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Duckman2008
Jan 6, 2010

TFW you see Flyers goaltending.
Grimey Drawer
Finally caved and ordered my Kindle (3G graphite), it'll be here tomorrow. Just couldn't resist any longer. At least now I can slightly more justification on writing out the OP :)

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hope and vaseline
Feb 13, 2001

New nook firmware has better contrast as well.

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/NOOK-and-NOOKcolor-General/v1-5-Pics-Darker-Better-Contrast-Text/m-p/730589#U730589

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.



I was wondering about that. When I was reading last night I kept thinking, "This looks darker, it almost looks as good as the Kindle 3 screens."

Stupid_Sexy_Flander
Mar 14, 2007

Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?
Grimey Drawer
Loving the new firmware, but they took the amazon route instead of the sony route for writing the "shelves" or series via usb. Calibre can't do it, so the nook is going back to BN.

It's a great reader, but I rely a lot on keeping series in order, and that's a deal breaker for me.

Anyone feel like saving me a trip to the store? If so I can start a thread in SAMart for it.

Spermanent Record
Mar 28, 2007
I interviewed a NK escapee who came to my school and made a thread. Then life got in the way and the translation had to be postponed. I did finish it in the end, but nobody is going to pay 10 bux to update my.avatar
Why don't you just rename your books so they appear in sequence? 01 - The Magicians Nephew, 02 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, etc.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander
Mar 14, 2007

Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?
Grimey Drawer
I am kinda OCD about my collection, I get the metadata for the books and the right covers, etc.

Also, and this is a huge part of it, I have been doing the ebook reading bit for a long time, and I have a 4 or 5 gig collection. Renaming that and trying to keep it in some kind of order would be pretty much impossible to do.

If I had a small collection, say under 100 books or so, yea no problem. At last count it's something like 3000+ in my calibre library on my main PC, and that's not including the backups I have that I haven't gotten around to importing/fixing/converting.

Sony's setup just works the easiest for me when it comes to keeping track of what goes where and with who.

Paco de Suave
Sep 13, 2004
photographs of the best time you had
window smudged by the speed


Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:

I am kinda OCD about my collection, I get the metadata for the books and the right covers, etc.

Also, and this is a huge part of it, I have been doing the ebook reading bit for a long time, and I have a 4 or 5 gig collection. Renaming that and trying to keep it in some kind of order would be pretty much impossible to do.

If I had a small collection, say under 100 books or so, yea no problem. At last count it's something like 3000+ in my calibre library on my main PC, and that's not including the backups I have that I haven't gotten around to importing/fixing/converting.

Sony's setup just works the easiest for me when it comes to keeping track of what goes where and with who.


Just root your nook, jeez. You can use tags from calibre with trook and the replacement library app I believe. I can't imagine returning something for a reason like that...especially when you can just search for whatever you're looking for. I have over 1000 books on my nook and I haven't had any problems.

Daric
Dec 23, 2007

Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.
I'm getting a Nook Color for Christmas. Honestly, I'd be happy with just the basic device, but if it gets rooted I will be even happier. Being able to read Y the Last Man on that thing would be perfect.

Trig Discipline
Jun 3, 2008

Please leave the room if you think this might offend you.
Grimey Drawer

Daric posted:

I'm getting a Nook Color for Christmas. Honestly, I'd be happy with just the basic device, but if it gets rooted I will be even happier. Being able to read Y the Last Man on that thing would be perfect.

I'm really, really digging mine. I can definitely see things that need to be improved, but if they stay on the ball with the Nook Color like they have with the regular Nook it's going to be an amazing little device. So far my main complaints are that you can't highlight and make notes in PDFs (which is a big issue for me) and video play back is not at all smooth (which is a much less significant issue). Both of those things are fixable, so here's hoping!

Stupid_Sexy_Flander
Mar 14, 2007

Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?
Grimey Drawer

Paco de Suave posted:

Just root your nook, jeez. You can use tags from calibre with trook and the replacement library app I believe. I can't imagine returning something for a reason like that...especially when you can just search for whatever you're looking for. I have over 1000 books on my nook and I haven't had any problems.

