Looking to upgrade from Kindle 3, not sure what to get.

milochristiansen · 08-23-2016, 04:29 PM

I currently have a Kindle 3 (keyboard) and it is high time to upgrade. Looking at various online reviews is less than helpful, as they never mention the (to me) most important aspect: Book management.

I use Calibre on my computer, but I like to leave everything but the books that truly suck on my reader as well. This leads to having several thousand books on the reader.

With the kindle I have my books sorted into collections by series, but this is very inflexible and (with well over 80 pages of books) it is hard to find what I want. I would like to be able to sort and search by series, author, title, last read, etc. Another pet peeve is that the kindle does not display series metadata, so I often have to look series order up in caliber.

What readers have the best book management options? Are there any that display all (or most) of the meta data? Format matters little, all my books are DRM free and can be converted if needed.

Cinisajoy · 08-23-2016, 06:20 PM

I know the paperwhite has collections but not sure about the basic.
Kobo I think has a sort feature.

khalleron · 08-23-2016, 06:23 PM

Kobo uses tags to form collections, so you can tag your books as 'book number - series' and sort them by series and by number in the series.

You can also sort by author or title, or 'recent' (which is not necessarily 'last read' but 'last opened' or 'last added to the reader')

You can search by author, title or keyword. Keyword searches author, title and tags.

Kobo offers a number of devices at various price points, and has a couple of new ones coming out soon.

Their devices are great, but word of warning - their customer service is terrible.

milochristiansen · 08-23-2016, 06:30 PM

How many tags can you add to a single book? Can I tag all my books with their series name, their genre, book group (part of my private organization scheme), etc like I can in calibre?

What about series order? Do any readers properly support series metadata?

khalleron · 08-23-2016, 06:40 PM

Any tag you add in Calibre creates a separate 'collection' in Kobo - you can have as many tags as you want.

When you use the series tag in Calibre, the tag appears as 'series - number- title', so you can open up that collection (say 'Hardy Boys') and that's what you'll see as the titles.

'Hardy Boys - 01 - whatever the heck title that is'

milochristiansen · 08-23-2016, 06:44 PM

OK, that seems a lot better than the kindle then, I guess it's time to cruise on over to the Kobo store...

Thanks!

barryem · 08-23-2016, 06:49 PM

I think the best way to use a Kindle, or any ereader, is to keep the book or books you're reading on board along with those you intend to read in the near future. I keep mine down to 20 or 30 books on the device. That makes it faster as well as easier to find what I'm looking for and it helps me remember what everything on the book is.

Also I like to reset to factory defaults every 6 months or so to avoid problems and having just a few books on board makes that a fairly small job.

I'm not trying to be contrary. I'm just trying to offer another way to look at this. The interface on the Kindle as well as the Kobo and the Nook isn't such that it encourages using it as mass storage for books. They're designed as reading devices. I'm sure they have more storage than they need as a marketing ploy. The interface design really isn't about a lot of books.

Barry

khalleron · 08-23-2016, 06:54 PM

You're welcome!

Kobo's are also more customizable - more fonts, more font sizes, you can control the font weight, line spacing and margins. If you're comfortable with modding, you can also add fonts and dictionaries, and several folks here have made other mods for Kobos. You don't even have to jailbreak them.

khalleron · 08-23-2016, 06:56 PM

barryem, you're assuming I'm going to know what I want to read in the future. I don't know! Not until I finish the current book, then I think, 'What do I want to read now?'

It might be something new, it might be an old favorite, it might be something else. I don't know until I'm ready to read it.

milochristiansen · 08-23-2016, 07:04 PM

Exactly, I keep my library on my reader so I can browse and read whenever. I tend to reread books several times (with gaps of several months between readings). I read *really, really* fast (finish a ~1000 page book in 3-4 hours) so rereading is the only way to keep myself occupied (else I would go broke in short order trying to buy enough books).

Just as a for-example, last time I reread David Weber's Safehold series (up to book 8) it took me two days with breaks to play computer games and go to work, and those books are far from short...

So yeah, capacity and management are actually really important to me

More customization sounds really nice, sorry amazon...

AnemicOak · 08-23-2016, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barryem

I think the best way to use a Kindle, or any ereader, is to keep the book or books you're reading on board along with those you intend to read in the near future.

You're obviously more of a planner than I am.

If I'm reading/re-reading a series then I'd know I want at least those books available, but I definitely don't have my reading plotted out enough to know what I'll be reading in a few weeks time. Not to mention what I may want to go back and look something up in at any given time.

I stopped using collections on my Kobo (and Kindle for that matter) except for one where I add books as I've read them (one for each year). Instead I've found it easier to just search for the title, author or series name and find what I'm looking for that way.

Love having all my books available at all times and think it's great that devices can, to some extent, satisfy many different ways for people to handle their content to whatever preference they might have.

Cinisajoy · 08-23-2016, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milochristiansen

Exactly, I keep my library on my reader so I can browse and read whenever. I tend to reread books several times (with gaps of several months between readings). I read *really, really* fast (finish a ~1000 page book in 3-4 hours) so rereading is the only way to keep myself occupied (else I would go broke in short order trying to buy enough books).

Just as a for-example, last time I reread David Weber's Safehold series (up to book 8) it took me two days with breaks to play computer games and go to work, and those books are far from short...

So yeah, capacity and management are actually really important to me

More customization sounds really nice, sorry amazon...

Can I introduce you to free books?
Note they are all older but still good books.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=132

milochristiansen · 08-23-2016, 08:25 PM

Oh, I have lots of free books, not from here though...

Is there anyplace where all the mobile read stuff is indexed? Trying to go through a forum looking for something is less than fun.

