8+ Readers in comparison

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by jen6060

hi mgmueller - i'm curious about how you deal with the need for more ADE activations with your numerous readers. Do they give you an open ticket? I just bumped up against the need for more activations, and they've done that for me. But i'm wondering how many they freed up etc, and this thing about - if i sell a reader, and deactivate, does that actually free up an activation for me? It seems from the other posts elsewhere that it doesnt..

That's really a problem and I absolutely hate it.
ADE may be the quasi-standard. But I'd love to avoid it because of that.
I permanently (well, let's say 3 to 4 times per year) have to beg ADOBE for new activations. So far I've got them. But it often takes up to 3 weeks. 3 weeks in which you can't use your new gadget (at least not the official way).
So, from time to time, I proactively ask for a new activation, even if I don't have a new reader already. Unfortunately, you can't check your activation status. So you never know, whether your new reader will be accepted or not.

Honestly, this led to strip my ePUBs from DRM so some readers never had to be activated.

Deactivating any reader DOES NOT free the activation, that's the problem.
I'd like to be able to manage my units, similar to "manage my Kindle" on the Amazon website.
Then I easily could decide: I'm using readers #1, #3 and #5, the rest can be de-activated.
My problem is not the number of parallel activations. 3 to 5 would be fine.
My problem is: Once activated, the reader counts against your activations and you, as an end-user, can't change anything.
In my opinion far from being efficient.

[jen6060]

Thanks. The system doesn't make sense at all.. In any case, since it's your reader, and you buy books, why should there be any limit at all to activations? it's the client's choice to have just one reader or 20! I guess maybe it's their way to limit so-called piracy? piracy isn't the right word - but that they want people to pay for their books and each ahve their own device..?
For me , for example, i gave my first sony 505 to my mom in law. since she isnt' v tech savvy and is unlikely to buy ebooks, i left my ADE activation live with that unit and gave her with purchased Sony books, so she'll hv a choice of some contemporary reads with free classics.. Maybe they want to stop or limit that..!

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by jen6060

Thanks. The system doesn't make sense at all.. In any case, since it's your reader, and you buy books, why should there be any limit at all to activations? it's the client's choice to have just one reader or 20! I guess maybe it's their way to limit so-called piracy? piracy isn't the right word - but that they want people to pay for their books and each ahve their own device..?
For me , for example, i gave my first sony 505 to my mom in law. since she isnt' v tech savvy and is unlikely to buy ebooks, i left my ADE activation live with that unit and gave her with purchased Sony books, so she'll hv a choice of some contemporary reads with free classics.. Maybe they want to stop or limit that..!

I guess it kind of makes sense to limit the number of parallel activations.
Else you could load hundreds of readers with DRMed books and resell them.
But why is it so difficult, to leave the management of activations to the user?
Why not say: You can have 5 activations in parallel tops. Here's your account. Delete one of them and you can activate a new one.
But I guess they're worried, you'd activate, de-activate and re-activate back and forth.
Anyway, for the honest end customer it's really inconvenient.
Often I find myself regretting to actually bother to buy books. The ones from the darknet can be so much more convenient...

[Atomix]

Damn dude, how much do you earn monthly if you can afford just to buy nearly all e-readers out there? Ipad and DX costs pretty much

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I guess it kind of makes sense to limit the number of parallel activations.
Else you could load hundreds of readers with DRMed books and resell them.
But why is it so difficult, to leave the management of activations to the user?
Why not say: You can have 5 activations in parallel tops. Here's your account. Delete one of them and you can activate a new one.
But I guess they're worried, you'd activate, de-activate and re-activate back and forth.
Anyway, for the honest end customer it's really inconvenient.
Often I find myself regretting to actually bother to buy books. The ones from the darknet can be so much more convenient...

Even that can be remedied by saying you can only change 1 activation every 6 months.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Atomix

Damn dude, how much do you earn monthly if you can afford just to buy nearly all e-readers out there? Ipad and DX costs pretty much

We've had an intense and interesting discussion about that in this very same thread maybe 6 months ago.

I'm into gadgets, others are into cars, vacations, expensive dinners, ....
In comparison, my hobby is relatively cheap.
Let's say, I buy a new reader every 4 to 6 weeks on average. And maybe 250 eBooks for every mainstream eBook format available on those readers. That's maybe $ 250 per month for hardware and maybe $ 400 per month for eBooks.
That's a lot, if it would be 1 of 25 hobbies. But for my main hobby, I guess it's acceptable.....

