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A lot of the books I bought are from sites like smashwords and fictionwise, and they work perfectly fine on the reader. Pretty cheap too. Another option you have is the bn.com website, since sony now uses the same abode digital id drm for the reader that bn.com uses. I rarely, if ever buy books from the sony library for the price reason. Most of my books are either purchases from amazon, or smashwords/fictionwise. Check out https://www.inkmesh.com to compare prices on books. I have found a few bargains that saved me 5 bucks or so depending on the store and the sale.
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Feb 9, 2011 08:28
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I had never heard about Inkmesh before, so thank you for sharing that link. With all the different formats and readers available, I'm still trying to figure out what my options are. Since you say you purchase books from Amazon, I'm assuming that you have to find a way to remove the DRM, right?
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Feb 9, 2011 08:57
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Yep, but it's amazingly simple. A lot of the free books from amazon don't have drm on them, or the description will say something about drm free (this goes for some priced books as well).
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Feb 9, 2011 13:56
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Quad posted:It seems like your main gripe is the price of e-books. I read "How I read" as "I don't like to spend money." Of course the library stuff is going to be really awkward right now; it's a relatively new thing and it's a lot to ask of a library to get everything properly licensed and stuff. But he's got a point in that the Sony store is really expensive. I went from a Sony Reader to a Kindle partially because the Amazon store is so much cheaper. While Sony does offer deals, you'll see a lot of new releases that are $10 at Amazon and $20 at Sony.
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Feb 9, 2011 18:15
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Just thought I'd mention in here a warning that from my experience Gutenburg and feedbooks have some pretty dodgy book conversions. I downloaded Don Quixote from one of those and nearly stopped reading it was so bad, but then I got the amazon version and realised it wasn't the book that was terrible.
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Feb 10, 2011 00:13
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Just wanted to add a contrasting point of view. I've downloaded and read several dozen books from Project Gutenburg and only one had any significant formatting errors. Typos, on the other hand, are much more common than in non-free equivalents.
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Feb 10, 2011 01:52
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Vertigus posted:I read "How I read" as "I don't like to spend money." Of course the library stuff is going to be really awkward right now; it's a relatively new thing and it's a lot to ask of a library to get everything properly licensed and stuff. Hey, I fully admit to being a cheap bastard. I've been spoiled by cheap paperbacks from library booksales, I guess. I tend not to read brand new releases too often. The last hardcover I bought was Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart- cost me $26. If I had a reader at the time, I could have gotten it for about $10. That's not a bad deal at all, I'd say. My problem is that older books tend to still cost nearly the same price and don't seem to go on sale all that often. I understand why the libraries have to make the compromises they do, and I still think its a pretty good deal. In practice, though, it ends up being a little more restrictive than just checking out a hard copy. If I check out a book at the library, I get three weeks to read it, and can easily renew if I need to. If I check out an ebook, I get two weeks and no quick option to renew. Makes a difference for me.
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Feb 10, 2011 06:50
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It is highly likely that I will be moving to Denmark for a job for a few years, and instead of trying to take my three giant bookshelves full of books I figure an e-reader would be a far more convenient option. I don't really care about 3G, or even wi-fi, so if I can get a reader for cheaper without them I'd prefer that. I'd also like decent PDF support, since a lot of my brewing textbook materials are in that format and I'd like to have them on hand. Right now I'm looking hard at the Nook, but other suggestions are welcome.
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Feb 17, 2011 03:04
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Well I hate putting PDFs on my Kindle because it's zoom feature sucks. You can only zoom by 150%, 200%, or 300%. If something isn't readable/fits in one screen at those settings, it's a pain in the rear end.
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Feb 17, 2011 07:30
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blue squares posted:Well I hate putting PDFs on my Kindle because it's zoom feature sucks. You can only zoom by 150%, 200%, or 300%. If something isn't readable/fits in one screen at those settings, it's a pain in the rear end. This is the same problem in kobo, which I love for everything else. I'd be interested to hear if any other readers are better for pdfs.
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Feb 17, 2011 08:24
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dokmo posted:This is the same problem in kobo, which I love for everything else. I'd be interested to hear if any other readers are better for pdfs. The Nook isn't any better for PDFs either. I'd orignally planned to use my nook to read lots of PDFs, and have sadly found it easier to just read them at the computer.
