I like e-readers now • Hacker News Board

Re: I like e-readers now

#91

Post by dageshi » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:43 PM UTC

xur17 wrote: post #73

Otek wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ebooks are so cheap these days, that it's a shame to pirate them.

I realize it's irrational given the price of ebooks, but the lack of "ownership" of the books makes me a lot less interested in buying them.

Personally I very rarely re-read books so the concept of owning them just doesn't really matter to me. If my ebook collection suddenly disappeared I wouldn't particularly care, I already got the value out of them I was going to get.

As for physical books, I'm trying to get rid of 200 or so I bought pre ebooks and damn it's a pain.

Re: I like e-readers now

#92

Post by grlass » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

Worth highlighting the Open Book Project [1], an open source e-reader hardware design and software stack.

The design is open, and you can make your own with commodity parts. People are starting to sell PCBs, and complete devices.

It has its own open software stack, and I hope will have a variety of vendors in the coming years.

Ofc the e-ink patent issues remain, but this goes some of the way to solve things at the e-reader level.

[1] https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book

Re: I like e-readers now

#93

Post by AdmiralAsshat » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #71

detritus wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Kobo is an excellent reading device, but it is a very poor internet browsing device. Sounds like a feature to me - perfect!

Apparently these days you can release a half-baked product and get away with it by saying "the obvious lack of features is so that you can have a focused, distraction-free experience!" or something similar.

My counter would be that it was traditionally never the paperback book's job to help you navigate the bookstore.

But yes, I'll grant that the Kobo's experimental browser (which I think is the component that powers all the pieces I mentioned above that are slow/cumbersome) is noticeably less responsive than the Kindle's. They could probably do some additional tweaking under-the-hood to make it more responsive.

Beyond a certain point, however, the only way to make it faster would be to increase the hardware specs and put a beefier OS into it. But at that point, you wouldn't really have a dedicated eReader anymore--you'd have something closer to a conventional tablet with just an e-Ink screen. And there are definitely markets for those (see any number of e-Ink tablets running Android), but then the price starts skyrocketing.

Re: I like e-readers now

#94

Post by refracture » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #62

I've been using an iPad Mini for the last few years, for my reading. I have about 400 books on it. I needed to get used to it. Now that I am used to it, I actually have difficulty with paper books. My wife is the opposite. She doesn't want to use an eReader.

My wife is a big reader and used to be pretty deep into the Barnes and Noble Nook ecosystem, but we found the Nook hardware to be pretty lacking.. loading a book onto a GlowLight was not a good experience, and that's from their shop directly, not even side loading.

After her 2nd GlowLight stopped working reliably I gave her my iPad Mini 4 that I wasn't using very much. She proceeded to kill its battery in about two years after countless books.. (it was already a couple years old) and was happy to be able to read Kindle now.

Apple gave us about $100 for it towards a Mini 5, she still seems happy with it. It's the perfect size for purse duty. I think the True Tone display helps with eye strain a little.

I read on an iPad Pro a decent amount but nowhere near as much as her.

Re: I like e-readers now

#95

Post by mdm12 » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

ipaddr wrote: post #84

I stopped using readers after the open ereader maker alaratek stopped making them. The brands left are twice the cost and do not support as many formats. If anyone knows of a good non-amazon, kobo brand is please share.

I have an Onyx Boox Note Pro that I have had for about two years now. Not cheap (was $500 when I purchased it) but well worth it for me, given how much time I use it and how much space it saves.

I only use it for reading, so I can't attest to its writing capabilities. Or all the other crap that it technically supports, as it is an Android device.

Re: I like e-readers now

#96

Post by hzhou321 » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

An ebook device can easily hold many books and makes it equally easy or difficult to switch chapters or switch books. I think that is the very reason I still much much prefer physical books. Picking up a physical book confines me to a set of hierarchic contexts -- the book, the chapter, the page. The contexts helps me to read and enjoy the book.

