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LifeLynx posted:After long debate, and arguments with my fiance who is a paper-only purist, I ordered a Kobo Clara BW. Excited to take books out on Libby on a whim. Being able to start a book on a whim is exactly the e-reader feature that gets me reading most! If I finish a book, I've got a whole pile ready to go that I'm able to start as soon as I think of which one sounds most interesting. That means I can start a new one on the bus, or waiting for an appointment, or during my lunch break - all without having to plan ahead.
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Apr 5, 2025 15:18
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meefistopheles posted:I think there's a kobo plug-in for calibre that will migrate percent read called kobo utilities. I have a custom field that just displays unread, reading, or finished based on that percentage.
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Apr 5, 2025 15:21
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meefistopheles posted:I think there's a kobo plug-in for calibre that will migrate percent read called kobo utilities. I have a custom field that just displays unread, reading, or finished based on that percentage. Kobo Utilities will only grab reading progress from the default kobo software's database, not from koreader. Also as far as I could tell there was no way for it to automatically sync? I had to select the books in question and hit the button each time. Personally I just added a "read? y/n" checkmark column in calibre and tick it manually for the last few books whenever I have it open.
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Apr 5, 2025 18:59
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I fully encourage anyone who wants to, to use technology to keep all your reading in sync, and keep track of which books you've finished, when, etc. I cast no shade on whatever people do to read, I'm just happy that people read. Just as a counter to all the tech talk, and the admirable efforts to replicate the Amazon experience without Amazon, I've been doing the following in my pleasure reading and am living well: I keep track of what books I've read and want to read in a text file that I update once every couple months. I might put a <3 next to one that I really like, and ## next to one that I hated. I frequently read on device and on paper (I get books from the library and will throw the same ebooks onto my airplane-moded kindle). I've never had an issue with keeping these synchronized by just flipping through the device or the pages of the book to figure out where I left off. If it's raining and I am outside and I want to read I listen to audiobooks or go inside. And this is just me, personally, when I tend to seek technological solutions for my reading preferences, my efforts will always shift away from actually reading anything and toward mastering the technological solutions. One of my personal issues is that I'm a fidgeter and a settings-tweaker. I cease becoming a reader and become a troubleshooter. For me, doing anything more than the basics is a distraction. This is also why I never update my Kindle, keep it offline (lockscreen ads are an abomination), and have no interest in KOReader when the basic functions of the device haven't needed to change in a decade. This isn't to dissuade anyone from their own efforts. People who endlessly tweak things and find solutions are part of the reason why I can choose to relax, and I thank you. Sooner or later I will need to get a new device and I will be desperate for your help to wrestle the basic usability I take for granted out of it. But if you find yourself reading less and troubleshooting more, maybe you're like me and should just let go of the idea of a more perfect reading experience and simply read more. Just remember that the idea that, somehow, just reading things is not good enough originated from Amazon itself. doctorfrog fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Apr 5, 2025 |
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Apr 5, 2025 19:19
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doctorfrog posted:I fully encourage anyone who wants to, to use technology to keep all your reading in sync, and keep track of which books you've finished, when, etc. I cast no shade on whatever people do to read, I'm just happy that people read. This is a good post and is pretty liberating. I have been finding myself drawn to lower-tech straightforward solutions as I age, and boy am I aging.
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Apr 5, 2025 19:46
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doctorfrog posted:I fully encourage anyone who wants to, to use technology to keep all your reading in sync, and keep track of which books you've finished, when, etc. I cast no shade on whatever people do to read, I'm just happy that people read. I'm the exact same way, in the troubleshooter vs reader sense. Usually I can keep myself in check by not thinking too hard on it, however I really enjoy solving problems/puzzles and tinkering with my library really scratches that itch. I got away from the Amazon ecosystem for obvious reasons, but I really enjoyed keeping track of my progress and making collections, and all that. And since I've been unemployed for the past month or so, I have entirely too much free time and I've gone through and upgraded EVERYTHING. In Calibre I prefer color coding my stuff, so I can tell at a glance what the reading status is. Each one of these custom statuses are a different color, so it's nice.   As for collections, I really think the Tags system is superior now. I can just slap a tag on stuff, and it's so easy to see what does and doesn't have the specific tag instead of trying to remember what is and isn't in a collection. Getting that all updated probably took the longest time, but I love being able to just search "Time Travel" for example, and having everything pop up. It works on the web server too, and you can edit them through there if you need. For typical e-readers I'm not sure if there's a way to sync progress. I use MoonReader+ on my phone/tablet and that does sync though. It uploads a small file to your Drop Box server with all the progress of all your books, and then it'll download that file whenever you open the app to sync. It doesn't sync with progress in Calibre for obvious reasons, but I almost never read on my PC anyway. I'm sure there's got to be a way to set up syncing on standard e-readers, but I'm not enough of a tech-head to figure that out.
