7 best e-Readers of 2015 in the UK

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

But you don't *have* to buy them at Amazon. And the authors get more money if you don't. Many authors sell downloads direct from their website, even if they sell at Amazon. Rowling, for one.

It is simply inaccurate to say you are *forced* to use Amazon.

The author's financials aren't my concern.

While one is not "forced" to use Amazon, my question was, is anyone forced to use another retailer or do without?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If DRM is involved, then YES you DO have to buy from Amazon.

If that were true then I would not be able to buy from Amazon.
Apache

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If DRM is involved, then YES you DO have to buy from Amazon.

Not really.
If DRM is involved I'm not buying it from anybody.

Nobody puts a gun to my head to force me to buy books only from Amazon. And I don't. I get my books from many sources (including right here).

As long as Amazon lets you sideload they can't force you to buy and unlike other retailers they haven't shown any inclination to abolish sideloading.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

As long as Amazon lets you sideload they can't force you to buy and unlike other retailers they haven't shown any inclination to abolish sideloading.

Which retailers are abolishing sideloading? In terms of eink based ereaders, I've only used Amazon, Kobo, and Sony. All of them were sideloading friendly. I have a hard time seeing how the smaller vendors would be able to impose such a policy.

What I have seen are vendors that are hostile towards sideloading DRMed content from other sources. Amazon fits into that category, though my Kobo and Sony devices were more than happy to accept content that used Adobe's DRM scheme -- including library books, which you would think is their biggest competitor on the basis of cost.

[JSWolf]

B&N is trying to abolish side loading.

[robko]

Yikes! To me this sentence: "Bear in mind, though, that e-readers with built-in backlights (technically they’re frontlights, but we’ll use the conventional term since everyone knows what it means) will last much less time between charges if you use the light all the time." explains why I wouldn't put a lot of stock in the review. Sorry, but frontlit e-ink is nowhere near the same as a backlit screen which that sentence would lead you to believe. And IMHO maybe there's a small hit for using the light all the time, but I don't think very many would say that it's much less time between charges.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Are there publishers/authors who don't sell their titles on Amazon?

I know there are some small pubs that withhold their titles from Amazon (& Kobo, B&N, etc.) for a given time period, usually 1-3 months, after publication in order to cut them out on initial sales. Not sure of any (maybe some individual authors?) who don't sell through them at all but there probably are.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

It's not false *or* misleading, as an example of your own comments. **Most** users don't care that they are locked into a single format. They buy a kindle/kobo/nook and buy their books from appropriate store.

Indeed. I urged my parents to buy Kindles (PW2's) and I then set up their iPad's to be able to one click buy from Amazon AU.

It is easy for them and it works for them.

That, therefore is all there is to it.

[rem736]

Originally Posted by MickiTee

Well this reviewer did indeed mention the format limitations in the fourth paragraph and I quote:

Content is an important consideration, as your device may be restricted to its manufacturer’s own bookstore. For example, Kindle e-readers are limited to Amazon’s admittedly very well-stocked online bookstore, while Kobo e-readers let you browse other stores

i missed that. my bad. but i skipped the top and went right into the section for the various devices. i think that is a better place to put details that are relavent to each device, including compatibility with formats.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

They rated the nook Glowlight ahead of the H2O. For that, I have to say that list is worthless. The nook is awful. The interface is very poor and the segmented storage is pathetic. Also saying that the H2O is unresponsive is baloney. Mine is plenty responsive. So why did they include the Kobo Aura HD when it's no longer being made? The list is just way off base.

Also, they did forget to mention that if you want to use Overdrive, a Kindle is not a good choice.

Wow, did they really prefer a years-old device to a brand-new one?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Which retailers are abolishing sideloading? In terms of eink based ereaders, I've only used Amazon, Kobo, and Sony. All of them were sideloading friendly. I have a hard time seeing how the smaller vendors would be able to impose such a policy.

What I have seen are vendors that are hostile towards sideloading DRMed content from other sources. Amazon fits into that category, though my Kobo and Sony devices were more than happy to accept content that used Adobe's DRM scheme -- including library books, which you would think is their biggest competitor on the basis of cost.

Not only has B&N put considerable effort to abolishing sideloading, Kobo is not exactly a wonderful friend of sideloading either. From what I've heard, the separate EPUB renderer is quite inferior to the KEPUB renderer... and you have to do jiggery-pokery to an EPUB to make it use the KEPUB renderer. (Even changing the filename is more than happens by default requiring you to do special stuff that many perhaps are not aware of.)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Not only has B&N put considerable effort to abolishing sideloading, Kobo is not exactly a wonderful friend of sideloading either. From what I've heard, the separate EPUB renderer is quite inferior to the KEPUB renderer... and you have to do jiggery-pokery to an EPUB to make it use the KEPUB renderer. (Even changing the filename is more than happens by default requiring you to do special stuff that many perhaps are not aware of.)

I disagree that RMDSK is that inferior. I think it works very well. It's what I use on my H2O. It's just different. As for side loading, Kobo is more side loading friendly then Amazon as with side loading, I can have the collections created for me. You cannot do that on a Voyage or Kindle as you cannot jailbreak them. So as of now, of the major players, Kobo is the MOST side loading friendly.

[jackie_w]

Never mind.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by robko

Yikes! To me this sentence: "Bear in mind, though, that e-readers with built-in backlights (technically they’re frontlights, but we’ll use the conventional term since everyone knows what it means) will last much less time between charges if you use the light all the time." explains why I wouldn't put a lot of stock in the review.

Same. And seriously, if they're not sure or whatever, why not use the perfectly cromulent term "light"? Why are people so hooked on the prefix "back-"? I just don't get it.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Not only has B&N put considerable effort to abolishing sideloading, Kobo is not exactly a wonderful friend of sideloading either. From what I've heard, the separate EPUB renderer is quite inferior to the KEPUB renderer... and you have to do jiggery-pokery to an EPUB to make it use the KEPUB renderer.

If you are simply comparing the rendering of the book, there isn't much difference between them. The kepub renderer was probably ahead until Kobo updated the version of RMSDK they were using. This fixed some bugs that were making some people prefer kepubs. They both still have problems, but they are different ones.

The real reason to choose between the two is the extras. The in-book reading stats in kepubs are nice. But, you have the book title taking space. And there is a little more margin on the sides. Per-chapter page numbers or for the full book have been another deciding point until recently, but, the kepub reader now supports both. The one place the kepub reader is much better is in the handling of footnotes. Kobo are probably paying more attention to the kepub reader, but not that much more than the epub reader. The differences all up will improve the reading experience for some people, but for others it's just rubbish that is getting in the way of reading.

As to the "jiggery-pokery" needed to use the kepub renderer, that's true. And Kobo do not actually support sideloading kepubs for general use. It is suggested as a way for authors to check formatting uploading them to Kobo. who then do the conversion to kepub. But, they do a good job of sideload epubs. As well as PDF, CBZ, CBR, TXT and basic MOBI.

(Even changing the filename is more than happens by default requiring you to do special stuff that many perhaps are not aware of.)

Something about that sentence doesn't parse. I'm not sure if you are saying that the device makes changes without the user knowing, or that more changes are needed then the users know about. If the "special stuff" is wrap spans with id around sentences, then the latter is true, but the former definitely isn't.

And to make my position clear, I'm using both about equally. But, I don't usually sideload as kepub. If I buy a book from Kobo, it will appear on the device, and I'll read it. If there are any problems with the text or formatting, I'll fix it in the epub version, sideload that as epub and read it instead. If the book comes from somewhere else, I'll just sideload as an epub and read that.