Confused over plethora of formats? YES!

[S/V Willow]

I have narrowed my eventual choice down to the HanlinV5 from Australia because that is our home base or the Coolreader cos I love the look (Yep I know that is a completely stupid reason) and what appears to be lots of formats.

Now my question is what the hell do all these letters you all put out there mean? I am not a complete technophobe but I am really finding this so hard to understand. So in words of one syllable or less could someone please explain to me what does it all mean?

Here is my my questions and also my 'wants' if that helps.
1/ What do you mean when you talk about Adobe, DRE, pdf bookmarks etc etc etc. Maybe someone here could set up a dictionary with all these and an explanation of what they all mean in simple terms?

2/ I live on a yacht so MONEY is our biggest problem so what should I be looking for when angling for the longest term usage and being able to move the books to another reader many years down the line?

3/ I want to be able to upload books anywhere in the world from probably public internet cafes. Does this influence the ereader I choose?

4/ What are the best, easiest, cheapest, user friendly ebook sites?

5/ I love the idea of the Text to speech of the Hanlin as when sitting in cockpit on long runs we can still maintain watch and not require a light to read which then ruins our night vision. Does this work? What format (gobbledegook letters) do I have to look for?

6/ I believe that I cannot access Amazon books because I won't be getting a Kindle. Is that right?

OK Now I realise that you have all just gone to sleep with boredom and I do apologise But please remember that there are always newbies coming along and, well, you are a great resource so any help is appreciated.

Now remember - words of one syllable or less and I will hopefully get it!

[user_none]

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

1/ What do you mean when you talk about Adobe, DRE, pdf bookmarks etc etc etc. Maybe someone here could set up a dictionary with all these and an explanation of what they all mean in simple terms?

DRM = Digital Rights Management. There are many DRM schemes but they all have the same purpose. To prevent usage of a file by anyone other than the purchaser.

Adobe sells a DRM system for ebooks. They also make an application Digital Editions that allows for managing and transferring files to supported ebook readers. Meaning you buy the book, put it in the software and it manages allowing which devices you can read the file on.

PDF is a format for holding text and images. It is not a good ebook format. It is a very good print format. This is because when you look at a PDF it is defined by actual pages. These pages correspond to physical pages and when printed the printed page will look the same as on the computer. An ebook format like EPUB does not define physical pages. Making the text size and layout able to adjust to the size of the screen. A PDF has a set size so a 8.5x11 PDF page will not look correct on a 5" ebook reader. While an EPUB file will because it can be reflowed (the ability for text and images to adjust to the size of the screen).

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

2/ I live on a yacht so MONEY is our biggest problem so what should I be looking for when angling for the longest term usage and being able to move the books to another reader many years down the line?

Anything without DRM that is supported by calibre will work but EPUB is what most people say is best. DRM is really what stops long term storage because your books will only work as long as device support the DRM scheme. calibre is an ebook management application that also supports converting from various ebook formats to other formats. It however does not deal with DRMed ebooks. It can manage them in the library but it can not authorize devices to view them and it cannot convert them.

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

3/ I want to be able to upload books anywhere in the world from probably public internet cafes. Does this influence the ereader I choose?

Pretty much every reader is seen by the computer as an external storage disk. Like a thumb drive or external hard drive. The Sony PRS-500 is the only one I know of that doesn't work this way. However, you will have to consider how locked down the cafe's computers are. Will it allow external devices to be connected for instance.

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

4/ What are the best, easiest, cheapest, user friendly ebook sites?

Fictionwise is my favorite for pay content. This forum has an amazing selection of public domain works in a variety of formats.

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

6/ I believe that I cannot access Amazon books because I won't be getting a Kindle. Is that right?

Yep. kindle books only work on the kindle.

[S/V Willow]

user_none Thank you so much that has helped a lot. But I did forget to ask - If I find a book on say Epub can that also be DRM? And how would I tell?

[user_none]

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

user_none Thank you so much that has helped a lot. But I did forget to ask - If I find a book on say Epub can that also be DRM? And how would I tell?

EPUB does support DRM. There are three easy ways to tell. 1) The seller will tell you. Fictionwise will say Secure for DRM titles. 2) Your reader won't open the book. 3) Conversion with calibre will fail with a DRM error.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by user_none

PDF is a format for holding text and images. It is not a good ebook format. It is a very good print format. This is because when you look at a PDF it is defined by actual pages. These pages correspond to physical pages and when printed the printed page will look the same as on the computer. An ebook format like EPUB does not define physical pages. Making the text size and layout able to adjust to the size of the screen. A PDF has a set size so a 8.5x11 PDF page will not look correct on a 5" ebook reader. While an EPUB file will because it can be reflowed (the ability for text and images to adjust to the size of the screen).

It's difficult to separate the truth from the nonsense in what you write--so I won't.

PDF is the only good eBook format. But, alas, no professional quality eBooks made for eBook reading devices are sold in that format. What is sold will indeed (99% of the time) be substandard when viewed on an eBook reading device.

On the other hand... I'd love to see a prettier eBook of Casanova's memoirs than my own. Or have ePub or any other similar textwrapper format replicate the sort of thing in the ἐγκώμιον and színjáték.

- Ahi

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by S/V Willow

...

Now my question is what the hell do all these letters you all put out there mean? I am not a complete technophobe but I am really finding this so hard to understand. So in words of one syllable or less could someone please explain to me what does it all mean?

Here is my my questions and also my 'wants' if that helps.
1/ What do you mean when you talk about Adobe, DRE, pdf bookmarks etc etc etc. Maybe someone here could set up a dictionary with all these and an explanation of what they all mean in simple terms?
...

For what it's worth, MobileRead has a "wiki" (think of it like an online, user-created and maintained encyclopedia). You can see the link to it right at the top of the page, next across from "Home" and "Forums"...there's "Wiki" (<--link).

Although it might not contain everything (like I mention, "user-created" means I/you/we/others here create the content), it does, for example, contain both "PDF" (<--link) and what I am guessing you meant as "DRM" (<--link). You may find other items there you are looking for as well, such as E-book formats (<--link).

This will hopefully help you with that whole "dictionary" thing. Remember, it is, like most every wiki, a "work in progress", but there's a hell of a lot of good work there by MR members (a little shout out to DaleDe here, a rather significant contributor to the wiki ) that might help shed light on some of your questions, now and in future (but please don't think I'm suggesting that you not ask them on the forum).

Cheers,
Marc