# Which e-book reader should I get?



## Quartz (Jan 16, 2014)

I've been holding off getting an e-book reader, but the market seems to have now matured somewhat. I've got an iPad but that's too big and too heavy for prolonged use.

I like the look and specs of the Kindle Paperwhite, particularly the e-ink and the long battery life, but I note that you don't appear to see a whole page at once.  I read quite fast so that would be most useful. Or are books repaginated? I don't want to have to keep scrolling but just press a button to turn the page. As for size, something that fits in my inside jacket pocket would be the largest I'd countenance.

I saw in another thread that Sassoferrato is a convert.


----------



## gosub (Jan 16, 2014)

on kindle books are repaginated as depends on font size you chose as to how much text is on the page at one time, could be more than in the related book if you have fantastic eyesight, also the latest paperwhite has touchscreen so page turning is a fingerswipe.  doesn't have free 3g though which is useful when away from home (ie abroad) but not a dealbreaker.  The old oone that does have 3g isn't touchscreen has page turn buttons on either side.

We have got an original with keyboard and the later without, niether shows any sign of dieing, but if I had to replace would take the touchscreen option as key selection with cursor is annoying (presumably not a problem with touchscreen) and you type more often than you download away from wifi.

not an actual convert, still prefer books, but until we win the lottery have got no more room to store, its an acceptable reading experience and an almost instant gratification when buying,  at the expense of real bookshops


----------



## Greebo (Jan 16, 2014)

Quartz said:


> I've been holding off getting an e-book reader, but the market seems to have now matured somewhat. I've got an iPad but that's too big and too heavy for prolonged use. <snip> As for size, something that fits in my inside jacket pocket would be the largest I'd countenance.


I got a reconditioned kindle with keyboard and love the very long battery life (far longer than the paperwhite) - I wouldn't recommend it for anything where the original copy has a lot of illustrations or uses colour coding.  What gosub said about pagination.  I still use real books whenever writing on the page or seeing a very clear diagram is necessary.

BTW VP downloads e books and PDFs to his smartphone and seems happy enough with the print size.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Jan 16, 2014)

You can still get a (previous gen) 3g Paperwhite.

I've just replaced my Kindle 3 (keyboard) with a Paperwhite after the old one died on a train. So far, loving the new one. I'd say the battery life is actually better, too. The old one was down to about two weeks, this one's lasted over a month so far and it's less than halfway used. I can count the times I used the 3g on the old one on one finger.


----------



## silverfish (Jan 16, 2014)

I think I've got the paper whit. I'm a technological biff but its a great bit of kit. huge battery life, touch screen, small, et etc love it


----------



## Quartz (Jan 16, 2014)

Are they water-resistant? I like long hot soaks in the bath to relax and often read, and it would be nice if I didn't have to restrict myself to material which I don't mind getting an accidental dunking.


----------



## quimcunx (Jan 16, 2014)

I read my kindle in the bath but have so far, by some miracle, managed not to dunk it so far.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 16, 2014)

I have a brill collection of 17,000 ebooks. I am happy to share the fuckers too.  PM if you want it. I have the original basic kindle. No greasy screen for me, it's the best one, about £45 now.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 16, 2014)

TopCat said:


> I have a brill collection of 17,000 ebooks. I am happy to share the fuckers too.  PM if you want it. I have the original basic kindle. No greasy screen for me, it's the best one, about £45 now.


My fav gadget ever, more so than the PS3.


----------



## stupid dogbot (Jan 16, 2014)

Quartz said:


> Are they water-resistant? I like long hot soaks in the bath to relax and often read, and it would be nice if I didn't have to restrict myself to material which I don't mind getting an accidental dunking.



Steam, yeah. If you drop it in the water, no.

You can get see through covers for that, though.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 16, 2014)

I've got a paperwhite and I love it, I resisted a eBook reader for a long time but I'm a total convert now.
I read in the bath all the time with no ill effects.


----------



## purves grundy (Jan 16, 2014)

Tripped on some stairs last month and knocked my 1st gen keyboard kindle against a step, so now have the new cheapie. I prefer the size of the older one, but it's still great. 

Nobody got another type of ebook reader?


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 16, 2014)

The new Kindle Paperwhite all day long. Had mine since October and love it. I would go so far as to say it's one of the best bits of electronic kit i have ever purchased.


----------



## Quartz (Jan 16, 2014)

This thread seems rather one-sided.