Well, the problem with that is a: there isn't a rooted version of 1.5 yet, and b: I don't want to void my warranty for something that should, to me, already be available.

Also, c: I read up on how to root the nook before the update came out, and I don't really feel comfortable doing it. Not exactly that techy of a guy.

Daric
Dec 23, 2007

Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

Trig Discipline posted:

I'm really, really digging mine. I can definitely see things that need to be improved, but if they stay on the ball with the Nook Color like they have with the regular Nook it's going to be an amazing little device. So far my main complaints are that you can't highlight and make notes in PDFs (which is a big issue for me) and video play back is not at all smooth (which is a much less significant issue). Both of those things are fixable, so here's hoping!

Great to hear man, I'm excited. I played with one at B&N for a little while and I definitely liked the heft and feel of it. Everything seemed pretty smooth to me but the only video I watched was the demo one it had on it.

7" is perfect for me. The iPad is way too big, I think. I really just want something I can use to read books and comics and watch the occasional episode of Community or Parks & Rec on while I'm in between classes. So I can't wait to throw this thing in my little messenger bag.

Trig Discipline
Jun 3, 2008

Please leave the room if you think this might offend you.
Grimey Drawer

Daric posted:

Great to hear man, I'm excited. I played with one at B&N for a little while and I definitely liked the heft and feel of it. Everything seemed pretty smooth to me but the only video I watched was the demo one it had on it.

7" is perfect for me. The iPad is way too big, I think. I really just want something I can use to read books and comics and watch the occasional episode of Community or Parks & Rec on while I'm in between classes. So I can't wait to throw this thing in my little messenger bag.

Yeah, the video thing is weird. The video that comes with it plays very smoothly, but nothing else that I load onto it does. I haven't worked out whether there's a format issue or something, and really haven't messed with it at all beyond trying to copy a few things over and finding that they didn't play well.

e: You know what? I went back and tried to play the video that was skippy before, and it played just fine. Maybe it just had to get to know me first.

Trig Discipline fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Nov 24, 2010

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


Looks like we may get Mirasol eReaders early next year.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/24/pocketbook-spills-the-transflective-colored-beans-announces-mir/

Call Me Charlie
Dec 3, 2005

by Smythe

pienipple posted:

I didn't say there aren't people who do it. It's too much effort for the average user to do it. That and there's no "Bookster" you can just hop on and have access to practically all the books in the western world.

No, there really is. Can't talk about them here but there are a ton of places with a ton of ebooks (both available and unavailable in the ebook stores).

Also the number of people just breaking the DRM and distributing the book they bought is going way up compared to people actually scanning/OCRing/proofreading books (that has fallen off to books that aren't available through legal means digitally and the quality on them are usually extremely high for a fan project, almost as good as titles you can buy in the Kindle store)

Call Me Charlie fucked around with this message at 09:29 on Nov 24, 2010

Capnbigboobies
Dec 2, 2004
I returned the nook color, perhaps I had a bum device, but it was buggy at best for me after using it for a few days. The browser would crash frequently which would require a hard reboot. The interface, while impressive still needs work.

I also did not find the screen that great for reading.

After doing some research I learned that some led lit screens do in fact flicker when the brightness is reduced. With the brightness set all the way down I can see flickering on a grey screen. I had to have the brightness set to about midway for it to be comfortable. The screen may work great for others, but not for me.

I still think its a great device and is the cheapest thing on the market that can handle pdfs reasonably well, it just the software needs kinks worked out. The deal breaker for me was the screen. I had a galaxy tab side by side with the NC and I found it much easier to read on.

If you are thinking of getting one go ahead and buy one at a BN store. If you do not like it just return it. My return was a smooth process and no restocking fee.

My problem is I want too much out of a "e-reader." I need to face facts, what I really want is an ipad. I will just get a 2nd gen day-one.

