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Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

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Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#401

Post by themadturk »

paranoidrobot wrote: post #40
Thorentis wrote: post #25

I 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.

It's trading customisation/flexibility for ease of use, at a (potentially) higher cost. The older kindles with 2G/3G "Whispersync" functionality had another major drawcard of working just about anywhere, even if you didn't have wifi coverage or a phone with data services. I have in the past used this to load several more books while in an airport in a foreign country between flights. Many people if you hand them a Ki…

I was really sorry to see Whispersync disappear in the the most recent Kindle Paperwhite. I was more than happy to pay extra for it.

However, I've never had the kind of battery life I'm seeing on my Kindle these days. It was always good (until my previous Paperwhite suddenly went toes up) but now it's amazing.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#402

Post by themadturk »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #194
fingerlocks wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, funny you say that. Last time I was at Everest Base Camp nearly everyone had an e-ink kindle. The long battery life and light weight are ideal for long isolated stretches in the Himalayas.

> Last time I was at Everest Base Camp nearly everyone had an e-ink kindle that's not surprising. it's the most popular e-reader. anyway, base camp is not the top of the mountain :) where they downloading e-books with the device 2g connection from there? > The long battery life and light weight are ideal for long isolated stretches in the Himalayas. modern e-readers last weeks on battery and weight less than 200 gram…

> where they downloading e-books with the device 2g connection from there?

Someone able to prep for Everest knows to load all the ebooks they want on their Kindles before they leave home.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#403

Post by themadturk »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #329
scarygliders wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

Yeah. I was born in 1957 and took my first programming class in 1973, assembly language on a PDP-8. Admittedly I'm not a typical 65 year old.

Pfft. Youngster ;). I was born in 1955, I didn't really learn to program until 1980 (and have never programmed professionally), but am plenty tech-savvy. People just have to have the need or interest to be "good" at tech, no matter their age. My mom, who is now in her mid-80s and in memory care, was able to keep up a very active life via email well into her 70s; my wife, who's a couple years older than me, knows enough to use her iPad to read, research and buy stuff online, but hands the device to me for anything more.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#404

Post by themadturk »

ev1 wrote: post #192
another-circus wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A ton of kids these days aren't that tech savvy. I work with high school kids and many have a real lack of understanding about how things work. A large number have no idea how to much with software outside of browser, believe that internet traffic travels through satellites to get between continents, and can't even debug simple printer jams.

This is my gen z experience, I hope you find it somewhat insightful: - Your first computer given to you was probably a Chromebook at school. It is your browser. Every app is a web page. Docs, Sheets are all web pages. If you were rich or privileged you might have gotten a Macbook at school instead. But nearly everything is a web page. You use Google Docs with your friends and for group projects. I can count the peopl…

Thank you for this. I've heard little bits and pieces of it before, but I think you've done a great job of summarizing modern "computing" for the vast majority of people.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#405

Post by themadturk »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #103
jfim wrote: post #39

Earlier 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.

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.

For me, a 66-year-old who's been reading voluminously for about 60 of those years, the value proposition of the Kindle (or probably just about any ereader, probably) is:

1. I don't have to store all the physical books I would have acquired over the decades.

2. I can carry around a large number of those beloved books with me at all times.

3. I can vary the font size, which my ageing eyes appreciate.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#406

Post by filmgirlcw »

bradwood wrote: post #394
filmgirlcw wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL. And yes, that’s definitely a larger edge case but I would still posit that for many users who are buying into an ecosystem, Kindle is going to be the most portable. But that’s an important distinction for anyone who wants to check books out from their local library.

> A larger edge case? LOL, you think this is an _edge_ case? Feels pretty central from where me and the rest of the world are sitting...

I mean, I’ve been using e-readers since 2006 or so and very rarely get books from the library. Honestly, they usually don’t have the books I want to read or if they do, there is a many week wait. At that point, I just buy the book myself or I’ll find it another way.

I’m not going to pretend that’s the same for everyone, but I’m equally not going to pretend every person who has an e-reader is constantly getting stuff from the public library.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#407

Post by themadturk »

fastball wrote: post #66
Thorentis wrote: post #25

I 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'd imagine something like Most people just buy books from Amazon I expect, so they don't really need multi-format support.

I use Calibre primarily to...hmm, preserve my ownership of the books I have given money to Amazon for (if, for example, Amazon should decide to pull another 1984.) I certainly don't need Calibre to use my Kindle, but I'm glad I have it.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#408

Post by themadturk »

ekianjo wrote: post #107
Thorentis wrote: post #25

I 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.

You need a slightly older-than-current firmware version, though, correct? I haven't kept up on Mobiread forums lately.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#409

Post by ev1 »

themadturk wrote: post #404
ev1 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my gen z experience, I hope you find it somewhat insightful: - Your first computer given to you was probably a Chromebook at school. It is your browser. Every app is a web page. Docs, Sheets are all web pages. If you were rich or privileged you might have gotten a Macbook at school instead. But nearly everything is a web page. You use Google Docs with your friends and for group projects. I can count the peopl…

Thank you for this. I've heard little bits and pieces of it before, but I think you've done a great job of summarizing modern "computing" for the vast majority of people.

Thanks, I hope it was useful! The printing thing is an interesting point, because I hear from older people that everyone used to have to type up and turn in their assignments printed out, and handwritten items were refused.

For a long time now, they don't want typed and printed assignments; in fact some of my instructors in primary school would actually look upon these suspiciously - the default assumption is that if you are printing it out you are trying to bypass the anti-plagiarism system. That's also partially why every assignment is turned in online: your writing is run through one or more anti-plagiarism systems (and saved for later use against yourself and others).

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#410

Post by themadturk »

wyldfire wrote: post #32
cable2600 wrote: post #13

Amazon chose MOBL because it was compatible with the PRC format the old Palm Pilots used. The Palm Pilot was the original eBook reader.

I actually read a bunch of novels on the palm. It seems bonkers to imagine straining my eyes that way these days. But I found it pretty enjoyable at the time.

The Palm was certainly my first ereader. I didn't use it for very long before my sister sent me her Kindle 1 (which she was replacing with a Kindle 2), but my eyes were much better in those days than they are now!

I still miss the auto-scrolling feature of the Palm's ereading software.

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