----------



## Gingerman (Jan 16, 2014)

Another vote for the Kindle Paperwhite


----------



## skyscraper101 (Jan 16, 2014)

I got a kindle recently, the basic one, and within a few days some dead pixels appeared on the screen which I can't shift. Is there a way to get rid of these?


----------



## white rabbit (Jan 16, 2014)

The iPad works for me. I'm surprised that it's rejected as too big and heavy in the OP. I find it easier to hold than most books. It is an iPad Air, but tbh, there's not a lot of difference between that and the ordinary iPad. I can't make a comparison with other readers, but being able to play Angry Birds and post on u75 as well is a plus.


----------



## Quartz (Jan 16, 2014)

white rabbit said:


> The iPad works for me. I'm surprised that it's rejected as too big and heavy in the OP.



Try fitting it in your pocket.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 16, 2014)

white rabbit said:


> The iPad works for me. I'm surprised that it's rejected as too big and heavy in the OP. I find it easier to hold than most books. It is an iPad Air, but tbh, there's not a lot of difference between that and the ordinary iPad. I can't make a comparison with other readers, but *being able to play Angry Birds and post on u75 as well is a plus*.



For me that's a negative. All i want my e-book to do is allow me to read books without distraction.


----------



## dylanredefined (Jan 16, 2014)

Quartz said:


> Are they water-resistant? I like long hot soaks in the bath to relax and often read, and it would be nice if I didn't have to restrict myself to material which I don't mind getting an accidental dunking.


 NO


----------



## ChrisFilter (Jan 16, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> For me that's a negative. All i want my e-book to do is allow me to read books without distraction.



Indeed. And non-e-ink backlights are terrible for reading on. I didn't appreciate how much so until I got a Kindle. 

My kindle is my favourite gadget of many.


----------



## Boudicca (Jan 16, 2014)

Quartz said:


> Are they water-resistant? I like long hot soaks in the bath to relax and often read, and it would be nice if I didn't have to restrict myself to material which I don't mind getting an accidental dunking.


I used to put my 3g keyboard Kindle into one of those resealable plastic bags when I read in the bath. Unfortunately I now have a Touch kindle and turning pages doesn't work through the plastic like it did with the keyboard one.


----------



## BoatieBird (Jan 16, 2014)

Dexter Deadwood said:


> For me that's a negative. All i want my e-book to do is allow me to read books without distraction.



It would be a negative for me too.
The fact that you can't play games or surf the net on it means that no one else in the family is interested in picking it up.
It's mine, all mine and I love it very much


----------



## hendo (Jan 16, 2014)

Yet another vote for the Paperwhite. I suffer from insomnia every now and then but I can read without waking up Ms T, so subtle and non intrusive is the light shed from the device. It's delightfully lightweight and sits in my pocket when i'm off on the tube or the bus somewhere. 
I have the wifi only version, and if you leave the radio off the battery charge lasts for weeks. 
I used to have a 3G one, but I don't miss that element; wifi is surprisingly common out and about these days. I download a lot of books from Amazon, feeling a bit guilty as I love a bookshop. But now I find I can buy a conventional book, then end up downloading the thing as it's marvellously convenient to have it on the device as well. 
You can manage the device library from your PC with Calibre, a shareware application, if you feel so inclined.
I fret that Amazon is becoming this terrible knowledge-retail monster and I am now its little slave-ant. But the kindle is terribly seductive.


----------



## trabuquera (Jan 16, 2014)

An aged and not particularly techy member of my family, who is an ostentatious lover of paper books and was really sniffy about any sort of e-reader, has been completely and totally conquered by the Kindle Paperwhite which she now thinks is one of the best things ever invented. It did take a day of computer browsing to get her properly set up though. But as far as the experience of handling / downloading with / syncing / reaading it goes, it's been brilliant for them.


----------



## chilango (Jan 16, 2014)

I love my (original) Kindle, especially now it has nice case. Lovely to read with and fits in pocket.

However WH smith are flogging off their Kobos dirt cheap at the mo. £29 iirc


----------



## Greebo (Jan 16, 2014)

chilango said:


> <snip>However WH smith are flogging off their Kobos dirt cheap at the mo. £29 iirc


Worth getting one and almost treating it as disposable then - loads of free books on Project Gutenberg if you'd rather not pay or face reformatting.


----------



## dervish (Jan 17, 2014)

purves grundy said:


> Tripped on some stairs last month and knocked my 1st gen keyboard kindle against a step, so now have the new cheapie. I prefer the size of the older one, but it's still great.
> 
> Nobody got another type of ebook reader?



