Ebook readers - who's got what?

fob

Floof said:

fob said:

 although converting books to Mobi through Calibre isn't much of a faff, it would be nice not having to do it.

Have you considered paying for them? 

Do you think any book that isn't in the mobi format is illegal? If you don't already work for Amazon you should give them a call - they'll definitely like the way you think.

crunchman

Floof said:

fob said:

 although converting books to Mobi through Calibre isn't much of a faff, it would be nice not having to do it.

Have you considered paying for them? 

I suspect he does pay for them.  For those of us who do pay for them it's still better to get Epub versions of the books as your master file.  It's open so you can convert it to any format and read on any reader.  If you get from Amazon direct, you will be tied into them for ever unless you want to hack off all the DRM.

Wolfetone

Phone

scrumhalf

fob said:

If I can manage to get a few minutes to myself today I'm going to pop into WH Smith to look at the Kobo Aura One. Like you I'm not that fussed about waterproofing etc. but the whole package might just make it worth the £190 they're asking. A lot of money for what it is but, again, something that gets a lot of use.

The Kobo I was looking at is £10 cheaper than the Paperwhite, It's £100 at most places. I think there's also a larger screen Kobo.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I have a bog standard entry level non-backlit, non-touchscreen Kindle. I got it as a cheap way to dip my toe in the water of e-readers to see if I liked them, with the intention of upgrading to a fancier model if I liked it.

Four+ years later I haven't ever felt the need to upgrade to anything more shiny or expensive. I've probably used it every single day since getting it, and it's never given me a lick of bother, and does everything I would ever want/need it do. If/when it eventually dies on me, I would probably go for another entry level model and use the extra ££s saved over the Paperwhite to buy a nice sturdy case.

bacchanalian

I have a kindle voyage and love it.  Easy to read in bed or when eating. No propping up a 1000 page hardback or wedging open a paperback so you can read and have a McD's

I am not sure what the concern about being tied to Amazon is. There is a massive library. I tend to pick up the daily deals at £0.99. There is enough free stuff that you could read for a good part of your life and not pay anything.   

dhj

I don't use a kindle as I understand that any books I download are licensed, not purchased, so I don't actually own any books I may have bought.

Philly_Q

bacchanalian said:

I am not sure what the concern about being tied to Amazon is. There is a massive library. I tend to pick up the daily deals at £0.99. There is enough free stuff that you could read for a good part of your life and not pay anything.   

True.  I've been reading the complete works of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu for about the last two years and I've still got a way to go.

bacchanalian

I should qualify a bit.
I still love physical books and see the kindle as a replacement for paperbacks. I do not think the kindle can replace books with good photography, text books or music books, where you might want to scribble notes.

In that context, whether or not I own the content on kindle, only matters if I wanted to leave a load of sci fi novels in my will.

I do miss passing a paperback on to someone who might really enjoy the book.

Myranda

Anyone have experience of reading a text book type book on an ereader? Have a lot of books I want to get but if I could get something lightweight and hadn't it would be great... Would save me carrying books on the train

speshul91

4th gen kindle fire hd7. Had it about 3 years, been kicked,dropped and god knows what else, its got 1 crack on the screen protector after the best part of 3 years.

Grunfeld

@Myranda -- the thing about text books is you can physically stick post-it markers in them, and flicking to and fro in them is much easier than an e-book.  I've bought e-books of texts then gone and bought the book again in paper.  These days I just get the paper one straight away.

gubble

My wife's 1st Gen Kindle finally bit the dust a couple of weeks ago on holiday (final day thankfully). That must be a decade old so it's done really well.

I use a fourth generation kindle that I picked up for £14 from CEX over a year ago and it's brilliant. I've noticed however that they seem to have gone up dramatically in price s/h.

LoFi

Just ordered a paperwhite - I've always been a dyed-in-the-wool dead-trees kind of person, but my latest read is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Reality-Complete-Guide-Universe/dp/0099440687 , and it (quite seriously) weighs more than my laptop bag with all the other contents.

The pricier Amazon options just didn't seem worth it.