Paco de Suave
Sep 13, 2004
photographs of the best time you had
window smudged by the speed


Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:

Well, the problem with that is a: there isn't a rooted version of 1.5 yet, and b: I don't want to void my warranty for something that should, to me, already be available.

Also, c: I read up on how to root the nook before the update came out, and I don't really feel comfortable doing it. Not exactly that techy of a guy.

a) There is. The nookdevs guys are really awesome. - http://www.perfinion.com:81/nookdevs/bravo_update-2.5.0.dat

b) It's a 5 second process to flash back to the original firmware

c) If "Copy two files to the reader's memory and hold the '<' key while it reboots" is too complicated...what are you doing with an ereader in the first place? Surely that's easier than setting the tags in calibre and whatnot.

The Aphasian
Mar 8, 2007

Psychotropic Hops


Sporadic posted:

No, there really is. Can't talk about them here but there are a ton of places with a ton of ebooks (both available and unavailable in the ebook stores).

Also the number of people just breaking the DRM and distributing the book they bought is going way up compared to people actually scanning/OCRing/proofreading books (that has fallen off to books that aren't available through legal means digitally and the quality on them are usually extremely high for a fan project, almost as good as titles you can buy in the Kindle store)

Off topic: I remember a tutorial online years ago (<2000) for making comic book TPB (bookz? All illegal files had z's back then) "filez". It involved sneaking them into the book store bathroom, sitting on the handicap toilet, putting it on the floor between your feet and taking pictures with a newfangled "digital" camera. The author advised multiple trips to get all the images so it wouldn't be suspicious and had step by step photos of cropping out his feet and the bathroom tile, rotating the images to level them, etc.

"Back in my day if you wanted to steal music you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself..."

Hope this doesn't count as :filez:, just historical perspective. If anyone does the above to steal novels it's tantamount to retyping it themselves and I say "Shine on you crazy diamonds."

Duckman2008
Jan 6, 2010

TFW you see Flyers goaltending.
Grimey Drawer

Capnbigboobies posted:

I returned the nook color, perhaps I had a bum device, but it was buggy at best for me after using it for a few days. The browser would crash frequently which would require a hard reboot. The interface, while impressive still needs work.

I also did not find the screen that great for reading.

After doing some research I learned that some led lit screens do in fact flicker when the brightness is reduced. With the brightness set all the way down I can see flickering on a grey screen. I had to have the brightness set to about midway for it to be comfortable. The screen may work great for others, but not for me.

I still think its a great device and is the cheapest thing on the market that can handle pdfs reasonably well, it just the software needs kinks worked out. The deal breaker for me was the screen. I had a galaxy tab side by side with the NC and I found it much easier to read on.

If you are thinking of getting one go ahead and buy one at a BN store. If you do not like it just return it. My return was a smooth process and no restocking fee.

My problem is I want too much out of a "e-reader." I need to face facts, what I really want is an ipad. I will just get a 2nd gen day-one.

Very smart move on the iPad, my biggest beef is Apple always screws over people who buy the 1st Gen of their product. Also, other tablets coming out next year.

Stupid_Sexy_Flander
Mar 14, 2007

Is a man not entitled to the haw of his maw?
Grimey Drawer

Paco de Suave posted:

a) There is. The nookdevs guys are really awesome. - http://www.perfinion.com:81/nookdevs/bravo_update-2.5.0.dat

b) It's a 5 second process to flash back to the original firmware

c) If "Copy two files to the reader's memory and hold the '<' key while it reboots" is too complicated...what are you doing with an ereader in the first place? Surely that's easier than setting the tags in calibre and whatnot.

If it was that easy I would have done it.

The refurb nooks that came out (and I bought) have a new rooting method, the old way just bricks it. Check out nookdevs.com and click on the link at the top of the page. My serial number starts with 10031, so I get to do the more complex root. I don't see any article about how to root a 1.5 firmware nook on there now though. Before I upgraded it was still 1.4.1 so it fell into the more complex fix anyway.