I have the Nook-Simple-Touch-With-Glowlight. Not the snappiest name but a great ereader. I have no interest in buying books (or anything else) from amazon so it was the only real option after the terrible customer service I got from Kobo. I love it though. It has buttons on the sides as well as a touchscreen and is a lot faster than the Kobo was. The backlight is not as good as the kindle but perfectly adequate. Battery life is what you would expect (1 month+) and it has the advantage of actually being a rootable android tablet so you can put a new rom on it and use the kindle, kobo or google books apps as well. I tend to use calibre to manage it and have only had one book that wouldn't read on it. The downside is that the Nook store doesn't seem to want to actually sell me any books, it has failed every time I have tried.


----------



## purves grundy (Jan 18, 2014)

dervish said:


> I have the Nook-Simple-Touch-With-Glowlight. Not the snappiest name but a great ereader. I have no interest in buying books (or anything else) from amazon so it was the only real option after the terrible customer service I got from Kobo. I love it though. It has buttons on the sides as well as a touchscreen and is a lot faster than the Kobo was. The backlight is not as good as the kindle but perfectly adequate. Battery life is what you would expect (1 month+) and it has the advantage of actually being a rootable android tablet so you can put a new rom on it and use the kindle, kobo or google books apps as well. I tend to use calibre to manage it and have only had one book that wouldn't read on it. The downside is that the Nook store doesn't seem to want to actually sell me any books, it has failed every time I have tried.


That sounds really good. What sort of files do Nooks support?


----------



## likesfish (Jan 18, 2014)

I have a kobo touch simple battery lasts long  you can wipe off spots of water
 They are cheap in smiths


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Jan 18, 2014)

purves grundy said:


> That sounds really good. What sort of files do Nooks support?


epub and pdf, it might support more but who needs them?

Calibre will convert any to any.


----------



## dervish (Jan 18, 2014)

Yeah, what Bob said. I normally convert everything to epub anyway. Calibre is essential if you have an e reader IMO.


----------



## likesfish (Jan 19, 2014)

kobos cheap but just spent 3 hours sorting it out because the thing crashed had to reinstall everything


----------



## Greebo (Jan 19, 2014)

likesfish said:


> kobos cheap but just spent 3 hours sorting it out because the thing crashed had to reinstall everything


That's why I didn't get one.  So many of the bad reviews said how much trouble the set up (and resetting it when it crashed) had been.  I decided that if I was getting an ereader as a tool to reduce stress, going with something less awkward would be a good idea.


----------



## Sunray (Jan 19, 2014)

The paper white, its so light and small i can put it into my jacket pocket. 

Easy on the eye and the back light prevents the glare. If you've had an older kindle you have to angle, small issue you may think but sometimes its made it hard to read, sunny day on the train for instance, but its a problem no longer.

Great product and you don't have to buy from amazon if you dont want to, can just buy and convert it to e-pub which the kindle supports.


----------



## likesfish (Jan 19, 2014)

It works fine now 
 Just have to be prepared to kill it every so often


----------



## likesfish (Jan 19, 2014)

likesfish said:


> It works fine now
> Just have to be prepared to kill it every so often


----------



## Quartz (Jan 20, 2014)

It's now in my Amazon basket but the whole thing's on hold as I have to go and look after my parents.


----------



## Chz (Jan 22, 2014)

Having used a few readers...

The Paperwhite is the best, no question. But it's considerably more expensive than most other readers and, like all Kindles, you're fairly tied to Amazon. That can be a plus or a minus, depending on how you look at it. I don't have a problem with Amazon. (All the Big Players cheat their taxes and bully the Little Players and Amazon at least provides a good service)

For the £30 that it's frequently on sale for, it's really hard to knock the Kobo Touch. It is not the slick experience that a Kindle is, and I'd even be hesitant to recommend it to someone who's not at least slightly technical. But once you're up and reading books, it's the same thing as readers twice the price. Though at its list price of £70, it would be impossible to recommend. Certainly if you're planning on not paying for your books, it's probably a bit easier than a Kindle.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 22, 2014)

Chz said:


> Having used a few readers...
> 
> The Paperwhite is the best, no question. But like all Kindles, you're fairly tied to Amazon. .


 How so? I have a kindle, a book collection that is huge and have never bought any e books from Amazon. How are you tied?


