Why do you prefer Kobo ereaders to Amazon ereaders

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by LDB

You left out the most important reason and choice of all.

The ability to sort based on file size.

That's the most important? I literally have never read anyone requiring that.

A Gutenberg copy of War and Peace would have a smaller file size than an enhanced edition of The Cat in the Hat. So sorting by file size wouldn't be a good way to find a short read.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I had to burst your bubble but in every test I've done using search has beaten a file explorer approach to locating a file hands down. As for metadata, author, title, series are important to me and my Kobos can search on them.

As the usual horrible example, here's a book my wife recently picked up:

Call of Magic: A LIMITED EDITION COLLECTION OF FANTASY, URBAN FANTASY, AND PARANORMAL ROMANCES by Becca Blake & Margo Bond Collins & Tia Didmon & Harper Wylde & Morgan Jane Mitchell & L. W. Moonstone & Naomi Panthera & Angela Kulig & Krystal Pena & Maya Riley & Karine Saint Jacques & Laurel Night & Cara A. Edwards & Claire Marta & Elizabeth Dunlap & Ashley Amy & Nikki Kimberly & Bex Taylor & Zelda Knight & Angela Sanders & Leigh Kelsey & Joe Quackenboss & K. N. Banet & Ariel Dawn & Faedra Rose & Stacey Jaine McIntosh & Kelsey Gamble & Suki Williams & R. C. Barnes & Jennifer M. Miller & Marissa Ann & Silvana G. Sánchez & Nikki Landis & Poppy Flynn & Faera Fenix & Dora Blume

Call of Magic is stored as the title, A LIMITED etc. is stored as the subtitle and all the author names are carried in the author metadata. Yes, I do use a plugboard that uses the first author name as the author for creating the file name and deciding which author subdirectory to store it in to keep filename and path lengths from becoming a nightmare.

Care to let me know what directory structure would let you look for books by Angela Sanders and have this book pop up in the search results? Now with the ease of using calibre and a Kobo ereader together?

As one of my co-workers phrases it, complex directory structures are so last century.

I would put it any folder I felt best represented it. Perhaps fantasy anthologies, or fantasy, or a specific author name or a subfolder for series. I would then do a search for any element in the file name that I was searching for, including author name. The search would pick up any the authors very quickly. I can see that some might find my approach a bit rough and ready, but i find there are few cases where a simple filename search is not adequate to my needs, as long as the file name contains the author and title.

How well would an automatic kobo search of its internal DB find each author listed in the anthology? Would "cleaning" the author metadata of this book be necessary? If so, what would that entail? Or does a full list of authors and series name included in the anthology come prepackaged by Kobo?

I should mention I do the search within Alreaderx Pro. It does build a "DB" I suppose, but that's a bit too grand a title for a list of OS files properties like filename for example. In addition, i can also use the onyx UI library, or I can navigate to a specific file via the inbuilt file explorer. I can find books by name, folder, size,date, etc. I have multiple ways of finding a file, all facilitated by simply creating a folder and dragging a file in. If it so interested me, I could search the entire text of multiple books across whatever subfolder branch i choose. This might be handy in reference texts. Indexxing is not required for my personal needs.

I think the main difference here is that I use a folder system. I still use software generated lists of files you could call a DB.
The main difference is AIUI is that the Kobo DB can list or point to the same file as being under multiple categories. I just don't need this ability. In addition your library is stored and managed under calibre on your PC.
In comparison, I store my books in folders, wherever I want. I don't need to calibre to do it. They are stored in folders. I like this method as it simple to copy and store files, and it is very simple to find files by simply navigating through the folder structure. No other software provided.

[Pajamaman]

A couple of people have mentioned "cleaning" metadata prior to loading onto their ereaders. What does this mean?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

A couple of people have mentioned "cleaning" metadata prior to loading onto their ereaders. What does this mean?

