small ereader like the Voyage

[barryem]

I almost disagree about the Nook software. Except for the grayed out dictionary I prefer it to the Kobo software. I don't think it's as good as the Kindle software.

The Kobo software offers a lot more features and finer tuning of those features but I've found that (A) that doesn't really mean much to me and (B) those extra features don't work on a lot of my side loaded books anyway.

The Nook has far fewer features but it has the important features and you really don't have to think much about them. They're just there. I particularly like the way it gives me pages left in the chapter. That's a wonderful feature. And this latest firmware release seems solid to me while the Kobo firmware is fairly buggy. No show stoppers but there are things that just don't work all the time.

I also agree that if they made the Kobo Aura with a modern screen it would be my first choice. And if it had the Kindle firmware I probably would use it most of the time.

The problem with the Aura is it's screen. When I put it side-by-side with a Kindle or Nook it's not even nearly as good. However when I'm reading with it it's just fine. It's kind of like thinking about how good Jennifer Lopez looks, as long as she isn't standing beside Ellen Pompeo.

Barry

[Elagost]

Wow, that's quite a bit of good info. eBay is nice for the buyer protection, so that should probably be a good first place to buy things. I'm not a huge storage user - if I needed more storage I would offload books to my computer and then load more on - but I've never used more than 500MB - 1GB on my kindles. So the SD card never made my list of desirable features.

[John F]

Originally Posted by barryem

I almost disagree about the Nook software. Except for the grayed out dictionary I prefer it to the Kobo software. I don't think it's as good as the Kindle software.

The Kobo software offers a lot more features and finer tuning of those features but I've found that (A) that doesn't really mean much to me and (B) those extra features don't work on a lot of my side loaded books anyway.

The Nook has far fewer features but it has the important features and you really don't have to think much about them. They're just there. I particularly like the way it gives me pages left in the chapter. That's a wonderful feature. And this latest firmware release seems solid to me while the Kobo firmware is fairly buggy. No show stoppers but there are things that just don't work all the time.

I also agree that if they made the Kobo Aura with a modern screen it would be my first choice. And if it had the Kindle firmware I probably would use it most of the time.

The problem with the Aura is it's screen. When I put it side-by-side with a Kindle or Nook it's not even nearly as good. However when I'm reading with it it's just fine. It's kind of like thinking about how good Jennifer Lopez looks, as long as she isn't standing beside Ellen Pompeo.

Barry

I like pages left in chapter also. And I always* get them with my Kobo with sideloaded content.

*I can't recall the last time I didn't get them.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by barryem

I almost disagree about the Nook software. Except for the grayed out dictionary I prefer it to the Kobo software. I don't think it's as good as the Kindle software.

The Kobo software offers a lot more features and finer tuning of those features but I've found that (A) that doesn't really mean much to me and (B) those extra features don't work on a lot of my side loaded books anyway.

I kind of agree here. I like tinkering (and the Kobo is a tinkerer's dream) but sometimes it can become an obsession and get in the way of reading. I'm getting to really like the Tolinos simply because they're so simple. Add a nice, dark font and just read. Kindles are kind of that way too. You can do a little more with them than with Tolinos and they have a nicer dictionary. ...

There's actually a whole lot of good choices. I've chosen too many of them.

Originally Posted by Elagost

I really like that one, but I think it might be just a bit too big.

One last plug for the H2O2 ( can you tell I'm a fan? ) The two photos show my wife's H2O2 and her Paperwhite 3 side by side and then with the PW on top of the Kobo.

Originally Posted by rcentros

Add a nice, dark font and just read. Kindles are kind of that way too.

I've only been a Kobo owner (Clara then H2O2) for two months now, but in that time, the above describes all I did in terms of "tinkering". Yesterday I patched for the first time to give me the advanced font controls for my sideloaded fonts, but that's it. Then again, I've never got the whole "gotta have a good dictionary" thing either - in the 6 years I had my Kindle, I doubt I looked up 100 words on it. And in those 6 years "adding a font" was not an out of box option for the Kindle either

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

I almost disagree about the Nook software. Except for the grayed out dictionary I prefer it to the Kobo software... The Nook has far fewer features but it has the important features and you really don't have to think much about them. They're just there.

