First E-book Reader

[Sonicboom]

Hi all,

I would like to buy my first e-reader.
Most famouse ereaders are from Amazon. I am not sure to start with dome cheaper model or go to more expensive, (i am not sure if will miss something).
I have read some topics, reviews and it seems like it depens more on system (amazon shop, apps..etc) in general than producer. From Amazon Kindle Paperwhite or Voyage or Oasis? Maybe no amazon model is pocket touch HD2 (more formats, worse design for me). Please can you help me a geve some advice.
Thank you future ebook comrades

[Sirtel]

In what format are your ebooks? Where do you buy them? If you get your books mostly from Amazon, then you should get a Kindle. Or do you buy mostly from somewhere else?

[Apparition B5]

It would also help to state what country you're from. If you mainly use EPUB but live in pretty much anywhere but North America, a Nook GlowLight 3 won't do you much good for example.

[Sonicboom]

I am from Czech republic, i will read mostly english titles and Czech and as I checked mostly czech ebooks are also for kindle.

[Sirtel]

If you'd like a Kindle, then the Paperwhite is generally considered the best value for money. The main differences with the other Kindles:

The Voyage has haptic page-press sensors for page turning, a flush glass screen (vs recessed screen of the Paperwhite) and auto-adjusting frontlight (auto-adjusting can be disabled if you happen not to like it).

The Oasis has a larger screen (7'' vs 6''), more storage (8 or 32 GB vs 4 GB), page-turn buttons, an asymmetrical shape (thicker on the side with the buttons, thinner on the other side) and auto-adjusting frontlight; it's also waterproof.

The software is mostly the same on all three. The Oasis has some accessibility options the others lack, the most important of those is the ability to invert text (white-on-black instead of black-on-white).

If any of the abovementioned bells and whistles feels important to you and money is not an issue, get the Oasis. Otherwise the Paperwhite will do the job just fine.

A note: I would guess those Czech kindle-format books are in the .mobi format. With .mobi, you cannot use the font-weight options (bolding). If that's important to you, you'll have to convert your books to .azw3 with Calibre, before loading them on the Kindle.

There are of course other e-readers besides Kindles. I have no idea what's available in Czech, though. For example, is there some retailer who sells Kobo readers? Kobos are excellent readers too (I don't own one because they lack page-turn buttons, which are important to me).

[barryem]

I can't tell you what would be better in the Czech republic. I have Kindles, Kobos and Nooks. I prefer Kindles but not by a lot. They're all good.

One thing I would recommend is that you get an e-ink reader with a front light. Some examples of that are the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Aura and the Nook Glowlight 3.

Even the cheap models with the front light are excellent. I wouldn't buy the one without the light even though it's even cheaper.

You can also get more expensive premium models and they usually are nicer but the differences from the cheap lit readers to the expensive lit readers are small.

I have a Kindle Paperwhite and a Kindle Voyage. The Voyage used to be the expensive one although today they have even more expensive ones. The Paperwhite is the cheapest one with a front light. I read with both and I really find that I don't care much which I use. The Voyage is a bit smaller and lighter even though the screen is the same size and that makes it nicer to hold but I don't really notice the difference.

I'm nearly done with my current 1,000 page book on the Paperwhite and I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

As for which brand to get You can compare features and sizes and see what matters to you and then compare stores. That's where you'll find the biggest difference.

Barry

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by barryem

I can't tell you what would be better in the Czech republic. I have Kindles, Kobos and Nooks. I prefer Kindles but not by a lot. They're all good.

One thing I would recommend is that you get an e-ink reader with a front light. Some examples of that are the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kobo Aura and the Nook Glowlight 3.

I wouldn't recommend a Nook. The OP cannot buy books from Barnes & Noble in Czech and the partition for sideloading is pretty small. Nooks are fine if you live in the U.S., but they're of little use elsewhere.

[Sonicboom]

Thank you for all answers!
We dont have many options to "touch" E-readers from various producers. :/ It seems like here are two main groups - Amazon Kilndle and Pockebook.

One more question, that coversion via Calibre, is it good working? If yes, I will go to buy Kindle (it would be xmas gift for me )

[Mau5]

Same dilemma here, we have here BQ, Kobo and Amazon. I need an ereader with a good dictionary, possibility to take notes and load books bought/pirated from other places, and as I see, I could use Calibre to do this. I´m more inclined to try Oasis, I don´t know about Kobo, still weighing my options.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I wouldn't recommend a Nook. The OP cannot buy books from Barnes & Noble in Czech and the partition for sideloading is pretty small. Nooks are fine if you live in the U.S., but they're of little use elsewhere.

Good point. I had forgotten that B&N had shut down all but their USA branches.

Barry

[barryem]

Originally Posted by Sonicboom

Thank you for all answers!
We dont have many options to "touch" E-readers from various producers. :/ It seems like here are two main groups - Amazon Kilndle and Pockebook.

One more question, that coversion via Calibre, is it good working? If yes, I will go to buy Kindle (it would be xmas gift for me )

Calibre works beautifully. I use it all the time. It's simple and fast. I buy my books from Amazon and convert them so I can read them on any of my readers. The entire conversion process usually takes less than a minute.

Barry

[JSWolf]

Sonicboom, do you have access to a library that has Overdrive? If so, an ePub capable Reader would be a good idea.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by Sonicboom

I am from Czech republic, i will read mostly english titles and Czech and as I checked mostly czech ebooks are also for kindle.

Amazon with Kindles has strong presence in Poland, next door from you. The thing with Kindle is that it does not display epub files, whereas almost all other e-readers display mobi, epub, pdf, and more.

I personally rarely pay for my reading material. I mostly download free epubs and pdf files to the computer and then from there to the e-reader.

Pocketbook is a good producer of e-readers that I know. Other options are Tolino and Kobo which I have not seen close.

A reasonable average option for the first e-reader is one with 6 inch screen. Where you live, I think Pocketbook Touch HD is most available. Recently, Pocketbook Touch HD 2 appeared, but the only difference it has compared to the first Touch HD is yellow tinted frontlight (called SMARTLight just because it's yellow).

A notch cheaper option Pocketbook Touch Lux 3, but this has twice less RAM compared to Touch HD, so it's much slower at displaying intense pdf files. Otherwise Touch Lux 3 is almost as good as Touch HD, so if you don't use pdf files much, Touch Lux 3 is a reasonable choice.

[Sonicboom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Sonicboom, do you have access to a library that has Overdrive? If so, an ePub capable Reader would be a good idea.

I have checked our town's library and format are also for Kindle "PRC" is it ok?




"he thing with Kindle is that it does not display epub files, whereas almost all other e-readers display mobi, epub, pdf, and more."

That's the reason why i am not sure about Kindle.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by Sonicboom

I have checked our town's library and format are also for Kindle "PRC" is it ok?

"he thing with Kindle is that it does not display epub files, whereas almost all other e-readers display mobi, epub, pdf, and more."

That's the reason why i am not sure about Kindle.

If you get most your ebooks via library, then maybe your library has a recommendation. I have heard that newest Kobo (Kobo Aura One) has integrated Overdrive, but this could be a bit expensive for a first ereader.

A lot depends how you get your ebooks.

1. via library
2. purchasing from Amazon
3. purchasing from anywhere else
4. hunting everywhere over the net for free, mostly in pdf and djvu format, and you already have a bunch of them on your computer

if #1, then check if your library has a recommendation.
If #2, a Kindle will be reasonable.
If #3, then anything else but a Kindle.
If #4, then check the hardware specs - a microSD slot and at least 512MB RAM are absolutely necessary.