|
Fire In The Disco posted:Should be getting my birthday present, which is a Kindle Touch, actually on my birthday this week. I'm pretty stoked, as the 5 way button on my DX broke recently, and so I can read the same book that I am on but not scroll on the home screen to pick a new book. In case this happens to anybody else, Amazon has a program where you can mail back your broken kindle and get a new one at a reduced price. When my second gen one broke this fall (5-way went crazy), I mailed it in and paid sixty bucks for a then-current one with 3G.
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 00:40
|
|
One annoyance, though, is that they didn't get the Touch's lighted case done in time for the release of the device. That seems really ridiculous.
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 08:35 |
|
|
So I am finally going to buy an e-reader and I have a few questions. 1. If money is not a limitation, is there a single best e-reader out there? 2. I see some people in this thread buying the kindle fire and talking about it here. Does it have any of the properties of an E-reader? I didn't think it did. I spent a long time trying to decide between a tablet or an e-reader, and in the end I realized my primary desire is to get the product that let's me read as comfortably as possible, and I don't enjoy reading off of my LCD monitors at home.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 08:30
|
|
|
1. All ereaders are in approximately the same price range ($100-200 new), so there's no uber-reader that everyone would buy if they were rich (except maybe this). The key players are the brands in the thread title, with Sony probably having the most expensive options. You'll get different answers from everyone about the objective best reader - I can't imagine how anyone could use a reader without a touchscreen like my Sony PRS-350  2. It's an LCD screen, so I'd probably still go with an e-ink screen for intensive reading if you're uncomfortable reading on your monitor.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 09:21
|
|
|
Hey could anyone with a kobo touch tell me if they updated the firmware to allow you to view books and images in landscape mode like pdfs. If not how smooth is moving through pdfs. Some videos it appears fairly smooth but has anyone had experience with it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 11:26
|
|
|
Anecdotally, I don't like reading from a monitor for a long time either, but I don't mind reading from my Kindle Fire for a long time. I figured it'd be fine since I don't mind reading on my phone. When I root my Fire, I am going to find different brightness controls (right now the lowest setting is a little too high for me -- I got spoiled by Stanza on my iPhone), but it's not a big deal. I absolutely couldn't handle reading from an e-ink device for long before I threw it through the wall.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 13:57
|
|
i like nice words
|
MasterBuilder posted:Hey could anyone with a kobo touch tell me if they updated the firmware to allow you to view books and images in landscape mode like pdfs. No. quote:If not how smooth is moving through pdfs. Some videos it appears fairly smooth but has anyone had experience with it. It's no better than before.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 16:59
|
|
man
|
Megasabin posted:So I am finally going to buy an e-reader and I have a few questions. Maybe the absolutely best one might be the Kindle DX. Only because of the size, so if you're reading a lot of PDFs, it's nice. Otherwise, the size might not be a great advantage for general reading.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2011 17:17
|
|
|
Anne Whateley posted:I absolutely couldn't handle reading from an e-ink device for long before I threw it through the wall. Out of curiosity, what is it about e-ink that bothers you? I've heard a lot of people (myself included) say that reading a backlit screen gives them eyestrain, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they outright hated e-ink.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 06:08
|
|
|
Dickeye posted:In case this happens to anybody else, Amazon has a program where you can mail back your broken kindle and get a new one at a reduced price. When my second gen one broke this fall (5-way went crazy), I mailed it in and paid sixty bucks for a then-current one with 3G. Huh. I wonder if it would do anything for me to contact customer service now and explain that I got the new touch because of the broken button on the DX...
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 06:17
|
|
|
spixxor posted:Out of curiosity, what is it about e-ink that bothers you? I've heard a lot of people (myself included) say that reading a backlit screen gives them eyestrain, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they outright hated e-ink.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 06:28
|
|
|
Thats such a non-issue I hardly notice it now.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 08:53
|
|
|
teraflame posted:Thats such a non-issue I hardly notice it now. Ditto, and it wasn't particularly bright or obnoxious to begin with.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 09:33
|
|
|
Afternoon Chaps, I'm new to this Kindle malarky and I used to read books using Ereader on a very small laptop. I have plenty of books in Ereader format and PDF format, can you get these "imported" into the readers?