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Apr 5, 2025 20:01
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I moved to StoryGraph for tracking what I have read and want to read. I just update it when I finish a book and add to it when something sounds interesting.
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Apr 5, 2025 21:53
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KOReader has progress sync, and there is no setup or linkage to DropBox.
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Apr 5, 2025 23:46
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Burden posted:I moved to StoryGraph for tracking what I have read and want to read. I just update it when I finish a book and add to it when something sounds interesting. never trust anything with a sign in button imho
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Apr 6, 2025 00:08
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RPATDO_LAMD posted:never trust anything with a sign in button imho Sound advice
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Apr 6, 2025 01:17
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Flyndre posted:Has anybody found a way to remove the lockscreen ads on jailbroken kindles? Finally found it! I don't know what the forums here feel about posting it. But there's a script available on the "Kindle Modding Community" Discord (you can easily find it on Google), in the scriptlets channel
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Apr 7, 2025 20:54
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Have you guys messed with ePub transfers to the Kindle? There is a Humble Bundle that I’m interested in and I think they’re all ePub. Does the transfer integrate well with the Kindle? I can still adjust font size etc.? Are there covers? I’m basically hoping for a seamless experience where the only that I’m giving up is storage space.
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Apr 11, 2025 02:56
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You can use Calibre on your computer to convert and transfer them yourself over USB, or just use Amazon's send to kindle to have them convert it for you. Send to kindle is easiest but Calibre is like one extra step once you have it set up, and you can edit the document if you really want to.
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Apr 11, 2025 03:12
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I too, purchased the Wheel of Time bundle. Hellluva price for all of it. https://www.humblebundle.com/books/robert-jordans-wheel-time-books
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Apr 11, 2025 03:18
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Is there an app that supports ePub that works on both iOS and Android and, preferentially, supports syncing? I also got the bundle and it's the first set of "real" books that I didn't get from Amazon (where the Kindle app does what I want, although not like I have a choice there).
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Apr 11, 2025 22:52
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if you're already using the kindle app you should be able to upload the epubs with https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle and amazon will convert them to azw3s and sync them like any other amazon-purchased book.
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Apr 11, 2025 23:02
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Oh that works for the app too? Maybe I'll give it a try.
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Apr 11, 2025 23:03
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I got my Kobo! It's so nice. I'd used eReaders in their infancy, but it's like using the original iPhone and getting handed a pro version of whatever number they're up to. Of course the first book I look for isn't available on the Kobo store, and is a 17 week wait on Libby. It's on Kindle for $9.99, but even then I'm still glad to not be a part of Amazon's ecosystem. The book is Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, by the way, if anyone can tell me an alternate place to buy it where it'll work on my Kobo.
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Apr 12, 2025 01:45
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RPATDO_LAMD posted:if you're already using the kindle app you should be able to upload the epubs with https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle and amazon will convert them to azw3s and sync them like any other amazon-purchased book.
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Apr 12, 2025 01:47
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LifeLynx posted:I got my Kobo! It's so nice. I'd used eReaders in their infancy, but it's like using the original iPhone and getting handed a pro version of whatever number they're up to. Of course the first book I look for isn't available on the Kobo store, and is a 17 week wait on Libby. It's on Kindle for $9.99, but even then I'm still glad to not be a part of Amazon's ecosystem. I have about 15 library cards and I pretty much never need to wait for a book. It does require you to go to each individual county to get a library card but I drive around a lot and if it’s on my way, I’ll usually stop by and sign up. I don’t go out of my way to go to a county to sign up for a library card. Once you sign up, the library card is usually good for two or four years.
