ebook readers or tablets for competitive debaters?
Submitted
by
drben
drben writes "I am considering purchasing an e-reader solution of some sort for an intercollegiate forensics team. Competitors in this activity are used to synthesizing large quantities of information in the form of briefs that arrange material copied and pasted from a variety of sources. This is typically done by physically photocopying articles, cutting out relevant passages, and pasting them onto briefs to be organized and read during debates (these briefs are organized in collections carried to tournaments in heavy fileboxes). My question is whether there is an e-book reader or other digital paper-type solution that would offer a sustainable alternative to this practice. The requirements are the ability to store and display files from a word processor or PDF files and the ability to display and transfer those files without DRM or other format restrictions. Debaters need to be able to read from their briefs and switch from brief to brief as easily as if they had a stack of paper in front of them (ideally the reader should be about 8 1/2 x 11" in size and the files should be easily indexed and accessed). I've checked out the Amazon Kindle and the Sony ebook reader but both come up short, and the comparisons I can easily find online are a couple years old (e.g. this list from Wired). I can find others online but I wonder if folks can comment from experience what the best e-readers or tablet computers are for this sort of application?"