If you lease an expensive car, it's certainly more per month. An expensive vacation certainly equals for 4 (and even more) months of my hobby. And so on...

Another user for example wrote about his bike: $ 20k for the bike + another $ 5k in the last 2 years for tuning.

Just to give you an example: My last vacation in Italy (10 days) 6 weeks ago was only $ 1,000. No expensive hotels, no expensive dinners (reading a lot on PocketBook 360 and iPad, watching movies via iPod touch on the TV). I easily could have spent another $ 3,000.
(Still, this vacation was lots of fun and exactly what I wanted. I mainly want to drive around and take lots of pictures, which isn't expensive at all.)

So, if you add up total spent for all kinds of hobbies, I guess I'm pretty average. Just more extreme in one area - and very conservative in others...

[babalou]

It's been a while since my last question to you...
You don't mention very much about iPad?
I really consider it. But I hear lots of different opinions.
I've checked it out in the Apple store. But in their ambience you can't tell a thing....
I know, it has been asked lots of times. But again: What about iPad as a reader? Which format/application? Anything to consider?

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by babalou

It's been a while since my last question to you...
You don't mention very much about iPad?
I really consider it. But I hear lots of different opinions.
I've checked it out in the Apple store. But in their ambience you can't tell a thing....
I know, it has been asked lots of times. But again: What about iPad as a reader? Which format/application? Anything to consider?

I spend way more time with iPad than with any dedicated eReader.
But I don't spend it reading (by "reading" I think of books. I don't mean reading websites while surfing).
I spend it surfing or testing apps. For example, I don't have any sense of orientation. I take a lot of pics on vacation, but I never remember where I've actually taken them ("Is this Perugia or Cortona? At least I know for sure, it has been in Italy."). I don't want to replace my camera by a GPS-enabled one. I've thought about tagging via iPhone. But for now I've decided for a GPS app on iPad. On the big screen, I easily will find my position ("my room was the 2nd one from the left"). I'll send an email as a reminder with the GPS coordinates to myself. There are easier ways, but I'll try it and seems like fun. When already using GPS, I easily can browse for Panoramio pics or POIs.
So, basically iPad is my mobile surfing station. It can't replace my UMPC for all tasks, but most of them it has taken over already.

So, I absolutely can recommend iPad. My UMPC has been $ 1,200 and still has about the same price tag. Price and size/quality of the display are arguments enough for iPad.

BUT:
Personally, I don't use it for intense reading. When on the train, I briefly may use it for 20 minutes or so.
But I care about the battery.
I already have to charge every single day. Reading doesn't consume lots of energy. But on one hand, I don't want to turn WiFi off and all those other actions for saving energy. And even if reading is only 4% or so per hour - on top of my already intense consumption it's too much for me.
And I really don't see the need. I easily can take a dedicated reader with me, in addition to iPad.
Fo now, my combo is Kindle DX Graphite (my newest one and of similar size as iPad) and iPad. Being able to sync between DX and the Kindle app on iPad makes it even more convenient.
Of course, most users won't go for 2 units. If you're shopping for a multi-purpose unit, iPad of course beats Kindle and the other ePaper readers. I never would surf the web intensively on ePaper. I certainly won't play a game on ePaper. And I wouldn't dare to watch a video on ePaper (Alex and some other hybrids might be an option).
But again, this would be easily solvable by using 2 units: For example iPod touch for all of the above and a dedicated ePaper reader.
So personally, I'm always coming back to the argument "one doesn't fit them all. 2 can cover way more options".

I'd simply ask myself, what's the main focus.
If it's a bit of all (watching movies, playing games, surfing the web, reading), iPad is the most multi-functional.
If it's reading, I'd still go for ePaper. I can do an entire week on most of my ePaper readers without recharging.

Maybe you can rank and weigh your top 3 priorities?

[babalou]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I spend way more time with iPad than with any dedicated eReader.
But I don't spend it reading (by "reading" I think of books. I don't mean reading websites while surfing).
I spend it surfing or testing apps. For example, I don't have any sense of orientation. I take a lot of pics on vacation, but I never remember where I've actually taken them ("Is this Perugia or Cortona? At least I know for sure, it has been in Italy."). I don't want to replace my camera by a GPS-enabled one. I've thought about tagging via iPhone. But for now I've decided for a GPS app on iPad. On the big screen, I easily will find my position ("my room was the 2nd one from the left"). I'll send an email as a reminder with the GPS coordinates to myself. There are easier ways, but I'll try it and seems like fun. When already using GPS, I easily can browse for Panoramio pics or POIs.
So, basically iPad is my mobile surfing station. It can't replace my UMPC for all tasks, but most of them it has taken over already.

