Quote:
Originally Posted by Alpha o
Same goes for reading - the easier they try to make it, the harder it gets.
Subscribe to this list, that list. Lists don't agree. Now look for a third list. You have just wasted over an hour that you could have spent reading.
|
LOL yeah.
To be honest, e-reading is *hard* compared to reading a paper book, if you want to keep control over your purchases, and have a library worth searching.
Paper book: Go to store, buy book, go home, read. (Or order it online and wait for it to arrive, then read.)
E-book: Buy a book at Kobo/Amazon directly from the reader, and read.
E-books seem to be simpler, but you lose all of your control. If I want a library at home, as I had with paper books and make sure it's in good shape and future proof, these are the required steps:
- Install the correct version of ADE, K4PC, or Kobo Desktop.
- Install Calibre
- Install DeDRM tools
- Buy a book, and download it in the correct application
- Import it into Calibre
- Convert it to EPUB if its something else
- Fix the metadata, give it a cover if it has none
- Fix the book's internals (which, fortunately, became less necessary)
- Put the book onto your reader
With a paper book, you just shelve it at the correct spot.
I've spent SO much time the last five years getting my library into shape, it's just unbelievable. Did I have to? No, but e-books offer me many advantages over paper books. They take no space, font sizes can be set, readers have lighting, a 1400 page book doesn't weigh 3 pounds, and so on. Because of the unbreakable DRM threat, I bought hundreds of books during the huge 80-90% Kobo sales of 2013-2014, and acquired thousands of public domain books and 56 Delphi Classics, and ferreted out all of the Baen Free CD's and more. Basically, I bought/acquired everything I ever wanted, everything I thought I wanted, and everything I thought I might maybe possibly ever want.
I now have a little over 900 e-books (with the Delphi Classics often containing 10-20 books in one volume), and I paid somewhere between €0 and €3 for each one.
I did so to be able to own my own library, under my own control, for the rest of my life. So yeah, if you want to keep your own library, e-reading is hard and an unsure business compared to paper books.