final decision

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by dkgmunich

Hello All,

As suggested by Anthem that I may want to consider Kindle. Well I dug once more into the whole review thing. Yes I do agree that kindle seems good value for money.
Just that amazons big brother attitude is what I don't like.
So I actually also parsed through the jail breaking section for kindle.
What I have understood is once I jail break I can break away from amazon 100% and install updates via USB.
But if I don't then amazon servers will have full control over the device, including any browsing, location and any side books I load on to the device, and not just the ones I purchase via amazon. I understand is they want to have their cloud storage as primary and hence have a mirror of my data on their servers.

Am I correct in my understanding?

Thanks & Regards,
-Dhiraj

If by "full control" you mean "full knowledge of everything you do or use", then yes. Any device for which the source code has not been released and vetted can theoretically be doing absolutely anything. On that note, do not ever buy a smartphone or tablet (unless it runs a community-developed OS) as even Android is not open source after google and device manufacturers and carriers apply their modifications.

Do I have any worries that they are doing so? No. As ever, everything must have a motivation, or no one would go to the bother of fill-in-blank-here.

Amazon is probably tracking every aspect of my reading their books (hard to see how Kindle Unlimited works otherwise) but I highly doubt they are also tracking sideloaded books. In any event, there is a hack here for that. Look for the BBB Firewall (Block Big Brother).

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Just my 2 cents: Paperwhite 2 definitely is a great unit. But in my opinion, it mainly makes sense if you're into the Amazon ecosystem (personally, I love buying from them via 3G wherever I am, not bothering about WiFi or roaming costs).
But if it's about the sole reader, you might be better off to buy one of the ePUB/sideloading optimized ones. You still can buy from Amazon, strip from DRM, convert to ePUB and use on those readers. Kobo for example could be a nice choice then.

It also has a cleaner interface, more stable firmware, and good dictionary support.

I always viewed it as more a
simple, clean, stable UI = Kindle
vs.
customizing fonts/margins/stuff and carry-tens-of-GBs-of-books-around () = Kobo

If you don't use the extra options Kobo gives you, then it isn't an advantage. And I like the homepage=library view style of the Kindle.

(Random)
And for advanced users, X-Ray is reverse-engineered and pluginized where Beyond the Book is not.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

No. To my knowledge it only applies for the "I've tested it and don't want it" scenario.
If you return it because of a defect, the merchant still has to cover the costs.

And: Some tricky merchants insist on wanting to send a replacement unit. The customer doesn't have to accept this, he can insist on a full refund.

There are a few people who had to pay return shipping for defective Onyx Boox T68s. Luckily I returned mine to Amazon so I didn't have to. I just couldn't believe that defective devices couldn't be returned or replaced for free.

[Chiron scriba]

Hi dgk,

Originally Posted by dkgmunich

2. Not tied to an ecosystem. That is why kindle went off the list.

If that's the only reason to discard a Kindle, I can show you how to cut off its WiFi feature in the hardware - it's a small, small, small world, I happen to live in Munich too

However, should you ask me, there are two more reasons not to recommend a Kindle:

1 - there seems to be only one level of 'folder' (actually 'collection') you can arrange your books in. If you're dreaming of a real tree-like structure, then the Kindle is not what you're looking for.

2 - you cannot read the epub format on a Kindle without converting it to MOBI first - Mr. Bezos' policy is a double-edged sword.

For all the rest I find my Kindle 4 satisfactory enough, though not enough to buy a new one when my current one kicks the bucket

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

However, should you ask me, there are two more reasons not to recommend a Kindle:

1 - there seems to be only one level of 'folder' (actually 'collection') you can arrange your books in. If you're dreaming of a real tree-like structure, then the Kindle is not what you're looking for.

2 - you cannot read the epub format on a Kindle without converting it to MOBI first - Mr. Bezos' policy is a double-edged sword.

You can do both of those things....file tree with sub folders and read epubs....if you jailbreak your device and run KOreader on it. The PW makes an excellent epub reader

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

(Random)
And for advanced users, X-Ray is reverse-engineered and pluginized where Beyond the Book is not.

There's a thread in the Kobo forum were we dissected Beyond the Book. It wouldn't be to hard to load the data into the database. Personally, I don't think it is worth the work it would take.

[Chiron scriba]

Hi Booklover, you're raising new hopes in an old heart...

