e-Book Readers

[Kamaji]

I've been thinking about getting one for the commute, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations (pro or con).

[roamer_1]

I've been thinking about getting one for the commute, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations (pro or con).

I am on EBoox on a droid... Not really a recommend, except it is the one I kept after discarding around three or four others.

Not committed even yet, as my primary prerequisite is not yet met - That being control of where the library goes... Which I have yet to find out for sure.

But the look and feel is alright. And it remembers where I stopped last. My eyes don't get tired too quickly reading it. 

[Gefn]

I have a kindle.

It’s good but I prefer to hold an actual book.


There’s an app for a kindle for your phone in the App Store, I’m sure it’s available for Android as well.

Amazon will give you a free chapter of a book so you can see if this is something you might like and/or use.

[Gefn]

I also like to listen to books

[Bigun]

I also like to listen to books

You can do that with the Kindle app @Gefn .  IF you can abide their text to speech technology.

[Kamaji]

Thanks for the comments so far.

One addition I would make:  I am looking for a dedicated solution, and not a solution for use on my existing smart phone, because reading close text for any length of time on my phone would be untenable.

I, too, would prefer to have real books, but given the paucity of book stores around me, and my preference for not wanting to order books online, an e-reader seems to me to be a potentially useful tool at this point.

As far as where the library goes:  I agree that I, too, would like to know where my library is maintained, and in particular do not want books I have paid for to be available for only a limited period of time.

[Bigun]

I've been thinking about getting one for the commute, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations (pro or con).

I have had several kindles but now confine myself to only installing the app on other devices.

I also have "Reader for E book Windows" installed but honestly have never used it.

[roamer_1]

Thanks for the comments so far.

One addition I would make:  I am looking for a dedicated solution, and not a solution for use on my existing smart phone, because reading close text for any length of time on my phone would be untenable.

EBoox does have the ability to use my cloud (dunno if I have it on Giggles or OneDrive) and it syncs its library between my phone and my tablet (downloaded). Dunno about PC, though ultimately that would be a concern. .

As far as where the library goes:  I agree that I, too, would like to know where my library is maintained, and in particular do not want books I have paid for to be available for only a limited period of time.

I am using strictly free ebook sites and strictly non-proprietary formats. Someone gave me a free site here... Hopefully they will come back around, because the site was awesome. Anything you could think of.

[Polly Ticks]

Although I do miss the smell of a dead-tree book, I completely adore my Kindle e-reader.
It doesn't give me eye-strain like a computer or phone screen does, it can hold hundreds of downloaded books, and it fits easily into my purse or back pocket. The newer ones have dark mode, which is super-nice when it's headed toward bedtime. I use mine every day, usually for at least a couple of hours, and only have to charge it every few weeks. (Edited to add  - that's on airplane mode, which is where I keep mine unless I'm actively downloading new books. It obviously does discharge more quickly if it is always connected to wifi.

[Fishrrman]

I don't have any dedicated e-book readers (like Kindle).

That doesn't keep me from reading ebooks in Kindle format (which I believe is ".mobi")

I use my MacBook Pro 14" for e-reading. I've become a near-total convert.

For ebooks in .mobi or .epub, I use the free "Calibre" e-reader app.

For books in .pdf format, I read them in Preview (Apple's pdf reader).

For the "books" themselves, you can find older ones at the internet archive:
https://archive.org

Or (often much better), you can find almost any book you might want at:
z-lib.org
But don't GO to "z-lib.org". The webside has been seized (by the feds, it says).

z-lib is still there, however.
It's now harder to "get to".
You need the Tor browser. Free to download and use.
Open Tor and go here:
zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52fad.onion
This takes you to the z-lib login.
You will need to create an account (email, username and password - I would recommend that you use an email account OTHER THAN your "normal" one. For a good alternate email, try protonmail.com [free]).
Once you do this, you can enter your credentials and will then have access to z-lib, as it "was before".

Save this info above for future reference.
Ain't it amazing that you can find out tricks here that you'd have a hard time discovering elsewhere?

[Kamaji]

I don't have any dedicated e-book readers (like Kindle).

That doesn't keep me from reading ebooks in Kindle format (which I believe is ".mobi")

I use my MacBook Pro 14" for e-reading. I've become a near-total convert.

For ebooks in .mobi or .epub, I use the free "Calibre" e-reader app.

