[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Doranwen

Hmm, most of the books are epubs, would like to avoid having to convert everything if I can, so while I'm not averse to the Kindle, it'd have to have superior features/extra lower price to make that worth it. I currently have an Onyx Boox but that's not the price range my dad would be looking for (I saved up quite a while to get that one because I specifically wanted that!). I do know that he's like me in liking to organize his books, and would probably prefer to create his own folder structure if at all possible.

So far I just am overwhelmed at all the options. What makes many of them different, so I can narrow down somewhat? Are they all about the same two prices, or are they widely varying? Do some of them allow you more control over placing the files on the hdd (allowing you to browse the folders you created) vs. others that require you to search or look under author (which, with nonfiction, would be about impossible here, as I rarely remember the authors of nonfiction books).

Most ereaders do not offer browsing by filename.

But one workaround for Kindle, is to use Collections Manager (hack) to "Create collections from directories". A hidden feature in the firmware allows for nested collections, which most ereaders do not do. (In fact, neither does the Kindle, if you use firmware>5.4.0. )

Still, you can create non-nested collections on the Kobo and others as well. For Sony/Kobo, calibre will create them natively based on user-configured metadata.

And just Kindle doesn't give me any specific ideas either, since I'm pretty sure there's more than one device that can be called a Kindle, especially if one includes older models. I should note, though, that looking at the list of large size e-readers I came across the Kindle DX, which apparently handles both PDFs and AZW/MOBI natively, so I'd just have to convert epubs to mobis if I went for that. It's old enough that Amazon has only used ones, though, and out of the price range I'm looking at for right now, so oh well . . .

I'm still waiting for my dad to respond to my query about size, but pretty sure he'll want the larger size. Neither of my parents have liked the 6" size--to them, that's just too small for a book.

The Kindle DX is old because few people wanted the larger size, so they never updated it.

Other than the size, it is no different from any other Kindle, except that it never received many of the updates. The other Kindles can read PDF too -- but the DX is touted for it since it has a larger screen, which makes them easier to read.

Kindle models are all the same, but newer ones are upgraded. The only differences are between Kindle Keyboard (has a physical keyboard), Kindle Basic (5-way controller is cheaper), and the touch models.

Originally Posted by rcentros

I got my Dad a used Nook Simple Touch for about $30 -- it works well for him. For the NST and NST with Glowlight, memory size for side-loading is not an issue as both can use microSD cards and, therefore, both have a virtually unlimited storage capacity. The newest Nook eReader, the Nook Glowlight, does not have a microSD slot.

My Dad (in his 80s) and I also use Linux. Calibre works great on our machines.

As for your Dad, have you looked at the Kobo Aura HD. It's got a bigger screen and, according to what I read on Kobo's site, it can use both ePub and Mobi files. And, for its size and features, it seems reasonably priced at $170. (I don't own one, so this is not a personal endorsement.)

6.8" isn't really "bigger" than 6". I'm not sure it is worth the extra cost, if that is the feature we are going for.