Removing support for a file format must be one of the dumbest things you can do in software. Congratulations!
Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
101–110 of 433 posts
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is. Easy purchasing of ebooks from Amazon, combined with their large selection of ebooks.
Yeah like, I don't wanna point out the typical HN problem but... Imagine explaining this to someone's grandma. "Click this Amazon shortcut, type your book name up here, click on it down below, press 'buy now'. If it doesn't show up right away, wait 5 minutes and check again." Versus... something to do with trying to download mobi files (from where?), starting calibre, starting an import process, locating said files (…
You're presenting it as if Kobo doesn't have its own store. It does: https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebooks
You can access it via Kobo e-reader, same as accessing Amazon's store on a Kindle. Somewhat more limited selection, but both contain Big Five publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster) that own hundreds if not thousands of imprints.
Calibre/OPDS server/custom software (like koreader) are an added bonus for the techies, but it's absolutely not a requirement. If your requirement is ease-of-use, there's no difference. If your requirement is a hacker-friendly device, you can do it on both, but it's in my experience somewhat easier to do on a Kobo.
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#103I very consciously did not buy a Kindle when choosing an Ereader about a year ago. The Kobo H2O is incredible and has served me very well. The format support is wonderful, and the stock OS does more than I need (though there is a whole community of custom OSes that also look cool). Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is.
> Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is. Easy purchasing of ebooks from Amazon, combined with their large selection of ebooks.
The ridiculous pricing of ebooks on Amazon in the last few years has forced me to alternate sources. I'm not interested in paying through the nose for something that's far cheaper to distribute than a printed book. In today's market Kindle doesn't offer any value proposition.
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is. Easy purchasing of ebooks from Amazon, combined with their large selection of ebooks.
Yeah like, I don't wanna point out the typical HN problem but... Imagine explaining this to someone's grandma. "Click this Amazon shortcut, type your book name up here, click on it down below, press 'buy now'. If it doesn't show up right away, wait 5 minutes and check again." Versus... something to do with trying to download mobi files (from where?), starting calibre, starting an import process, locating said files (…
A grandma might be pushing it, but my SO learned how to use Calibre and she isn't very tech-savvy.
Also, Amazon isn't as easy as it sounds - I used it a few times and found it quite confusing to get it on my Kindle after purchasing on Amazon. And its a nightmare as I moved country and would prefer to purchase a larger selection of ebooks in English from my home country etc. but I have a separate Amazon account and stuff.. that was even more confusing.
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#105On a side-note: I'm surprised devices like Kindle survive where superior ones like those from Sony perish simply because of the software walled garden. Not a good outlook for humanity.
Sony still makes ereaders? Are they affordable yet? Last time i checked they cost an arm and a leg.
Don't know about others but the first ereader i bought was a paperwhite on sale. I.e. cheap. I was used to reading on dead tree and pda/tablet and didn't see why I should get an expensive dedicated device. Only tried when it was discounted enough to be an impulse purchase. Don't think Sony ever had something in impulse purchase territory... and come to think of it, haven't seen anything about ereaders from them in the news in a long while.
As for walled garden, Calibre. Amazon can be safely ignored should you wish that.
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
I switched from a Kindle to a Kobo, and now back to a Kindle. My experience was that the Kindle's responsiveness to changes (next/previous/moving around in the OS) was better, just significant enough to be bothering me when I was using the Kobo.
The latest low end kindle response time is horrendous and the material is slippy. I lost my paperwhite so replaced it last week and the quality has really really dipped. Also it was the cheapest kindle but cost more than I originally spent in my paperwhite… I’m returning it next week when I finish my current book.
They have three tiers. Paperwhite is the middle so you're going to see a difference with the low end model.
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#107I very consciously did not buy a Kindle when choosing an Ereader about a year ago. The Kobo H2O is incredible and has served me very well. The format support is wonderful, and the stock OS does more than I need (though there is a whole community of custom OSes that also look cool). Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is.
Kindle work very well too when you install koreader.
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah like, I don't wanna point out the typical HN problem but... Imagine explaining this to someone's grandma. "Click this Amazon shortcut, type your book name up here, click on it down below, press 'buy now'. If it doesn't show up right away, wait 5 minutes and check again." Versus... something to do with trying to download mobi files (from where?), starting calibre, starting an import process, locating said files (…
99% of this difficulty goes away if Grandma uses her phone or tablets browser to download unlimited free books from zlibrary and reads them on the same device. Honestly the grandma example is starting to feel dated. When I was born in 1980 a 50 year old grandma was born in 1930 and probably didn't own a TV until they were raising their own family. The same 50 year old today was born in 1972 and would have been 5 when…
Don't know why you're being downvoted.
This born in '69 53 year old right here is programming backends and frontends for websites, and PySide5/6 Qt5/6 applications.
I'm still sharp as a pin.
Like you say, there has to be some point at which those younger than I stop thinking someone in their 50's isn't as hopeless with technology as they assume.
Of course not everyone in my Gen X'er group will be like me, then again, I know of folks in their 20's who struggle with anything IT.
Quit with the ageism, people. It's getting old ;)
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#109getting files to kindle for me this summer vacation 2-3 weeks ago was major PITA, I took kindle for kid and first USB cable in drawer unaware that this particular USB cable is only for charging and can't do data transfer, since i use only USB C and kindle doesn't support it
my kindle has no amazon account, because I am sideloading everything offline, prety much not using anything online on kindle
so when I figured out the problem is USB cable and registering amazon account would be too troublesome I discovered you can't send files to kindle simply over wifi direct or bluetooth or other simple way and I end up downloading legally obtained books from my library first to my laptop from where I connected to FTP server launched in Mixplorer in my Android phone, transferred through there books to phone, then again launched in mixplorer in phone HTTP server since kindle doesn't support FTP connection, typed IP address in experimental kindle browser and et voila I could finally see files I wanted to read on Kindle, only problem was despite the format supposedly supported by Kindle, when I tapped on file it shown me error the file is not supported for download through kindle browser (despite supported if you sideload it through data cable), so I had again convert these PDF/EPUB/AZW or whatever files in calibre to MOBI, again transfer to phone, then again transfer to kindle, where finally after tapping files were downloaded and I could finally read story to my kid, can't imagine how regular user would be able to transfer books to kindle without data cable and amazon account and if their transfer service stops supporting certain format then only option for regular user is data cable
Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format
#110Finally! Amazon should have done this long ago. ePub v3 supports everything MOBI does and it has really extensive support across platforms. This is HUGE for people with a big eBook collection.
Yup, less options is win for users! Why not just add more supported formats instead doing mess with removing and ading formats?