----------



## Chz (Jan 22, 2014)

"Fairly tied", not irrevocably. I do have 3 Kindles in my house. It's a smooth, seamless experience to get your content through Amazon. It's not if you do it otherwise. Not impossible. Not even especially difficult. But worlds more complex for the not so technically inclined. Calibre is a fucking disaster of a UI if I've ever seen one.


----------



## 2hats (Jan 22, 2014)

TopCat said:


> How so? I have a kindle, a book collection that is huge and have never bought any e books from Amazon. How are you tied?



Indeed. I have a paperwhite but 95+% of my books I have for/on it are not from Amazon. Most books I have bought have been direct from independent publishers. Some offer more formats (mobi, epub, PDF) and updates for no extra and without the DRM lock-in (such as it is) of the scythian beast. Additionally, courtesy of calibre, it is straightforward to avail oneself of ebooks from the local council e-library.

PS to add - IMHO it's the best e-reader - easy on my eyes at least. The only downside is the local 2GB storage space. Storage is cheap and they could have easily beefed that up but they most likely want to encourage a dependency on the cloud, or their (Amazon) cloud infrastructure, more likely.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 22, 2014)

Chz said:


> "Fairly tied", not irrevocably. I do have 3 Kindles in my house. It's a smooth, seamless experience to get your content through Amazon. It's not if you do it otherwise. Not impossible. Not even especially difficult. But worlds more complex for the not so technically inclined. Calibre is a fucking disaster of a UI if I've ever seen one.


Failry tied? I can't see it somehow. You plug in the kindle to the PC, click on an ebook, right click do send to device. That's it!


----------



## Chz (Jan 22, 2014)

Where did you get the ebook from, what software are you using? I certainly can't right click and send to device on my wife's pc!

I've got Calibre managing 1000 books or so, and it's a terribly unwieldy interface. If you can name some better software, I'm on it. But my point was rather that using Amazon doesn't even need a PC involved in the process, as opposed to having to install third party software on a PC somewhere.

I suppose the disagreement mainly centres on what we both consider "easy" to use. I don't mind faffing about, or I wouldn't have the Kobo as my personal reader. But the rest of the family have Kindles and mainly use the Amazon site (there are a lot of freebies/£1 on Amazon too).


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 22, 2014)

Chz said:


> Where did you get the ebook from, what software are you using? I certainly can't right click and send to device on my wife's pc!
> 
> I've got Calibre managing 1000 books or so, and it's a terribly unwieldy interface. If you can name some better software, I'm on it. But my point was rather that using Amazon doesn't even need a PC involved in the process, as opposed to having to install third party software on a PC somewhere.
> 
> I suppose the disagreement mainly centres on what we both consider "easy" to use. I don't mind faffing about, or I wouldn't have the Kobo as my personal reader. But the rest of the family have Kindles and mainly use the Amazon site (there are a lot of freebies/£1 on Amazon too).



You don't need to install third party software to copy books to your Kindle.You just plug the Kindle in and copy and paste.


----------



## Chz (Jan 22, 2014)

Never worked for me. What can I say? Even if there was a context menu option, ain't no way a Kindle's reading an epub file that the rest of the world uses. 

And I like to think I know what I'm doing. Imagine the non - technical peoples.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Jan 23, 2014)

Chz said:


> Never worked for me. What can I say? Even if there was a context menu option, ain't no way a Kindle's reading an epub file that the rest of the world uses.
> 
> And I like to think I know what I'm doing. Imagine the non - technical peoples.



It takes just a few seconds and a couple of clicks to convert epub to mobi using Calibre.


----------



## TopCat (Jan 23, 2014)

The only reason to contact Amazon is to demand yet another kindle because the fucking screen has borked. I am on my forth.


----------



## Quartz (Feb 21, 2014)

My Kindle arrives tomorrow. I hope.


----------



## Mikey77 (Feb 23, 2014)

Bob_the_lost said:


> epub and pdf, it might support more but who needs them?
> 
> Calibre will convert any to any.



I read that calibre will not convert "drm" if Amazon have sold the book in that way?

Presumably if you root the Nook and put Kindle software on there then you have no problem? I don't mind doing this if I buy a nook, but I don't want the hassle of Amazon finding a way to make it difficult in future.


----------



## Obnoxiousness (Feb 23, 2014)

I hated the idea of ebooks, but someone bought me a Kindle Paperwhite for Christmas and I have to say that I've' hardly touched a real book since then.  I cannot fault the Kindle Paperwhite.

