E-book readers

I bought a friend of mine a Kindle 3 for her birthday, she's a voracious reader. I got a call about a month later telling me it's the best present she's ever gotten.

I may have to get one sometime down the road.

Win
 
I also have a KOBO. I love it, I really think it is one of the best e-readers on the market, especially at $110. The wifi on it is good but the software sucks for searching, it is good if you know the name of the book you want. I really want a Kindle now that they offer it in Canada and the WIFI 3G will finally work here but I must have $200 of books I have bought for my KOBO and I don't know if they can be transferred for one system to the next.
 
mete said:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...eller-close-200-stores-filing-Chapter-11.html

For all the pluses of e-books there is also a negative.
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Yes, I thought of mentioning this. Additionally, won't this quell writers' enthusiasm to spend years researching and writing a book for pennies? I assume that publishing houses can't pay large advances and royalties on a book that sells at bargain basement prices.

This begs the question: which books will be impervious to the ebook format? For example would you buy a book on sharpening waterstones on an ebook, or some other DYI book where you may get the book wet or dirty?

I paid $65 for an electronic book (DYI) and I never use it. Too much of a pain to be looking at a computer when I am doing something. I don't want to get water or shavings etc. on the book (computer) either. I'm curious what others' tolerences are.
 
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Thanks for all the great insights. I'm also thinking e-book for the wife, she has bad hands and variable visual acuity. One of these may just be the ticket.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I haven't gotten around to http://calibre-ebook.com/ yet but check it out. I think you can use it to download your KOBO books to your computer and upload to Kindle.
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Calibre is a great piece of software for converting formats for all e-book readers, managing libraries, changing meta-data, uploading books into your reader, etc., etc. I began using Calibre as soon as I got my reader, and frankly, I think it significantly added to the pleasure of using e-readers. I have a Sony reader but the software that came with it was really the pits for anything other than downloading books from their own supply. I deleted the Sony software and only use Calibre. It really is the best.

The fellow who wrote the program, Kovid Goyal, is an active member of www.mobileread.com, having a separate forum just for Calibre. If you have any questions about its use, or problems with it, posting a message there will get you help overnight. Also, Calibre is an evolving program. There are constant upgrades improving its effectiveness. If you are handy at writing code, Kovid is more than happy to incorporate your suggestions for the software.

Stitchawl
 
Love my Kindle 3G. Thought of a favorite book I wanted to read while at work the other night, spent about a minute pulling it up on the Kindle store, clicked buy, and was literally reading the book 15 seconds later.
The best thing for me is that it's simple. I struggle with high tech gadgets, features, apps, and anything requiring me to do more than "click here" on the computer. The Kindle has been almost self-explanatory...I haven't even read the instructions.
 
If i bought a kindle, can i download pdf's onto my come computer and transfer them to the reader? can the kindle load photos etc? or just txt.
 
Kindle can handle pdf's. I don't know how it transfers photos but when I go online it shows them fine. (Yes, the Kindle has internet access.)
 
Wifey is anti-technology, so imagine my surprise when she came home from school (she is finishing up her undergrad degree) raving about one of her professors Kindle.

Well, for Xmas - I took the chance and got her the new Kindle. She loves it and hasn't put it down. She's read several books so far, and also uses it for school.

Once I showed her how to set up an account and use it, she hasn't asked me one question.

My kids each have an iPad, and I think the Kindle makes a much better dedicated e-reader.
 
Toyz said:
My kids each have an iPad, and I think the Kindle makes a much better dedicated e-reader.
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While you 'can' read books using an iPad or an iPhone, neither is as comfortable to read as a dedicated e-reader. I don't mind reading on my iPhone for a few minutes if I'm waiting for a bus, but if I want to sit down and do some serious reading, it will by on my Sony. The screen in as large as a normal paperback where as my iPhone screen needs to be 'turned' every 20 seconds!


Stitchawl
 
stitchawl said:
The screen in as large as a normal paperback where as my iPhone screen needs to be 'turned' every 20 seconds!
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They have speed reader style ebook reader apps for the iPhone and iPod. You only touch them when you want to pause. I've got one called QuickRdrLite on my iPod Touch, but I like Stanza better. Tapping the screen doesn't bother me much.
 
I will admit that I do love paperback books but lets face the reality that e-books are not going anywhere, they are here for good. Paper however will become a thing of the past soon enough so we may as well learn to love it.
 
shunsui said:
They have speed reader style ebook reader apps for the iPhone and iPod. You only touch them when you want to pause. I've got one called QuickRdrLite on my iPod Touch, but I like Stanza better. Tapping the screen doesn't bother me much.
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Yeah... I have one of 'em. I have four different e-reader apps on my phone right now; Stanza, 3-D Classic Lit., and the Kindle app and one other. While I like the 3-D and Stanza, neither is as comfortable (for me) to read as my Sony e-read. The phone apps are good for emergencies when I need to wait and either don't want to bring out my reader or for some reason don't have it with me. But that's unusual... The only time I don't have it is when I've gone somewhere without my shoulder bag, and that only happens 5% of the time. But my phone is always in my pocket, so for that, it is more convenient. I guess it's just a matter of personal preference. For reading for three hours, I prefer the dedicated e-reader. For a five minute read, the phone is fine.

Stitchawl
 
annr said:
This begs the question: which books will be impervious to the ebook format? For example would you buy a book on sharpening waterstones on an ebook, or some other DYI book where you may get the book wet or dirty?
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Personally, I find that most of my ebook purchases are titles which I would typically buy as small-format, semi-disposable, mass-market paperbacks. Like novels, etc. Things which I would buy as hardcovers and more durable large-format, trade-paperbacks I tend to still buy that way.
 
It's been several years since I started using ebooks. I converted in an attempt to save myself some back strain at school. This way I wouldn't need to carry any of those heavy textbooks in a backpack. Let me start by saying this: the e-textbook situation is NOT pretty. All the publishers are in a format war in the vein hopes that their books won't be pirated. To put it shortly, every publisher requires a different program in order to read their ebooks. In some cases, you must ALWAYS be connected to the internet or at least log in every X days. I assume this is some sort of anti piracy measure? It's kind of weird if you ask me.

What's worse is that the ebooks are horribly crippled. I've had some etextbooks where you can't copy/paste text from it, take screenshots, or even print pages (some sort of stupid anti piracy measure again). On top of that, there isn't a single etextbook that I've found which can be directly put onto an e-reader. One has to buy a special edition of said etextbook.

The whole situation with etextbooks is disgusting. I'm in the very very small minority that actually puts up with them. Regular books are far easier to obtain and less of a hassle as far as I know. I'm totally envious!
 
Kindle owner here. I've been pleased overall, although it's difficult to refer back to certain pages in an e-book.

I'll probably go with an iPad for my next one.
 
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