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 13:53
|
|
|
Siggers posted:Afternoon Chaps, http://calibre-ebook.com/ Convert to .mobi, copy to the documents folder of your kindle, done.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 14:28
|
|
|
I don't really notice the screen flash, since my eyes are moving back to the top of the page when it happens anyways.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2011 16:34
|
|
|
Maybe you could solve the problem by blinking at the same time as pressing the page turn button.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 04:05
|
|
|
I guess I can believe some people find the page refreshing annoying but yeah, by the time my eyes have gone from the bottom of the page up to the top of the new one, it's already refreshed. It's certainly a hell of a lot quicker than physically turning the page of a book. Remember those those things? How the hell did I cope with those archaic monstrosities?
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 04:48
|
|
|
Junkenstein posted:I guess I can believe some people find the page refreshing annoying but yeah, by the time my eyes have gone from the bottom of the page up to the top of the new one, it's already refreshed. It's certainly a hell of a lot quicker than physically turning the page of a book.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 05:03
|
|
|
Junkenstein posted:I guess I can believe some people find the page refreshing annoying but yeah, by the time my eyes have gone from the bottom of the page up to the top of the new one, it's already refreshed. It's certainly a hell of a lot quicker than physically turning the page of a book. Maybe if you're having to jack the font size up to the point that there are only 40 words or less on the screen at a time, the flash could get annoying if you read fast.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 05:13
|
|
|
Yeah, the flash hasn't ever bothered me either. I think the first time I saw it I thought "Huh, weird" because I didn't know that was how e-ink worked. Can't say I've thought about it since. Plus I tend to get immersed in whatever I'm reading to the point that I actually won't hear people trying to talk to me, so maybe that helps. Different strokes I guess, I can't fathom how anyone could read on an backlit screen for any amount of time without feeling like their eyes are going to fall out of their skull but eh.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 06:30
|
|
|
Sperg Victorious posted:Maybe if you're having to jack the font size up to the point that there are only 40 words or less on the screen at a time, the flash could get annoying if you read fast. Yeah, I have the font on the lowest or second lowest size. I read quickly, but you get a good number of words per screen flash, honestly.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 07:14
|
|
|
Wrong thread !
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 08:59
|
|
|
My regular Kindle is great, but it sucks for things like pdfs of textbooks or stuff with lots of important photo content. How is the Fire as a textbook pdf reader?
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 16:47
|
|
|
Arnold of Soissons posted:My regular Kindle is great, but it sucks for things like pdfs of textbooks or stuff with lots of important photo content. How is the Fire as a textbook pdf reader? I actually played with a Fire yesterday for that purpose. Got some textbook pdfs that are just horrible with Kindles especially because of the tables and charts. I'd say it does a pretty good job since I don't have to automatically zoom to 150% on half of one page and read one half of a sentence before flipping to the next page like on a regular kindle.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2011 20:23
|
|
|
Planning on jumping into this whole e-reader malarky with a Kindle Touch. Seems reasonable at $99, the battery life seems pretty good, and I like the size of Amazon's library. The supported file types are nice as well, particularly the PDF support. In addition to the normal reading I'll be doing with the thing, I've got a number of RPG PDF's that I'd like to throw on it for reference purposes while playing. Anyone have any experience trying that, or just any info on the PDF performance at all?
