Experiences With E-book Readers

[p-no]

Have done some internet research today and bought a cover including a lamp for 14.99 € (very good reviews) as well as just a lamp (EasyAcc. Light Panel with adjustable light) that sort of does what the Paperwhite does, lighting the display up from the top, not from the bottom. 22.99 € and very good reviews as well. Maybe this will do. I do like my current Kindle, and from youtube videos I doubt that I'd be happy with the Kindle Paperwhite in a pitch-black room; doesn't seem toooo light and white. Looking forward to trying both out.

 

[anthony]

It all comes down to what diversity you want for books, and what weight you want in your hand when using your device. Any of the mini-HD devices are heavier than a Kindle itself, being pretty much just for books. If you want to hold a mini device, like iPad Mini, Kindle Fire, Nook, and so forth.

The dedicated readers are light. Paperwhite is brilliant. I have one, and that lighting system is far better than reading on a backlit display, such as phone, iPad, Nook, tablets in general. Backlighting often will hurt your eyes after a period of time, where the Paperwhite has a top down lighting system in the frame, pushing the light into the screen not out of it, at your eyes.

It all comes down to budget and who you want to buy from. A Nook does a lot more open formats, along with Banes and Nobles format, but won't do Kindle. Kindle will do lots of formats, but not Barnes and Nobles Nook format and a few others. The Nook is more diverse for buying, however; that doesn't mean you're getting cheaper books... just more diversity from where you can get them. Amazon you're pretty much limited to Amazon for books.

I search for all my books first, as some are double the price to buy electronically, others are a reduction of the paperback price to buy electronically. You really have to look on a book by book basis.

 

[p-no]

I love my normal Kindle already, but, besides the lighting problem, keep hitting the screen instead of the buttons to move in the menu or type. ;) That'd be different too with the Paperwhite.

that lighting system is far better than reading on a backlit display

Does this mean that you have no problem at all reading with it at night without an additional lamp? Is it real easy on the eyes or do you have to concentrate? Do you need to have it on maximum brightness to be able to read in bed at night?

 

[anni]

I have a Kindle, the one with a keyboard? I've had it for 2 years and love it a lot! I did just get a Kindle Fire HD from husband for Christmas, Holyyyyy heck but yes, the darkness was annoying until I found the setting for how you can adjust it. Have you found it yet? There's also the text-size adjustment- very helpful! It took awhile with the regular Kindle before i figured out all the bells and whistles, but they're there.

There's a ton of 'clubs', folks who join to do that 2 week borrowing thing from each other- I've done that. Also, have you typed 'Free' into the search engine? There are sooooo many free books. ALL the classics ( and some you wouldn't think would be considered classics ) are free, plus there are some free audibles! SO many, it's good to narrow the search. I'm a Civil War geek, so type in Civil War free and alllll these books come up! There are also programs ( you have to find a computer whiz ) which convert docs to Kindle formats- have a couple Google books I got that way.

Please excuse me for sounding so ' I know soooo much '- do not mean to come across that way. I'm just terrible terible terrible with anything tech, have figured this thing out with a ton of help and a fair amount of just plain fooling around. Please feel free to ask me if you're ever stuck with anything? It's way too cool- I take it everywhere, even whip it out when waiting in a long line at the grocery store, get lost with Joshua Chamberlain on Little Round Top instead of antsing about why they won't open more registers.

 

[faraway]

I have a Kobo Touch (got it last Christmas) and I really love it. Well, I love it for travelling, but I definitely still prefer actual books for lots of reasons. I got the e-reader mainly for travelling and for reading academic journal articles. I can't read intensely on my laptop as it hurts my eyes, and printing out loads of PDFs is both expensive and bad for the environment, so I am very pleased with it for those reasons.

I don't like Kindles because Amazon owns the books you "purchase" and can recall and "adjust" books that you "own."

Anyway, here's a free, legit book site: [DLMURL]http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/meta/authors.html[/DLMURL]

I think they only offer epubs, so since you do have a Kindle, you'll need to download Calibre (or something similar) to manage/convert your ebooks. http://calibre-ebook.com/

 

[p-no]

Thanks for replying, anni.

the setting for how you can adjust it. Have you found it yet?

I have a normal Kindle, no 3G, no keyboard, but would love to have a Paperwhite. On the normal Kindle, as far as I know - and I've hit every button of the menu - you can not adjust the brightness, unfortunately. It's okay for reading sitting upright near a lamp but it's difficult for me to read as soon as there is no direct light.

that 2 week borrowing thing

Haven't heard about that feature of borrowing and lending books! In Germany on amazon, we have a library function, i.e. you don't borrow from friends but from a library somehow. Haven't tried that yet - you're right, there are sooooo many free books - I'm loving it!!!

have figured this thing out

:tup: You can never know too much about your Kindle!!! I renamed my Kindle few days after I got it, its name is now: '[My nickname]'s new beloved friend' LOL Love it, love it, love it.

I take it everywhere, even whip it out when waiting in a long line at the grocery store

:joyful:

 

[p-no]

faraway, thanks. When I read a bit more about the Kindles, I was wondering what you just confirmed:

I don't like Kindles because Amazon owns the books you "purchase" and can recall and "adjust" books that you "own."

This sucks, to be quite blunt. I have thought about getting a Kobo Glo, I watched a video on youtube where a lady from some magazine compared the two and it was pretty much like the Paperwhite. But then again, I am a Kindleonian, I think I'm addicted! It's like Coke, you have no clue what the secret ingredient is but somehow you're addicted. ;)

 

[faraway]

LOL! Well, whatever works for you. :p I think it's all about what your primary use is for. Since mine was about PDF usage (for the most part) and also I didn't have a lot to spend (£100), I went for the Kobo. Kindles don't handle PDFs particularly well. But that research was a year ago. We all know how quickly technology changes! :)

 

[faraway]

Here's another free (and legit) ebook website: http://

 

[p-no]

PDF usage

The Kindle is fairly bad with PDFs, that's for sure. I couldn't find one of my favorite children's books as an e-book (of any format) and then found a pdf with the text. Uploaded on my Kindle and either had to concentrate very much or scroll... Scrolling E-Ink is not nice with the page reloading while you're done reading half a line waiting to continue. And of course, you would have to find the word where you left of...

Usually I don't use it for PDFs though so it's fine.

faraway, do you know if amazon can take free books away from you again? I downloaded a free book (Einstein's Theory of Relativity) one day and about a week later wanted to read in it. Then it said that the book is not available, i.e. I couldn't open it. I searched online and found that I had downloaded (or tried to) the book from the US amazon site and that (obviously) doesn't work with a Kindle registered here in Germany. So I went to the German bookstore and found the book, but not for free. Sigh. But that got me thinking: Is it possible that since they provide classics free, that they take them from you once they decide they should charge something for them?

 

[faraway]

do you know if amazon can take free books away from you again?

Very probably. They work like Apple - you essentially lease the product you download from them (free or not) and they can withdraw it from your Kindle/iPod (etc) when they decide.

See if you can find it from one of the free websites - you'll probably be able to find it as an epub. Once you've got it, use Calibre (I use that software a lot and really recommend it) to covert it into a .mobi file, and then put it on your Kindle. That might get around the rules.

 

[p-no]

Very probably.

NOW, I'm really considering Kobo Glo!!! Can you tell me anything about the light/brightness (in a pitchblack room)?

I'll try those free websites. Thanks very much!