For books in .pdf format, I read them in Preview (Apple's pdf reader).

For the "books" themselves, you can find older ones at the internet archive:
https://archive.org

Or (often much better), you can find almost any book you might want at:
z-lib.org
But don't GO to "z-lib.org". The webside has been seized (by the feds, it says).

z-lib is still there, however.
It's now harder to "get to".
You need the Tor browser. Free to download and use.
Open Tor and go here:
zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52fad.onion
This takes you to the z-lib login.
You will need to create an account (email, username and password - I would recommend that you use an email account OTHER THAN your "normal" one. For a good alternate email, try protonmail.com [free]).
Once you do this, you can enter your credentials and will then have access to z-lib, as it "was before".

Save this info above for future reference.
Ain't it amazing that you can find out tricks here that you'd have a hard time discovering elsewhere?

Thanks!  I’ve been thinking about an iPad as opposed to a dedicated e-reader as well, although expense does factor into it.

[Sighlass]

I don't have any dedicated e-book readers (like Kindle).

That doesn't keep me from reading ebooks in Kindle format (which I believe is ".mobi")

I use my MacBook Pro 14" for e-reading. I've become a near-total convert.

For ebooks in .mobi or .epub, I use the free "Calibre" e-reader app.

For books in .pdf format, I read them in Preview (Apple's pdf reader).

For the "books" themselves, you can find older ones at the internet archive:
https://archive.org

Or (often much better), you can find almost any book you might want at:
z-lib.org
But don't GO to "z-lib.org". The webside has been seized (by the feds, it says).

z-lib is still there, however.
It's now harder to "get to".
You need the Tor browser. Free to download and use.
Open Tor and go here:
zlibrary24tuxziyiyfr7zd46ytefdqbqd2axkmxm4o5374ptpc52fad.onion
This takes you to the z-lib login.
You will need to create an account (email, username and password - I would recommend that you use an email account OTHER THAN your "normal" one. For a good alternate email, try protonmail.com [free]).
Once you do this, you can enter your credentials and will then have access to z-lib, as it "was before".

Save this info above for future reference.
Ain't it amazing that you can find out tricks here that you'd have a hard time discovering elsewhere?

Thanks for the info... The site has always sorta floated around... I didn't keep up with it as I don't read as much as I used to.

P.S. I use Calibre (think that is spelling) to read books on my Desktop, no clue on phones.

[Texas Yellow Rose]

 

[Fishrrman]

Sighlass wrote:
"I use Calibre (think that is spelling) to read books on my Desktop"

Calibre's download page
https://calibre-ebook.com/download
...shows versions for Mac, Windows, Linux, "portable" (?), also iOS and Android.

If you end up with an ebook in ".pdf" format, best to use "Preview" on the Mac, or a pdf reader on the Windows side (not a Windows guy, don't know what they are other than Adobe).

On the Mac, there's Apple's own app "Books" (which I don't use).
Also a small freeware app named "Murasaki".

[roamer_1]

"portable" (?)

'Portable' is usually a term from the windows side - denoting a package that does not need to be installed, and hence can easily be deleted - Made old skool, to run from a single folder and no ties to windows registry, and fairly self-contained.

Nice for running from a thumb drive and such, or from a toybox folder that is often shipped between computers without install.

[sneakypete]

I have two,and never use either of them.

Oh,I used them at first. Mostly  because right after I bought them,I had a series of power outages,and they are great for reading in the dark because they are backlit.

And there is not one single thing wrong with them.

I just prefer the look and feel of a paper book.

From my limited experience,which is at least 10 years old,if that sort of thing appeals to you,you are going to love them. I still have mine to charge and use if an emergency comes up,but don't see me using them unless my eyesight gets worse,

[roamer_1]

I have two,and never use either of them.

Oh,I used them at first. Mostly  because right after I bought them,I had a series of power outages,and they are great for reading in the dark because they are backlit.

And there is not one single thing wrong with them.

I just prefer the look and feel of a paper book.

From my limited experience,which is at least 10 years old,if that sort of thing appeals to you,you are going to love them. I still have mine to charge and use if an emergency comes up,but don't see me using them unless my eyesight gets worse,

@sneakypete

DITTOs all around... Albeit that you might revisit the thing... The quality of ebook tech has greatly advanced in a decade. I have a droid tablet rigged for it... And in some ways it is preferable - the ability to adjust font size primarily... But also cloud storage, and the ability to access with any device, pretty near anywhere. Bored waiting in the doctor's office? Just pull that book you are reading down into your phone... And it will come up exactly where you left off.