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Feb 17, 2011 13:10
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Ubik posted:It is highly likely that I will be moving to Denmark for a job for a few years, and instead of trying to take my three giant bookshelves full of books I figure an e-reader would be a far more convenient option. Probably a kindle DX. Though, if a lot of your work is techincal, maybe an ipad is the way to go.
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Feb 17, 2011 15:43
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BannedNewbie posted:The Nook isn't any better for PDFs either. I'd orignally planned to use my nook to read lots of PDFs, and have sadly found it easier to just read them at the computer. Yeah, it definitely messes up the formatting, but it's still readable. I've been making my own PDFs with larger font sizes to use as notes when I'm teaching. If you use around a 26 pt. font, it is plenty readable without using the zoom. It saves paper, and it's just more fun.
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Feb 17, 2011 16:52
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blue squares posted:Well I hate putting PDFs on my Kindle because it's zoom feature sucks. You can only zoom by 150%, 200%, or 300%. If something isn't readable/fits in one screen at those settings, it's a pain in the rear end. If it has no figures or pictures and is text, you can put it through calibre and it'll look pretty good and you don't need to deal with zooming. If there are pictures, I don't know how calibre handles that.
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Feb 18, 2011 00:58
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GoldenNugget posted:If it has no figures or pictures and is text, you can put it through calibre and it'll look pretty good and you don't need to deal with zooming. It'll keep them, but the formatting tends to get a little hosed up. Edit: Worth noting that this can happen from pretty much any format. I've had stuff that I've converted from .epub get a little screwed up. Obligatory Toast fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Feb 18, 2011 |
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Feb 18, 2011 01:05
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I get the idea that some people don't like ereaders for whatever reason. What I don't get is the hate hardon that some people have for them though, that just boggles my mind. Ereaders literally the holocaust. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-kaufman/google-books-and-kindles_b_380536.html Maybe I'm missing some irony/sarcasm =/
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Feb 19, 2011 18:50
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JammyLammy posted:I get the idea that some people don't like ereaders for whatever reason. What I don't get is the hate hardon that some people have for them though, that just boggles my mind. It's the Huffington Post, so that should tell you pretty much everything. Also the fact that the author is spamming up his own comments section to advertise his work, oh and the glaring hypocrisy in that he's denouncing "Hi-Tech" culture while actively contributing to it by writing for an online newspaper. I understand the fear in not having a hard copy of a work that doesn't require another medium to view it through, and there's certainly issues with the idea that a single source can control your access to material you've legally purchased. However, despite the popularity of ebooks and floundering of many publishing companies and bookstores, I'm fairly loving sure that books aren't going to be rendered as antiques within the next decade.
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Feb 19, 2011 19:07
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JammyLammy posted:I get the idea that some people don't like ereaders for whatever reason. What I don't get is the hate hardon that some people have for them though, that just boggles my mind. This is loving hilarious. Here's some more Luddite ramblings from Mr.  for your enjoyment: HIGH TECH TALIBAN (ALSO TECHNOLOGY IS HITLER)I wonder if he appreciates the irony in the fact that technology is the only reason anyone will ever see his crazy blather.
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Feb 19, 2011 20:43
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JammyLammy posted:I get the idea that some people don't like ereaders for whatever reason. What I don't get is the hate hardon that some people have for them though, that just boggles my mind. I've seen people on this forum (or the Gadget forum) claim that the Kindle was a complete failure for Amazon, and that single purpose eReaders are a dead end compared to the iPad. It's just some kind of weird stubbornness, and I love hearing crazy stuff about the smell of books being such an important part of the experience.
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Feb 19, 2011 22:01
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Since Borders just filed for bankruptcy, it looks like Kobobooks is trying to do some damage control by offering 20% of the first book you purchase from them. I registered, and instantly received a coupon for 35%. Their store seems about as decent as any to me, from what I've browsed.
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Feb 19, 2011 22:42
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Vertigus posted:I've seen people on this forum (or the Gadget forum) claim that the Kindle was a complete failure for Amazon, and that single purpose eReaders are a dead end compared to the iPad. quote:It's just some kind of weird stubbornness, and I love hearing crazy stuff about the smell of books being such an important part of the experience.
