Best ebook reader? [Archive]

Blanquist

26th February 2012, 08:32

I think books will die out soon. 5-10 years.

I'm playing to buy the iPad 3. I never owned an ipad before, is it easy to put and read my pdf books on it?

Ostrinski

26th February 2012, 08:39

I'm interested as well. I'm going to be in Europe for six weeks starting in May and I don't wanna carry a buncha shit around.

trubkin pipeface

26th February 2012, 08:50

ebooks areabourgeiois lugzury.i readall mybooks offffofofof clay tabletsnd cave pfaintings

Grenzer

26th February 2012, 09:12

It's pretty easy to put PDFs on an iPad, but I'd be leery of buying one. They're pretty overpriced in my opinion. Unless you've got a Mac to pair it with, it's probably much better to get an android based tablet, or a kindle. PDFs are best on a 10' screen like the iPad has, or its similar android competitors.

ckaihatsu

26th February 2012, 21:47

I'm very pleased with the Android platform in general -- it really complements the hardware, as Linux does for conventional computers. Many software titles are at freewarelovers.com and can be directly downloaded as .apk files and installed.

Some PDF readers allow you to slide-zoom and pan over the document's pages, and another one parses the text out of PDFs into a plain-text (e-book) format, though I haven't tried it.

Gutenberg.org is a good resource for free books.

The Douche

26th February 2012, 22:01

I've got a nook, its cool.

Dr Doom

26th February 2012, 22:10

the kindle is pretty sweet. altho i dont like using it in public cus it looks hella lame.

TheGodlessUtopian

26th February 2012, 23:51

the kindle is pretty sweet. altho i dont like using it in public cus it looks hella lame.

Still is much better than what most people have;I think my kindle looks cool :cool:

Human Lefts

27th February 2012, 00:07

I don't have a kindle, but still use the services. If you have chrome(ium). Firefox, Safari, or an Android phone, you can install a kindle cloud reader for free with no advertisements. That has saved me some money on books for school. If you get really lucky, you can find a trusted person in your class with which you could share an amazon account and split the costs of the books. Other benefits is having the book with you at all times if you have a laptop with internet connectivity and they do not take up any space, so no storage and transporting problems.

TheGodlessUtopian

27th February 2012, 00:11

With Kindles, and I believe other e-readers,people can lend others books for a little while.So if you are a fast reader and have a good friend,you could get quite a few free reads (though I don't think every book has a "lend me" feature).

Aloysius

27th February 2012, 00:22

I've been thinking about getting a Kindle or a Nook, but I'd hate to re-buy every book in my library, and I don't know anything about Kindles/Nooks/etc.

Deicide

27th February 2012, 00:26

I use an 11 inch mac book air to read E-books (I currently have over a thousand E-books saved on my hardrive). I do all my university work on it too. It's very expensive though.

I should of just bought a kindle.

TheGodlessUtopian

27th February 2012, 00:26

I've been thinking about getting a Kindle or a Nook, but I'd hate to re-buy every book in my library, and I don't know anything about Kindles/Nooks/etc.

Who says you would have to re-buy every book you own? Simply buy new books on your e-book reader. A kindle is pretty simple and straightforward: all's you need is a internet connection and the books you buy are instantly downloaded.It comes with a short instruction manual as well as a built in one and I found it easy to use.

TheGodlessUtopian

27th February 2012, 00:27

I use an 11 inch mac book air to read E-books (I currently have over a thousand E-books saved on my hardrive). I do all my university work on it too. It's very expensive though.

That is a computer though, actual e-readers such as the Kindle and nook can be pretty affordable (pending on what model you buy).

NewLeft

27th February 2012, 01:29

I have a kindle, go with nook though.

Ostrinski

27th February 2012, 01:40

I have a kindle, go with nook though.What are the advantages?

NewLeft

27th February 2012, 02:11

What are the advantages?
I really don't know, but my kindle has had major issues that made me sent it back to get repaired.. It's happened three times in just under a year. Either I'm really unlucky or the kindle just sucks.

Princess Luna

27th February 2012, 02:39

Dr Doom

27th February 2012, 13:37

i can read pdf files on my kindle pretty easily.

The Idler

27th February 2012, 19:20

Kindle 4, no 3g, no keyboard - its great. Formats are a pain (it supports text though) but I guess someone clever will sort that someday.

Ballyfornia

27th February 2012, 21:53

I don't know if Kindles are capable of reading PDF files, but they are incapable of reading EPUB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB) files, though there is a program that allows you to convert EPUB files in .MOB which is the main type used on Kindles. Also if you are buying a Kindle just for a E-reader, don't get a kindle fire not only is it more expensive several features on the original kindle like E-ink have been removed on the Kindle fire

Kindle 4, no 3g, no keyboard - its great. Formats are a pain (it supports text though) but I guess someone clever will sort that someday.

