Looking for a versatile and future-proof reader

[David Munch]

So I was thinking of getting my girlfriend an eBook reader this christmas, as she has just started getting into reading ebooks. She got a few ebooks from the iBook Store, and have been reading them on her iPhone and Mac, but I think she should have a dedicated reader. A tablet is out of the question, as she would only use it for reading.

I want something that is as versatile as possible when it comes to buying books for the future, so I assume I should stick to an ePub reader? I've looked at the Kobo Aura HD, and think it should fit nicely. I do not see a reason to go for the H2O (Unless you can convince me otherwise).

Also, are there any stores that sell non-DRM ebooks? If not, what stores should one go for to be as future proof as possible (Ie. format wise)? I don't remind removing DRM if it possible (And yes, it is legal to do so in my country), as long as that will help me out in choosing store/reader.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by David Munch

Also, are there any stores that sell non-DRM ebooks?

Technically, all the major stores sell some selected DRM-free books when the publisher chooses (such as Tor or O'Reilly); the difficulty lies in telling which ones are DRM-free.

On Amazon and Kobo, this is fairly straightforward. Amazon will say "Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited" in the Product Details if a book is DRM-free. Kobo has recently altered their website to directly list the DRM-free or not status under "Download options" in the Product Info again (previously, after the last time they removed it, you had to Save Preview for the book you were interested, then check your Library to see the Download options listed).

Here are some examples of what it looks like on both sites:

Amazon DRM-free & with DRM (NB: sometimes Simultaneous Device Usage is not listed and the book will instead say in the blurb that "At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.", as in this example Tor title); Kobo DRM-free & with DRM

For Barnes & Noble (recently expanded to Sweden, apparently, and possibly available in Denmark as well) and iTunes and Google Play, there's no obvious way to easily tell and basically, you either have to know that the publisher is consistently DRM-free (such as Samhain Publishing on B&N, or Poisoned Pen Press on iTunes), or ask someone who already has the book and can test it out for you.

iTunes is also complicated by the fact that as of Mac OS X Mavericks, ePub iBooks no longer appear as ePub files in the iTunes library, but instead as some kind of unpacked encrypted set of folders which it seems impossible to reassemble back into their original form. Made for iBooks multimedia .ibooks are still separate files that can be moved around and checked for DRM-status (basically by dragging the file onto an unregistered version of iBooks and waiting to see if it opens without prompting you to unlock it).

I should note that even within publisher imprints, they may be inconsistent with their DRM status, as in the examples I gave above. Intellect Books has some titles DRM and some DRM-free in the Kobo store, and the same title which is DRM-free in the Kobo store is DRM in the Amazon store. Similarly, Samhain books are DRM-free on B&N and purchased directly from their webstore, but DRM on Kobo and Amazon, while Poisoned Pen Press books are DRM-free on iTunes, but DRM on Kobo and Amazon and in the latest version of their webstore.

That said, a number of small specialty publishers and genre outlets do sell DRM-free eBooks, often worldwide.

• Weightless eBooks are all DRM-free, drawn from a broad selection of small independent publishers of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and other genres.
• Baen sells its own published books and sf/fantasy from other small publishers as well.
• The Robot Trading Company sells publisher Angry Robot's own sf/fantasy books and those of selected others, DRM-free
• ChiZine Publications are now distributed by HarperCollins in other e-book stores now, but still sell DRM-free ePub/Mobi/PDF bundles directly from their website (and have periodic sales of their fantasy/horror catalogue, whereas the DRM HarperCollins versions of their books are non-discountable in stores that allow discount coupons).
• Carina Press is an imprint of Harlequin/Mills & Boon and sells its mostly romances (some other genre fiction as well) in DRM-free ePub.
• Samhain is becoming one of the major independent publishers of romance and horror, with both reprints and new titles and sell DRM-free in a multiple-format bundle
• Discover A New Love is publisher Sourcebooks' dedicated romance book club with automatic discounts for members and sells in a DRM-free ePub/Mobi/PDF bundle for every purchase (mind you, the prices are generally considerably better on Kobo with good coupons, if you strip the DRM).
• Wildside Press publishes a broad variety of genre fiction (many of which are backlist titles formerly traditionally published by major imprints) and sells in DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundles.
• Phoenix Pick Press and ReAnimus Press (both of them run by MR members) both specialize in sf/fantasy backlist and offer DRM-free ePub/Mobi direct-buy bundles.
• Book View Café is an author-run consortium (mostly science fiction & fantasy, with some romance & mystery) which brings established print authors' backlists (and occasional new titles) into e-print.
• O'Reilly Media is a long-term pioneer in selling their computer books DRM-free not only directly, but also insisting upon making them DRM-free in other outlets as well