Aside from the long battery life, the screen is easy on the eyes and is back-lit, so you can read very easily in very bright conditions or in complete darkness.  The screen light level is adjustable and so is the font size.  Love it.


----------



## 2hats (Feb 23, 2014)

Mikey77 said:


> I read that calibre will not convert "drm" if Amazon have sold the book in that way?



You're looking for a plugin.


----------



## Quartz (Feb 23, 2014)

Quartz said:


> My Kindle arrives tomorrow. I hope.



It didn't.


----------



## Mikey77 (Feb 23, 2014)

2hats said:


> You're looking for a plugin.



Thanks. I guess I'll go with the Nook glowlight at some point.


----------



## Chairman Meow (Feb 23, 2014)

I need to buy a new ebook, I'm on the third. I had one of the first Sonys, it was fab ( and cost £270 iirc! ) and when it died ( I dropped it) I replaced it with another touch screen sony which was ok, but the touch screen was annoying. Anyway I dropped it a few weeks ago, and have had to steal my sons kindle, which I like but I'm reluctant to order another as I got three duds before Amazon sent one that worked. I like the sound of a paper white, but are they ? I don't fancy sending returns from Oz!


----------



## Chairman Meow (Feb 23, 2014)

Oh and check out t u e b l dot com.


----------



## quimcunx (Feb 23, 2014)

I have a kindle.  Don't know which one.  It doesn't have a touch screen keyboard. It's the only one I have experience of. 

pros: 

It fits in my pocket and easily in small handbags
It seems fairly robust.  I'm not great at taking care of things and I've dropped it a lot of times and do now have a few smudges on the screen. 
You can read it in the sun.  Impossible with a shiny screen which renders the ipad etc a massive NO for me. 
You can, in an 'emergency' access the internet but it's not very friendly, but I only really want it for books.  I like my music on my ipod, my books on my kindle and my on-the-go internet, angry birds, camera and contacts on my phone.  If one is out of action I still have the others. 


cons: 
no colour
It doesn't switch off wifi after x mins of inactivity.  This massively annoys me. It uses up the battery much quicker if you forget to switch it off. This is beyond stupid. Also if I'm going to the shop then of course I want to switch wifi on, you don't need to ask.  
It's so easy to buy from Amazon so that's what I do. I did install calibre on recommendation at one point as I had course ebooks that would have benefited from better formatting for the kindle but it only pretended to do what I wanted. I couldn't get it to work and gave up. I'm not great with IT. 
I'm sure ebooks have more spelling mistakes than do real books.  

I'd maybe try a kobo if I was getting one again. 

Does anyone know why phones and ipads have shiny screens or why kindles don't have colour?


----------



## Chz (Feb 23, 2014)

Colour e-ink displays do exist, but the only one I'm aware of that you can buy currently is $500 USD.

Aside from that, you're comparing two very different technologies. There are tablets with matte screens, but they're not any more readable in sunlight than the glossy ones. I believe a hard surface is necessary for the more sensitive touch displays. The old ones could have a soft, matte surface but they didn't register touch as well. Try one of the touch e-readers and you'll see what I mean.

I have the Kobo because - hey, £30. But the Kindles are a lot easier to use with less UI frustrations.


----------



## quimcunx (Feb 23, 2014)

why not?  I don't understand.

e2a: I mean why are they not more readable?

e3a:  what is UI?

e4a:  user interface?


----------



## Chz (Feb 23, 2014)

I slipped an edit in there while you posted so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Sorry.


----------



## quimcunx (Feb 23, 2014)

I have also slipped in an edit or three.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 23, 2014)

quimcunx said:


> why not?  I don't understand.
> 
> e2a: I mean why are they not more readable?



It's the clever nature of e-ink that means they can be read in direct sunlight and only sip power, which normal screens wont do. Totally different tech which is what makes them useless for anything other then reading.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 23, 2014)

quimcunx said:


> e3a:  what is UI?
> 
> e4a:  user interface?



Yes


----------



## Chz (Feb 23, 2014)

Even an old matte screened tablet (you won't find any for sale these days) wasn't great in sunlight because the the nature of an LCD screen is that it must be backlit. There's a few rows of quite bright LEDs behind every screen. If the incoming light is stronger than this, it will drown it out somewhat. The screen is still readable (otherwise phones would be kind of useless these days), but it's washed out and you'll give yourself a headache if you try and read it for any length of time. It's actually easiest to read white text on a black background in these conditions.

