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I like e-readers now

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Re: I like e-readers now

#271

Post by brokenmachine »

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…

Maybe those tiny bluetooth selfie button things work too?

They'd be even smaller and cheaper.

My next reader must have bluetooth and support remote page turn buttons. It would be ridiculous if it doesn't. I want to rest the reader somewhere and have the remote to turn pages while I'm comfortable.

Re: I like e-readers now

#272

Post by int_19h »

_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 read a lot during late evening / night, and for me personally, the best device for that is an Android smartphone with an OLED screen. This last bit is crucial, because OLED blacks are "true" in a non-emissive sense, so if you set it up for white-on-black (or better yet, orange or some other warm color), and dial the brightness all the way down, it is easy on the eyes even in an otherwise very dark room.

Unfortunately, some reader apps won't let you dial the brightness down enough - Kindle, most notably. "Screen filter" apps help with that.

Re: I like e-readers now

#273

Post by int_19h »

ojagodzinski wrote: post #121
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…

> The result is that DRM protections are everywhere Not everywhere, in Poland ebooks are only watermarked, there is no DRM protection and you get epub/mobi/pdf copies of every ebook you buy.

Ditto in Russia, e.g. https://www.litres.ru/. They know that if they don't do that, people will just pirate en masse - they had to compete with pirated books for convenience.

Re: I like e-readers now

#274

Post by int_19h »

Otek wrote: post #46
2Gkashmiri wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i am a pirate and i extensively use a borrowed overdrive. i still buy kindle from olx because i can get them on the cheap, much more than amazon itself.

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

"Cheap" is very relative depending on where one lives.

Re: I like e-readers now

#275

Post by int_19h »

philips wrote: post #262

I bought a phone sized ereader and it has really amped up how much I can read. Now when I have a moment to spare I can decide to pull out my phone or my ereader and after a certain time in the afternoon I plug in my phone and leave it so I only consume books or saved items in pocket. My device of choice was the Inkpalm 5. Some setup instructions : https://github.com/philips/inkpalm-5-adb-english I also highly recomme…

Why Inkpalm rather than a Hisense or Kingrow eInk phone? It seems to amount to more or less the same thing, running Android, so I'm assuming some hardware differences?

Re: I like e-readers now

#276

Post by philips »

int_19h wrote: post #275
philips wrote: post #262

I bought a phone sized ereader and it has really amped up how much I can read. Now when I have a moment to spare I can decide to pull out my phone or my ereader and after a certain time in the afternoon I plug in my phone and leave it so I only consume books or saved items in pocket. My device of choice was the Inkpalm 5. Some setup instructions : https://github.com/philips/inkpalm-5-adb-english I also highly recomme…

Why Inkpalm rather than a Hisense or Kingrow eInk phone? It seems to amount to more or less the same thing, running Android, so I'm assuming some hardware differences?

I didn't know about kingrow.

And the Hisense Touch was released after I bought the inkpalm. It looks like a great device though!

Re: I like e-readers now

#277

Post by BeetleB »

Otek wrote: post #242
BeetleB wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you mean by "cheap". A lot of nonfiction is $15-50. Also, when I buy physical books, I often buy used ones. At local used book stores, I can often get them for $5 or less.

I mean, while the prices of paper books and ebooks don't differ much after release, the discounts on ebooks, are often much higher than on paper books. I've seen great books for a dollar more than once.

That's true, with some big disclaimers:

1. You won't see those discounts in certain categories (e.g. full length Stephen King novels). Whereas with physical books, you can expect to find cheap used ones no matter the author (unless it's a rare book or something).

2. You have to time purchases to the discount availability. With used physical books - as long as the book is popular enough - you can get that discount at any time.

Re: I like e-readers now

#278

Post by missblit »

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #144
Otek wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

i borrow from overdrive. i wrote that. i pirate stuff not on overdrive because buying from amazon ties me to their devices and they give me a "license" to read on their devices only. i want mp3 of ebooks. i pay for an ebook and get a epub file. is that too hard?

> buying from amazon ties me to their devices and they give me a "license" to read on their devices only

This isn't strictly true since you can also read Amazon ebooks on 3rd party android devices that have the Kindle application installed.

It's true in the more general sense that the Amazon ebooks have DRM that limit interoperability.

Re: I like e-readers now

#279

Post by fomine3 »

int_19h wrote: post #272
_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 read a lot during late evening / night, and for me personally, the best device for that is an Android smartphone with an OLED screen. This last bit is crucial, because OLED blacks are "true" in a non-emissive sense, so if you set it up for white-on-black (or better yet, orange or some other warm color), and dial the brightness all the way down, it is easy on the eyes even in an otherwise very dark room. Unfortunate…

Note: Check is the OLED uses lower PWM frequency for lower brightness if you sensitive for flicker. It's significant on darker situation.

https://www.dxomark.com/flicker-the-display-affliction/

Re: I like e-readers now

#280

Post by the_watcher »

_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…

This is pretty similar to my POV. The front light is huge for reading in bed (or anywhere dark, like a plane). Also, you carry essentially every book in print with you, everywhere. But the biggest reason I find myself reading on my Kindle despite preferring real books is that on a Kindle, I can start reading that new book now.
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