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Apr 12, 2025 01:53
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LifeLynx posted:I got my Kobo! It's so nice. I'd used eReaders in their infancy, but it's like using the original iPhone and getting handed a pro version of whatever number they're up to. Of course the first book I look for isn't available on the Kobo store, and is a 17 week wait on Libby. It's on Kindle for $9.99, but even then I'm still glad to not be a part of Amazon's ecosystem. Weirdly it seems like for digital purchase, it's only on Kindle Edit: Whoops, correction. On Apple Books it's just the audiobook. My bad. 8-bit Miniboss fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Apr 12, 2025 |
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Apr 12, 2025 02:12
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Having fun's not so hard. When you've got 15 library cards
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Apr 12, 2025 02:16
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8-bit Miniboss posted:...buy the Kindle version and strip the DRM yourself... They recently removed the ability to download Kindle books for USB transfer to Kindle.
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Apr 12, 2025 02:21
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nemotrm posted:They recently removed the ability to download Kindle books for USB transfer to Kindle. I'm told you can still do it with an old PC Kindle client. What Amazon shut down was being able to download it manually through your digital content library page in your Amazon account.
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Apr 12, 2025 02:24
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the pro strat is to buy an old eink kindle from before 2024 at a thrift store, use it to download all the stuff in your library, then suck it back into calibre using the dedrm plugin, which still works with just the serial number of the kindle. How long this will still work remains to be seen; Amazon seems to have awoken from their multiple decade long slumber and is trying to tighten the screws on the old software-only mobipocket DRM until they can finally end support for pre-2024 kindles.
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Apr 12, 2025 02:28
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xarph posted:the pro strat is to buy an old eink kindle from before 2024 at a thrift store, use it to download all the stuff in your library, then suck it back into calibre using the dedrm plugin, which still works with just the serial number of the kindle. Bingo bango. Kinda hoping these restrictive moves will result in more fuel for third party devices that are more free, but I'm not holding my breath.
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Apr 12, 2025 02:38
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xarph posted:the pro strat is to buy an old eink kindle from before 2024 at a thrift store, use it to download all the stuff in your library, then suck it back into calibre using the dedrm plugin, which still works with just the serial number of the kindle. at a certain point it's easier to just  than to jump through hoops trying to read the books you paid for the "legit" way.
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Apr 12, 2025 02:39
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Staring at the advanced digital book only theorized about by science fiction authors such as Douglas Adams. All while imagining myself driving to 15 different counties and hitting up thrift stores along the way to see if they have a pre-2024 Kindle. Adams himself couldn't have written this absurd future better.
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Apr 12, 2025 02:40
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These counties are close if you’re in California!
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Apr 12, 2025 02:48
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8-bit Miniboss posted:I'm told you can still do it with an old PC Kindle client. What Amazon shut down was being able to download it manually through your digital content library page in your Amazon account. This does still work. I did it last weekend. However, it’s quite annoying and really makes me hate the Amazon ebook exclusives.
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Apr 12, 2025 20:15
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brainwrinkle posted:This does still work. I did it last weekend. However, it’s quite annoying and really makes me hate the Amazon ebook exclusives. Yep, when I made the move to Kobo years ago and was backing up my Kindle content, it was very painful. Backing up my Kobo content though? Easy as hell.
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Apr 12, 2025 21:05
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A pox on the Amazon ecosystem 
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Apr 13, 2025 00:30
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Minotaurus Rex posted:A pox on the Amazon ecosystem as they say, when a service gets worse, but you don't lose market share, that's a monopoly
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Apr 13, 2025 04:03
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obi_ant posted:I have about 15 library cards and I pretty much never need to wait for a book. It does require you to go to each individual county to get a library card but I drive around a lot and if it’s on my way, I’ll usually stop by and sign up. I don’t go out of my way to go to a county to sign up for a library card. Once you sign up, the library card is usually good for two or four years. This works if you're in California, where every public library is required to give any California resident a card (though, from what I've heard, some do require stopping in physically, and some apparently limit digital resources to county residents only). But, for those of us in other locations, it's often different. Some states have something similar to California. Some states only let people have one library card, which is good at each system in the state. Some states (like mine) let each library determine their own terms. And I have no idea how other countries do things. In my case, I live in western Washington (near Seattle), and I had to look up the policies for each library around me to figure out which ones I could get cards at based on reciprocity agreements, policies to allow anybody to get a card if they live in a district that pays for a library out of taxes, etc. I ended up with 11 cards. I could have gotten more, but the other libraries I can get cards at all share the same Overdrive instance as one of the ones I already have. Also, there are three free online libraries I know of: the Queer Liberation Library which focuses on books about issues impacting queer folks and stories focusing queer perspectives, the Japan Foundation which focuses on books by Japanese authors (free for any USA or Canadian resident; it's funded by the Japanese government), and LTI Korea (same thing as the Japan Foundation but for South Korea, except it also seems to be open to anybody worldwide).
