Tell me about...e-readers...

[kermitology]

I have a Kindle and my fiancé has a Kobo while we also share an iPad. The kindle is awesome. The kobo is great too, but we've had a fair amount of technical problems with it. I also use the kindle app on my phone, but rarely on the iPad. It's just too heavy.

My opinion is that you can't really go wrong with any purchase, but for a reader, don't look to the iPad.

The bookstores seem pretty comparable. I find that it's fine not being able to borrow books from the library to load on the kindle. My fiancé has had a huge problem trying to get it on her kobo.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Azure

Which app market? I'm looking at the Nook Color as well.

Barnes & Noble has their own market which is a subset of the full Android Market, but it's not too hard to get the full Android market on there.

[justkidding]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I have a Kindle and my fiancé has a Kobo while we also share an iPad. The kindle is awesome. The kobo is great too, but we've had a fair amount of technical problems with it. I also use the kindle app on my phone, but rarely on the iPad. It's just too heavy.

My opinion is that you can't really go wrong with any purchase, but for a reader, don't look to the iPad.

The bookstores seem pretty comparable. I find that it's fine not being able to borrow books from the library to load on the kindle. My fiancé has had a huge problem trying to get it on her kobo.

It's really simple

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by justkidding

It's really simple

I haven't bothered to try it. But there's usually a string of expletives surrounding the attempts to load books when she gives it a go.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Azure

Which app market? I'm looking at the Nook Color as well.

it's Android, and the Nook Color has a pretty devoted developer base that has turned a decent e-reader into a pretty damn powerful full featured tablet for less than half the price of an ipad

[Azure]

I noticed futureshop doesn't have the Nook Color. Where do I buy it from that isn't online?

[Azure]

Also, from what I've read on the internet a lot of people are saying the Nook Color is hard on your eyes because of the screen.

How much truth is there to that? I want the apps and everything else that comes with it, but there won't be a point if I can't actually read books on it for a long period of time.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by Azure

How much truth is there to that? I want the apps and everything else that comes with it, but there won't be a point if I can't actually read books on it for a long period of time.

LCD screens are not meant for long periods of reading. you need e-ink for that. Your eyes will get tired like looking at a computer screen for too long.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Azure

Also, from what I've read on the internet a lot of people are saying the Nook Color is hard on your eyes because of the screen.

How much truth is there to that? I want the apps and everything else that comes with it, but there won't be a point if I can't actually read books on it for a long period of time.

Any backlit screen is naturally going to be tougher on your eyes than an e-Ink screen, but I've read on it for 2-3 hours straight without any really noticeable eye fatigue.

I use Aldiko as an e-reader app which has some excellent brightness and theme options to help with that. The stock Nook app has a lot of the same settings. You can swap the "paper color" from white to beige or black with white text depending on the lighting or whatever.

I, for one, read at night mostly, and putting the reader app on "night mode" and the brightness down doesn't wear out my eyes even in the dark.

ETA: I should probably mention that I stare at a computer screen for about 10 hours a day as is, so my eyes may be more accustomed to an LCD screen than most...

[fredr123]

My wife got a Kobo Touch for her birthday a couple weeks ago and spends way too much time with that thing. She says reading on it has been perfectly fine. There have been no problems side-loading books and Calibre has worked well converting things to the appropriate ePub format.

She just wanted an ereader. She has no use for the fancy apps, web-browsing, etc. For just reading books, the Kobo works well for her.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Any backlit screen is naturally going to be tougher on your eyes than an e-Ink screen, but I've read on it for 2-3 hours straight without any really noticeable eye fatigue.

I use Aldiko as an e-reader app which has some excellent brightness and theme options to help with that. The stock Nook app has a lot of the same settings. You can swap the "paper color" from white to beige or black with white text depending on the lighting or whatever.

I, for one, read at night mostly, and putting the reader app on "night mode" and the brightness down doesn't wear out my eyes even in the dark.

ETA: I should probably mention that I stare at a computer screen for about 10 hours a day as is, so my eyes may be more accustomed to an LCD screen than most...

