I've resisted the whole e-book phenomenon so far because I like having paper in my hands when I'm reading. And by extension, that means I don't know much about any of the e-book readers out there.
Well, I've found a good motivation to investigate them at last: Approach Plates. The papers describing instrument approaches into airports nationwide come in a 1-inch sheaf, and are only valid for a *very* short time (about 3 months). Then you have to re-buy the entire package, even if only a few (or none) of the approaches have changed in that time. They aren't expensive, but it is a pain, especially if you're flying a long distance and you need the plates for multiple regions onboard.
Each re-buy is only about $4, so it's not a huge deal, especially for those of us who only fly occasionally. For those who fly a lot more, Jeppeson provides a subscription service which only updates specific plates that have changed, but it's far more expensive.
Enter e-book readers. Several sources have started making approach plates available for e-book readers. This would allow you to store all of the approach and departure procedures for the entire nation on a single piece of hardware. Downside: some of them have smaller screens than the normal approach plate paper size.
The sites I've found so far are:
www.pdfplates.com, which offers plates for free (!), but I figure there must be some catch. Sure enough, they're having compatibility problems with some readers, but partially support a wide variety.
www.readerplates.com, which offers a subscription service for $10/month (not bad), but only promises to support Sony's reader and the Kindle DX.
www.eflybook.com, which is not actually an ebook reader, but essentially the same concept. The hardware is much more expensive, as is the subscription plan, but it includes more information (sectionals and en-route charts in addition to the approaches, and probably more).
So I'd like any opinions of the various readers out there, so that I can make an informed decision about whether any of these services are right for me. And who knows, I may end up reading some actual books on the thing too.....
Well, I've found a good motivation to investigate them at last: Approach Plates. The papers describing instrument approaches into airports nationwide come in a 1-inch sheaf, and are only valid for a *very* short time (about 3 months). Then you have to re-buy the entire package, even if only a few (or none) of the approaches have changed in that time. They aren't expensive, but it is a pain, especially if you're flying a long distance and you need the plates for multiple regions onboard.
Each re-buy is only about $4, so it's not a huge deal, especially for those of us who only fly occasionally. For those who fly a lot more, Jeppeson provides a subscription service which only updates specific plates that have changed, but it's far more expensive.
Enter e-book readers. Several sources have started making approach plates available for e-book readers. This would allow you to store all of the approach and departure procedures for the entire nation on a single piece of hardware. Downside: some of them have smaller screens than the normal approach plate paper size.
The sites I've found so far are:
www.pdfplates.com, which offers plates for free (!), but I figure there must be some catch. Sure enough, they're having compatibility problems with some readers, but partially support a wide variety.
www.readerplates.com, which offers a subscription service for $10/month (not bad), but only promises to support Sony's reader and the Kindle DX.
www.eflybook.com, which is not actually an ebook reader, but essentially the same concept. The hardware is much more expensive, as is the subscription plan, but it includes more information (sectionals and en-route charts in addition to the approaches, and probably more).
So I'd like any opinions of the various readers out there, so that I can make an informed decision about whether any of these services are right for me. And who knows, I may end up reading some actual books on the thing too.....
