Looking for a new gen Reader

[Ryune]

Hey guys, first post on this particular forum and I'm asking for help.

So I've owned a Sony PRS-950 for years and years. Loved the damned thing but it is starting to show it's age and I was looking between the Kobo Aura One and the Oasis 2. Mostly because I simply couldn't stand downgrading my reading area.

Now I've researched them a decent amount in the last few days but there are still a few questions I have that don't seem to be answered anywhere I've looked. Admittedly, this is the first time checking the forums so I can't say for certain if these questions have been answered yet or not.

How well do the Kobo and Kindle softwares handle serials? I happen to read a large number of stories online from Wordpress and other similar sites where authors tend to post a chapter at a time and require regular updates. With my Sony PRS-950 this is fairly simple as I just upload the new file and usually organize things by date. Newly updated files can be resumed from their previous page easily enough but there isn't anything like a progress indicator when looking through my library. How does the Kobo and Kindle software handle this type of reading? Can I update books like this via the "My Content" tools for Amazon?

I use Calibre almost exclusively for my library management with the only exception being the Amazon books I buy.

[barryem]

I read a serialized Kindle book a couple of years ago. Each month a new section came out and, as I recall, I simply downloaded it again and it overwrote the older smaller copy I already had. It's been a while so I may remember this wrong but I think that was how it worked.

I have a Kobo but I've never tried this with that so I have no idea how it works. I just sideload books to my Kobo.

Barry

[davidfor]

I can only comment on Kobo devices. I haven't used any others outside a shop, so don't know.

The biggest thing will be how the story is presented.

If each part is a separate book, then, it is just a matter of putting the book on the device and reading in the correct order. In that case you just treat it as a series with a frequent small addition. To my mind Kobo has a tiny advantage over the other devices as it does have the concept of series. You can set the series and index and list the books in order. The other devices need the series info added into the title or somewhere. That's probably fine for a serial.

If the serial is done by adding an extra chapter to existing book, it will work with the Kobo devices, but it isn't ideal. The problem is that the book is processed into the internal database when it is first seen. This includes the ToC. Strictly, when a book is replaced, it will be removed from the database and processed as a new book. That means the reading status is lost. The KoboTouch driver tweaks the database a tiny bit so that this doesn't happen. But, it means that if the ToC or internal structure of the book changes, this is not reflected in the database. If the change is to add extra chapters to the end, then it will usually be OK. You don't see the chapters in the ToC and can't navigate directly to them, but if you resume at the last place you were reading, it will page forward to the next chapter with no problem.

[Ryune]

Thank you very much. That is exactly the information I was looking for. I was a little leery of buying a Kobo but I can at least try out the Kindle Oasis and return it to an actual store far easier than grabbing a Kobo. So it looks like I'm getting a Kindle at least for a while. I can test it out and hopefully I can do what I want with it.

I haven't had much success with the Kindle app on my iphone but I can't tell if that is simply because I have to email it to the device or if it is because of how the Kindle software handles newly added books. But at least I can return the Kindle in a relatively painless process at a brick and mortar store.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Ryune

Thank you very much. That is exactly the information I was looking for. I was a little leery of buying a Kobo but I can at least try out the Kindle Oasis and return it to an actual store far easier than grabbing a Kobo. So it looks like I'm getting a Kindle at least for a while. I can test it out and hopefully I can do what I want with it.

I haven't had much success with the Kindle app on my iphone but I can't tell if that is simply because I have to email it to the device or if it is because of how the Kindle software handles newly added books. But at least I can return the Kindle in a relatively painless process at a brick and mortar store.

Just my personal experience with serials. If the new segment is added to the other segments so you effectively have a updated book this will work as suggested by Barryem and you can download the updated book to replace your previous copy. OTOH, if the new segment shows as a new book, it will not be added to the original book and you will end up with a mass small ebooks such as Quantum Entanglement part 1, Quantum Entanglement part 2, Quantum Entanglement part 3, etc. Unless you edit them into a single book, this gets a bit messy and wasteful of space. Sadly, since the second choice is easier, that's the route commonly used.

After having been disappointed a couple of time when the author moved on to other ventures and left a serial incomplete, my current policy is that I don't buy a serial until all the segments have been published.

[barryem]

I just read that one serialized novel and, while it was fairly good, I found that while waiting for the next segment I forgot some details, which took some of the pleasure out of the book. In later segments it began to be difficult to get myself back into the book even though the book itself was pretty good.

I'm sure if I'd waited and just read it as a single book I'd have liked it a lot more.

I haven't read another serialized novel since then. I haven't decided I won't but it's going to have to be something that seems pretty special to get me interested.

Barry