An e-ink screen is not backlit. Even the ones with lights are actually side-lit by a row of LEDs around the edge of the screen. But the vast majority are, for all intents and purposes, front lit by incoming light. The reasons why this is superior aren't at all clear to me, but it just is. E-ink's other massive advantage is how low power it is. It only takes power to _change_ the display and none at all to leave it static. Which makes it fairly unsuited for anything other than an e-reader, but it makes a good example of how a dedicated technology trumps an all-purpose one.


----------



## Boudicca (Feb 23, 2014)

TopCat said:


> The only reason to contact Amazon is to demand yet another kindle because the fucking screen has borked. I am on my forth.


I too am on my fourth Kindle.  Apart from a couple of holidays, they live on my bedside table, so I have no idea why they break down so easily.  The first three were the 3G keyboard one.  Once the third one went, they offered me discount on a new one, but were eventually persuaded to give me yet another free one.

The new one is a basic Kindle Touch.  I much prefer the page turner buttons on the Keyboard version and I miss not being able to read landscape.  It also has a habit of jumping to a random page, and it doesn't seem to have a 'go to last read page' option, which is really annoying.  And it already has an annoying smudge.  I don't like it.


----------



## Mikey77 (Mar 1, 2014)

I bought the NOOK glowlight. It is a bit heavier than I imagined it would be although I think it is the same weight as the Kindle. I am a bit annoyed by the visible horizontal lines that almost create a glare when reading, even in daylight. This is solved by holding it at a distance from you but then I prefer to read with a book closer to my face. 

With the glowlight on it takes on three different shades with the top being lighter then the middle and bottom being a little darker. The lighting is also annoying in that it is visible at the top of the screen as a bright line (the light is at the top of the unit). They could have found a way to cover this as it is distracting to the eye.

I think it was the right choice for me as I want to have access to different ebooks and library books which I can do by rooting it. I don't think that was possible with the Kindle. Still a nice bit of technology.


----------



## Dexter Deadwood (Mar 1, 2014)

Mikey77 said:


> I bought the NOOK glowlight. It is a bit heavier than I imagined it would be although I think it is the same weight as the Kindle. I am a bit annoyed by the visible horizontal lines that almost create a glare when reading, even in daylight. This is solved by holding it at a distance from you but then I prefer to read with a book closer to my face.
> 
> With the glowlight on it takes on three different shades with the top being lighter then the middle and bottom being a little darker. The lighting is also annoying in that it is visible at the top of the screen as a bright line (the light is at the top of the unit). They could have found a way to cover this as it is distracting to the eye.
> 
> *I think it was the right choice for me as I want to have access to different ebooks and library books which I can do by rooting it. I don't think that was possible with the Kindle.* Still a nice bit of technology.




The Kindle can be rooted, jailbreak so to speak. Hope you get a lot of pleasure from your NOOK.


----------



## Mikey77 (Mar 2, 2014)

I take my point back on the glowlight. I didn't realise it was adjustable and had it on the lowest setting. The horizontal lines don't seem to be visible with it on. It's growing on me.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

So its a year down the line... What are peoples recommendations?

I've held off for ages saying I want to read all the proper books I have before buying an e-reader, but I've now found pdf's of a couple of books that I've wanted for ages that would have cost over £100, so I can sort of justify the expense.

can you read them in the dark?  can you read them in the sun? can you get one that does both? are they easy on the eye in terms of eye strain? how big is the memory? do they just usb up to the PC? can they do other things like a sort of tablet or is it a case of e-reader or a tablet?

Then I need to know about what sort of files they read... pdf's other file extensions? do they all render the same?

I know fuck all about them so please give me some sort of primer on what I need. I think I need a personal shopper


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

So browsing review sites hasn't really helped

with kindles, do they only read .mobi's and nooks only read .epubs? do they also do pdf's?

will they read ones I get for free elsewhere? or do they expect me to buy the books as well after forking out good cash?

are tablets really shite to read on?


----------



## toggle (Feb 21, 2015)

nogojones said:


> So its a year down the line... What are peoples recommendations?
> 
> I've held off for ages saying I want to read all the proper books I have before buying an e-reader, but I've now found pdf's of a couple of books that I've wanted for ages that would have cost over £100, so I can sort of justify the expense.
> 
> ...