It's gone a long way from "copy a file and hold the back button". I don't feel comfortable messing with my pc's network and system settings in order to get a basic function added to an ereader.

withak
Jan 15, 2003


Fun Shoe
That's not what "brick" means.

deety
Aug 2, 2004

zombies + sharks = fun

I've heard a lot of good reports about Amazon's customer service, but just wanted to share one of my own.

Today I pulled my Kindle's power/USB cord out from its usual storage spot to find that the covering was cracked and flaking off at both ends. I have no idea what caused this. The cord almost always lives right next to my computer, and it seemed fine when I put it away two days ago. A quick search showed me other people complaining about having the same thing happen to them, so I emailed customer service and explained the problem.

My Kindle is more than six months out of warranty, so I was hoping that, at best, I could get a discount on a replacement. Two hours later, I got a message saying that if I ordered a new cable and sent them the order number, they'd refund the whole thing, including the shipping.

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.
I've been thinking about the color nook, because the fact that is runs on top of a crippled (?) android OS intrigues me...do you ever think it will be possible for it to be, like...super rooted? or something?

I don't know the word for what I want, but basically just make the underlying android OS more accessible so I can use it more like a tablet...load regular Android apps, etc...? Like a much less-powerful Galaxy Tab? Or is is so gimped and underpowered that even if that could be done, you wouldn't want to?

bull3964
Nov 18, 2000

DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.


Bascially 3 things have to happen.

1) I has to be rooted
2) The bootloader has to be hacked to be able to load a custom recovery
3) Someone has to create a stock android ROM for it.

These are all possible. It really depends on how much time the community wants to devote to the device to see that it's done.

z0331
Oct 2, 2003

Holtby thy name
This is going to be another example of people on SA thinking that what's easy and intuitive for them is just as easy and intuitive for other people.

The vast majority of people do not want to fiddle around with poo poo like this. SA users are not the vast majority of people.

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

http://twitter.com/AmazonKindle/status/7153261815533568

Kindle 2G for $89 on Black Friday.

maduin
Mar 4, 2003

smackfu posted:

http://twitter.com/AmazonKindle/status/7153261815533568

Kindle 2G for $89 on Black Friday.
As someone who's only used a Kindle 3, how much worse is a 2? Is it even worth saving the $50 on?

VERTiG0
Jul 11, 2001

go move over bro
Can anybody recommend a case with a light built into it for the Kindle 3? I like the official one but $60 for a case is just stupid.

pienipple
Mar 20, 2009

That's wrong!

maduin posted:

As someone who's only used a Kindle 3, how much worse is a 2? Is it even worth saving the $50 on?

I have a 2, my mom has a 3. There's nothing game breaking about the upgrade, the 3 has a nicer screen and better button layout. The 2 has 3G only and no wifi so if you were thinking of getting the 3G 3, a 2 is 100 bucks cheaper, slightly bigger body (screen size is the same) and the contrast is a little bit worse.

Duckman2008
Jan 6, 2010

TFW you see Flyers goaltending.
Grimey Drawer

pienipple posted:

I have a 2, my mom has a 3. There's nothing game breaking about the upgrade, the 3 has a nicer screen and better button layout. The 2 has 3G only and no wifi so if you were thinking of getting the 3G 3, a 2 is 100 bucks cheaper, slightly bigger body (screen size is the same) and the contrast is a little bit worse.

I'm feeling kinda stupid now about basically pating $100 more for the 3, but gently caress it, its a one time buy, i'd rather have the best (plus its graphite!).

Duper
Nov 20, 2008

by T. Mascis
Amazing deal on Nook 3G + WIFI refurb right now.

Add these two to your cart

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/NOOK-3G-Wi-Fi-by-Barnes-Noble-eBook-Reader-Certified-Pre-Owned-Refurbished/5389836/product.html

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Screen-Protector-for-T-mobile-G1-MyTouch-3G/4780880/product.html?keywords=12680677&searchtype=Header for filler

Apply code: 149418

$86 shipped. With new 1.5 firmware, this is ridiculous.

go go

kuddles
Jul 16, 2006

Like a fist wrapped in blood...
What a bunch of bullshit. The Kindle is listed as "in stock", but when I order it to ship to Canada it suddenly changes to "ships in 7 to 9 weeks". Wouldn't it just be a simple software change? Now I don't know what we're going to do for my Mom's Christmas gift.

