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ficbot · 04-13-2010, 02:35 PM

The one feature I really miss from my 505 is the collections. It was so easy to just transfer files over from Calibre and have them be in handy little groups! I love my Kindle primarily for its text to speech and would never give it up. But I have a lot of files like magazine subscriptions and Star Trek novels where there are more than 20 of them, I did not want to clutter up my Kindle with them and wanted a smaller, lighter reader at times anyway, so I thought I would get a second reader, make it a 5" one and load up all my bonus content.

I planned to get a Sony Pocket but saw the Aluratek Libre while I was out and it was almost $60 cheaper. I have been experimenting with it and while parts of it I really like, I am having cold feet a little and am not sure if I should return it and get a Sony.

Likes:

- The speed. Much zippier than my Sony was. Nice to have a break from the e-ink flickering.

- Size/form factor. Very compact, comes with sleeve and all accessories, comes with SD card pre-loaded with books. Compatible with mobi too, although this only worked out for Fictionwise multiformat titles since mobi files I created myself did not display properly.

- The folders. I still think tags would be easier since all that info is already in Calibre, but after having nothing on the Kindle to let me organize, I am delighted to have places to put things again.

- I like that I can plug in the SD card to add content without having to plug in the device and worry about it charging/not charging and impacting the battery cycle.

Dislikes:

- Mobi books which are natively that way look great, but mobi books I convert myself from HTML (e.g. my own personal documents) look terrible and have no line breaks. I later tried converting them to epub and they all displayed fine in epub, so I think the problem is not with my original file but with them. Annoying to have to convert everything to epub again since the mobi won't display, but I guess I will have this problem with the Sony too.

- It seems to not save your settings. For example, I prefer text to be justified always, but there is no preference to globally set this and you have to adjust it every time you open a book.

- The font is not as crisp as my Kindle and Sony were and I am not sure I like it. I don't think I dislike it enough to be a deal-breaker, but it doesn't look as 'modern' and nice-looking.

- Calibre will not detect it! This was not such an issue once I figured out how to use the save to disk feature, but then I had to go through and edit all the file names on the SD card since they did not JUST have the book title.

- Just a niggling worry that I might be better going with a 'brand' name, but I think this might just be snobbishness on my part.

So is the Libre vs Sony one of those 'you get what you pay for' things where I'll be sorry I didn't shell out the extra $60? Or, given that it's a second reader and not my primary one, would you say keep it and enjoy? Any features the Sony Pocket has that the Libre doesn't that make it a much better buy?

04-13-2010, 02:35 PM	#1
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	Return the Libre and get a Sony Pocket? The one feature I really miss from my 505 is the collections. It was so easy to just transfer files over from Calibre and have them be in handy little groups! I love my Kindle primarily for its text to speech and would never give it up. But I have a lot of files like magazine subscriptions and Star Trek novels where there are more than 20 of them, I did not want to clutter up my Kindle with them and wanted a smaller, lighter reader at times anyway, so I thought I would get a second reader, make it a 5" one and load up all my bonus content. I planned to get a Sony Pocket but saw the Aluratek Libre while I was out and it was almost $60 cheaper. I have been experimenting with it and while parts of it I really like, I am having cold feet a little and am not sure if I should return it and get a Sony. Likes: - The speed. Much zippier than my Sony was. Nice to have a break from the e-ink flickering. - Size/form factor. Very compact, comes with sleeve and all accessories, comes with SD card pre-loaded with books. Compatible with mobi too, although this only worked out for Fictionwise multiformat titles since mobi files I created myself did not display properly. - The folders. I still think tags would be easier since all that info is already in Calibre, but after having nothing on the Kindle to let me organize, I am delighted to have places to put things again. - I like that I can plug in the SD card to add content without having to plug in the device and worry about it charging/not charging and impacting the battery cycle. Dislikes: - Mobi books which are natively that way look great, but mobi books I convert myself from HTML (e.g. my own personal documents) look terrible and have no line breaks. I later tried converting them to epub and they all displayed fine in epub, so I think the problem is not with my original file but with them. Annoying to have to convert everything to epub again since the mobi won't display, but I guess I will have this problem with the Sony too. - It seems to not save your settings. For example, I prefer text to be justified always, but there is no preference to globally set this and you have to adjust it every time you open a book. - The font is not as crisp as my Kindle and Sony were and I am not sure I like it. I don't think I dislike it enough to be a deal-breaker, but it doesn't look as 'modern' and nice-looking. - Calibre will not detect it! This was not such an issue once I figured out how to use the save to disk feature, but then I had to go through and edit all the file names on the SD card since they did not JUST have the book title. - Just a niggling worry that I might be better going with a 'brand' name, but I think this might just be snobbishness on my part. So is the Libre vs Sony one of those 'you get what you pay for' things where I'll be sorry I didn't shell out the extra $60? Or, given that it's a second reader and not my primary one, would you say keep it and enjoy? Any features the Sony Pocket has that the Libre doesn't that make it a much better buy?