New to eBooks!

[mistermr]

Howdy All,

I'm interested in buying an eBook reader, however I'm quite lost regarding which. I've been reading and searching for some time now and still no conclusion. I'm on a quest to buy a reader that can handle all formats available and in particular books purchased from amazon and pdfs.

At the moment I'm considering kindle voyage or Denver EBO 610L.

Can anyone share some advice with me?

/mistermr

[barryem]

I'm not familiar with the Denver reader and that would make me afraid to buy it unless I knew something more about it.

If you want to read books from Amazon you can use a Kindle or you can remove the DRM, which we can't really discuss in this or most forums, and use most ereaders.

For reading PDF's some e-ink readers are better than others but I've read that most aren't much good at PDF. I don't read PDF so I don't really have much experience with that. I think most people suggest tablets for PDF files.

The two major brands in ereaders these days are Kindle and Kobo. I have both and I prefer the Kindle but they're both excellent so my preference is more personal than for any real reason. If I only had a Kobo that would be okay too, although if I only had one I'd rather it was my Kindle Voyage.

Formats, once DRM is removed, aren't really much of an issue these days because of Calibre, a freeware program that makes converting between formats trivial.

Barry

[meeera]

Originally Posted by barryem

Formats, once DRM is removed, aren't really much of an issue these days because of Calibre, a freeware program that makes converting between formats trivial.

Important addendum: unless that format is PDF.

For my money and in my experience, your best PDF reading experience is with a tablet. There are ways to read them on eink readers, some less terrible than others, but the tablet experience is significantly superior to all of them.

[mistermr]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'm not familiar with the Denver reader and that would make me afraid to buy it unless I knew something more about it.

If you want to read books from Amazon you can use a Kindle or you can remove the DRM, which we can't really discuss in this or most forums, and use most ereaders.

For reading PDF's some e-ink readers are better than others but I've read that most aren't much good at PDF. I don't read PDF so I don't really have much experience with that. I think most people suggest tablets for PDF files.


Barry

Hi Barry

Thanks for your reply.

What's DRM?

Any experience regarding PDF on kindle voyage?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mistermr

Howdy All,

I'm interested in buying an eBook reader, however I'm quite lost regarding which. I've been reading and searching for some time now and still no conclusion. I'm on a quest to buy a reader that can handle all formats available and in particular books purchased from amazon and pdfs.

At the moment I'm considering kindle voyage or Denver EBO 610L.

Can anyone share some advice with me?

/mistermr

Since you want a Reader that can handle all eBook formats, you do not want a Kindle or a Denver. They won't do at all. You want a Reader such as an Android based Onyx Boox. That way you can install apps to be able to read these different formats as needed. The larger the screen, the better it will be for PDF. Go with an 8" or 9.7" screen for your PDF.

[John F]

Originally Posted by mistermr

Howdy All,

I'm interested in buying an eBook reader, however I'm quite lost regarding which. I've been reading and searching for some time now and still no conclusion. I'm on a quest to buy a reader that can handle all formats available and in particular books purchased from amazon and pdfs.

At the moment I'm considering kindle voyage or Denver EBO 610L.

Can anyone share some advice with me?

/mistermr

If you plan on using libraries, check what works for your location. I believe that Amazon only works with libraries in the U.S.

Good luck.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by mistermr

What's DRM?

DRM is encryption applied to the contents of an ebook, so that it can't be read without the decryption key.

See Apprentice Alf's blog for more details, especially the post "Ebook Formats, DRM and You — A Guide for the Perplexed", which is still basically correct, despite being a few years old.

[church mouse]

@mistermr

Having just taken a look at the spec of the Denver unit you referred to, that is one old piece of technology and, I do think, should be disregarded.

Previous postings above all give good advice on matters to consider. If you are not interested in things such as removing the DRM from books purchased from Amazon, then the simplest option is to get the Voyager (or the cheaper Paperwhite) and accept that it will have limitations handling pdfs. (It depends how may pdfs you have/will have and how complex they are - pdf manuals/textbooks really do need to be read on at least a tablet in my opinion.)

[mistermr]

Originally Posted by church mouse

@mistermr

Having just taken a look at the spec of the Denver unit you referred to, that is one old piece of technology and, I do think, should be disregarded.

