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Old 05-17-2009, 12:22 PM   #1
migrant
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Another question on which reader, please

Hi All,

Just joined, and this is my first post, so be gentle please!

Also not real techie so please type slow

My question is which reader is best for all the free e-books available. I also have quite a few word.docs I read for work. If I have existing material on my computer can I transfer to the reader for free? I think I read the Kindle charges for this.

Curious about accessing the web through the reader, it seems this may be good for reading news/magazines while traveling (economist, etc) so any comments would be great.

I've gone through a bunch of threads, but haven't found anything directly on this.

Thanks All, I'm real happy to have found this site!!
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Old 05-17-2009, 01:04 PM   #2
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To answer a few of your questions:
Quote:
My question is which reader is best for all the free e-books available.
The ebooks available from this site can be used on most popular ereaders. Ebooks available for checkout from many U.S. libraries come in two DRM formats, one of which can be read on the Sony ereaders, the other can be read on the Kindle with a little adjustment. If you remove the DRM from any ebook, (the legality of which evokes much discussion), free software "Calibre" will convert either format into whatever format your ereader needs.

Quote:
I also have quite a few word.docs I read for work. If I have existing material on my computer can I transfer to the reader for free? I think I read the Kindle charges for this.
You do not need to have Amazon convert your word or pdf documents for use on the Kindle. There is free software that will handle this very nicely, and you simply upload the material via the Kindle usb cord.

Quote:
Curious about accessing the web through the reader, it seems this may be good for reading news/magazines while traveling (economist, etc) so any comments would be great.
Since Kindle is the 'wireless' solution in the U.S., if you want to access newspapers and magazines easily while traveling, it is probably the best solution. There is, of course, a fee for purchasing these periodicals. You can review the availability and subscription charges at Amazon's kindle website.

cheers
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Old 05-17-2009, 01:36 PM   #3
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Thanks for th quick and helpful reply!!
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Old 05-17-2009, 01:39 PM   #4
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Quote:
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My question is which reader is best for all the free e-books available.
You can safely get any of the available readers and expect to find versions of the public-domain and creative commons books to read on it. Some of the publishers who are offering free books on the Internet seem to be stuck on PDF as a format, so you'd want a reader that has native PDF support -- or do as I do and convert the PDF to text and then to a format suitable for the reader. My Sony reader supports PDF, but those PDF files I've found online are designed to be printed on standard letter-sized paper, so they're virtually unreadable when displayed on a 6" screen. Converting to text and then to a proper e-Book just gives a much more readable product.
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I also have quite a few word.docs I read for work. If I have existing material on my computer can I transfer to the reader for free? I think I read the Kindle charges for this.
Most readers can be connected to your computer via a USB cable, so you can transfer content to them that way. Not all readers support Word documents, so you may have to convert to a supported format. For example, for my Sony reader, I have to use "Save As" to create an RTF file and then that's compatible with the reader. If you become comfortable with the book creation software, you can convert the Word documents to any of the book formats which your device supports.

As to the Kindle, the only charge one incurs (and it's still only potential since I have heard of no-one seeing a bill for this) is if you send your personal files to Amazon for conversion and delivery over the Whispernet connection. If you send the files to Amazon for conversion and delivery via e-mail, there is no charge.
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Originally Posted by migrant View Post
Curious about accessing the web through the reader, it seems this may be good for reading news/magazines while traveling (economist, etc) so any comments would be great.
Personally, I do *not* access the web from my Kindle. The experimental browser that is provided lacks much functionality and makes trying to view most web sites just too much of a struggle. What I *do* like to do is use Calibre to download the web site -- particularly RSS feeds -- to create a "newspaper" which I then transfer to my Sony reader or Kindle so I can enjoy it while travelling. Our friends at Feedbooks also offer a means for converting RSS feeds into a book for your reader.

If you are in the USA, you have a lot of choices available to you, including the Kindle. I do a lot more reading on my Kindle than on the Sony reader, but I'm glad I have both. Although the Kindle cost a little bit more to begin with, I've more than made up the difference in the lower cost of e-Books. (Amazon prices tend to run $2 less than the Sony prices for the same book.) I've been looking longingly at the Jetbook and the Cool-er to add yet another reader to the mix, but haven't made the decision to spend the money yet.

We're glad you've joined us at MobileRead -- hope you find what you need and can move on to reading e-Books on the device you decide to get.
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Old 05-17-2009, 03:16 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by migrant View Post
Hi All,

Just joined, and this is my first post, so be gentle please!

Also not real techie so please type slow

My question is which reader is best for all the free e-books available. I also have quite a few word.docs I read for work. If I have existing material on my computer can I transfer to the reader for free? I think I read the Kindle charges for this.

Curious about accessing the web through the reader, it seems this may be good for reading news/magazines while traveling (economist, etc) so any comments would be great.