----------



## toggle (Feb 21, 2015)

nogojones said:


> So browsing review sites hasn't really helped
> 
> with kindles, do they only read .mobi's and nooks only read .epubs? do they also do pdf's?
> 
> ...



i hate reading loads on backlit screens, but i've got visual sttress syndrome, so the text starts dancing and the background starts to flow. which is tiring and then gets worse. 

the quality of your read for a pdf can vary, sme of the older created ones don't work as well. anything recent is pretty good. anything thast won't read on the device, you convert file type. this includes books from share sites/torrents.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

toggle said:


>


 thank you


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 21, 2015)

File formats aren't an issue as you can use Calibre to convert them.

I torrent a lot of ebooks, but the choice isn't as wide as say music and films. There are also a lot of free ones. 

The screens are very different to tablets. I've got an old Kindle with no back lighting, but it is now available. Eye strain is no different to a book.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

toggle said:


> i hate reading loads on backlit screens, but i've got visual sttress syndrome, so the text starts dancing and the background starts to flow. which is tiring and then gets worse.
> 
> the quality of your read for a pdf can vary, sme of the older created ones don't work as well. anything recent is pretty good. anything thast won't read on the device, you convert file type. this includes books from share sites/torrents.



What would you use to convert? 

and would pdf's convert ok?

Sorry, you've now become my personal shopper now. If you get me through this I'll send cake


----------



## toggle (Feb 21, 2015)

Global Stoner said:


> File formats aren't an issue as you can use Calibre to convert them.
> 
> I torrent a lot of ebooks, but the choice isn't as wide as say music and films. There are also a lot of free ones.
> 
> The screens are very different to tablets. I've got an old Kindle with no back lighting, but it is now available. Eye strain is no different to a book.



better for me on eye strain, cause the kindle background is dark enough that it stays the fuck still. which new booik don't do


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 21, 2015)

nogojones said:


> What would you use to convert?
> 
> and would pdf's convert ok?
> 
> Sorry, you've now become my personal shopper now. If you get me through this I'll send cake



PDFs are a weird one. They don't convert quite as well. If I can find a book in a different format I do.


----------



## toggle (Feb 21, 2015)

nogojones said:


> What would you use to convert?
> 
> and would pdf's convert ok?
> 
> Sorry, you've now become my personal shopper now. If you get me through this I'll send cake



calibre. it's a pain in the fucking arse if you're trying to do big batches. but it does work when you've sworn at it enough.

or send email to you@kindle.com with pdf as atatvchment, 'convert' as subject and turn on the wifi. you'll have it on the device in a few mins


and how well a pdf will play ball?

ok, open it in a pdf reader . if you can highlight entire rows without the colour being wdges being jagged steps up and down along the line and if you can cut and paste text from it, then it will probably convert ok. JSTOR's archive of 12 year old pdfs of 40 year old articles come out too shit to read


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

Global Stoner said:


> File formats aren't an issue as you can use Calibre to convert them.
> 
> I torrent a lot of ebooks, but the choice isn't as wide as say music and films. There are also a lot of free ones.
> 
> The screens are very different to tablets. I've got an old Kindle with no back lighting, but it is now available. Eye strain is no different to a book.



see I've never used a tablet either. Christ, do i need one of those as well now? a couple of hours I just wanted to read a book, now its fucking gadgets everywhere


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 21, 2015)

Depends what you want to use it for. Technical documents in PDF form may be better on a tablet in terms of formatting. 

For just reading a e reader is great.


----------



## toggle (Feb 21, 2015)

nogojones said:


> see I've never used a tablet either. Christ, do i need one of those as well now? a couple of hours I just wanted to read a book, now its fucking gadgets everywhere



i see no use for me for a tablet. it's a halfway house that's ideal at nothing that I want. lappy for other stuff, ebook reader for reading,.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

toggle said:


> i see no use for me for a tablet. it's a halfway house that's ideal at nothing that I want. lappy for other stuff, ebook reader for reading,.



that's a relief, so its a kindle or nook then i guess


----------



## renegadechicken (Feb 21, 2015)

I have a phone, tablet and kindle first gen, i have the kindle app on phone and tablet, but the kindle is the one that comes in the bath with me, as a Tupperware container of rice saved it the last time i fell asleep in the bath and woke up some 2 hrs later sitting on the kindle....it still works fine.


----------



## nogojones (Feb 21, 2015)

toggle said:


> calibre. it's a pain in the fucking arse if you're trying to do big batches. but it does work when you've sworn at it enough.
> 
> or send email to you@kindle.com with pdf as atatvchment, 'convert' as subject and turn on the wifi. you'll have it on the device in a few mins
> 
> ...


if i was to buy a 2nd hand kindle could i get a kindle.com e-mail addy?


