Ebook reader for offline RSS feed reading

[rudi42]

Hello,
I would like to use an ebook reader to read news that are available as RSS feeds.
My idea is that
- the reader connects at a scheduled time (e.g. 6am) with my WLAN,
- downloads the feeds I have subscribed to (somewhere I should be able to define that in the reader), and
- I have all RSS-feed-news available offline on my way to work.

Is such a device available? I am looking for a low price solution and long battery life (--> e-ink). All should not include any usage of a PC.


Thanks a lot for your suggestions.
Rudi

[Rbneader]

Well, I think there's 2 parts to your question.

You need to determine what format your feed reader downloads things as, and then any ereader that reads that format should be able to use the file just like a book. So which ereader you want depends on what format your feeds are downloaded as.

For the 2nd, can-I-automate part, I don't know of anything that does exactly what you want.

Currently I use Calibre for this. I set up its News function to grab the sites I want. Calibre downloads the days new articles as epubs whenever it's running. I hook up my ereader and send the feeds over like regular books, and then I can read them whenever I want.

I'm not aware of any ereader that will connect at a scheduled time and automatically download things, so I think your basic workflow is going to have to be like this:
1) Connect your ereader to your computer
2) Have news feeds download to your computer through an RSS reader that downloads for offline reading
3) Transfer those files to your ereader

If you want to use a tablet you would probably have more options due to having actual RSS reader apps available on the tablet, but I don't use them so I can't answer questions about that.

[rudi42]

Hello Rbneader,
thanks for your answer.

I guess most of the rss-news would be html.

Calibre is not an option for me. I don't want to start my PC in the morning, download the daily news, copy them to my ebook reader and then start the day.

A possible option would be to have not a scheduled download, but to start my ebook reader manually and click update and then the news of the day will be updated.
Or is there any service (a homepage) that will collect all my rss-feeds and send it to my ebook reader daily?

Thanks,
Rudi

[Ansileran]

I haven't seen any mention of RSS feeds on the reader specs I checked, and I checked quite a few... Your best shot might be to wait for Onyx's android reader (or e-ink phone). You shouldn't have any problem doing what you want then.

Or you can check for hacks on existing readers if there is anything that can be done. Don't know if Sony's PRS+ firmware allows you to do something of the kind. There was something about the (German) Tolino too. And Bookeen readers are linux based... But that demands some coding ability.

[Rbneader]

If you're up for rooting, I think Nook Simple Touch is the easiest to root and mess around with. Then you can try to get an Android RSS reader app on it.

[mimble]

Originally Posted by rudi42

Hello,
I would like to use an ebook reader to read news that are available as RSS feeds.
My idea is that
- the reader connects at a scheduled time (e.g. 6am) with my WLAN,
- downloads the feeds I have subscribed to (somewhere I should be able to define that in the reader), and
- I have all RSS-feed-news available offline on my way to work.

Is such a device available? I am looking for a low price solution and long

The Pocketbook e-ink readers almost do what you want. They do have an e-ink screen and will talk over a WLAN.
They will not wake up at 6am and sync. They have three relevant problems.
* You cannot paste a link from the primordial browser to the RSS app.
* The RSS app only downloads titles. To get the article, it wants a WLAN connection.

I think you might have a hard time avoiding a PC.
What does work for me is I connect the reader to a PC before I hop in the shower in the morning. I let calibre download from the RSS feeds of various papers and it builds a very good approximation to a newspaper.
I can read this on the train.

This will work with just about every device on the planet. Calibre is very clever.

[jojoba]

Originally Posted by mimble

I let calibre download from the RSS feeds of various papers and it builds a very good approximation to a newspaper.
I can read this on the train.

That's really smart - how do you link your RSS feed to Calibre?