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Feb 19, 2011 23:19
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Vertigus posted:I've seen people on this forum (or the Gadget forum) claim that the Kindle was a complete failure This is where you should have stopped reading. People are dumb. Space Harrier posted:Since Borders just filed for bankruptcy, it looks like Kobobooks is trying to do some damage control by offering 20% of the first book you purchase from them. off* Sorry but of/off and to/too are the worst offences on SA hands down, and this is the book barn...
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Feb 20, 2011 02:40
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The book barn is no place to be a grammar Nazi. Nazis hate books!
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Feb 20, 2011 21:53
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It was a spelling mistake, not a grammar mistake!  
Lascivious Sloth fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Feb 20, 2011 |
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Feb 20, 2011 22:39
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Space Harrier posted:Since Borders just filed for bankruptcy, it looks like Kobobooks is trying to do some damage control by offering 20% of the first book you purchase from them. I registered, and instantly received a coupon for 35%. Their store seems about as decent as any to me, from what I've browsed. They've been doing this from before the Borders Bankruptcy. Kobobooks is majority owned by Chapters/Indigo. If the people I see on my morning commute are any indication, Kobo is doing just fine.
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Feb 21, 2011 01:00
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JammyLammy posted:I get the idea that some people don't like ereaders for whatever reason. What I don't get is the hate hardon that some people have for them though, that just boggles my mind. I was being ganged up on by my Girlfriend, with the help of my Mother, subtly hinting how we will need a bigger house so we can have a library and *wink* *wink* kids. Trying to steer the topic away from kids, I mentioned that I didn't need a library because I prefer to have everything on my kindle. To which they both started saying how eBooks are cold and soul-less replacements for real books and think how nice it would be to have a library with real books in it. I reminded my Mother of the time that as a toddler I'd tried to climb up a bookshelf to get a book on the top shelf, and had the bookshelf and 300-odd books topple on top of me prompting a trip to the hospital. I then picked up my Kindle and dropped it from neck height onto her lap. "There are over 300 books on that. What would you rather have fall on your potential grandchild?" I then walked off with a big smug grin on my face having successfully defended the honour of my Kindle and avoided having to talk about the topic of kids like an adult. Hooray!
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Feb 21, 2011 16:14
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RobattoJesus posted:I was being ganged up on by my Girlfriend, with the help of my Mother, subtly hinting how we will need a bigger house so we can have a library and *wink* *wink* kids. Trying to steer the topic away from kids, I mentioned that I didn't need a library because I prefer to have everything on my kindle. To which they both started saying how eBooks are cold and soul-less replacements for real books and think how nice it would be to have a library with real books in it. I;m sorry, but you are wrong here. A kindle is no replacement for a proper library. Just imagine, a room just for books. Pristine, hardback books. And a comfy chair in the middle, with a table, a kindle charger, and a whiskey decanter. You and your kindle, in the library.... A kindle is not a replacement for a library. It is the ideal companion.
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Feb 21, 2011 16:23
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Masonity posted:I;m sorry, but you are wrong here. A kindle is no replacement for a proper library. True. Unfortunately a kid would come in and use a jam sandwich as a bookmark on one of your pristine hardback books, knock over your whisky decanter onto a nearby candle and burn your house down. I suppose you could opt for apple juice in the whiskey decanter, and an Ikea-style bookshelf where all the "books" are actually just pieces of cardboard with book spines glued to them. That would help immensely with the library's potential child-killing properties. The best option though, would be to get the library in lieu of a child. That said, anyone who hates eBooks, like the author of that Huffington Post article, is obviously a child abuser who wants children to die in whisky-fuelled library fires, or for them to be crushed to death by a large hardback copy of Altas Shrugged. 
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Feb 21, 2011 16:55
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RobattoJesus posted:True. Unfortunately a kid would come in and use a jam sandwich as a bookmark on one of your pristine hardback books, knock over your whisky decanter onto a nearby candle and burn your house down. There is joy in reading a hardback book. I'm doing so now... The joy of aching fingers, of having to rest the book on the table, of carrying a potential lethal weapon... Mostly a joy in knowing that it's temporary, soon I'll be using my kindle again. If only the publishers weren't retards when it comes to releasing books in hardback and on the kindle....
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Feb 21, 2011 17:01
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A book is simply a very primitive Kindle which I can clout a spider with.
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Feb 21, 2011 17:23
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Masonity posted:Mostly a joy in knowing that it's temporary, soon I'll be using my kindle again. If only the publishers weren't retards when it comes to releasing books in hardback and on the kindle.... Isn't this dumb poo poo because the NYT bestseller list or whatever doesn't count ebook sales?
