Kobo glo vs Sony PRS-T2 for fanfiction

[Silencio]

My Sony pocket died this week, so I'm been looking into getting a new ereader. The only readers available for me are the Kobo glo and Sony PRS-T2.

Does anyone here own a Kobo with wi-fi? Can you download fanfiction (as epubs) directly from AO3 to the Kobo? and does Calibre work well with Kobo or do you have to use Kobo's own program?

For those of you with a Sony wi-fi reader, I'm wondering the same thing as above, Can you download fanfiction directly from AO3 to the Sony reader?

I read that online browsing doesn't work so well with reader's that have wi-fi, so I'm really interested in hearing how AO3 looks and if it works.

[Nothingness]

I don't have wifi so I don't use that feature of my Kobo Glo. In the other hand Calibre is the main app I use to manage my ebooks with Kobo, and I don't have issues with it. So far I've only used the Kobo app to update the firmware.

[Silencio]

Originally Posted by Nothingness

In the other hand Calibre is the main app I use to manage my ebooks with Kobo, and I don't have issues with it. So far I've only used the Kobo app to update the firmware.

I'm glad to hear Calibre works with it, thanks!

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Silencio

Does anyone here own a Kobo with wi-fi? Can you download fanfiction (as epubs) directly from AO3 to the Kobo? and does Calibre work well with Kobo or do you have to use Kobo's own program?.

I just downloaded and read an epub from AO3 using the Glo's built-in browser and had no problems. The website is not too hard to navigate despite the small screen.

[Silencio]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I just downloaded and read an epub from AO3 using the Glo's built-in browser and had no problems. The website is not too hard to navigate despite the small screen.

That's awesome, thank you for checking it out

[sensoria]

I use my Kobo Touch mostly for fanfic. Calibre has a plugin that can pull stuff directly from AO3 and other fic archives -- it works great. Or you can download epubs manually from AO3 and add them thru Calibre, it only takes seconds. I don't use wifi on my Kobo so I can't comment on direct browsing.

For what it's worth, the downsides I've found with the Kobo as a fic reader are:

(1) Doesn't display summaries (though Calibre does).

(2) Doesn't display or use tags (though Calibre does).

(3) Organization can be iffy. I use Shelves (easy with Calibre and the metadata plugboard) but each book/fic can only be in one shelf -- there's no way to add it to multiple shelves (as far as I know). So deciding how to set up your Shelves takes some thought. If you only read one fandom, for example, you could set up shelves by genre & pairing; or if you only read one pairing, by genre & rating. Etc. Whatever works best for your collection.

(4) Probably just a personal annoyance :-) but there's no title (or author) display while you're reading. I'd love if a future Kobo update could put the title in small font down where the page number is, or at the top like a paper book. I read a lot of fic and sometimes I get halfway through a story and totally forget the title & author!

Hope that helps. I haven't tried out the Sony readers but I've been curious about them, for the reasons above.

[robko]

Originally Posted by sensoria

(3) Organization can be iffy. I use Shelves (easy with Calibre and the metadata plugboard) but each book/fic can only be in one shelf -- there's no way to add it to multiple shelves (as far as I know). So deciding how to set up your Shelves takes some thought. If you only read one fandom, for example, you could set up shelves by genre & pairing; or if you only read one pairing, by genre & rating. Etc. Whatever works best for your collection.

Not sure if that is a limitation of the Calibre plug-in, but it is possible to add a book to multiple shelves on the device itself. I tried it with a regular e-pub if that makes any difference.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by sensoria

(1) Doesn't display summaries (though Calibre does).

By summary do you mean the synopsis in the book's metadata? You can see this by selecting "Book Details" from the book's menu in the library or shelf list.

[sensoria]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

By summary do you mean the synopsis in the book's metadata? You can see this by selecting "Book Details" from the book's menu in the library or shelf list.

Yup, the synopsis. I meant to write "Doesn't easily display summaries", sorry. It's there, but I wish there was a way to have the synopsis show by default (instead of the Details view with the date, publisher, etc). Or have it appear directly on the View Shelf page, like an expanded listing for each book.

[sensoria]

Originally Posted by robko

Not sure if that is a limitation of the Calibre plug-in, but it is possible to add a book to multiple shelves on the device itself. I tried it with a regular e-pub if that makes any difference.

Interesting, thanks robko. I'll have to play around with that!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by sensoria

(2) Doesn't display or use tags (though Calibre does).

That would be nice.

(3) Organization can be iffy. I use Shelves (easy with Calibre and the metadata plugboard) but each book/fic can only be in one shelf -- there's no way to add it to multiple shelves (as far as I know). So deciding how to set up your Shelves takes some thought. If you only read one fandom, for example, you could set up shelves by genre & pairing; or if you only read one pairing, by genre & rating. Etc. Whatever works best for your collection.

You can put a book in as many shelves as you want, both on the device and via calibre.

From calibre, if the shelf column is a tag-type column, just enter multiple shelf names. Or, you can use multiple columns. I usually have a my own shelf column plus the series column. But, I have used the tags column. Have a look at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=193184 for how to do this.

(4) Probably just a personal annoyance :-) but there's no title (or author) display while you're reading. I'd love if a future Kobo update could put the title in small font down where the page number is, or at the top like a paper book. I read a lot of fic and sometimes I get halfway through a story and totally forget the title & author!

I know what you mean, but I'm not sure I would give up the screen space for this. I'd be happy with a way to display the details page from within the book. Also, if you read the Kobo forum, there are a lot more calls for getting rid of the page number area so that more space is available for text.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by sensoria

Yup, the synopsis. I meant to write "Doesn't easily display summaries", sorry. It's there, but I wish there was a way to have the synopsis show by default (instead of the Details view with the date, publisher, etc). Or have it appear directly on the View Shelf page, like an expanded listing for each book.

For me, the default display has always been synopsis unless there isn't one. Then it displays the details. As to displaying it in the lists, there isn't enough rook for that and to get a decent number of books on the lists.

[sensoria]

Originally Posted by davidfor

You can put a book in as many shelves as you want, both on the device and via calibre.

From calibre, if the shelf column is a tag-type column, just enter multiple shelf names. Or, you can use multiple columns. I usually have a my own shelf column plus the series column. But, I have used the tags column. Have a look at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=193184 for how to do this.

Many thanks. I've had the automated shelf management set up since day 1 with Calibre (there are no words for how awesome it is) but my Shelves field isn't a tag-type column, it only accepts one value. I didn't know there was a way to do multiples! I'll have to play around with the plugin.

ETA: Looks like I'd selected the wrong column type when I set it up. Thanks so much, this will improve my shelf management by 10x!

I know what you mean, but I'm not sure I would give up the screen space for this. I'd be happy with a way to display the details page from within the book. Also, if you read the Kobo forum, there are a lot more calls for getting rid of the page number area so that more space is available for text.

Yeah, I can definitely see how it could be an annoyance to some. Shame there isn't an enable/disable option for the entire footer.

[Silencio]

Thanks everyone! I got a Kobo glo today and it's awesome. Works great with downloading epub fanfiction like @GeoffR said.

[Nothingness]

Glad to see another person happy with their Kobo Glo.

Have fun!