e-readers for academic papers and note taking

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by abclaurie

I know this has been discussed in the past but all of the threads I see are several years old.

That is because everyone in here *is* very old!

I am looking for an ereader that allows me to read and annotate pdfs of academic papers. I currently use ReadCube Papers on my macbook to annotate and organize my references so ideally I could synch anything I annotate on my ereader with my ReadCube app - I'm not sure if this is even an option.

I also use Readcube Papers extensively, and no, you won't get an ereader that syns with it.

I am getting tired of reading on my laptop and hoping an ereader would be easier on my eyes but I also don't want to lose a ton of time transferring articles back and forth and reorganizing etc.

You can't get around that unfortunately, if you are dead set on an ereader, and want to continue with Readcube Papers.

I would love to know my options and am getting overwhelmed trying to do my own research. I am in Canada. TIA!

I work in molecular biology, so the whole reading/annotating/organizing of papers and references is something I spend a lot of time on. I've tried pretty much all software alternatives, and to my experience, nothing comes close to Readcube Papers with an iPad (I have no Android tablet experience). It syncs everything automatically (Albeit extremely slowly, so do this regularly!), and is generally close to the perfect experience when it comes to working with scientific PDFs. That being said, there are still minor issues here and there, and so far, the Apple Pencil is not properly supported (Which is a really big oversight IMHO, and something that hopefully will be addressed soon-ish. Given the speed of Readcube Papers development though, I don't expect that before 2025).

I've tried reading scientific PDFs on the side on my ereader, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you 1. get a 10" reader or larger, 2. don't mind shuffling back and forth with organization between this and your computer, and 3. can live with half-assed annotation and note writing for your PDFs on the unit.

So my recommendation is either an iPad Air, or get used to transferring PDFs to your ereader and read on that, while annotating on your computer on the side.

[DNSB]

For what it may be worth, one of my great-niblings who is a grad student says that majority of their peers use an iPad for reading and annotating PDFs. There are some using Samsung, Lenovo or other Android tablet but they are less than 10%. Evidently, you can create a shared library with ReadCube to allow cross device syncing and using the same files on multiple devices/multiple users. Their group is mostly Apple device users but one person is using a Onyx Boox 10.3" device.

It was fun over Thanksgiving dinner geeking out over ebooks, ereaders and apps.

[pingdan]

you may need an ipad or an android tablet like samsung galaxy tab.
ipad is better If money isn't an issue. It has more premium app options for note taking, such as Notability and Goodnotes.
If Money is an issue, samsung Galaxy Tabs come with the S Pen out of the box, Samsung Notes app is free and easily adequate for 99% of note takers.
https://pctechtest.com/ipad-pro-vs-s...y-tab-s9-ultra