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 16:59
|
|
|
PDFs are a common question. There is also an ereader thread in IYG, read the OP and skim through that thread and this one.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 17:30
|
|
|
RickVoid posted:Planning on jumping into this whole e-reader malarky with a Kindle Touch. Seems reasonable at $99, the battery life seems pretty good, and I like the size of Amazon's library. The supported file types are nice as well, particularly the PDF support. I can't speak to the new kindles (fire/touch), but on the old standard kindles, pdf support was like cellphone internet -- technically there but the implementation is wonky and klunky and annoying. You can read a PDF on it, but ultimately small screen size is small screen size.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 18:26
|
|
|
RickVoid posted:Planning on jumping into this whole e-reader malarky with a Kindle Touch. Seems reasonable at $99, the battery life seems pretty good, and I like the size of Amazon's library. The supported file types are nice as well, particularly the PDF support. Anybody who says they're ok with reading complicated PDFs (like you'd see in an RPG manual) on an eInk device is either crazy or has the patience of a saint. Get a tablet device with an LCD screen if you're going to spend lots of time with PDFs.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 22:35
|
|
|
I wish the title of this thread was Nook/Kindle/Kobo/Sony - No, Kindles suck at PDFs, get a tablet I read one of my textbooks on the Kindle sometimes, because it has narrow columns, but I still use the physical book when I'm doing anything more complicated than reading. I would quickly go insane if I was trying to use a non-linear, reference book on it like that.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 22:39
|
|
|
Is there any e-ink screen that does PDFs well? It's not a limitation of the reader - PDFs are designed to be easily printable and transferable, and to do that they entirely sacrifice reflowability. E-ink is no more suited to PDF than it is to a family photo album. PDF also requires way more processing power than the equivalent text.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 23:01
|
|
|
I think one of the biggest hurtles is that most PDFs are letter sized, and most E-ink devices have a small screen (excluding the DX.) The text will look tiny and it's hard zoom in without having to scroll over every line. That's why I mentioned columned PDFs are sometimes not bad. Another limitation I can think of is the lack of color. Not always a big deal, but looking at maps and charts is terrible. E-ink will probably never be that amazing with them given these two present qualities. I do wonder how that Nook with an LCD display does with PDFs, thoughts anyone? Diseased Dick Guy fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Nov 28, 2011 |
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 23:06
|
|
|
Like DDG said, the typical PDF is designed to be printed on A4 paper. So when you're looking at it on an ereader the screen isn't nearly as big as an A4 paper (excluding the Kindle DX). The nook is a little better with PDFs that can be reflowed, but it's hit and miss from what people have said. To give you a good idea about the paper size thing:  You're having to view a page that size on a screen that small with PDFs. Some examples of actual content:  Fit to screen  Selecting what to zoom in on  Displaying in actual size. You'll have to pan and scroll.  Changing orientation at fit to screen.  Actual size with different orientation. There are different levels of zoom, but you'll still have to pan and scroll. Sperg Victorious fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Nov 29, 2011 |
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2011 23:38
|
|
|
My Kindle seems to be broken. Whenever I try to turn it on, only an odd 1"x2" patch in the lower left of the screen actually does anything. The rest is stuck on screensaver. That's not the worst part though. The screensaver it's stuck on is Emily Dickinson. OH GOD THE EYES  Hopefully Amazon CS can do something about it when I get home in a week or so.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2011 11:48
|
|
|
I sat on mine and the exact same thing happened. I broke the screen and amazon gave me a big discount to buy the same model kindle. I bought the new kindle (no keyboard) instead.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2011 13:01
|
|
|
I was wondering what's the largest number of times anyone has had Amazon replace their Kindle - i'm considering calling them today for my third replacement since I got one for Christmas last year. I feel like i'm doing something horribly wrong - mine seem to break for no reason I can fathom, while my wife got a Kindle a month after me, shoves it around in her purse and pays no special attention to it and has never had a problem. I'm wondering if they'll even replace it - if not, maybe i'll pick up the Touch since it seems pretty cool.
|
|
#
?
Nov 29, 2011 22:30
|
|
|
Fahrenheit 451 finally in e-book format. Despite Bradbury's raging hatred of the format (and internet in general): http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...ed-ebooks.shtml I think a science fiction writer like Ray Bradbury is a sobering example that all of us are capable of becoming chronic Luddites in our old age.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2011 00:15
|
|
|
SlightButSteady posted:Fahrenheit 451 finally in e-book format. Despite Bradbury's raging hatred of the format (and internet in general): My... my childhood ... ruined by my hero being a cranky old idiot. sigh.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2011 00:41
|
|
|
SlightButSteady posted:Fahrenheit 451 finally in e-book format. Despite Bradbury's raging hatred of the format (and internet in general): The article is completely right. Pricing the e-book at $9.99 makes it really hard to justify buying it. I love this book personally as it is my favorite book. I was really looking forward to getting it for my Kindle but that price is going to keep me from getting it. Maybe it will be a daily deal some time in the future and I can get it for cheap.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2011 18:09
|
|
|
Drunk Tomato posted:My... my childhood ... ruined by my hero being a cranky old idiot. sigh. As we push deeper into the digital age, you're going to find a lot of seniors who don't trust the permanence of anything you can't hold in your hand or anchor to the ground. Unfortunately, they seem to be running a lot of the major publishing houses at the moment.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2011 20:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 08:35 |
|
|
Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Ray Bradbury always been that way? He doesn't even drive. I think it's pretty predictable that he would be a technophobe, his stories don't usually favor technology. "There Will Come Soft Rains," "The Veldt," etc. Even "The Fog Horn" seems to demonize lighthouses. Crotchety old man.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2011 21:06
|
|