Why have e-readers ditched page turn buttons?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

What patience? That is one argument I don't get (and never have).

Select all books, click "convert" in calibre, go to bed for the night.

Next morning -- done.

I've warned others about injecting facts into the middle of a perfectly nice rant!

I've never moved to a new reader. Is there a simple way to plug the Nook into Calibre, then have it move all those same books to the Voyage?

Scratch that. I think I already know how you would do it.

(Edited because I'm posting this with my tablet, and the typos, they are plenty)

[Barbara1955]

I Love my K3 for 2 reasons Turn Buttons & TTS! I can see no difference in the K3 & PW3 as far as 300 PPI goes! Its a Reader Not going to play a movie or have color pic on it! sheesh! To mew the printed word is no clearer...so whats the point?

[sabredog]

Damn, this new argument over buttons n touchscreens is doing my head in. I might have to go back to dead tree books, but oh noes, I have to manually turn the pages, will get the pages dirty and need to find a bookmark.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've warned others about injecting facts into the middle of a perfectly nice rant!

Yeah. I'm just evil like that. So there.

I've never moved to a new reader. Is there a simple way to plug the Nook into Calibre, then have it move all those same books to the Voyage?

Scratch that. I think I already know how you would do it.

I see you have progressed from exploring the cup holder to the wonders of the Bog Standard Copy Maneuver.

Or... well... so long as you have a working DeDRM key. (If they aren't device downloads, why aren't they already in calibre?) And assuming they aren't in partitioned storage.



Shortcut -- go to device view in calibre. Assuming you can see the book you can highlight a selection of books, right-click and select "Add to library".

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, the touch screen is much easier to use than the buttons for page turns. Swiping to turn the page is more like turning the page of a pBook.

Question...When you read pBooks, did you complain about the page turn method?

I disagree. When turning the page of a book, I grab the entire corner between thumb and pointer finger (the second finger on your hand, sorry, don't know if that's the right word) and move the page from right to left, with an arc. I don't swipe the pages of my paper book, it won't work.

And yes, I complain about the page turn method of paper books. They always were a pain to do if your fingers were dirty or moist. You'd leave stains in your book (and I was taught to respect books, which means leaving them as nice as possible). On my BBMini I can turn pages even with a wet hand without being afraid to break my device...

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, page turns via a touch screen is overall more reliable than page turn via physical buttons. The buttons eill wear out long before the touch screen does.

On above mentioned Mini, the buttons are all still working perfectly. I think the battery will run out first.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I swore up and down that I would never buy/use a reader that didn't have physical page turn buttons. I stomped my feet. I didn't want a touch screen. It would get all smudged. I was an a-hole to anybody who didn't recognize the superiority of the physical button (and the inherent grunge-factor of the touch screen). I LOVED those buttons.

Or so I thought.

I don't miss--or even think about--them any more. I picked up my old kindle and couldn't even imagine why I was so in love with those buttons.

Silly buttons.

Oh, and the touch-screen really is ridonkulously smudged up. I just don't see them any more unless I make it a point to (though I did religiously clean it at first).

It's a post-button world. I no longer fight it.

I do...

I got my mini: 3x 2 buttons to page (left, right and bottom!)
I got my Sony PRS650 (retired): 2 buttons
I got my Boox T68: buttons

Only my Windows tablet doesn't have the buttons because the ebook reading software on it doesn't support using the volume buttons.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't get oily residue on my H2O screen. I don't tap, I swipe. By swiping, there is less chance to leave a noticeable fingerprint on the screen. Stop tapping and get swiping.

Swiping is a huge annoyance, I prefer tapping.

Originally Posted by barryem

A lot of reasons are given in this thread and other threads for the demise of buttons and, reading through it, I suspect they're all partly true, but I also wonder if they miss the point. I don't have a bit of insight into what the designers of the various ereaders were thinking but my guess is that touch screens didn't replace buttons at all; that buttons went away because of touch screens.

Originally Posted by patrickt

I fully understand those who say they simply like buttons. Fine. That's what the argument is for buttons. Some people like them. There aren't enough of those people to keep Kindle and Nook and Kobo making ereaders with buttons.

What's wrong with both? Leave some buttons for those that want them and incorporate the touchscreen for those that want that.

Remember when cell phones had anywhere from 20 to 100 buttons. OMG, they're gone. My cell phone has two: a power switch and a toggle to move things up and down. Everything else is, gasp, touch screen.

I won't pick up a phone without a physical home button, and volume buttons.

[patrickt]

Sweetpea: "I won't pick up a phone without a physical home button, and volume buttons."

How sad. You couldn't pick up my Nexus 5. I hope you find a phone with all the buttons you want. You won't, of course, but I'm pulling for you.

Sweetpea: "What's wrong with both? Leave some buttons for those that want them and incorporate the touchscreen for those that want that."

What's wrong with you? Manufacturers should produce products with buttons you like even if you and two friends are the market. My preferred ereader had all the buttons it needs. A power button.

Sweetpea: If Kindle started manufacturing the Kindle Keyboard again, with a lighted screen, do you think the sales would actually be in the hundreds?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by patrickt

How sad. You couldn't pick up my Nexus 5. I hope you find a phone with all the buttons you want. You won't, of course, but I'm pulling for you.