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Feb 21, 2011 17:40
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That and some authors are technophobes or 'purists'. I guess others may not take the potential of ebooks seriously.
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Feb 21, 2011 18:30
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Lascivious Sloth posted:That and some authors are technophobes or 'purists'. I guess others may not take the potential of ebooks seriously. This is a UK sale (so probably doesnt count) of a fantasy novel (so won't make the list anyway), and the first 9 of the 10 book series have been on the kindle store for ages. All I can think is that the US release date is in a weeks time, so maybe they are trying to make sure they don't end up with pirate copies over there. Not that staggered release dates make any sense in themselves even!
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Feb 21, 2011 19:39
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Is it possible to create internal links in a document (maybe in Word?) that I then e-mail to my Kindle for conversion. In the way that some books I have on my kindle have a chapter list at the beginning, and each chapter title is a link that takes you to that part of the book -- basically, I want to do the same thing in my own document that I convert to load on my Kindle. Can you do this in Word? Can you do it in Calibre?
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Feb 22, 2011 04:26
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McCoy Pauley posted:Is it possible to create internal links in a document (maybe in Word?) that I then e-mail to my Kindle for conversion. In the way that some books I have on my kindle have a chapter list at the beginning, and each chapter title is a link that takes you to that part of the book -- basically, I want to do the same thing in my own document that I convert to load on my Kindle. Can you do this in Word? Can you do it in Calibre? Yes, it is possible to add hyperlinks to a file in Word (but it is a massive pain in the rear end) and you can use Mobipocket Creator to turn that .DOC into a .PRC for your Kindle. Same concept with an HTML file and Calibre.
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Feb 24, 2011 00:41
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I don't know why we can't have both real books and a kindle. Sometimes I hate nerds who have an "all or nothing" mentality when it comes to things: "Why bother buying a toyota when you can just buy a BMW"  It's like they can't understand that some people might like a kindle, others an iPad and some just might like a hard-cover novel. My friend actually likes using all three at the same time! Also, I just wanted to chime in and say instapaper is probably the greatest thing ever and I love using it.
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Feb 25, 2011 05:48
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Optimus_Rhyme posted:I don't know why we can't have both real books and a kindle. Sometimes I hate nerds who have an "all or nothing" mentality when it comes to things: I don't think many goons are vehemently opposed to enjoying numerous formats, it's just that some of us like to have all our books in one basket. It's a pain in the rear end to have half of your books as physical copies, a quarter in Kindle format, and the rest on your iPad bookshelf. Especially when I want to find a book and don't know in which format I bought it. I just want all my books in one neat place, whether that be on a physical shelf or on my Kindle's home-screen. I like to pick one format and stick with it. Since I've been building up a Kindle collection I'm very all-or-nothing with that, and will only buy hard-copies of something that I really want - particularly since my physical bookshelf is full. I still happily rent books from the library (because fortunately they take them back afterwards). Plus in your analogy I'd say that eBooks are the Toyota and real books are the BMW. The main reason I love eBooks is because they're generally cheaper, and I have a tiny house.
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Feb 25, 2011 11:38
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I would say that real books are Toyotas and ebooks are Lamborghinis and iPads are Volgas or Yugos or that one Ford that exploded if you looked at it sideways. Posting on the internet is an Edsel or a DeLorean. All formats are fine, it's people who dismiss one or the other as worthless that annoy me. I mean gently caress it, at least the person is reading enough to care, not enough people actually do that. IRQ fucked around with this message at 14:16 on Feb 25, 2011 |
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Feb 25, 2011 14:14
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Has anybody started a program to hand out eReaders to inner city kids or something? It seems like a really good way to encourage reading for kids who don't have access to libraries, or if they do have access it's to ones that are underfunded and terrible.
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Feb 25, 2011 19:47
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Vertigus posted:Has anybody started a program to hand out eReaders to inner city kids or something? It seems like a really good way to encourage reading for kids who don't have access to libraries, or if they do have access it's to ones that are underfunded and terrible. How would this work? If they don't have access to a library, they certainly don't have the money to buy ebooks, they may not have internet access to get ebooks from the library (the availability of which is pretty lovely to begin with, even in the rich areas), and I doubt public domain books are really the kind of thing to get kids into reading.
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Feb 26, 2011 03:37
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