So, I absolutely can recommend iPad. My UMPC has been $ 1,200 and still has about the same price tag. Price and size/quality of the display are arguments enough for iPad.

BUT:
Personally, I don't use it for intense reading. When on the train, I briefly may use it for 20 minutes or so.
But I care about the battery.
I already have to charge every single day. Reading doesn't consume lots of energy. But on one hand, I don't want to turn WiFi off and all those other actions for saving energy. And even if reading is only 4% or so per hour - on top of my already intense consumption it's too much for me.
And I really don't see the need. I easily can take a dedicated reader with me, in addition to iPad.
Fo now, my combo is Kindle DX Graphite (my newest one and of similar size as iPad) and iPad. Being able to sync between DX and the Kindle app on iPad makes it even more convenient.
Of course, most users won't go for 2 units. If you're shopping for a multi-purpose unit, iPad of course beats Kindle and the other ePaper readers. I never would surf the web intensively on ePaper. I certainly won't play a game on ePaper. And I wouldn't dare to watch a video on ePaper (Alex and some other hybrids might be an option).
But again, this would be easily solvable by using 2 units: For example iPod touch for all of the above and a dedicated ePaper reader.
So personally, I'm always coming back to the argument "one doesn't fit them all. 2 can cover way more options".

I'd simply ask myself, what's the main focus.
If it's a bit of all (watching movies, playing games, surfing the web, reading), iPad is the most multi-functional.
If it's reading, I'd still go for ePaper. I can do an entire week on most of my ePaper readers without recharging.

Maybe you can rank and weigh your top 3 priorities?

Oy, I've got more than 3 priorities:
No.1 : Availability and price of books. Old and new ones.
No.2 : Quality of the respective book format. I've read a lot about full justification, metadata and so on.
No.3 : Portability of the books. What if I have another reader in 2 years? Can I easily take the books with me?
No.4 : Weight of the reader and battery consumption. Can I easily hold it in one hand while commuting? Will it stay on long enough for traveling 2 or 3 days?
No.5 : Robustness of the reader. Can I put it in my bag? Can I take it to the beach or pool?
No.6 : Readability. IN sunlight, in a dim room. On the train.....

I'm not sure how to weigh them, all seem important...

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by babalou

Oy, I've got more than 3 priorities:
No.1 : Availability and price of books. Old and new ones.
No.2 : Quality of the respective book format. I've read a lot about full justification, metadata and so on.
No.3 : Portability of the books. What if I have another reader in 2 years? Can I easily take the books with me?
No.4 : Weight of the reader and battery consumption. Can I easily hold it in one hand while commuting? Will it stay on long enough for traveling 2 or 3 days?
No.5 : Robustness of the reader. Can I put it in my bag? Can I take it to the beach or pool?
No.6 : Readability. IN sunlight, in a dim room. On the train.....

I'm not sure how to weigh them, all seem important...

Just my personal opinion and experiences:

No.1 : Availability and price of books. Old and new ones.
You can check on search engines like metaebooks.com, inkmesh.com or ebookprice.info, to get a feel yourself. I find Amazon a very good source. And their format is very "flexible". Many users recommend ePUB as the quasi-standard. Most decide about the format and then about the reader.

No.2 : Quality of the respective book format. I've read a lot about full justification, metadata and so on.
With the exception of PDF and PDB (relic from Palm Pilot ages, I think), I find them all okay. Both even are kind of okay for reading, but the problems start when you try to convert them...

No.3 : Portability of the books. What if I have another reader in 2 years? Can I easily take the books with me?
Most formats are protected (DRM = Digital Right Management). You only can re-use them, if the new reader accepts the very same format. ePUB seems to be relatively "safe" for the near future. But all (relevant) formats can be stripped (removing copy protection) from DRM and converted to other formats. There are very convenient tools available, no command line or anything like that necessary.

No.4 : Weight of the reader and battery consumption. Can I easily hold it in one hand while commuting? Will it stay on long enough for traveling 2 or 3 days?
That's a complicated one. Personally, I find the measurements more of a criteria than the weight (of course, most of the times size and weight are interlinked).
When in a crowded train, I go for 5". I wouldn't want to hold Kindle DX, iRex 1000 or Apple iPad when standing in the train.
Smaller size doesn't mean smaller battery and shorter battery duration. All recent ePaper readers are very similar, somewhere in the range of 15++ (most 20+) hours. iPad does less, in the range of 8 to 10 hours. But for pure reading, on iPad you can turn WiFi off, reduce brightness, ... and probably will make 12 hours as well.

