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I like e-readers now

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Re: I like e-readers now

#101

Post by Finnucane »

sharikous wrote: post #68

I really like e-readers and e-books, mainly for the reasons commenters pointed out (much lighter than physical books, configurable font size, etc..). But there are big downsides too. Mainly the market discourages ownership on the one hand and encourages piracy on the other hand. The result is that DRM protections are everywhere and some authors like Jonathan Lewin were burned up by e-book piracy and reverted to only…

It probably won't surprise anyone that the vast majority of ebook sales are for genre fiction and light, nontechnical nonfiction. I work for an academic publisher and we do ebooks (I wrote the code spec), but it is suboptimal when you start getting into large tables, charts, math, etc. on smallish tablet screens. Yes, better software support for these things would help. Apple iBooks isn't terrible. But there's not so much incentive for the vendors.

Re: I like e-readers now

#102

Post by TrailMixRaisin »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #22

> I had a rather frustrating time setting up the damn device – it’s annoying to have to connect to wifi, make a Kobo account, make an Overdrive account, and search for books with a terrible response time to text input, and it’s especially annoying when you enter the wrong wifi password multiple times and end up restarting the device because you’re so convinced you have the right password before finally realizing your…

While I try to do that as much as possible it does not work with my country's version of overdrive. I have to use my e-reader and its awful browser to search for books I want to read. As the website is not even optimized for mobile devices the whole process is rather painful. But this is not the fault of the e-reader.

Re: I like e-readers now

#103

Post by kayodelycaon »

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.

> the obvious lack of features is so that you can have a focused, distraction-free experience

This means the device is more of an appliance than a general computing device.

A good example is a reMarkable 2. It is a solid, well-designed digital version of a paper notebook. (I will add paper notebooks aren't searchable.)

Yes, anything else, including search, is bolted on but the core experience it was designed for isn't half-baked.

Re: I like e-readers now

#104

Post by open-source-ux »

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…

I have a Kobo e-ink reader. The small 6-inch screen has a 300 PPI (Pixels Per Inch) resolution and does not fatigue the eyes for extended reading sessions. The e-ink screen easily beats a LCD high-resolution or retina display for reading books.

However, e-ink readers are only suitable for paperback-sized fiction or non-fiction titles. Everything else simply isn't suitable for the small 6-inch e-ink screen. PDFs at A4 (or US Letter size) are not suitable, as is any title with a lots of graphics or a complex page layout. Most academic or research papers are still in PDF and are rarely converted to ePub format suitable for reading on a e-Reader.

Note: When I say paperback-sized, I'm referring books in the approx. 6-inch (15cm) size ballpark. Anything above A5 size is likely unsuitable for small e-Reader screens unless the book is text-only (or predominately text).

Finally, if you are think of buying an Amazon Kindle 6-inch e-Reader, be aware that a lot of print books with graphics, charts, tables etc. have been poorly-converted to e-books and are unsuitable for small e-ink screens. Despite this, Amazon continues to misleadingly promote these titles as suitable for Kindle e-Readers when they are not.

Re: I like e-readers now

#105

Post by AshamedCaptain »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #103
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.

> the obvious lack of features is so that you can have a focused, distraction-free experience This means the device is more of an appliance than a general computing device. A good example is a reMarkable 2. It is a solid, well-designed digital version of a paper notebook. (I will add paper notebooks aren't searchable.) Yes, anything else, including search, is bolted on but the core experience it was designed for isn'…

Actually, reMarkable is _precisely_ what I had in mind. Distraction-free is just an excuse for obviously unfinished software; just go and see which con most reviews agree on.

The hardware is quite capable, but held back by the software.

Re: I like e-readers now

#106

Post by stinkytaco »

morsch wrote: post #100

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…

> I've never understood how this isn't a standard feature with standalone Kindles.

Is this an accessibility issue? I work fairly extensively with ebook devices and users in my job and this has never come up, I doubt it even occurs to most people, which probably answers your question. However, I also work quite a bit with accessibility (for which the Kindle is excellent for many common challenges that come with age) and I know users that this would be quite useful for if it was a standard feature, so I'm curious what your use case is.

Re: I like e-readers now

#107

Post by stinkytaco »

TrailMixRaisin wrote: post #102
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #22

> I had a rather frustrating time setting up the damn device – it’s annoying to have to connect to wifi, make a Kobo account, make an Overdrive account, and search for books with a terrible response time to text input, and it’s especially annoying when you enter the wrong wifi password multiple times and end up restarting the device because you’re so convinced you have the right password before finally realizing your…

While I try to do that as much as possible it does not work with my country's version of overdrive. I have to use my e-reader and its awful browser to search for books I want to read. As the website is not even optimized for mobile devices the whole process is rather painful. But this is not the fault of the e-reader.

Amazon has their hooks deep into Overdrive in exchange for supporting Kindle delivery for library books, so I doubt this will ever get better. Overdrive has moved its focus to its mobile app. I hope Kobo support will improve, but I am not optimistic.

Re: I like e-readers now

#108

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #99
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

Fair, I think "distraction-free experience" is a cop-out.

But I guess my point would be that there is a trade-off when you try to take a specialized gadget and make it more multi-purpose. The iPods and MP3 players of old did not have wireless-accessible storefronts, for example: you plugged them into a computer and pulled down your library, podcasts, etc. It was definitely more of a hassle from that perspective compared to using your smartphone as an mp3 player, but the advantage was arguably superior audio quality, and objectively superior battery life, since the mp3 player's OS had only one purpose compared to a smartphone's.

I'd argue the same on an eReader versus a conventional tablet. Yes, if you really wanted to browse the store / browse Libby & Overdrive library /browse Wikipedia while reading, you definitely could do all the reading on a standard iPad or Android tablet and use the Kobo App instead, and it would work. I have a 10" Samsung tablet and do this on occasion (mostly for comics, because the Galaxy Tab S5e has a gorgeous screen for a mid-range device). But I generally don't do it for any book that I'm going to read for more than an hour, because the reading experience on the tablet is subpar compared to that of the Kobo, to say nothing of the battery life (measured in hours on the tablet versus weeks on the Kobo).

And this is just me personally, but I don't think it's that big of a deal to pull out my smartphone and buy a book on the Kobo app, then click 'Sync' on my Kobo to connect to WiFi and bring it over. Or do the same with a Libby book checkout, or a Pocket article. It's not like I would've left my phone at home if the Kobo had been able to better do it on its own.

Re: I like e-readers now

#109

Post by morsch »

stinkytaco wrote: post #106
morsch wrote: post #100

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…

> I've never understood how this isn't a standard feature with standalone Kindles. Is this an accessibility issue? I work fairly extensively with ebook devices and users in my job and this has never come up, I doubt it even occurs to most people, which probably answers your question. However, I also work quite a bit with accessibility (for which the Kindle is excellent for many common challenges that come with age) a…

No, for me it's just a laziness issue. ;) I just enjoy not having to hold the device. I can just rest my arms wherever they naturally would rest. Or put them under the sheets when the bedroom is cold. Etc.

Re: I like e-readers now

#110

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

morsch wrote: post #100

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…

What is the use-case, exactly? The only real-life experience I have with wanting to turn ebook pages remotely is during the winter, when my hands are cold and even touchscreen-compatible gloves/mittens don't work well with the touchscreen sensor.

But if I ever truly got that desperate, there are several lines of Kobo and Kindle devices with physical touch buttons that would solve the problem.

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