We been looking at this issue as well. Depending on grant funding we will circulate the e-readers to families, so we want the e-readers to have both children's books as well as parenting/child development books on the devices.
In addition to Kindle DX and Sony Reader, we are also looking at COOL-ER which can read JPEG, PDF or TXT. The op system also does 8 different languages. The COOL-ER is lighter and in general less expensive than Kindles or Sony Readers (also come in several different colors).
However, I also called Amazon about Kindle, and they did say that depending on the title purchased (each title came with its own limits some only had 1, some had 2), I could put up to 6 copies of one purchased title on a set of Kindles, so I could have 6 copies of one ebook in circulation on several Kindles. Another advantage of the latest Kindle version is the color screen for picture books for primary children.
We are exploring several different scenarios at this time.
FYI: In my son's middle school, they piloted Kindles (first version) very successfully. The kids had no tech issues, the battery lasted several days, and the kids enjoyed using them. The only issue the kids had at all was the lack of a back light (Kindle first version), so they could read under the covers at night. As a parent, that doesn't bother me, but I did notice that Sony Reader and I believe the newer Kindle version has a back light system.
posted 4 months ago. ( reply )