Previous postings above all give good advice on matters to consider. If you are not interested in things such as removing the DRM from books purchased from Amazon, then the simplest option is to get the Voyager (or the cheaper Paperwhite) and accept that it will have limitations handling pdfs. (It depends how may pdfs you have/will have and how complex they are - pdf manuals/textbooks really do need to be read on at least a tablet in my opinion.)

Thanks for your reply!

Does anyone have screenshots of pdfs on voyager?

/mistermr

[stumped]

Originally Posted by mistermr

Thanks for your reply!

Does anyone have screenshots of pdfs on voyager?

/mistermr

its simple to visualise, with your pc, open a test pdf then shrink the pdf window to 6 inch to match the voyage ( thats 6 on the long diagonal )
, then fade all the colour to shades of grey. it that is still readable the congrats n your eyesight

all kindles are the same screen size and are all ( IMHO ) way too small for PDF you want an 8 inch or larger tablet ,or larger as others have already said. then you can read in colour and with very fast scrolling

[mistermr]

Originally Posted by stumped

its simple to visualise, with your pc, open a test pdf then shrink the pdf window to 6 inch to match the voyage ( thats 6 on the long diagonal )
, then fade all the colour to shades of grey. it that is still readable the congrats n your eyesight

all kindles are the same screen size and are all ( IMHO ) way too small for PDF you want an 8 inch or larger tablet ,or larger as others have already said. then you can read in colour and with very fast scrolling

Thanks to you and all other members in this forum elegiac has taken time to reply on my various questions. There's something I can't figure out; the kindle eBooks at Amazon which format are they purchased in and how does the transfer to the unit take place?

Can kindle books be read on other units?

/mistermr

[stumped]

Transfer is wireless direct from amazon to kindle, and almost instant. There are other routes but that is the simplest. Amazon provide kindle apps for reading on almost all devices, pc mac, ipad, android... all apps are free. Any book you buy can be read and synced for last page read, annotations, across all your devices
Look at the fire hd tablets, they are OK for pdf and good value for money, in my opinion. Some folks don't rate them but you get no quibble warranty, good customer service, 30 days to return it if not happy... what's not to like

[barryem]

Originally Posted by mistermr

Does anyone have screenshots of pdfs on voyager?

First, it's a Kindle Voyage, no "r" on the end.

Here's a link to a video review of the Kindle Paperwhite reading PDF. I haven't watched it because the topic doesn't really interest me but Nathan, the guy doing it, does good reviews so my guess is it'll be worth watching. The Paperwhite, for this purpose, is exactly like the Voyage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN9UOjryAA4

You might want to tell us the source of your PDFs. If they have DRM there will be all sorts of issues. Since I don't use PDF I'm not familiar with this but I've seen a lot of discussion about it so I know there are a lot of ins and outs to consider.

One of the problems with PDF is that the text doesn't flow. Ebook text does flow so on any size screen you can have any size text. With a non-flowing PDF you can't have the whole book on the screen without making the text very small, at least in most cases. Some PDFs are designed for small screens but most aren't.

Another thing to consider is that if your PDFs are text and not image scans they can easily be converted by Calibre into any ebook format you like, assuming there's no DRM. I think most PDFs are images so that won't work well but a lot of them are text so sometimes it will.

Converting a PDF with no DRM in text format to an epub or mobi format for a Kindle or a Kobo is trivial. It doesn't always work perfectly if it's text the result is usually readable.

If you really do have to read a lot of PDF files, as others have said, you'll be better off with a 10" tablet. E-ink readers really aren't good devices for PDF. They'll do it but not well.

Barry

[church mouse]

Originally Posted by mistermr

Thanks to you and all other members in this forum elegiac has taken time to reply on my various questions. There's something I can't figure out; the kindle eBooks at Amazon which format are they purchased in and how does the transfer to the unit take place?

Can kindle books be read on other units?

/mistermr

Kindle books are essentially in azw or KF8 formats. Both are locked with drm (usually) and cannot be read on a non-Kindle device without stripping the drm.

The easiest way to get your Kindle book on to your Kindle device, is by connecting the device to the internet (wifi or 3g - depending upon your Kindle) and downloading directly on to the Kindle. Alternatively, one can download to a computer and then sideload.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by church mouse

Both are locked with drm (usually) and cannot be read on a non-Kindle device without stripping the drm.

.

that is misleading, they can be read on any device capable of running the kindle for xxx app: e.g. Pcs, Mac, ipads, android tablets....

simply install the free app and link it to your amazon account, download the books. no drm stripping or hard technical skills needed. if you can install an app then you are good to go