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Apr 14, 2025 16:51
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Kreeblah posted:This works if you're in California, where every public library is required to give any California resident a card (though, from what I've heard, some do require stopping in physically, and some apparently limit digital resources to county residents only). But, for those of us in other locations, it's often different. Yep, this is true. I had to lapse my San Bernardino county e-library card as they require a physical visit to renew. Bit of a drive for me unfortunately. But in general, some county library systems in the state will let you sign up online.
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Apr 14, 2025 21:15
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Kreeblah posted:This works if you're in California, where every public library is required to give any California resident a card (though, from what I've heard, some do require stopping in physically, and some apparently limit digital resources to county residents only). But, for those of us in other locations, it's often different. Yes, every library card that I have required me to physically be in the location to sign up. Some of the libraries have partner libraries so one card gives you access to two or even three counties, without you physically going to the other ones. Example: MARINet is part of NorthNet, which is also part of Peninsula, so in theory, going to one of them should give you access to the other two. The librarian told me about this, but wasn't able to show me on Libby. Apparently lots of people do this as well if they're reading all digital. If someone wants to do this, it might be worth while to sign up for libraries with the largest digital offerings (if you happen to be near there), which would be... quote:Sacramento Public
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Apr 14, 2025 21:51
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8-bit Miniboss posted:Yep, this is true. I had to lapse my San Bernardino county e-library card as they require a physical visit to renew. Bit of a drive for me unfortunately. Are you sure? Mine expired after two years and I called them a couple of weeks ago. They renewed me over the phone for another two years without issue, and I led with asking if I need to show up in person since I'm out of county. obi_ant posted:Yes, every library card that I have required me to physically be in the location to sign up. Some of the libraries have partner libraries so one card gives you access to two or even three counties, without you physically going to the other ones. Example: MARINet is part of NorthNet, which is also part of Peninsula, so in theory, going to one of them should give you access to the other two. The librarian told me about this, but wasn't able to show me on Libby. Apparently lots of people do this as well if they're reading all digital. I believe that the following California library systems still allow remote sign up: Alameda County Library - Follow the "Library Cards by Mail" instructions. They mail out a full library card to California residents which is good for four years. They have a decent size online catalog, and access to Hoopla, at least for now. San Bernardino County Library - This is a digital-only card that should be good for two years. Inglewood Public Library - This is a digital-only card that should be good for one year. This is a smaller catalog but they do still have interesting books. Also, while it does require in-person sign up, I'll give a shout out for my local library system, which is the Fresno County Public Library. I try to check out from it the most since I'm paying the most taxes into it, but I find that it has the best ratio of copies available of any of the library systems I use.
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Apr 15, 2025 00:48
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Jadeilyn posted:Are you sure? Mine expired after two years and I called them a couple of weeks ago. They renewed me over the phone for another two years without issue, and I led with asking if I need to show up in person since I'm out of county. That's what the renewal email said. Just pulled it up now: San Bernardino County Library posted:Your library registration will expire in 7 days. Please visit your local San Bernardino County Library branch to renew your registration. You will need to bring a current picture id and proof of residency. Granted looking at when I got the email, it was 4 years ago. So it's possible they changed policy since then.
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Apr 15, 2025 00:53
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8-bit Miniboss posted:That's what the renewal email said. Just pulled it up now: I'd recommend calling. I reached a local librarian without waiting on hold, no call center, and they were able to help quickly. This way you'd know for sure and hopefully could avoid the drive.
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Apr 15, 2025 00:57
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Jadeilyn posted:I'd recommend calling. I reached a local librarian without waiting on hold, no call center, and they were able to help quickly. This way you'd know for sure and hopefully could avoid the drive. You want me to talk to a person???
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Apr 15, 2025 00:59
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