The iPhone has a physical "Home" button and volume buttons.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Sweetpea: "I won't pick up a phone without a physical home button, and volume buttons."

How sad. You couldn't pick up my Nexus 5. I hope you find a phone with all the buttons you want. You won't, of course, but I'm pulling for you.

I won't ever get an Android Phone, that's true. Not only because of the buttons.

My current phone has a home button, a search button, a back button, two volume buttons, a power button and a camera button. So I've had a phone that I want for almost 2 years already (considering this is my first smartphone, my previous had even more buttons )

Originally Posted by HarryT

The iPhone has a physical "Home" button and volume buttons.

So have plenty of other Android phones. And the concept art of my proposed new phone (the Lumia 940XL) will have a physical home button as well.

My idea is: why have a bezel if you don't use it?
In case of the home button on phones, why remove a functional part of the screen while you have a non-functional part underneath it?
In case of the various ereaders out there, you have a bezel on the side so people can hold the device without having to touch the screen, why not add some buttons there? They don't have to stick out, they can be stylishly put away, but at least offer the opportunity.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

In case of the various ereaders out there, you have a bezel on the side so people can hold the device without having to touch the screen, why not add some buttons there? They don't have to stick out, they can be stylishly put away, but at least offer the opportunity.

This is exactly what the Kindle Voyage does. It has page-turn sensors built into the bezel. Better than physical buttons, because they respond to pressure changes, rather than just pressure, so you can hold the device as firmly or lightly as you wish, and then just press a bit harder to turn the page. Combines the best features of touch sensors and physical buttons.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The iPhone has a physical "Home" button and volume buttons.

That's nice.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Or... well... so long as you have a working DeDRM key. (If they aren't device downloads, why aren't they already in calibre?) And assuming they aren't in partitioned storage.

Hey eschwartz, all of my books ARE already in Calibre. However, not every book I have in Calibre is on my Nook.

I haven't gone back to check, but I should be able to connect the Nook, go to that in Calibre rather than the library and highlight all those book to send to the new device, no?

Since reading your post last night, the Kindle Voyage has entered into my pool of potential future e-readers, along with the Aura and the Glo HD.

But I'm not sold on using AZW3 or MOBI instead of ePub. For one thing, I like to edit almost every book I buy in Sigil, to fix broken tables of contents or clean up formatting. I believe I can use Calibre's built in editor on those files, but have never tried. Also, Calibre's built-in editor isn't quite as nice as Sigil, though it's pretty close.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

But I'm not sold on using AZW3 or MOBI instead of ePub. For one thing, I like to edit almost every book I buy in Sigil, to fix broken tables of contents or clean up formatting. I believe I can use Calibre's built in editor on those files, but have never tried. Also, Calibre's built-in editor isn't quite as nice as Sigil, though it's pretty close.

Calibre's editor works with ePub and AZW3 files; it doesn't work with Mobi. Personally I like the editor a lot, but it's a question of the tools you're used to working with, of course.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by patrickt

How sad. You couldn't pick up my Nexus 5. I hope you find a phone with all the buttons you want. You won't, of course, but I'm pulling for you.

Samsung phones have hardware home and volume buttons and capacitive back and recent app buttons.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Hey eschwartz, all of my books ARE already in Calibre. However, not every book I have in Calibre is on my Nook.

I haven't gone back to check, but I should be able to connect the Nook, go to that in Calibre rather than the library and highlight all those book to send to the new device, no?

Now I get what you are saying.

In answer to your real question -- calibre does not maintain lists of what is on each device, and you cannot connect two devices at once.

The Reading List plugin can help you automate the task of, well, creating a tag or custom column to track the status of which books are on your old device, so you can select them to send to your new device.
Or highlight them, I guess, since the currently-selected list should not be wiped from un+connecting a device. But I would store the info anyway.

Since reading your post last night, the Kindle Voyage has entered into my pool of potential future e-readers, along with the Aura and the Glo HD.

But I'm not sold on using AZW3 or MOBI instead of ePub. For one thing, I like to edit almost every book I buy in Sigil, to fix broken tables of contents or clean up formatting. I believe I can use Calibre's built in editor on those files, but have never tried. Also, Calibre's built-in editor isn't quite as nice as Sigil, though it's pretty close.

As HarryT said, the calibre editor supports AZW3 (which you should always be using in preference to MOBI, if at all possible, and it is possible unless you have a device that predates the Kindle Keyboard).

calibre vs. Sigil is a question of preference, and you will find plenty of opinions to be loudly and messily opinionated all over the place. Place me in the camp of people who prefer calibre.


Assuming you have original EPUBs converted into AZW3, you *can* edit the master EPUB (in Sigil if you like, calibre has a builtin Open With) then reconvert to AZW3.
I recommend always editing the master format, whatever that is, to keep things organized

calibre also has a standalone ToC editor.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Samsung phones have hardware home and volume buttons and capacitive back and recent app buttons.

What is it about "all the buttons you want" that you can't grasp? My Nexus five had a button for home, all running programs, and previous screen. They're non-mechanical buttons. It has a mechanical power button and a toggle button for up and down for a variety of tasks.