Fixing the title, author and series info so that it matches the rest of the library, downloading a high-res cover or even a different one altogether, filling in the synopsis if it lacked one, adding custom tags and/or deleting the superfluous ones and so on.

Many of us also edit the files themselves, adjusting the formatting according to their taste. E.g. fixing abnormal body font sizes, too large line-spacing and paragraph indents, adding or deleting spaces between paragraphs etc. It's easier to do it in a desktop editor than to constantly fiddle with the ereader settings.

[Pajamaman]

Perhaps I should add a poll response, I prefer to use an android reader. J/K. But that is my position.

I quite like the look of the sage, except that the pale yellow light is not orange enough. The Libra2 is much more orange according to the pictures I've seen. Don't know why. Strange. And the Libra is to small small for me.

A big advantage of Kobo over android is the battery charge life.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Fixing the title, author and series info so that it matches the rest of the library, downloading a high-res cover or even a different one altogether, filling in the synopsis if it lacked one, adding custom tags and/or deleting the superfluous ones and so on.

Many of us also edit the files themselves, adjusting the formatting according to their taste. E.g. fixing abnormal body font sizes, too large line-spacing and paragraph indents, adding or deleting spaces between paragraphs etc. It's easier to do it in a desktop editor than to constantly fiddle with the ereader settings.

Ok. I can't be bothered. I read most books only once anyway. In terms of internal formatting, alreaderx will do anything in the menu settings for me. As will Koboreader, so kobo users have that option too. Which for me is the main advantage of kobo--the OS is not locked like Amazon.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Ok. I can't be bothered. I read most books only once anyway. In terms of internal formatting, alreaderx will do anything in the menu settings for me. As will Koboreader, so kobo users have that option too. Which for me is the main advantage of kobo--the OS is not locked like Amazon.

Well, I often read several books at once, switching between them. I'd go mad if I had to adjust the settings every time I switched between books. So I edit the formatting before loading the books on the readers.

And I also reread often.

[ps67]

I forgot to mention that I actually bought the Kobo Aura One because I wanted a 7.8" screen, and Amazon didn't have it and doesn't even have it today. Now i prefer it because it is more open and customizable but if there was a 7.8" screen amazon ereader I would have bought it.

[Almamida]

Originally Posted by ps67

I forgot to mention that I actually bought the Kobo Aura One because I wanted a 7.8" screen, and Amazon didn't have it and doesn't even have it today. Now i prefer it because it is more open and customizable but if there was a 7.8" screen amazon ereader I would have bought it.

I think I might end up the same.
I'm getting used to the Sage, waiting for an Oasis refresh. But, at the same time, I'm getting used to the Kobo and its calibre integration. I might not want to switch back next year.

[Pjama]

I do love my Kobo Libra, but every time I go back to read a book on my Oasis, I fall in love with the screen all over again. I think having both of them is kind of having the best of both worlds. The Oasis screen is better than my Voyage screen was, which did have uneven lighting (has everyone forgotten about the uneven lighting?) although was otherwise perfect.

I am trying to be happy going between the excellent ereaders I already have instead of adding to my stable. But I really would like a Kobo Libra 2 for Christmas.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

I would put it any folder I felt best represented it. Perhaps fantasy anthologies, or fantasy, or a specific author name or a subfolder for series. I would then do a search for any element in the file name that I was searching for, including author name. The search would pick up any the authors very quickly. I can see that some might find my approach a bit rough and ready, but i find there are few cases where a simple filename search is not adequate to my needs, as long as the file name contains the author and title.

Out of curiosity, which file system are you running? I picked that book as a horrible example since the author name string alone totals to well over 255 bytes with the total file name clocking in at 682 characters. Other than ReiserFS, most Linux FS come out of the box ( well, out of limits.h ) with a 255 character filename limit.

And yes, a good chunk of both my books and my wife's books are anthologies with multiple authors.

