Good first E-Reader?

[davidfor]

The Kobo Touch is a very good ereader. But, Kobo's frontlit ereaders beat it for everything except price. The Glo and Aura have the same size screen but higher resolution. The screen of my Glo looks much better than my Touch. And the light is very handy.

If you can find the Touch at a good price and really don't want the light, get it. But, if you can afford the Glo or Aura, go for one of them.

[killer007]

um....i would like to know, is reading ereader in the dark with the frontlit on is as bad as reading normal books with not enough light to the eyes?

or the frontlit won't be as bad but still bad?

[eschwartz]

There is enough light, so I'd think it doesn't do anything bad to your eyes. What does it matter if there is no light elsewhere?

I don't claim to be an expert though -- a doctor would probably know better. What do I know -- I've never noticed my eyes being affected even though I spend a couple years reading at night with dim lighting. o

[hubertphava]

Consider to buy this:

http://www.bookeen.com/shop/europe/i...rontlight.html

It's *not* the HD version but bookeen typographic rendering of texts is superb.
HD version costs 129 euros, no-light version costs 79 euros.

HP

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Dieter91

No, i don't have any ebooks yet. Does it really matters where i buy them? I normally buy my books from www.bol.com so i guess that is where i'll be buying my ebooks from too.

If you want to pay through the nose for an ebook, then yes, buy them there.

For Dutch e-books, Kobo is a much better option.
For English e-books, look at Kobo, Amazon.com, ebooks.com and feedbooks.com. (It's a pity that Diesel-Ebooks and BooksOnBoard went bankrupt, or I would also have added them.)

The thing you want to do is:

1. Install calibre on your computer to manage your e-books.

2. Google for "Apprentice Alf", and install his DeDRM plugin into calibre. They are often called "The Tools" over here. The latest version is 6.0.9. (Being more specific on this is not allowed on MobileRead, sorry.)

3. Install Adobe Digital Editions version 2.0.1.

NOTE: Download this version and stash the installer in a safe place. Do NOT download Digital Editions 3.x. It contains a new DRM scheme. If you are downloading a book that is available with both ADE 2.0.1 and ADE 3.x DRM, then ADE 3.x will get the 3.x version. Alf's calibre plugin cannot yet remove this DRM. If you use ADE 2.0.1, you will ALWAYS get the book with ADE 2.x DRM, which can be removed by Alf's plugin. This process of removing DRM is affectionately called 'Alfing.' Thus, keep using ADE 2.x until it is no longer supported by Adobe (which will be for a LONG time, as an ADE 3.x DRM'd book will need a new reader that can read this DRM), or until Alf's plugin can handle the DRM.

4. Download Kindle for PC. The books from Amazon also contain DRM, but they can be Alf'd.

5. Now you can buy Amazon.com books, and EPUB books. Download them using Kindle for PC or ADE respectively, and then import them into Calibre. The book will be Alf'd. (DRM removed.) Now, you can convert EPUB to Kindle, and Kindle to EPUB. Because of this, it doesn't matter where you buy your books, or if you use an EPUB reader or a Kindle.

Since you mention you have a couple of ereaders, I am wondering about the lifespan of these devices?

My older Kindle Touch from 2011 is still going strong, being used by an aunt of mine. I'm still using my Kindle Paperwhite 2012 version. As long as it is handled with a bit of care, these e-readers can last many years. The incentive to get a new e-reader more often is new features, not breaking the old one.