Re: I like e-readers now

#97

Post by JasonFruit » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

maltalex wrote: post #16

As someone who's reading a lot of technical material, I'm on the fence about e-readers. On the one hand, many technical books are thick and heavy, and can benefit from having a search function. But on the other, e-reader screens tend to be small and require a lot of scrolling back and forth (like between a code sample and an accompanying explanation). Does anyone have experience with reading technical books on an e-r…

Get the 7.8" screen. It was the savior for technical books, especially in PDF, even though the Kobo I used had a terrible PDF reader. I tried a 6" version, and it was just not the same.

Re: I like e-readers now

#98

Post by thomascgalvin » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

hzhou321 wrote: post #96

An ebook device can easily hold many books and makes it equally easy or difficult to switch chapters or switch books. I think that is the very reason I still much much prefer physical books. Picking up a physical book confines me to a set of hierarchic contexts -- the book, the chapter, the page. The contexts helps me to read and enjoy the book.

One of the things I like about my eReader is that it has a "minutes left in chapter" feature. It knows roughly how fast I read, and how long it will take me to get to the next logical break in the story.

This is really nice, because I tend to read in bed, and knowing whether the next chapter is going to be five minutes or twenty-five minutes helps me decide when it's time to go to sleep.

Of course I used to do this with physical books, too; flipping forward until I saw the next chapter. But I like having the little number at the bottom of the screen.

Re: I like e-readers now

#99

Post by AshamedCaptain » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:52 PM UTC

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #93

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently these days you can release a half-baked product and get away with it by saying "the obvious lack of features is so that you can have a focused, distraction-free experience!" or something similar.

My counter would be that it was traditionally never the paperback book's job to help you navigate the bookstore. But yes, I'll grant that the Kobo's experimental browser (which I think is the component that powers all the pieces I mentioned above that are slow/cumbersome) is noticeably less responsive than the Kindle's. They could probably do some additional tweaking under-the-hood to make it more responsive. Beyond…

> My counter would be that it was traditionally never the paperback book's job to help you navigate the bookstore.

This is like claiming that a phone never had the job of an internet browsing device. Sure, the hardware and maybe the form factor has some handicaps, but it is perfectly reasonable hardware, if only the software was up to the task.

But the problem is people claiming the poor software is so that "you can have a more distraction-free experience". That's just ridiculous, and the net conclusion is that again I have to bring a entire backpack full of gadgets rather than just one because of _minimal_ software differences.

If I am forced to bring new hardware in my luggage, I want it to be because of meaningful differences in the hardware itself (e.g. e-Ink easier to read outdoors), rather than ridiculous differences in the software (e.g., I also need to bring another computer because the ridiculous software won't let me visit a website to download a new ePub, even on eInk speeds), most specially if these differences are explained with very dubious excuses such as "distraction-free" experience.

Re: I like e-readers now

#100

Post by morsch » Tue, Sep 21, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

I finally found a way to do remote page-turning for Kindle -- something I was trying to do for years. It does mean I have to read books on my Android phone instead of the Paperwhite. With OLED and white on black, I find it's pretty all right though. But I can finally rest the reader somewhere, on my knees, on a pillow, whatever, and click a remote button to get to the next page. Freedom!

You enable volume button page turning in the Kindle app settings. This already means you can attach e.g. a USB keyboard to your device and use its volume buttons. But you can also use these tiny BTLE media control gadgets[1], meant primarily for putting on steering wheels of cars that don't have built-in media controls. The replaceable battery lasted a couple of thousand pages so far, which is kind of amazing. Note that the volume buttons of bluetooth headsets do not work.

I've never understood how this isn't a standard feature with standalone Kindles. People made it work using the USB port, but you need to install a custom ROM. It makes incredible sense for accessibility purposes, alone. Imagine a big fat button for people with limited limb control, or something based on eye movement for people who are even worse off.

[1] e.g. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32948528629.html 5.49 USD