I've gone through a bunch of threads, but haven't found anything directly on this.

Thanks All, I'm real happy to have found this site!!
I can recommend jetBook. You can download ebooks in TXT, ePub, PRC, Mobi and RTF format on it. Many webistes like Gutenberg.org and http://manybooks.net/ offer free e-books in these formats.

You can also save your word.docs files as RTF and read it on jetBook.

The comments of people who purchased jetBook available on NewEgg website:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16858723001

I hope this information will be helpful.
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Old 05-17-2009, 10:39 PM   #6
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it depends whethere these free books would have DRM protection or not. Some "free" books (from Sony, the library, and various other websites) are still drm'ed even though they are free.
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Old 05-17-2009, 11:40 PM   #7
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So it sounds like I have to remove this DRM protection to have more freedom. I looked at Calibre, but that sounds more like a cataloging program, not one to remove the DRM, or bypass it.

Thanks all for the answersgreat forum!!
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Old 05-18-2009, 01:58 AM   #8
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OR you could get an ebook reader that can read DRM'ed books. So far, the Jetbook is the only one I know that cannot read drm'ed books.
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Old 05-18-2009, 07:00 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by migrant View Post
So it sounds like I have to remove this DRM protection to have more freedom.
This is now possible for all the major DRMed formats, MOBI (mobidedrm), MS Reader (ConvertLIT), Adobe (ineptpdf and ineptepub), and eReader (ereader2html). Note that this is thought by some to be illegal in the US and some other places, even for personal use, although it is hard to see who is hurt if you buy an ebook and strip its DRM to allow more flexibility in which reading device you use.

As kelly1010 says, most reading devices support at least one DRMed format and it is certainly possible to stick with the format supported on the device. Even then, the fact that DRM stripping software is available means that your next reading device does not have to use the same DRM.
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Old 05-18-2009, 10:17 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leep View Post
Since Kindle is the 'wireless' solution in the U.S., if you want to access newspapers and magazines easily while traveling, it is probably the best solution. There is, of course, a fee for purchasing these periodicals. You can review the availability and subscription charges at Amazon's kindle website.
Newspapers and magazines delivered automatically over Whispernet seems like a miracle. But for the, uh, thrifty, one can get many of them for free on the Kindle from Calibre via USB, now that Calibre supports .mobi output. (Similarly, you can also get them free for the Sony Reader and other e-readers in .lrf or .epub format.) Using the OP's original example, The Calibre version of The Economist for May 11th was 657 pages formatted for a 6" e-book reader. You can see what the latest issue will look like on a 6" e-reader by previewing it in Calibre on your PC: install Calibre, Fetch News (The Economist), View.

Calibre offers many more news/magazine selections than Amazon, and you can ask for new ones on the forum here, or create your own. Sometimes there are RSS feed problems when the source website changes something that causes Calibre to be unable to retrieve the news/magazine, but they usually get fixed within a week or two.

Another thing I don't think has been mentioned in this thread is that several public libraries offer e-books (if yours doesn't, you can do what many do and join the NY Public Library for $100/yr.). The majority of those e-books are in Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) format, which can't be read on the Kindle (though a minority of those e-books are in .mobi format which *can* be read on the Kindle). Some people don't like the formatting in these ADE e-books and refuse to read them. E.g., run-on paragraphs where it becomes difficult to distinguish who is speaking in dialogues, or e.g., lost em dashes. Others don't mind. The Sony Readers can read ADE, as may others, but not the Kindle.

EDIT: Last para. may be wrong about Kindle not capable of reading most library e-books, if you can convert ADE via ineptpdf and ineptepub, which seems to be what wallcraft said in the post directly above. Sorry, I don't know about these de-DRM tools. (The Sonys can read ADE natively.)

Last edited by jj2me; 05-18-2009 at 10:25 AM.
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Old 05-18-2009, 05:53 PM   #11
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Wow,

I must say I'm very impressed, and pleased, that I found this forum!!

You've all been a great, and fast, help!!
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Old 05-18-2009, 10:08 PM   #12
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I feel like I am in preschool and got thrown into some AP class. I am learning that I need to understand the type of format (?) for each specific ebook. To understand this will help decide which one to purchase.
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Old 05-19-2009, 02:00 AM   #13
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It is also important to find out which formats each reader is compatible with. ALSO....if you like to read Bestsellers and newer releases, it is important to make sure you get a reader that is compatible with DRM'ed formats.
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Old 05-19-2009, 02:36 PM   #14
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yea definately check your formats first
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Old 05-22-2009, 09:06 AM   #15
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OK, after all your help, the other entries, and talking to a friend with a Kindle, I'm going with the Sony 505. $269 on the web with free shipping (local here in Southern California was $299.

Price was a small reason, but most of my reading will be many of the free books available on the web and some periodicals so the purchase price between amazon and sony wasn't a real deal breaker.

Thanks All for your help!!
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