Pocketbook Era - Questions?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

The reading stats alone are a fantastic feature!

And the one feature I find absolutely useless.

On my Kobos, I use patched native reader and it does mostly everything I want. On a Pocketbook, KOReader might be the only option if they're not going to add font weight adjustment.

[Frostbite]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I don't like KOReader for two reasons - no library management to speak of (I tend to keep a lot of books on my devices, so a file browser is not enough) and it's slow with large books, for example multi-volume omnibuses (I have many of those and I do not want to split them up).

I don't like that either. Also, it can be a problem with borrowed books from libraries.

[Frostbite]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

With Pocketbooks you can continue to use the inbuilt device library and simply set Koreader as the default reading app, so this isn't an issue. I never have to see or use the Koreader file manager.

There might be a problem if you have borrowed books from library.

[Frostbite]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For a lot of people, KOReader is not an option. They may not even know about KOReader. Most people buy a Reader to read and they use the software that comes with the Reader.

This is so true. KOReader is not for an everyday Joe. Most people just want to read without all the configurations that are too complicated.

I am tech-savvy enough, but I think there are just too many options. I find myself playing with settings instead of reading.

The bottom line was when PB updated the software and I needed to re-install KOReader for some reason. That was enough for me to ditch it and go to built-in OS no matter the brand.

The main problem is only syncing between devices (mostly of sideloaded books) if that is the priority. PocketBook shines here with their PB Cloud as it syncs all books. And it is clever too, it won't auto-sync borrowed books which is great. My library allows it only on two devices.

With Kobo, it syncs only books bought from their store. I don't like it, but understandable.

Kindle (not owning one, yet) same as Kobo.

But I asked myself for my reading habits, do I really need syncing? Currently, no, I read one book on one reader in bed, another book on another reader etc. For now it works.

Okay, I allow myself to become a strong KOReader supporter in a few years, who knows

[Sirtel]

Kindles do sync sideloaded books, if you send them to your Kindle account via email or Send to Kindle. They don't sync USB-sideloaded books.

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by Frostbite

There might be a problem if you have borrowed books from library.

You can set the default app for koreader, but also override it and use the default Pocketbook app for specific books so it isn't really a problem. The Pockebook will remember the last app to open a book and use that automatically on the next launch.

[Frostbite]

Perfect, I wasn't sure about it. Thank you.

[Frostbite]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

You can set the default app gllobally, but also override it for specific books so it isn't really a problem.

Great, thank you.

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For a lot of people, KOReader is not an option. They may not even know about KOReader. Most people buy a Reader to read and they use the software that comes with the Reader.

Originally Posted by Frostbite

KOReader is not for an everyday Joe. Most people just want to read without all the configurations that are too complicated.

I am tech-savvy enough, but I think there are just too many options. I find myself playing with settings instead of reading.

The only people I hear mention font weight are usually the same people that are modifying the format of their books via Calibre. If they're savvy enough to use Calibre, Koreader will not be a challenge.

If however you're not tech savvy in general, find font weight crucial and are shopping for an ebook reader... go for a Kobo.

If you are tech savvy, or already have a Pocketbook... try Koreader! It's free, and once you're past the learning curve I think it's a superior experience.

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Did you search inside the book for a word or a phrase? KOReader was basically unable to search in some omnibuses I tried. Granted, that was several years ago; maybe it has gotten better. If so, I may try it again.

To be honest, I hadn't. I just tried though and the results were available in less than a second.

FYI... I found three consecutive words I thought would be fairly rare to appear together, toward the end of the omnibus (last quarter). I then moved back to the beginning of the first chapter and attempted the search for the three words. It found four instances of the three word group spanning the omnibus (including the specific instance I wanted). So my selection wasn't as rare as I thought!

But the results were virtually instantaneous, as was navigating back and forward through the book to view the pages containing the search matches. Your mileage may vary with a different book and hardware.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

To be honest, I hadn't. I just tried though and the results were available in less than a second.

FYI... I found three consecutive words I thought would be fairly rare to appear together, toward the end of the omnibus (last quarter). I then moved back to the beginning of the first chapter and attempted the search for the three words. It found four instances of the three word group spanning the omnibus (including the specific instance I wanted). So my selection wasn't as rare as I thought!

But the results were virtually instantaneous, as was navigating back and forward through the book to view the pages containing the search matches. Your mileage may vary with a different book and hardware.

Thank you. This gave me hope; if I ever plan to buy a Pocketbook, I'll try KOReader again. At the moment I don't need it, but good to know nevertheless.

[dmalinovsky]

Regarding custom font weight: you can imitate it in the default Pocketbook software, but only if the font has more weights included. For example, there's a good free font Literata with Medium (500 thickness) and Semibold (600) weights.

Regular weight is 400, so if you want to have a bolder default font, just rename "Medium.ttf" to "Regular.ttf" and "MediumItalic.ttf" to "Italic.ttf", removing the original regular weight files. Just make sure to also have Bold and BoldItalic files, so there will be 4 total. This way you can overcome the software limitation.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by dmalinovsky

Regarding custom font weight: you can imitate it in the default Pocketbook software, but only if the font has more weights included. For example, there's a good free font Literata with Medium (500 thickness) and Semibold (600) weights.

Regular weight is 400, so if you want to have a bolder default font, just rename "Medium.ttf" to "Regular.ttf" and "MediumItalic.ttf" to "Italic.ttf", removing the original regular weight files. Just make sure to also have Bold and BoldItalic files, so there will be 4 total. This way you can overcome the software limitation.

Yeah, I know. Unfortunately my favorite fonts don't have medium or semibold options. Literata is a bit too busy for my taste.

Another option is to add some weight with FontForge, but it's hard to get it just right.