Selecting an ebook reader

[AnemicOak]

For me having Calibre Companion has spoiled me for library navigation/storage. Being able to find books by author, title, series, genre tags, etc. and having that info maintainable in Calibre has made things so simple and easy. Where before I'd carry a few hundred books CC has allowed me to carry my entire library with me and easily navigate it in a way I was never able to do on any of the eInk devices I've had, be they Amazon, Kobo, Sony or Cybook/Bookeen. The new Onyx T68 looks appealing since it should run CC as well as my favorite reading app(s).

[Hrafn]

Originally Posted by shalym

For me, a strictly directory based navigation scheme is too limiting. I like to have my books sorted by author, genre, series, and year read. With collections, this is easy to do--I have one collection for each author, one for each genre, one for each series, and one for each year, and a book can be in multiple collections at the same time without having to have multiple copies of the file on my reader.

So with your example of "genre/author/series" as a folder structure, what would you do if you wanted to read a specific author who writes in different genres? Would you need to have a copy of the book in both the "genre/author" tree and the main "author" folder? Or would you just not have an author folder above the genre folders?

Navigational-efficiency and flexibility-of-categorisation are always likely to be in tension, so it's an issue that it is perfectly reasonable to have differing preferences and thus views.

The vast majority of my books are in two genres, science fiction and fantasy, so I haven't bothered to split by genre as yet. If I did so, then I'd probably place authors according to which genre the majority of their work is in (while many cross over between the two, few are even roughly equally balanced between them). If the author was one of the rare ones that was equally balanced, I suspect I'd split their books into a directory in each genre.

I think it is a very good thing that we have diversity of manufacturers, not just in brand, but also in outlook -- vive la différence! And I suppose I should be grateful to the Kindle as well, even if I never expect to buy one -- it is unlikely that eInk would have advanced as far as it has without Amazon and the Kindle picking up the tab. This way I get to have my cake and eat it too -- both improving technology at an affordable price (if not quite as low as Amazon offers), and niche eReaders that suit my idiosyncratic tastes.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by Hrafn

The vast majority of my books are in two genres, science fiction and fantasy

[Hrafn]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

If you can find anybody who would seriously consider Isaac Asimov to be a Fantasy writer or JRR Tolkien a Science Fiction writer, I'll accept the aptness of the criticism implied by that line.

[doubleshuffle]

There was no criticism implied. I was just in the mood for a silly joke and felt this thread could use a little silliness as well...

[exachillus]

I would recommend Kobo (I own two) for couple reasons

- Better format support

- sd card support

- various ereader sizes

Anyone who is buying Kindle or similar devices which tries to lock the user more and more into the cloud crap is doing a disservice to herself/himself in the long term. Convenience is killing our societies. Rush to create convenient services might bring different kind of innovation however I personally believe that our future is a bit of dark scifi fantasy as long as it goes in this direction. That is why it is important to support/buy products/services that tries to give the users more choices.


thanks

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by exachillus

I would recommend Kobo (I own two) for couple reasons

- Better format support

- sd card support

- various ereader sizes

Anyone who is buying Kindle or similar devices which tries to lock the user more and more into the cloud crap is doing a disservice to herself/himself in the long term. Convenience is killing our societies. Rush to create convenient services might bring different kind of innovation however I personally believe that our future is a bit of dark scifi fantasy as long as it goes in this direction. That is why it is important to support/buy products/services that tries to give the users more choices.


thanks

Kobo is just as guilty, even more so with there tablet apps only showing Kobo purchased books (Blackberry at least)

Helen

[exachillus]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Kobo is just as guilty, even more so with there tablet apps only showing Kobo purchased books (Blackberry at least)

Helen

Helen,
I naturally agree with the statement. However at least you are not locked into absurd closed formats.

I would not hesitate to dump Kobo when I find an ereader that offers open formats support with sdcard support etc.

Any recommendations?

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by exachillus

Helen,
I naturally agree with the statement. However at least you are not locked into absurd closed formats.

I would not hesitate to dump Kobo when I find an ereader that offers open formats support with sdcard support etc.

Any recommendations?

Kobo's formats are as closed as anyone's and they are aiming higher in that direction. Kobo does not support any DRM except epub and kepub. (I am assuming you mean DRM when you mention closed formats?)

And unfortunately I have no suggestions. I like Sony because they work better overall and I admit to some bias in that regard. less glitches, less delays is important to me.

Kindles work better than Kobos and Sony's outperform them both for my purposes. But that is not to say they would be good for you.

And I would cheerfully buy anything better, but happy with the Sony T3 and would possibly be happy with my Aura HD if it worked nearly as good. The Aura HD lives under my bed in Vancouver and I will dig it out in October when I return to see if things have improved

I love EBook readers and would be happy with most if Sony hadn't spoiled me

Helen

[ApK]

[rollei]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Kobo - best for people that like a wide variety of different models, the last time I looked there were more different kobo models then any other ereader, there was something like eight of them.

In Canada, it is easier to buy a Kobo device from the retail stores than a Kindle.

[exachillus]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Kobo's formats are as closed as anyone's and they are aiming higher in that direction. Kobo does not support any DRM except epub and kepub. (I am assuming you mean DRM when you mention closed formats?)

And unfortunately I have no suggestions. I like Sony because they work better overall and I admit to some bias in that regard. less glitches, less delays is important to me.

Kindles work better than Kobos and Sony's outperform them both for my purposes. But that is not to say they would be good for you.

And I would cheerfully buy anything better, but happy with the Sony T3 and would possibly be happy with my Aura HD if it worked nearly as good. The Aura HD lives under my bed in Vancouver and I will dig it out in October when I return to see if things have improved

I love EBook readers and would be happy with most if Sony hadn't spoiled me

Helen

@Helen

The only reason I gave Kobo slightly positive support because of their support of epub(which supports non drm and it is open format) and its variants in their devices. I personally feel like epub support should be considered when buying ereaders.

Other than that reason I doubt that Kobo is any better or worse than the competitors.


I will check out T3. I looked at T2 in the past but the resolution was lower than the others.


@Apk

You do not need to get bent out of shape because someone is stating some opinion on possible purchasing choices. You neither need to follow my recommendation nor take it serious. My post was related to the topic. I was just making new buyers aware of certain future issues. I would have appreciated if I had been given better recommendations about security and social affects of buying ereaders when I was shopping around. This has nothing to do with being an authority or pretending to have credentials.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by exachillus

@Apk

You do not need to get bent out of shape because someone is stating some opinion on possible purchasing choices. You neither need to follow my recommendation nor take it serious. My post was related to the topic. I was just making new buyers aware of certain future issues. I would have appreciated if I had been given better recommendations about security and social affects of buying ereaders when I was shopping around. This has nothing to do with being an authority or pretending to have credentials.

All true. Something about the phrasing made me flash back to a string of recent posts that have been pushing my buttons lately. You got lucky enough to be here when I snapped. Sorry.

[exachillus]

Originally Posted by ApK

All true. Something about the phrasing made me flash back to a string of recent posts that have been pushing my buttons lately. You got lucky enough to be here when I snapped. Sorry.

No problem, I realize that we all have our moments. However I also understand that all people are very sensitive to certain issues in their ways.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Kindles work better than Kobos and Sony's outperform them both for my purposes. But that is not to say they would be good for you.

I have to disagree that Kindles work better. If you don't hack or use a hack then the Sony actually can work better. Take the forced margins on a Kindle, most people don't know about the negative margin you can put in an eBook and get rid of the forced margins. But you have to be able to get into an eBook to modify it to add negative margins.