All very excellent.

But as I said, I am with you on it. I would rather turn the page. 

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

DITTOs all around... Albeit that you might revisit the thing... The quality of ebook tech has greatly advanced in a decade. I have a droid tablet rigged for it... And in some ways it is preferable - the ability to adjust font size primarily... But also cloud storage, and the ability to access with any device, pretty near anywhere. Bored waiting in the doctor's office? Just pull that book you are reading down into your phone... And it will come up exactly where you left off.

All very excellent.

But as I said, I am with you on it. I would rather turn the page. 

@roamer_1

Well,this is a long time past April,but I just bought a new  Kindle because they were on sale,and with my chemo brain,I would rather just work with a new one  than try to figure  out how  to update and operate one several years  old.

These days it seems like I would rather spend a little money that deal with  the all the frustration and loss of time trying to update something  old.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

DITTOs all around... Albeit that you might revisit the thing... The quality of ebook tech has greatly advanced in a decade. I have a droid tablet rigged for it... And in some ways it is preferable - the ability to adjust font size primarily... But also cloud storage, and the ability to access with any device, pretty near anywhere. Bored waiting in the doctor's office? Just pull that book you are reading down into your phone... And it will come up exactly where you left off.

All very excellent.

But as I said, I am with you on it. I would rather turn the page. 

@roamer_1

My new one just came in yesterday. I just got tired of trying to remember which book I was reading out of the 20 or so books I was hauling around in my car.

Plus,the new one fits into  my t-shirt pocke.

Or does when I can  remember where I  put it.

IF I can remember where I put it.

[Ghost Bear]

I missed this thread when it was new, and in reviewing the responses I see no one mentioned the option that I use: the Kindle app on my phone.  The books are completely readable; the text, lighting, etc. can all be adjusted for ease of reading, in case you are worried about the text being too small.  I have occasionally considered buying a separate reader (probably a Kindle) just to have a bigger screen, but the convenience of not having to carry around two devices when I want to read something, plus the additional cost of another device, has kept me from going through with it.

[Bigun]

I missed this thread when it was new, and in reviewing the responses I see no one mentioned the option that I use: the Kindle app on my phone.  The books are completely readable; the text, lighting, etc. can all be adjusted for ease of reading, in case you are worried about the text being too small.  I have occasionally considered buying a separate reader (probably a Kindle) just to have a bigger screen, but the convenience of not having to carry around two devices when I want to read something, plus the additional cost of another device, has kept me from going through with it.

@Ghost Bear I have owned several dedicated e-readers over the years but now prefer the kindle app for that purpose. It works on my desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone and I can move between those devices at will without missing a thing. I couldn't be happier with it.

[Fishrrman]

I need something bigger than a phone-sized screen to read on.

Don't own a smartphone anyway.

A MacBook Pro 14" does fine for me -- plenty of room for easily-readable-sized text.

[Kamaji]

I missed this thread when it was new, and in reviewing the responses I see no one mentioned the option that I use: the Kindle app on my phone.  The books are completely readable; the text, lighting, etc. can all be adjusted for ease of reading, in case you are worried about the text being too small.  I have occasionally considered buying a separate reader (probably a Kindle) just to have a bigger screen, but the convenience of not having to carry around two devices when I want to read something, plus the additional cost of another device, has kept me from going through with it.

I've read pdf files on my phone, but that gets to be a bit much for me.  I appreciate the idea, though.

[Ghost Bear]

I've read pdf files on my phone, but that gets to be a bit much for me.  I appreciate the idea, though.

PDF files are very different from books in the Kindle app. For one thing, PDF files are formatted to be a certain size, and only that size. The PDF viewer will let you zoom in to read them, but the document remains the same essential size so that you then have to do a lot of scrolling around to read a page. Books in the Kindle app are formatted to be optimally displayed on whatever size device you are using to read them. If you increase the font size, the text adjusts so that less text is displayed on a page, but an entire page is still displayed: you never have to scroll around to read the page, like you have to do with a PDF file. I agree, PDF files are difficult to read on a phone, but books in the Kindle app do not have the same issues.