it's not as easy as it is with the eBook readers.

Limited libraries. The different reader technologies are incompatible, so before you settle on one, check the companies' online book lists to see whether enough of what you like to read is available to justify the price. And keep in mind that all books for the eBooks and a number for the eBookMan are encrypted, so you can't share or print them.

Thousands of e-titles are available, but so far a big chunk are classics (such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and A round the World in Eighty Days) that have long since lost copyright protection. You can buy titles for your eBook directly from Gemstar once you have the device. But if you want to see what's available before you buy, visit Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com) or Powell's (www.powells.com). You can search a list of thousands of books--many of which are free--for the eBookMan at www.franklin.com/estore.

Overall, prices for digital books tend to be lower than print books' list prices, and sometimes lower than their discount prices. For example, the print version of 1st To Die, by James Patterson, lists for $26.95. You can buy the e-version online from Gemstar or Barnes & Noble.com for $11.96 (the discount price on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com for the book is $16.17).

For now, Gemstar's eBooks have the most bestsellers and other popular fiction and nonfiction titles (more than 5,000, with more being added all the time), but at press time only a handful of the New York Times bestsellers were among them. You can also buy digital editions of a number of periodicals for the eBooks, including the Wall Street Journal Online (an annual subscription is $39.95 through Gemstar, while a regular online subscription is $59, or $29 if you already subscribe to the print version of the Wall Street Journal), the New York Times Magazine, Fortune and Fast Company.

Franklin plans to add Microsoft Reader software (probably late this summer), which will make many more books--and clearer type--available. --Reporter: COURTNEY MCGRATH

COPYRIGHT 2001 The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group

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