Barry, sorry. To be clear, the Nook software is in two halves:
1 - Reading
2 - Everything else

I'll address #1 below, but the problem with the current Nook software is #2. Going to the home screen, accessing your library or anything like that takes ages. Get used to seeing the four 'loading' dots in the middle of the screen if you do ANYTHING.

The home screen is ugly. I miss the older version of the home screen where your current book was slightly larger. And half of the home screen is taken up by the store.

And the 'Profiles' icon is useless and replaced my favorite Nook feature, the 'back to your book' button.

Plus if you make custom collections (I don't, but...), it dumps them every time you connect to Calibre.

And for some reason, every time I connect the Glowlight 3 to Calibre and eject it, it insists I was reading Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff, no matter what book I was actually reading (the Plus doesn't do this, only the 3).

I particularly like the way it gives me pages left in the chapter. That's a wonderful feature. And this latest firmware release seems solid to me while the Kobo firmware is fairly buggy. No show stoppers but there are things that just don't work all the time.

Reading, yes. The Nook is terrific when reading. I think the Nook does a very good job with formatting and hyphenation. I like that the footer is unobtrusive and useful. I appreciate that it shows 'Page 100 of 297' in the footer and then tapping that shows how many pages are left in the chapter.

I turn the Kobo footer off, because even after patching it takes too much space. Nook handles that very well.

If everything outside of the reading experience would revert back to the older Nook software and if they could optimize it a little more so there's less lag, I'd be recommending Nooks all the time.

I think the Glowlight Plus has very nice hardware. I didn't appreciate how nice it is until I bought one. I like the pebbled white texture around the screen. it's very comfortable to hold.

You can pick them up for $50 on eBay (about the same price as the Aura) and it's waterproof, with a better screen. But I have trouble suggesting a Nook because the software (outside of reading) is just not up to par.

The problem with the Aura is it's screen. When I put it side-by-side with a Kindle or Nook it's not even nearly as good.

Yeah, I clearly prefer a lot of things about the Aura, but I've been noticing that I pick up the Nook more often. Side by side, I really don't see a glaringly obvious difference, but having spent time reading on both, the sharper fonts and slightly higher contrast on the Nook's Carta screen are noticeable.

[j.p.s]

No matter how wonderful Calibre is otherwise and how awful the Nook is otherwise, the collection dumping and The Right Stuff sure looks like it is caused by Calibre to this complete Nook outsider and somewhat Calibre outsider.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

No matter how wonderful Calibre is otherwise and how awful the Nook is otherwise, the collection dumping and The Right Stuff sure looks like it is caused by Calibre to this complete Nook outsider and somewhat Calibre outsider.

Could be. But the Glowlight Plus and Glowlight 3 run the same software and only the Glowlight 3 has the issue. Also, whenever you eject a Nook, you can see it rebuilding its database as it repopulates all the books on your home screen. Somewhere in the 3 there's a glitch, I'm sure of it.

Since nobody else has complained about it and since of my two currently used Nooks, only one does it, I haven't bothered to investigate too much.

I don't use collections (or 'shelves') on the Nook, but multiple other users in the Nook forum have the issue.