No.5 : Robustness of the reader. Can I put it in my bag? Can I take it to the beach or pool?
All of them have one weak spot, the display. There are lots of reports about broken screens. A friend of mine broke his iPhone by just knocking it slightly to the edge of the table. When traveling, I always use a cover. My main worry is my notebook knocking my reader in my bag.
Right now, I always take a combo with me. I put iPad and Kindle DX Graphite in their respective covers. Then I put them in an Apple "sock", back to back. They'll survive a heavy knock that way. So, with the right protection, transporting any reader in your bag shouldn't be a problem.

No.6 : Readability. IN sunlight, in a dim room. On the train.....
Yesterday I've tested a GPS application on iPad in sunlight (in rainy Germany, so you hardly can call it "sunshine"). It was barely readable. Personally, I don't mind. I read either in the house or on the train/plane, very rarely in open space.
Many consider iPads screen an advantage in a dark room. Again, I don't care. I rarely read in the dark. And for the rare occasion, I've got the Sony cover with integrated light. No problem and even longer battery life.
I wouldn't have any problems to read on iPad. Actually, browsing the web is reading as well. I slightly prefer ePaper, but to me it's no biggy.
But as I've written before: I don't want to add reading to my usage pattern of iPad, which further would reduce my battery duration.
I'd say, ambience isn't a criteria for neither of the technologies. You can use all of the readers under any circumstances.
But if you're mainly in the sun, you might be careful about iPad.
If you're mainly in dim rooms, iPad may be of advantage.

[repods]

so please tell us something about the kindle dx graphite..
it looks like one of the large ones that could be good at the moment..

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by repods

so please tell us something about the kindle graphite..
it looks like one of the large ones that could be good at the moment..

I briefly described in another thread ("iPad vs. Kindle DX") my experience with some of my colleagues:
Before a meeting I did show Kindle DX Graphite and iPad to some of them.
For now, I take them as a bundle with me: iPad for web based stuff, Kindle DX Graphite for reading. They are of similar size, so you perfectly can put them back to back for additional protection.
To my surprise, Kindle DX Graphite was far more "eye-catching" to them.
It has the screensaver on. Amazon did a clever job there. The screensavers show even more contrast than actual books.
And the reaction was: "Wow, it's so dark. Show us a book".
iPad on the other hand didn't find any interest.
I would have expected exactly the opposite.

To briefly describe Kindle DX Graphite:
Yes, the background is less grey than on other units. It's no quantum leap and I still wouldn't call it white. But this even might be a good thing. Even actual paper books aren't really white. White simply may be to reflective.
Le's call it "lighter grey".
The fonts are significantly darker. But I don't think, that's a revolution. nook already did show a smartly chosen set of fonts. On Kindle lots of users did install the font hack. So we've seen the effect before.
Still, the combination of lighter background and darker/bolder font makes some nice improvement.

If someone already has the older Kindle DX, I don't think it's "necessary" to upgrade. Especially considering that most DXs are less than 1 year old.
To me, DX Graphite was the convenient excuse to go for an international Kindle. Both my former models are the US version and so I couldn't enjoy the webshop experience.

What I really like: I can sync my books between DX Graphite and iPad. When on rare occasions reading on iPad, I can continue the title I've started on DX Graphite.

I didn't have any problems with the former white housing. But black (graphite) obviously is somewhat "cooler".

The buttons for turning pages have improved. They seem "smoother" and more stable/robust.

I guess that's pretty much it...

BTW: I can recommend it.

[repods]

what about pdf on this new dx ?

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by repods

what about pdf on this new dx ?

Basically the same firmware as before.
I don't see any improvement for PDFs.
I don't use PDFs on DX.
On one hand, I try to avoid PDFs anyway.
On the other hand, DX still is rudimentary for PDFs at best.
I very much prefer the "intelligent zoom" (*) of iRex 800, iRex 1000 or even the smaller BeBook Neo/Onyx Boox.

(*) Exploding any area via stylus to full screen.

I can take a snapshot, if you've got a reference file.

[repods]

well ok..
so still nothing good for me..
it shows errors on complex files ?