Originally Posted by booklover6

You can do both of those things....file tree with sub folders and read epubs....if you jailbreak your device and run KOreader on it. The PW makes an excellent epub reader

Would you mind writing a short "for dummies" on the topic? I know my eternal gratitude isn't worth much on the market but maybe some excellent Bavarian beer could persuade you better...

[eschwartz]

Also worth noting is
a) converting to MOBI requires nothing but disk space and a night of sleep while the computer churns. I don't get what the problem is...
b) The Collections Manager Kindlet can nest collections on pre-5.4.2 firmware. Works very nicely on my Kindle Touch.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by davidfor

There's a thread in the Kobo forum were we dissected Beyond the Book. It wouldn't be to hard to load the data into the database. Personally, I don't think it is worth the work it would take.

Yes I saw that thread that's where I saw it was apparently too much work to properly support.

It is much easier to trick the Kindle into supporting Store features.

[dkgmunich]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

Hi Booklover, you're raising new hopes in an old heart...


Would you mind writing a short "for dummies" on the topic? I know my eternal gratitude isn't worth much on the market but maybe some excellent Bavarian beer could persuade you better...

Hey Chiron,
I tried to read about jail breaking. "for dummies" seems a difficult task.
But the procedure is nicely documented.
If you havent found it yet then
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/K5_Index
and
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...19#post2169819

Also thanks for the offer for the loboctomy
But I would like to find the medicinal solutions than going under the blade.

Also if you read the thread, it has been mentioned that unless amazon is your primary source of books its worth to consider other options.
For me it shall be various and as you yourself noticed I don't want big brother to keep the tap on all my dirty secrets
So i may not end up with kindle or if i do first thing would be to jail break it.
Also I have realised that kindle has the best community support hence I am giving it a thought otherwise I would not.

Regards,
dkg

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

Hi Booklover, you're raising new hopes in an old heart...


Would you mind writing a short "for dummies" on the topic? I know my eternal gratitude isn't worth much on the market but maybe some excellent Bavarian beer could persuade you better...

Since you say you have the K4NT, you will want to look at the prequel to KOReader (which is the Touch/PW upgrade): Librerator. Follow the instructions, which should link to the KUAL thread as a prerequisite.

Collections Manager Kindlet is only for Touch/PW devices.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Yes I saw that thread that's where I saw it was apparently too much work to properly support.

Yep, to much work to be worth it

It is much easier to trick the Kindle into supporting Store features.

Do you mean you can get the firmware to download the Xray stuff from Amazon? Or does it have to be manually loaded to the correct place?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Do you mean you can get the firmware to download the Xray stuff from Amazon? Or does it have to be manually loaded to the correct place?

Nope, custom generated using the tools originally created by (inactive) user shinew in this thread: Hacks X-Ray file generator for Kindle Touch. It downloads Shelfari/Wikipedia information, parses the book to match data to locations, and builds an X-Ray file.

Ephemerality has given new life to the command-line and GUI standalone tools, and a brand-new thread here: X-Ray Builder - Windows Application.

mjwilson maintains the calibre plugin, with the latest version here in shinew's old thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...85#post2856985

Presumably calibre 2.x will give yet another revived project a new thread.



The plugin should put it in the right place, but the standalone application requires manually placing the resultant *.asc in the appropriate location. Scripting could help with that, as ever.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Nope, custom generated using the tools originally created by (inactive) user shinew in this thread: Hacks X-Ray file generator for Kindle Touch. It downloads Shelfari/Wikipedia information, parses the book to match data to locations, and builds an X-Ray file.

Ephemerality has given new life to the command-line and GUI standalone tools, and a brand-new thread here: X-Ray Builder - Windows Application.

mjwilson maintains the calibre plugin, with the latest version here in shinew's old thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...85#post2856985

Presumably calibre 2.x will give yet another revived project a new thread.



The plugin should put it in the right place, but the standalone application requires manually placing the resultant *.asc in the appropriate location. Scripting could help with that, as ever.

I thought it was something like that, but wasn't sure. I remember seeing a site that would generate the data, but, I hadn't seen the plugin before. Hmm, half the work has already been done.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I thought it was something like that, but wasn't sure. I remember seeing a site that would generate the data, but, I hadn't seen the plugin before. Hmm, half the work has already been done.

Half the work of what?