Looking for purchase advice

Have never had a mp3 player of any kind. Currently only have 4GB in my iTunes library and 3.2GB of that are podcasts.
My primary use would be for listening while driving and at work. Mainly podcasts and audio books. It would be nice if the device was capable of handling ebooks also. Looked at the new Sony reader, but if you want to lie in bed reading at night it has no back light, so you still need a night light to read.

Wondering if anyone uses their devices like this. Would the iPod be OK for reading, or is screen just too small for this and I should possibly consider a PDA that can handle the multiple tasks. On my quick search it seems most PDA's just don't have very much capacity.

Will not use any device of this type for video. Have 3 widescreens to choose from at home (only two of us in the house) and my MBP for when I'm traveling.

So, what ya'll think? The iPhone looks like it may be a great device for this. But don't need or want all the phone stuff along with it. Maybe they'll come out with an iPod with the same benefits and screen size as the iPhone in the not too distant future?

although i don't read books on the ipod just from using the calendar function, games etc on the ipod screen i can tell you it is likely to be too small. i watch movies they are okish but that is pushing it.

it is likely they will come out with an ipod iphone but it won't be for a good six months or so because they need to push the iphone first.

it depends how comfortable you are with reading screens. the advantage of the sony screenreader thing is it isn't a screen so easy to read.

sounds like you want something with a reasonable screen. maybe check out the archos's - http://www.archos.com/?country=global&lang=en

The iPhone IS an iPod/iPhone. Apple even advertises it this way.

Personally, I would not try to read a book off of my iPod.

baggss said:

The iPhone IS an iPod/iPhone. Apple even advertises it this way.

Personally, I would not try to read a book off of my iPod.

Click to expand...

i know its an ipod but hardly a decent one. until 30gb or higher is in it people won't even consider it as a ipod.

Really? So the Shuffles and Nanos are not "real" iPods because they are smaller and have less than 30Gb of space? What makes an iPod a "real" iPod? 30Gb, 40Gb, 80Gb? That seems like an arbitrary statement at best.

I don't see them doing that unless the intent is to merge both products into a single line. That would be pretty silly as many folks want iPods and not phones. I suspect the iPod capabilities of the iPhone will never match the real iPod. They'll keep the iPhones iPod space to a minimum to keep it from stealing too much business from the iPod. To be honest, the iPod capability almost seems like a gimmic more than anything else. Sort a hook to help draw people in, especially those who desire an integrated all in one device.

Went and looked at lunch today. Yep, the ipod is definitely too small to try reading from. Did notice the Creative Zen and an Archos with 4.3" screens that looked like they may be OK. Didn't have time to play with 'em though and don't have a clue yet what file types either one are capable of.

Liked the iPod because it can handle wav files. After looking though, don't know if any of 'em would be reasonable for ebooks or not. The iPhone still looks pretty cool just because of the screen size.