I've never had a problem looking at a screen for long periods of time either so I doubt it will be a problem for me.

Everyone I've talked to has said that the Nook Color was the best 'gadget' they never spent money on, so I'll probably take the plunge.

[kremb]

this link is worth checking out, i'm setting up a little reading station like this at the moment.

http://www.filterjoe.com/2011/02/26/...d-distraction/

here is another cool link comparing e-ink and lcd

http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2722

[Meelapo]

I have a Kindle and I take it everywhere I go. The Kindle uses a specific format, *.prc or *.mobi, and most books available are usually in *.epub or *.lit as they work on all readers except for the Kindle. However, if you download one of the greatest e-reader tools ever created (http://calibre-ebook.com/) you can overcome this. This tool will allow you to organize, tag, add/delete, books to/from your e-reader so regardless of which device you decide on you can use this tool to convert the books to the format you need.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

No. Just your library membership. They do not have all their books online, and they do actually have queues. In other words, only a certain amount of people can download one title at a time.

One person can download a title at a time, unless the library purchased more than one license for that title. The library can purchase special licensing that allows unlimited downloads, but the cost is ridiculously unaffordable for libraries.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by kootenayguy9

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...018ca135deen02

This is an awesome product for reading in bed with an e reader. The wife loves it very much.

I have something similar. Awesome product is right. Much better than turning on a bedside lamp. You can direct the light right at your book, and it won't disturb the person you're in bed with.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

However, if you download one of the greatest e-reader tools ever created (http://calibre-ebook.com/) you can overcome this. This tool will allow you to organize, tag, add/delete, books to/from your e-reader so regardless of which device you decide on you can use this tool to convert the books to the format you need.

Unless they've added it since I last checked though you can't convert from a Kindle format to an epub format.

I've had one book that was only available in electronic format from Amazon, and it took me a day of hacking to get it into my Sony reader, and even then it wasn't the best.

So that (in my mind anyway) is the big downside to buying books and readers from Amazon; they're in a format that locks you into their 'ecosystem', you can only ever read your books on a device they decide they want to support. Which means that you don't really own your book, and I don't like that.

[Tinordi]

I have a kobo touch. I use it only for reading. It's great.

[Meelapo]

Originally Posted by photon

Unless they've added it since I last checked though you can't convert from a Kindle format to an epub format.

I've had one book that was only available in electronic format from Amazon, and it took me a day of hacking to get it into my Sony reader, and even then it wasn't the best.

So that (in my mind anyway) is the big downside to buying books and readers from Amazon; they're in a format that locks you into their 'ecosystem', you can only ever read your books on a device they decide they want to support. Which means that you don't really own your book, and I don't like that.

What formats does calibre support conversion to/from?

calibre supports the conversion of many input formats to many output formats. It can convert every input format in the following list, to every output format.

Input Formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, HTMLZ, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ

Output Formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, HTMLZ, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ


http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.html

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Azure

I noticed futureshop doesn't have the Nook Color. Where do I buy it from that isn't online?

They don't sell directly in Canada. But as it turns out, mine is now for sale

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=107939

[photon]

Originally Posted by Meelapo

What formats does calibre support conversion to/from?

calibre supports the conversion of many input formats to many output formats. It can convert every input format in the following list, to every output format.

Input Formats: CBZ, CBR, CBC, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, HTMLZ, LIT, LRF, MOBI, ODT, PDF, PRC, PDB, PML, RB, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ

Output Formats: EPUB, FB2, OEB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, HTMLZ, PDB, PML, RB, PDF, RTF, SNB, TCR, TXT, TXTZ


http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.html

It can convert a mobi (or an AZW which is Amazon's modified mobi format) if it's not DRMed, but it won't break the encryption on DRMed books (or else Amazon would be suing whoever writes Calibre).

EDIT: There is a way to remove the DRM from an AZW so you can convert it, but it involves a python script which is beyond what most people could do for themselves, and of course is illegal.