Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
When I purchased a Kindle ereader (Paperwhite 10th gen), it was to have a physical device to test ebook formatting on. The only time I purchase an ebook from Amazon is when I want to read a book and it is not available from another site which amounts to maybe, 5% of my purchases.
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That's all true for me too (PW1 or PW2 orginally), but the foremost thing was to be able to read PD (esp Gutenberg) which I had been reading for nearly 10 years on the laptop. I had an Archos media player from 2006 (160 G HDD), but it had no direct way of paginating, so I used a DTP program to convert text to paginated webpages for that size screen (using javascript), but the laptop was less tiring to read. Late 2006 or early 2007 I saw the Sony eink ereader, and it was very grey, but I couldn't afford it. I'd have bought it for PD ebooks.
Later I got a PW3 but when DXG was on "fire sale" I bought it and passed PW3 to wife. The DXG was terrible and no good for PDF scans of PD, which was the idea. At this stage I ceased printing anything on paper and was creating ebooks, even to proof, so got the original Kobo Aura HD H2O, which was in some ways better than PW3 though lower resolution.
When the PW4 came out I bought a PW3 to test ebooks on as the DXG didn't and would never do azw3 or KFX and the PW4 seemed inferior. My son got the PW4 and it was inferior to the PW3 (one of the last sold).
Then wife & I got the original Libra and only used the two PW3 for Amazon Download and Transfer.
About 90% of our ebook library is PD (dating back to about 2000) and about 8% is from Amazon bought over last 12 years.
Then I thought eink might be good for writing and notes too, and got the Elipsa and the reMarkable. Too heavy and reMarkable is a bit mad (USB networking and only PDF), so not long after bought the Sage.
I also later bought a Libra 2 to loan to betareaders.
The notes were easier to do on Sage, and really it was better for many PDFs, but unsatisfactory for writing.
I only read ebooks now on the Sage, and only read/Highlight on the Sage (no Notebook or pen use now) as the TCL Nxtpaper 11 is far better for everything except epubs, and nearly as good as the Sage for those. Sadly the several approx 8″ TCL tablets are 16:10 aspect and ordinary screens. I'd get a 7″ to 9″ 4:3 aspect Nxtpaper tomorrow if it existed. I did get a Nxtpaper phone to replace my 5″ Sony PSR-300 and the phone sized non-touch 4.7″ simple eink ereader. However I have a shoulder bag and one coat with big pockets so moistly take the 8″ Sage if I'll be reading when I'm out.
I've no interest in sync (I can search for phrase faster and that's private and rarely read the same books of different devices).
The Kobo is great of metadata with Calibre (author, title, series, collection, and subtitle, with publisher/publish info and blurb/comments under "details" from Library "My Books" (replaces Home Screen) interface.
So for reading novels, more than 9" seems too big and less than 5" too small for long sessions and 8″ most like a paperback for me. After over 12 years and maybe 15 models of eink, I'm convinced the best way to read ebook novels (not graphic, multimedia, interactive, fixed layout or PDF) is a 6″ to less than 9″ 300 dpi mono eink.
I've developed a game engine, multimedia, wordprocessor with built in audio and foot pedals for audio-transcription, plot your own text adventure app (sort of possible in Mobi) and apps in Java and one on Android. I can see no value to an "ebook" with video, animation, audio or interactive content as it can't easily distribute as an ebook, won't work on most eink and needs one of a handful of apps to view. Doing an app is better (iOS & Android).
I've tried audio (working) on KK3, DXG, PW3 (needs USB audio) and they are poorer for TTS than pocketbook on Android 8 and later. They and Kobo are abysmal to useless for MP3 or audiobooks even compared to an old Android 4.1 phone (4.3″) which as it blanks screen, gives as good battery life.
Preference is Mass Storage over MTP which is clunky and poor for listings even on Windows. USB networking or WiFi only seems a mad solution for ebook transfer (reMarkable).