MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Help me get started please - Kindle vs. BeBook vs. Sony PRS-505

slayda · 03-01-2009, 06:37 PM

If you check out my devices, you'll note I have a little of most everything. That said, my favorite reader is the EZ Reader with the OpenInkPot (OI) firmware on the SD card. Any of the Hanliin family's frimware updates can be used with the hardware which, to the best of my knowledge, are all identical. Only the firmware differs. Having the OI firmware on the SD card instead of flashing it to internal memory allows you to use the original firmware if you want to but switch to OI when you prefer it. I stay in the OI mode unless I want to try something with DRM, e.g. DRMed Epub, otherwise I mostly deDRM and convert to Mobipocket. I have only had one bad experience with the formatting when doing that (Note; I rarely get PDF ebooks.)

I'm like you in that I want the availability of many formats & hate DRM.

You asked about the Kindle formats. There are two, the AZW & the AZW1 (aka Topaz). The AZW is just a Mobipocket format with the file extension renamed. Of course Amazon won't tell you what the Kindle's PID is but if you read the forums here that is easy to find and then easy to deDRM. AFAIK the AZW1 can not be deDRMed.

PDF is an odd format in that it can be purely images (sometimes of text), purely text or a mixture. If it is purely text and appropriately formated (not too often the case) then Mobipocket Creator does a good job of converting it. It does a very poor job with images of text, or other images. The main reason is that PDF is designed for a page layout function, i.e. to be printed on letter sized paper. This results in the 8.5x11 page being reduced to the readers 6 inch screen. All this is the reason I stay away from PDFs unless it's the only thing available.

The Adobe DRM can not be removed, see other threads for this. Therefore you don't have to be able to read that format since you can deDRM and convert it.

Bottom line for me is the Hanlin familty with OI on the SD card is the best option for me. I'd sell both my PRS-500 (works but has some damage) and my Cybook ( very good shape and does have some excellent features, e.g. dictionary lookup) if I had a buyer but haven't tried to do so yet. The Kindle 1 that I bought on Ebay is so I can buy those Amazon books that I want and because they were just getting so cheap. My Palm TX is still too useful as a PDA to sell it and I do ocassionally read on it. It's nice for fitting in my pocket and for low light conditions too.

Oh and welcome to MR.

03-01-2009, 06:37 PM	#10
slayda Retired & reading more! Posts: 2,764 Karma: 1884247 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Alabama, USA Device: Kindle 1, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S+, Kobo Aura One	If you check out my devices, you'll note I have a little of most everything. That said, my favorite reader is the EZ Reader with the OpenInkPot (OI) firmware on the SD card. Any of the Hanliin family's frimware updates can be used with the hardware which, to the best of my knowledge, are all identical. Only the firmware differs. Having the OI firmware on the SD card instead of flashing it to internal memory allows you to use the original firmware if you want to but switch to OI when you prefer it. I stay in the OI mode unless I want to try something with DRM, e.g. DRMed Epub, otherwise I mostly deDRM and convert to Mobipocket. I have only had one bad experience with the formatting when doing that (Note; I rarely get PDF ebooks.) I'm like you in that I want the availability of many formats & hate DRM. You asked about the Kindle formats. There are two, the AZW & the AZW1 (aka Topaz). The AZW is just a Mobipocket format with the file extension renamed. Of course Amazon won't tell you what the Kindle's PID is but if you read the forums here that is easy to find and then easy to deDRM. AFAIK the AZW1 can not be deDRMed. PDF is an odd format in that it can be purely images (sometimes of text), purely text or a mixture. If it is purely text and appropriately formated (not too often the case) then Mobipocket Creator does a good job of converting it. It does a very poor job with images of text, or other images. The main reason is that PDF is designed for a page layout function, i.e. to be printed on letter sized paper. This results in the 8.5x11 page being reduced to the readers 6 inch screen. All this is the reason I stay away from PDFs unless it's the only thing available. The Adobe DRM can not be removed, see other threads for this. Therefore you don't have to be able to read that format since you can deDRM and convert it. Bottom line for me is the Hanlin familty with OI on the SD card is the best option for me. I'd sell both my PRS-500 (works but has some damage) and my Cybook ( very good shape and does have some excellent features, e.g. dictionary lookup) if I had a buyer but haven't tried to do so yet. The Kindle 1 that I bought on Ebay is so I can buy those Amazon books that I want and because they were just getting so cheap. My Palm TX is still too useful as a PDA to sell it and I do ocassionally read on it. It's nice for fitting in my pocket and for low light conditions too. Oh and welcome to MR.