Cinisajoy · 08-23-2016, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milochristiansen

Oh, I have lots of free books, not from here though...

Is there anyplace where all the mobile read stuff is indexed? Trying to go through a forum looking for something is less than fun.

What do you mean by stuff?

Cinisajoy · 08-23-2016, 08:34 PM

Here is the kindle book index
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/ebooks.php?forumid=128

Here is the epub index
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/ebooks.php?forumid=130

08-23-2016, 04:29 PM	#1
milochristiansen Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: kindle 3 (keyboard) (looking to replace)	Looking to upgrade from Kindle 3, not sure what to get. I currently have a Kindle 3 (keyboard) and it is high time to upgrade. Looking at various online reviews is less than helpful, as they never mention the (to me) most important aspect: Book management. I use Calibre on my computer, but I like to leave everything but the books that truly suck on my reader as well. This leads to having several thousand books on the reader. With the kindle I have my books sorted into collections by series, but this is very inflexible and (with well over 80 pages of books) it is hard to find what I want. I would like to be able to sort and search by series, author, title, last read, etc. Another pet peeve is that the kindle does not display series metadata, so I often have to look series order up in caliber. What readers have the best book management options? Are there any that display all (or most) of the meta data? Format matters little, all my books are DRM free and can be converted if needed.

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08-23-2016, 06:20 PM	#2
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	I know the paperwhite has collections but not sure about the basic. Kobo I think has a sort feature.

08-23-2016, 06:23 PM	#3
khalleron Kate Posts: 1,700 Karma: 3605799 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Oregon, United States Device: MeeBook, Kobo Libra Colour	Kobo uses tags to form collections, so you can tag your books as 'book number - series' and sort them by series and by number in the series. You can also sort by author or title, or 'recent' (which is not necessarily 'last read' but 'last opened' or 'last added to the reader') You can search by author, title or keyword. Keyword searches author, title and tags. Kobo offers a number of devices at various price points, and has a couple of new ones coming out soon. Their devices are great, but word of warning - their customer service is terrible.

08-23-2016, 06:30 PM	#4
milochristiansen Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: kindle 3 (keyboard) (looking to replace)	How many tags can you add to a single book? Can I tag all my books with their series name, their genre, book group (part of my private organization scheme), etc like I can in calibre? What about series order? Do any readers properly support series metadata?

08-23-2016, 06:40 PM	#5
khalleron Kate Posts: 1,700 Karma: 3605799 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Oregon, United States Device: MeeBook, Kobo Libra Colour	Any tag you add in Calibre creates a separate 'collection' in Kobo - you can have as many tags as you want. When you use the series tag in Calibre, the tag appears as 'series - number- title', so you can open up that collection (say 'Hardy Boys') and that's what you'll see as the titles. 'Hardy Boys - 01 - whatever the heck title that is'

08-23-2016, 06:44 PM	#6
milochristiansen Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: kindle 3 (keyboard) (looking to replace)	OK, that seems a lot better than the kindle then, I guess it's time to cruise on over to the Kobo store... Thanks!

08-23-2016, 06:49 PM	#7
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	I think the best way to use a Kindle, or any ereader, is to keep the book or books you're reading on board along with those you intend to read in the near future. I keep mine down to 20 or 30 books on the device. That makes it faster as well as easier to find what I'm looking for and it helps me remember what everything on the book is. Also I like to reset to factory defaults every 6 months or so to avoid problems and having just a few books on board makes that a fairly small job. I'm not trying to be contrary. I'm just trying to offer another way to look at this. The interface on the Kindle as well as the Kobo and the Nook isn't such that it encourages using it as mass storage for books. They're designed as reading devices. I'm sure they have more storage than they need as a marketing ploy. The interface design really isn't about a lot of books. Barry

08-23-2016, 06:54 PM	#8
khalleron Kate Posts: 1,700 Karma: 3605799 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Oregon, United States Device: MeeBook, Kobo Libra Colour	You're welcome! Kobo's are also more customizable - more fonts, more font sizes, you can control the font weight, line spacing and margins. If you're comfortable with modding, you can also add fonts and dictionaries, and several folks here have made other mods for Kobos. You don't even have to jailbreak them.

08-23-2016, 06:56 PM	#9
khalleron Kate Posts: 1,700 Karma: 3605799 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Oregon, United States Device: MeeBook, Kobo Libra Colour	barryem, you're assuming I'm going to know what I want to read in the future. I don't know! Not until I finish the current book, then I think, 'What do I want to read now?' It might be something new, it might be an old favorite, it might be something else. I don't know until I'm ready to read it.

08-23-2016, 07:04 PM	#10
milochristiansen Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: kindle 3 (keyboard) (looking to replace)	Exactly, I keep my library on my reader so I can browse and read whenever. I tend to reread books several times (with gaps of several months between readings). I read really, really fast (finish a ~1000 page book in 3-4 hours) so rereading is the only way to keep myself occupied (else I would go broke in short order trying to buy enough books). Just as a for-example, last time I reread David Weber's Safehold series (up to book 8) it took me two days with breaks to play computer games and go to work, and those books are far from short... So yeah, capacity and management are actually really important to me More customization sounds really nice, sorry amazon...

08-23-2016, 08:25 PM	#13
milochristiansen Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: kindle 3 (keyboard) (looking to replace)	Oh, I have lots of free books, not from here though... Is there anyplace where all the mobile read stuff is indexed? Trying to go through a forum looking for something is less than fun.

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08-23-2016, 08:34 PM	#15
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	Here is the kindle book index https://www.mobileread.com/forums/ebooks.php?forumid=128 Here is the epub index https://www.mobileread.com/forums/ebooks.php?forumid=130