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I like e-readers now

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Re: I like e-readers now

#211

Post by asdff »

koof wrote: post #177

I resonate with the author preferring to read an e-reader than a book when their mind is more amped up. Why is it easier to read from a mutable screen than paper when I'm frazzled?

Screens wind you up, pages wind you down. I've ran this experiment on myself plenty of times. If I'm scrolling on the internet and reading articles there, I can be up almost indefinitely without getting tired. The mind keeps going with the screen. If I sit in the exact same chair at the exact same time of day with the exact same amount of rest the day before, and get into a book, I might last 13 pages before I nod off.

If you like to read to help get tired for bed, I would think a book is the best method. Certainly works that way for me. I can't even read in the middle of the day because it makes me too drowsy and sometimes knocks me out entirely, then I lose like two hours before I awake from that unintentional nap.

Re: I like e-readers now

#212

Post by AlanYx »

maltalex wrote: post #120
AlanYx wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Remarkable is the device that convinced me of the value of e-readers, but it's not so much the screen size as it is the ability to just scribble notes in the margins, and underline, circle etc. easily. You can install Koreader on the Remarkable, but then it's just another ereader without a frontlight, rather than something more tangible like a book. I convert everything to PDF before moving it to the device thoug…

How suitable is it for reading PDFs with code/diagrams?

It's excellent, with one important caveat: provided the text size is not too small. The way small font sizes (<=8pt on an 8.5x11 PDF page) get rendered/antialiased on the device reduces their contrast a little -- they end up a little more grey than pure black, which isn't ideal.

Re: I like e-readers now

#213

Post by hosh »

_moof wrote: post #192

I long preferred "real" books, despite having an e-reader for over ten years, but the e-reader has a killer feature: the backlight. Having a backlight means I can turn the light off on my nightstand, and read at night without keeping people up. (Yes, I know they make reading lights. No, I haven't tried one. They look like they're a pain.) I also realized after looking over my (physical) bookshelves that I don't actua…

The backlight was a game changer for me too. There were times I used to use a headlamp to read when I'm hanging out at the porch to read.

I went through the same process about my dead tree collection, and shrunk it down to the ones that I either will read again, or keep around as a legacy. These days, the main criteria I use for getting a dead tree book is, "is this worth keeping and preserving in a zombie apocalypse?"

Re: I like e-readers now

#215

Post by Arch-TK »

admax88qqq wrote: post #122
grlass wrote: post #92

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-…

Super cool. I feel like the bigger struggle will be getting actual books. Unless you pirate them, most books are encumbered with DRM.

There are plenty of DRM unencumbered ebooks around if you look. But if you do find yourself dealing with DRM there are a number of methods of removing it.

Personally, if I already own the book in question I pirate the e-book, I don't see anything wrong with this as the author has already received equivalent royalties for the book. In the cases that I do not own a physical copy, I will generally buy a physical copy and then pirate the e-book. In some cases it is impossible to find a pirated e-book in which cases I will search for a DRM free option to buy. And in the event that I can't find the DRM free option I will resort to an Adobe Digital Editions DRM version (which I will promptly turn into a normal copy). This has worked out well for me and I have a pleasant library of books on my e-reader.

(Unlike the author, I find the idea of e-book "borrowing" to be completely ridiculous (as ridiculous as spotify or netflix). I would rather just check the book out of a library, or outright pirate it. At the end of the day, the author is not making any extra money out of my inconvenience of having a proprietary management software which stores a book locally on my device but doesn't give me direct access to the data.)

Re: I like e-readers now

#216

Post by hosh »

asdff wrote: post #194
_moof wrote: post #192

I long preferred "real" books, despite having an e-reader for over ten years, but the e-reader has a killer feature: the backlight. Having a backlight means I can turn the light off on my nightstand, and read at night without keeping people up. (Yes, I know they make reading lights. No, I haven't tried one. They look like they're a pain.) I also realized after looking over my (physical) bookshelves that I don't actua…

I've never been able to do a backlit screen in an otherwise unlit room. I get eye strain so fast. The litte reader lites are great. $5 and clips to your book or headboard or nitestand or wherever you want, and the light is pretty focused on your book.

The Kindle Paperwhite uses flattened fiber optics to bounce the light from the edges off of the epaper, so it is still more like indirect lighting than reading on a phone. In a darkened room, or when I am reading outside at night, it works pretty well. When I'm on a plane, or when I'm in a resturant, I don't have to fiddle with an external lighting device to read.

Re: I like e-readers now

#217

Post by bccdee »

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…

Yeah — I get my ebooks DRM-free and manage the contents of my Kobo through Calibre. It works great; I'm happy using my Kobo as little more than a screen for Calibre.

Re: I like e-readers now

#218

Post by asdff »

sneak wrote: post #52
silon42 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 Although I would like SFTP support to avoid moving the SD card.

If you connect it to the network even once, it can phone home and do all manner of Android spyware update bullshit. Popping out the card a few times per year is no biggie, I have a card reader permanently connected to my iMac anyway.

Seems like for this and maybe a few other products, it might be useful to set up a local wifi network that doesn't connect to the internet so you could at least use tools like ssh or even operate an iot home network without worrying about phoning home.

Re: I like e-readers now

#219

Post by jsjohnst »

asdff wrote: post #201
jsjohnst wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a general purpose computing device, like you are seem to be insisting every device should be, that has a month or more of battery life despite moderate to heavy usage, yet weighs as little and is as thin as the reMarkable. Products necessarily have trade-offs due to current technology limitations, so it's not just about "excuses".

It's not a technology limitation to withhold root access from the user.

Instead of it being "excuses for limiting features because of poor software" it's "withholding root access" now? So we are shifting goal posts?

Re: I like e-readers now

#220

Post by orionstein »

_moof wrote: post #192

I long preferred "real" books, despite having an e-reader for over ten years, but the e-reader has a killer feature: the backlight. Having a backlight means I can turn the light off on my nightstand, and read at night without keeping people up. (Yes, I know they make reading lights. No, I haven't tried one. They look like they're a pain.) I also realized after looking over my (physical) bookshelves that I don't actua…

All e-readers can read DRM-less books. It's trivial to convert from a DRM free epub on calibre to a mobi or azw3 to use on a kindle, even. I've never felt too restricted unless I buy books directly from Amazon, because their DRM is far more strict.
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