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

How well would an automatic kobo search of its internal DB find each author listed in the anthology? Would "cleaning" the author metadata of this book be necessary? If so, what would that entail? Or does a full list of authors and series name included in the anthology come prepackaged by Kobo?

Most excellently. The book as packaged came with the author names neatly listed so no cleaning was needed. And yes, my Kobos will search for any of the authors. BTW, the prepackaging of the author names was done by the original publisher. The only updating I did was the cover image and moving the subtitle to a subtitle field.

.... some words deleted here.

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

I think the main difference here is that I use a folder system. I still use software generated lists of files you could call a DB.
The main difference is AIUI is that the Kobo DB can list or point to the same file as being under multiple categories. I just don't need this ability. In addition your library is stored and managed under calibre on your PC.
In comparison, I store my books in folders, wherever I want. I don't need to calibre to do it. They are stored in folders. I like this method as it simple to copy and store files, and it is very simple to find files by simply navigating through the folder structure. No other software provided.

With 12K+ ebooks currently in my library, a directory structure is not a solution I would care to spend time on.

I tried other software before switching to calibre. When my library expanded to having more than 1000 books, calibre was simply the best solution I could find, at that time, for storing and managing my ebooks. Considering that at that time, many commercial epubs had metadata and formatting that could be kindly described as crap, calibre and Sigil were tools I made very heavy use of for cleaning up metadata and editing styles to make reading an ebook a much more enjoyable experience.

Over the more than a decade that I've been using calibre and Sigil, they still remain at the top of my most used software list.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Out of curiosity, which file system are you running? I picked that book as a horrible example since the author name string alone totals to well over 255 bytes with the total file name clocking in at 682 characters. Other than ReiserFS, most Linux FS come out of the box ( well, out of limits.h ) with a 255 character filename limit.

And yes, a good chunk of both my books and my wife's books are anthologies with multiple authors.



Most excellently. The book as packaged came with the author names neatly listed so no cleaning was needed. And yes, my Kobos will search for any of the authors. BTW, the prepackaging of the author names was done by the original publisher. The only updating I did was the cover image and moving the subtitle to a subtitle field.

.... some words deleted here.



With 12K+ ebooks currently in my library, a directory structure is not a solution I would care to spend time on.

I tried other software before switching to calibre. When my library expanded to having more than 1000 books, calibre was simply the best solution I could find, at that time, for storing and managing my ebooks. Considering that at that time, many commercial epubs had metadata and formatting that could be kindly described as crap, calibre and Sigil were tools I made very heavy use of for cleaning up metadata and editing styles to make reading an ebook a much more enjoyable experience.

Over the more than a decade that I've been using calibre and Sigil, they still remain at the top of my most used software list.

I'm using android, and I do not know how it would handles a filename of that length, or what it would do. Either throw an error or truncate it I guess. I see your use case is different to mine. Maintaining a very large library with many anthologies is not something I do. Also, it sounds like you, and many people on this forum, maintain a large library. I am more the type that shoved books in boxes, then rifled through. I still do this, but with folders and files searches.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Well, I often read several books at once, switching between them. I'd go mad if I had to adjust the settings every time I switched between books. So I edit the formatting before loading the books on the readers.

And I also reread often.

I do not change formatting between books. They are all epub. I only use a single weighted font, same margins, spacing etc across all books? Do you actually change this stuff between books?

The only exception is off files, which are a different fish kettle altogether.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

I do not change formatting between books. They are all epub. I only use a single weighted font, same margins, spacing etc across all books? Do you actually change this stuff between books?

No, but only because I edit them before loading them on my readers. Otherwise I'd have to, because dedicated ereaders respect the css and the css can be very different from book to book. I'm guessing the reading apps on Android ignore the css, but that would not be acceptable to me either.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

...I still do this, but with folders and files searches.

I'd die of old age before I'd find anything this way, having about 20,000 ebooks in my library. And I'd probably have bought hundreds of duplicates. In Calibre I can tag and group my books in many different ways, and search for them using as many or as few parameters as I like.