If the Nook software were otherwise flawless, then yeah, I'd be looking askance at Calibre. But the latest iteration of the Nook software isn't as good as it used to be. And it's not just me saying it.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

I've only been a Kobo owner (Clara then H2O2) for two months now, but in that time, the above describes all I did in terms of "tinkering". Yesterday I patched for the first time to give me the advanced font controls for my sideloaded fonts, but that's it. Then again, I've never got the whole "gotta have a good dictionary" thing either - in the 6 years I had my Kindle, I doubt I looked up 100 words on it. And in those 6 years "adding a font" was not an out of box option for the Kindle either

Things have changed quite a bit in the last few releases, but my main issue (in the pre-"no header", pre-"no footer" days) was the wasted space on the screen. I spent quite a bit of time trying to "fix" that without the patches. But even then, when I've got the controls to finely tune the fonts, I'm constantly trying to fine-tune them. Too light, too thick ... never quite right. Let me try this ... Now that I've got my dark fonts on the Kobo, Kindle and Tolinos (and embed it for the Sonys) I hardly worry about the fonts. So things have changed.

As for the dictionary, that's always been an important part of my reading. I grew up with a full-sized, 1913, Indian Paper Webster's New International Dictionary and I used to pore over that for hours. (This is the same dictionary Pocketbook supplies as their default English dictionary, which I think is cool.)

Originally Posted by rcentros

As for the dictionary, that's always been an important part of my reading. I grew up with a full-sized, 1913, Indian Paper Webster's New International Dictionary and I used to pore over that for hours. (This is the same dictionary Pocketbook supplies as their default English dictionary, which I think is cool.)

My low utilisation of the dictionary on my Kindle had nothing to do with any prodigious wetware version , it's simply that I always have my phone with me, and the sort of words I'm likely to look up are easier to google (or to use the OED online if needed

[barryem]

Originally Posted by rcentros

There's actually a whole lot of good choices. I've chosen too many of them.

In a way too many good choices is one of the problems with ereaders. They're all so good that we spend a lot of time debating the very smallest points. The fact is there aren't any bad ones, at least not among the major brands.

At the same time they're somewhat limited. Since booksellers sell ereaders we get the device that sells the most books for the bookseller. Any feature that detracts from their book sales isn't there. We can't access Dropbox or buy directly from other stores, for example.

If ereaders were made by Samsung and Sony and Asus they'd let us buy from whatever store we like, support every possible format and DRM, accept wireless transfers from phones or PC's and even allow the use of thumb drives.

Of course they'd cost more. They'd be worth it, too.

Barry

[barryem]

I use the dictionary a lot. That said, I find the dictionary on the Kobo and the Nook to be fine except for the grey text on the Nook. I do prefer the Kindle dictionary.

Things like the amount of space used by headers and footers don't matter much to me. I don't care about how much text is on the screen. in fact I use the widest margin on these things. Turning pages isn't an issue for me.

As for the 2 parts of the software, the reading part and the rest, the reading part matters. The rest is nice if it works well but it doesn't matter much to me one way or the other.

I read one book at a time. I rarely change fonts or sizes or weights. I set those without too much fussiness when I get a device and then pretty much forget it. What matters is the text on the screen while I'm reading and that it have a decent dictionary.

I'm actually the inventor of ereaders, way back when I was about 14, maybe 1954. One day, after a long session of reading while laying on the sofa I realized it was getting dark and I didn't feel like getting up to turn on the light so I just laid there thinking about books and the perfect way to read them. I envisioned a scroll like mechanism inside a flat plastic or wood panel with a rectangle to show the paper and a knob at the top and bottom to scroll. It was, in my mind, about the same size as my Glowlight 3. I never considered actually making one but I had the idea first. Of course it wouldn't be electronic, since integrated circuits were still years in the future, to say nothing of e-ink. Actually it would have probably been a foot thick but in my mind it was half an inch thick or less. I had a pretty good imagination.

Barry

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

Since booksellers sell ereaders we get the device that sells the most books for the bookseller. Any feature that detracts from their book sales isn't there.

Too true. Too true.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

I read one book at a time. I rarely change fonts or sizes or weights. I set those without too much fussiness when I get a device and then pretty much forget it.

I do the same, which is why I bought the Glowlight Plus. But I know other people use their differently, which is why I hesitate in recommending one, though their hardware is typically better than the competition and the reading experience is as good or better than the rest.