If I get someone to buy one in the US for me and ship it here, does anyone know if it will work properly once I put in a Canadian billing address/credit card?

EDIT: The answer is yes according to Amazon themselves so I'm going that route. Of course, if the thing arrives cracked in half I'm screwed but here's hoping.

kuddles fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Nov 25, 2010

cybrancyborg
Jan 24, 2008

How this ends still hasn't been unwritten...

cybrancyborg posted:

Then what's the least worst and how bad is it?

Someone's gotta have an opinion on this

Troubadour
Mar 1, 2001
Forum Veteran
Least worst what? E-reader? There's all kinds of feature sets and prices, how about you talk about what you're planning to do with it?

cybrancyborg
Jan 24, 2008

How this ends still hasn't been unwritten...

Troubadour posted:

Least worst what? E-reader? There's all kinds of feature sets and prices, how about you talk about what you're planning to do with it?

Read PDFs on something pocket-ish size for under $150

Duckman2008
Jan 6, 2010

TFW you see Flyers goaltending.
Grimey Drawer

cybrancyborg posted:

Read PDFs on something pocket-ish size for under $150

The opinion was stated that there is no amazing option. Both the Kindle and Nook can technically handle it, but aren't amazing at it. My advice would be to convert the book to Mobi/ePub via calibre, but i just tried it and it doesn't work too well on the Kindle 3.

Any advice on a cheap case for the Kindle (or if it even needs one)? I really don't feel like spending a shitload of money on a case.

cybrancyborg
Jan 24, 2008

How this ends still hasn't been unwritten...

Duckman2008 posted:

The opinion was stated that there is no amazing option. Both the Kindle and Nook can technically handle it, but aren't amazing at it. My advice would be to convert the book to Mobi/ePub via calibre, but i just tried it and it doesn't work too well on the Kindle 3.

Any advice on a cheap case for the Kindle (or if it even needs one)? I really don't feel like spending a shitload of money on a case.

Right, in absence of an amazing option, I just want the best/least worst one.

Troubadour
Mar 1, 2001
Forum Veteran
You can get a Zenithink zt-180 for around $170. That's an Android tablet with 10 inch screen and ok battery life and speed. Or you can get an e-ink reader and zoom around on the page.

VERTiG0
Jul 11, 2001

go move over bro

Troubadour posted:

You can get a Zenithink zt-180 for around $170. That's an Android tablet with 10 inch screen and ok battery life and speed. Or you can get an e-ink reader and zoom around on the page.

Resistive touchscreen, gross. Otherwise nice specs.

movax
Aug 30, 2008

Just how awful is Kindle 3 PDF support? I saw that Kindle 2 would be $90 tomorrow...then did some more research, and I figure it's about time I pull the trigger on a Kindle, it looks great.

But, my primary content would be PDFs (including some textbooks), which may or may not be just huge image after huge image, and if that falls apart entirely, not too interested then.

I guess my main question is: what reader should I choose for primarily viewing "medium" complexity PDFs? Please don't say netbook. :(

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Ferg
May 6, 2007

Lipstick Apathy

movax posted:

Just how awful is Kindle 3 PDF support? I saw that Kindle 2 would be $90 tomorrow...then did some more research, and I figure it's about time I pull the trigger on a Kindle, it looks great.

But, my primary content would be PDFs (including some textbooks), which may or may not be just huge image after huge image, and if that falls apart entirely, not too interested then.

I guess my main question is: what reader should I choose for primarily viewing "medium" complexity PDFs? Please don't say netbook. :(

It's slow and never formats the correct width for the screen. I converted a few PDFs this weekend with Calibre though, and they all look great on the Kindle 2, Kindle 3, and Nook that I put the converted files onto.

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