Calibre is the program I think the two of you would be looking for. Its pretty damn handy as most ebooks I download are in Epub format.

Also the Kindle does support PDF's

The Idler

29th February 2012, 20:07

Calibre is the program I think the two of you would be looking for. Its pretty damn handy as most ebooks I download are in Epub format.

Also the Kindle does support PDF's
Tried to convert Hobsbawm DjVU to PDF/TXT etc. with Calibre but no luck. Plus it made no sense and seemed to try and manage my books for me.

Doflamingo

29th February 2012, 21:59

Looks like I should buy a Kindle. I have plenty of Ebooks, but nothing to read them on except for a PC.

ckaihatsu

11th March 2012, 01:24

Remember that under capitalism the customer is king so the best may be to invest some time in doing some comparative shopping, like at Amazon and eBay -- the worst is to get locked into a corporate marketing channel in which you have to *purchase* everything you want, from *their* catalogs....

Drowzy_Shooter

14th March 2012, 22:16

I own a kindle, received it as a gift. Love it. Just about to start downloading a whole lot of nice literature.

16th March 2012, 01:53

After figuring that Linux support is always going to be suboptimal with the iPad (to say the least), I decided to go for the Kindle as well. Currently still waiting for the package to arrive.

16th March 2012, 21:06

Currently still waiting for the package to arrive.

Arrived! :cool:

And Calibre is awesome. Makes putting books on it such a breeze :cool:

ckaihatsu

16th March 2012, 22:09

Thumbs-up to FBReader on Android -- it's worth the time spent customizing the details of how it displays text....

http://www.freewarelovers.com/android/app/fbreader

Ostrinski

20th April 2012, 03:58

Bump. I want to get an ebook reader before I go to Spain. I'm thinking about getting the original Kindle (the one that is 80 dollars). I basically just want something that I can read off of and that's it. Is there any advantage to getting one of the more expensive ones?

Dr Doom

20th April 2012, 16:54

if u just want something to read off of, then no point getting the more expensive one.

Luc

21st April 2012, 03:12

Want to get e-reader but don't know anything about these things :( What are your opinions on the Kobo?

NewLeft

21st April 2012, 03:18

Want to get e-reader but don't know anything about these things :( What are your opinions on the Kobo?
They're fine, if you just want to read books. I heard they're durable, so that's a good sign.

Luc

21st April 2012, 03:19

do they take pdf's?

edit: err nvm :unsure: I could just look that up :lol: expensive though :(

Ostrinski

21st April 2012, 03:20

Amazon has a lot of free public domain stuff. Does B&N have as much?

NewLeft

21st April 2012, 03:29

Amazon has a lot of free public domain stuff. Does B&N have as much?
I'm pretty sure you can get some books for free with B&N, but unlike amazon, they're pretty limited.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Free-eBooks/379003078

Ostrinski

21st April 2012, 03:31

Yeah I've seen a couple free ones on B&N but not nearly as much.

Ostrinski

22nd April 2012, 03:29

What's so great about E-ink?

NewLeft

22nd April 2012, 03:41

What's so great about E-ink?
It doesn't have a back light.. It's easier to read in the sun.

Ostrinski

22nd April 2012, 03:43

Dammit, I wanted a back light. I guess only the Fire has it.

Dogs On Acid

23rd April 2012, 23:47

I seriously doubt books will die out anytime soon. They might grow ever more scarce in the developed world, but die out? Nah. They said the same for the emerging digital music market, that it would kill physical formats.

I like to have my shelf of books, makes me look intellectual :lol:

Anyway the best e-book reader IMO is the Kindle, I own one (Kindle 3) and it's very good. Stay away from the Kindle Fire or any other that doesn't use ink to display.

Ostrinski

23rd April 2012, 23:53

I ordered a kindle touch about an hour ago.

Manifesto

24th April 2012, 04:47

I hate e-books, I'll stick to reading the books I have and not on a screen, thank you!

Drosophila

24th April 2012, 04:54

2nd gen Kindle is pretty cool. I don't really use it to buy books though, just read PDFs (converted into .txt)

BE_

24th April 2012, 05:36

I'm going to use normal books as long as I can. I mean it seems kind of cool to have one, but I would still rather have real books. I like it when books are stacked on shelves. If I buy a book on a nook/kindle, I won't be able to stack them on my bookshelf. :(