And of course other reasonably prominent genre imprints don't seem to sell directly, but distribute their titles to DRM-free stores such as Smashwords and Weightless, such as Infinity Plus (sf/fantasy), Lethe Press (LGBT), Bev Editions (Canadian literature & non-fiction), etc.

That said, it really depends on what your girlfriend wants to read. If she's not likely to go for mid-level sf/fantasy and/or romance that comes from authors who, while respectably established, are not necessarily the most popular or even particularly well-known, then she'd be kind of out of luck as far as DRM-free purchasing goes.

IMHO, ePub is probably the most future-proof format at the moment and you can get it via Kobo, Google Play, and many other places where it can still be reasonably readily stripped in its Adobe Digital Editions DRM version (as long as you're using ADE 2.0 or below, as apparently 3.0 and above break "the tools"). Kepub stripping of Kobo's proprietary DRM for selected titles available from them is still experimental, but seems to be working readily enough for most people. iTunes DRM stripping is several versions out of date and should be regarded as effectively non-doable, IMHO.

B&N recently changed their proprietary ePub DRM to be less easily stripped, and altered their site to disallow direct downloads (there are workarounds for both issues, described in this long and increasingly disgruntled thread, but who knows how long they'll stay working), so I would not advise purchasing any ebooks from them which are available in any other store for a comparable price.

Most forms of Amazon's Mobi/AZW and Topaz formats can still be reasonbly easily stripped and converted, but the setup is more involved on a non-Windows/Mac computer. And Amazon has also broken "the tools" a couple of times in the past.

So, YMMV in terms of what best fits into your/your gf's workflow for getting books onto whichever device you wind up using. (Also, Kobos can read non-DRM Mobi as well as ePub, but by all accounts they're not very good at it. If dictionary lookup is important, both Kobo and Kindle can take custom dictionaries in their specialty formats, though you may have to convert the files yourself.)

Hope this helps.

[HarryT]

Amazon have the best ebook store, so personally I'd go for the Basic Kindle. A good device at a good price.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by David Munch

So I was thinking of getting my girlfriend an eBook reader this christmas, as she has just started getting into reading ebooks. She got a few ebooks from the iBook Store, and have been reading them on her iPhone and Mac, but I think she should have a dedicated reader. A tablet is out of the question, as she would only use it for reading.

I want something that is as versatile as possible when it comes to buying books for the future, so I assume I should stick to an ePub reader? I've looked at the Kobo Aura HD, and think it should fit nicely. I do not see a reason to go for the H2O (Unless you can convince me otherwise).

Also, are there any stores that sell non-DRM ebooks? If not, what stores should one go for to be as future proof as possible (Ie. format wise)? I don't remind removing DRM if it possible (And yes, it is legal to do so in my country), as long as that will help me out in choosing store/reader.

As far as I know, it's not currently possible to remove DRM from books bought from Apple's iBooks store.

Considering that Amazon still supports the original Kindle (now 7 years old) I suggest that a current Kindle might be the most future-proof dedicated ebook reader. It's also (currently) straightforward to remove the DRM, and then calibre can convert the Kindle format to anyting you might want in the future.

So I'd recommend getting a basic Kindle, or a Kindle Paperwhite if she likes reading in bed (which for me is when the built-in frontlight really makes a difference).

She probably won't be able to read her books bought from the iBooks store on it, but then, that applies to any of the mainstream E-Ink readers, since iBooks ebooks can only be read on Apple devices/software.

[David Munch]

Good arguments, and excellent replies!

She only has 3 ibooks, so they can easily be rebought, and given Apples Fairplay DRM can not be cracked (AFAIK), I won't be sending more money in their direction.

Good reasoning for Amazon, so a Paperwhite 2 may be a good idea (In part due to the built in light).. I like the 7 years of support of the Kindle.. Future proofing is good, but there's also a limit as to how far that actually goes. And she'd definitely have an easy time with the amazon store.