----------



## renegadechicken (Feb 22, 2015)

pretty sure when you register it to you via amazon you will get the addy.


----------



## 8ball (Feb 22, 2015)

I got a nooky-wook cos someone at work was selling it for practically nothing.
He said he had bought it to read PDFs which is why he wanted to sell it.

I said I had planned to mostly read PDFs too.  He shrugged. 
I bought it and it turns out it's fine for reading PDFs.

Fuck knows what that was about.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 22, 2015)

cheapo option is a second hand netbook and then read ebooks through redium or another chrome app. That way you also get a keyboard and net and ability to take crap photos\vid etc

they are power hungry though and lack the e-ink which makes proper ereaders so much easier on the eye


----------



## Greebo (Feb 22, 2015)

nogojones said:


> if i was to buy a 2nd hand kindle could i get a kindle.com e-mail addy?





renegadechicken said:


> pretty sure when you register it to you via amazon you will get the addy.


You do, or at least, I did.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Feb 22, 2015)

Pissing round on the net is what mine more


DotCommunist said:


> cheapo option is a second hand netbook and then read ebooks through redium or another chrome app. That way you also get a keyboard and net and ability to take crap photos\vid etc
> 
> they are power hungry though and lack the e-ink which makes proper ereaders so much easier on the eye



You can get older ebooks for very cheap. Mate got a kobo recently for about 30 quid. 

Laptops are annoying to read on, although I managed to plow through most of nights dawn before deciding a kindle was the sensible option.


----------



## toggle (Feb 22, 2015)

nogojones said:


> if i was to buy a 2nd hand kindle could i get a kindle.com e-mail addy?


yes. just did so for Bakunin a couple of days ago.


----------



## Bakunin (Feb 22, 2015)

toggle said:


> yes. just did so for Bakunin a couple of days ago.



Indeed.


----------



## toggle (Feb 22, 2015)

8ball said:


> I got a nooky-wook cos someone at work was selling it for practically nothing.
> He said he had bought it to read PDFs which is why he wanted to sell it.
> 
> I said I had planned to mostly read PDFs too.  He shrugged.
> ...



because it genuinely depends on what kind of pdf files you're wanting to read. it won't always play ball completely with older ones. and it won't always play ball with ones with 2 columns per page or with image heavy ones. but if you're using it mainly for simple text then it's ideal.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 22, 2015)

Global Stoner said:


> Pissing round on the net is what mine more
> 
> 
> You can get older ebooks for very cheap. Mate got a kobo recently for about 30 quid.
> ...




laptops not a netbook though! you can curl up with a netbook in a way you can't with unweildy full sized screen and keyboard.

I'll admit to prejudice here though, you can also run any SNES era game system on them via emulation as well so it becomes THE BEST THING EVER


----------



## nogojones (Mar 20, 2015)

Well. That didn't really get very far....

I've spent the last month trying to buy a basic secondhand kindle off e-bay/gumtree/crack converters at a half decent price and failed miserably. So made a impulse buy in tesco yesterday when I saw for for 49 quid.

Hugely unimpressed. I didn't really find the screen that good to read, the thing seemed pretty unresponsive to me tapping it's screen. It was covered in adverts for shite I had no interest in. I e-mailed myself a pdf of a book that became really awkward to read when rendered to the screen, so I converted it to a .mobi and it became even more unreadable.

My justification for buying it was that I found a couple of pdfs of books that I've wanted for ages, that were hugely expensive and the cost of those two books would have justified the kindle. One was such a big file I couldn't e-mail it to myself, even zipped all my e-mail accounts gave me a fuck off tablet size wise. the smaller one went ok, but was unreadable on the kindle. Then my kindle account seemed to stop taking anything I e-mailed it.

I did a factory reset and took it back today for my money back.

Sticking to books for the foreseeable future it seems


----------



## Chz (Mar 20, 2015)

Giant PDFs are not the forte of any e-ink reader, unfortunately. And the Kindle handles them better than a Kobo. They're for reading novels/non-fiction that doesn't have huge diagrams. That's *all* they do well.

FWIW, I have to reiterate something I said earlier about the Kobo vs. Kindle thing. The Kobo has one advantage - it is significantly cheaper. Other than that...  Maybe if it had *DON'T PANIC* on the cover and came with a towel it would be worth it, but that UI... I would buy a Kindle next time.


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Mar 20, 2015)

You can, I believe, set the sleep page to say 'don't panic' in big comforting letters on either device. Towels are your problem


----------

