# Non-aligned e-readers



## ska invita (Apr 12, 2014)

Could someone let me know what are the best options outside of the Nook and Kindle? 

From what I can see Sony are in the running, but I gather its a bit complicated out there in regards to rights and compatibility. From what little i can glean Sony are compatible with ePubs, which are the main non-tied in format, is that right?

So to avoid amazon might the best option be Sony and then buy epubs from Hive: http://www.hive.co.uk/ebooks/ebooks/02/ (and pass on a cut to your favourite indie bookshop in the process)?

Anyone have experience of this?

Thanks


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## Fez909 (Apr 12, 2014)

There's a Kobo too. Apparently very good.


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## ska invita (Apr 12, 2014)

is Kobo unaligned / epub too? im completely green to all this.


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## ska invita (Apr 12, 2014)

and just so i know, if you were to buy from amazon or barnes and noble the foramt isnt epub, its their own specific thing, is that right?


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## Fez909 (Apr 13, 2014)

ska invita said:


> and just so i know, if you were to buy from amazon or barnes and noble the foramt isnt epub, its their own specific thing, is that right?


I've never bought an eBook so I don't know, but you can easily translate between the different formats.

Kobo is unaligned as far as I know.


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## fishfinger (Apr 13, 2014)

ska invita said:


> and just so i know, if you were to buy from amazon or barnes and noble the foramt isnt epub, its their own specific thing, is that right?


You can use epub format on the Nook. Also, if you are going the e-book route, you should get Calibre. It's free, and can convert between various formats of e-book files.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 13, 2014)

I had a dream the other night where I had a second hand nook and was on the back of a long run to bilboa ferry.

Even in my dreams I'm still using a knackered also-ran ereader.


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## Chz (Apr 14, 2014)

Calibre converts anything. Kobo is "unaligned".

We've got Kobos and Kindles in the house. Quite honestly, the Kindle is the nicer bit of kit. Not really worth it's premium (it's at least twice as much), but definitely nicer.


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## dervish (Apr 14, 2014)

I have the Nook, and I like it a lot better than the Kobo I had before. I haven't bought any books from B&N yet but then that's because their site is terrible and won't accept my details. 

I wouldn't be so worried about if an ereader is aligned as with calibre you can load/convert any book to pretty much any reader.


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## bmd (Apr 14, 2014)

If you can afford it then get a Nexus 7 tablet. They're pretty cheap second hand (less than £100) and can read any format.


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## ska invita (Apr 14, 2014)

whatever happens amazon wont see any money.

seems like kobo came on the market as a budget brand? is that fair? may have changed since then but i think i read that on their wiki page...
This isnt for me by the way, im helping out ms invita. I think she wants one that has the inky reading screen rather than a colour tablet.


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## bmd (Apr 14, 2014)

In that case just get an e-ink one and convert to your chosen reader with Calibre. If it's ePub, pdf or Mobi then you'll be fine. Kobo supports PDF and ePub so you'll be able to get just about any book in those formats anyway.


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## Bob_the_lost (Apr 16, 2014)

I've got a Kobo but i run all my books through Calibre so format doesn't really matter to me.


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## bmd (Apr 16, 2014)

Bob_the_lost said:


> I've got a Kobo but i run all my books through Calibre so format doesn't really matter to me.


 
Do you ever find that they come out badly formatted?


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## lizzieloo (Apr 16, 2014)

I had a Sony one for years. Was very good, can't give you anything recent but never regretted buying it 

Never had to faf around formatting anything.


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## Bob_the_lost (Apr 16, 2014)

bmd said:


> Do you ever find that they come out badly formatted?


It does happen sometimes, you can tweak them so that they don't get as badly mangled.


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## bmd (Apr 16, 2014)

I wouldn't over look the Kindle, they're a very good reader and you can pick up an earlier model in decent nick for around £30. They don't limit you to Amazon content if that's the reason, they're just like any other e-reader.


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## Bob_the_lost (Apr 16, 2014)

bmd said:


> I wouldn't over look the Kindle, they're a very good reader and you can pick up an earlier model in decent nick for around £30. They don't limit you to Amazon content if that's the reason, they're just like any other e-reader.


They aren't bad, well except for the build quality which is dire. Not a patch on the Sony readers which are head and shoulders the best built readers i've encountered.


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## kraepelin (Apr 19, 2014)

I bought the first ereader sony sold and coming back to ereader want to not go the kindle way. but after weighting it all up as much as i want to avoid kindle, they were the best choice


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## Citizen66 (Apr 21, 2014)

Kindles break really easily. Apart from that they're great.


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## Chz (Apr 21, 2014)

Having used Sonys, Kindles and Kobos, I don't think Kindles are especially fragile. About the same as the others, which are about as durable as something that thin, that size, with a screen would be expected to be. For an e-reader, weight and size are larger priorities or it would reduce the number of reasons to not just use a tablet. (I know e-ink is the primary one, but form factor certainly figures into it)


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Apr 21, 2014)

bmd said:


> Do you ever find that they come out badly formatted?



I find converting from other ebooks to be fine, but it can make a real mess if they are in PDF.


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