Thanks guys. The how-to-check-for-DRM-comments were also very helpfull!

[meeera]

Originally Posted by David Munch

I want something that is as versatile as possible when it comes to buying books for the future, so I assume I should stick to an ePub reader? I've looked at the Kobo Aura HD, and think it should fit nicely. I do not see a reason to go for the H2O (Unless you can convince me otherwise).

The H2O costs very little more, and it has a newer higher-contrast display as well as the waterproofing/dustproofing.

What is your country's/area's public library ebook lending situation? Most countries in the world do not have Kindle public library lending, only Adobe DRM epub.

You can buy from whatever store you like (except Apple) and strip DRM to convert formats, but it's not considered ok to strip DRM from library ebooks.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by meeera

The H2O costs very little more, and it has a newer higher-contrast display as well as the waterproofing/dustproofing.

But it has very poor dictionaries compared with the Kindle (I'm a big fan of dictionaries myself), and on my H2O at least, I found the touchscreen very inaccurate (this is a problem that some people seem to have, and others don't).

Best thing to do, if possible, is to try out the different devices in person and see what she likes best, and although of course I appreciate that this may not be feasible.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

But it has very poor dictionaries compared with the Kindle (I'm a big fan of dictionaries myself), and on my H2O at least, I found the touchscreen very inaccurate (this is a problem that some people seem to have, and others don't).

I was answering the question "Aura HD or Aura H2O?"

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by meeera

I was answering the question "Aura HD or Aura H2O?"

My apologies. Do you know if the HD and H2O have the same touchscreen? Do people report the same issues with the HD's touchscreen that seems to exist with (some) H2O's?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by HarryT

My apologies. Do you know if the HD and H2O have the same touchscreen? Do people report the same issues with the HD's touchscreen that seems to exist with (some) H2O's?

As far as I can tell from reading a lots of threads here, reports are isolated/sporadic anyhow. Footnotes are the biggest issue because of small target area, and a fix (involving editing the book) has been posted for that.

In the recessed-bezel IR touch Kobos I support, inaccurate touchscreen performance has been fixed by cleaning out the enormous amounts of crap some filthy people let accumulate in there!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by meeera

In the recessed-bezel IR touch Kobos I support, inaccurate touchscreen performance has been fixed by cleaning out the enormous amounts of crap some filthy people let accumulate in there!

Yes, that was always a problem with the Kindle Touch, too, and was perhaps the reason that it was Amazon's one and only foray into IR touchscreens!

[David Munch]

Originally Posted by meeera

The H2O costs very little more, and it has a newer higher-contrast display as well as the waterproofing/dustproofing.

It is 40% more expensive here, than the Aura HD.

What is your country's/area's public library ebook lending situation? Most countries in the world do not have Kindle public library lending, only Adobe DRM epub.

Unfortunately, not very good when it comes to eBook readers. Only tablets and computers are supported, due to apps.

You can buy from whatever store you like (except Apple) and strip DRM to convert formats

Good to know!

, but it's not considered ok to strip DRM from library ebooks.

I do not consider books very expensive fortunately. I do consider DRM evil though.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, that was always a problem with the Kindle Touch, too, and was perhaps the reason that it was Amazon's one and only foray into IR touchscreens!

Doesn't the New Kindle Basic (aka KT2, aka New Touch) also use an IR touchscreen?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by meeera

In the recessed-bezel IR touch Kobos I support, inaccurate touchscreen performance has been fixed by cleaning out the enormous amounts of crap some filthy people let accumulate in there!

I don't think you have to be a "filthy person" to get stuff accumulated in the edges of your IR screen eReaders. Have you ever cleaned a computer keyboard? It doesn't take long for gunk to accumulate.

What I don't like about the Kobo touchscreen is that it is not as responsive -- often having to be touched more than once to get it to react. I've never had those issues with my Kindle Touch or Simple Touch Nooks or my Sony T2 (which also use IR screens). It has nothing to do with the gunk that accumulates along the edges. I'm almost certain it's a software issue -- as Kobo uses the same screens as the others.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, that was always a problem with the Kindle Touch, too, and was perhaps the reason that it was Amazon's one and only foray into IR touchscreens!

The new Kindle basic is IR touch.