Live data from Hacker News

Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

microsoftpressstore.com

421–430 of 433 posts

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#421

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,…

I got yelled at at a conference for using my mum as an example of a user who wouldn’t use some complex software solution. I was told off for being sexist, or ageist or something. They didn’t get it. My mum is super smart and prolific. She has a PhD in international development and has helped tens of thousands of disadvantaged kids go to school. It’s not that she’s not smart enough. She just doesn’t care about the tec…

Nearly 100% of the complexity is DRM and the need to use one device with an LCD screen to browse and one with an eink screen to read and sync from A to B.

DRM free content consumed legally or illegally on the same device is simple as netflix.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Grandmas are 70-90, not 50. At that point we're still close to the second world war, which is a very different path. Those folks simply cannot be expected to have any competence. As an aside, I work with many folks around 50 and most of them are functionally technologically illiterate. It doesn't seem like such a strange assumption to make from where I'm sitting.

The most common child bearing years are 18-25 ergo most people become grandparents between 36 and 50 while only 43% will live into their 70s

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#423
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For local storage just use Calibre and stop worrying about formats IMO. Drag whatever into Calibre, press send to device, end of story.

I bought Code 2e from the MS press store just this week. I downloaded the epub, Calibre converted it to mobi when I said to deliver to my 2014 Kindle. Looked kinda crappy. Downloaded the mobi direct, sent it to the Kindle. Looks much better. The conversions are not always quality.

Hmm i only do fiction on readers (kindle or tablet). I guess technical books with diagrams and fancy formatting like sidebars etc would be a problem.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

not sure about newer kindles i have one whose firmware does not get updates anymore.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#425
post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Yes, when I was in college (mid-1970s), turning in anything handwritten was forbidden, you had to use a typewriter. Electronic anything, of course, was unheard of; back then the only computer was the big IBM in the computing center and computer science was a subgroup of the math department.

Nowadays the most common use for my printer at home is making Amazon return labels.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#426

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.

No post body was provided.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#427
post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not Kindle's only disadvantage. Kobo had distinct features I wanted that no Kindle offered at the time I last purchased. Like a screen big enough to comfortably read PDFs. 10.3" on Kobo Elipsa vs 7" on Kindle. IMHO that makes the Kindle only really useful for fiction. There's also Pocket support for reading offline web articles. Overdrive support so I can borrow books from my local library for free. Free Dropb…

E-readers are good for linear fiction. Books that you read from start to finish and don't need to jump around much. For PDFs and non-fiction manuals and guides I highly prefer a proper powerful tablet with a color screen. E-readers just don't have the power, refresh rate or UX to handle browsing around in 300 page books with pictures.

I found reading technical books on any computer platform to be somewhat awkward. I much prefer physical books for this: even with the best software it's just so much easier to flip back a bunch of pages.

Funny enough, I found this holds true especially for things like programming books where I very frequently go back to see if I understood something correctly, and having a book separate from my computer in front of me is also useful.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you talking about? It's built right into the Kobo reader, and has been for years. https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017639893-Define-...

The dictionary is a built-in official feature and includes options in few different languages but CUSTOM dictionaries are not. It's possible to add dictionaries beyond what Kobo includes but it takes a little bit of work.

I missed the "custom". Sorry about that.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there is also price and features. I've got a Kobo Elipsa, it was an impulse buy at a book store and I regret it because for just a little bit more you can get a Remarkable 2. The Remarkable is lighter, less bulky, faster, and has this fantastic warm backlight. The Elipsa felt like outdated, heavy tech from the start, isn't waterproof, and its notetaking functions are unusable (it's just too slow). The OS is rar…

> The Remarkable ... has this fantastic warm backlight It doesn't have a backlight at all!

Then I must have confused it with some other brand. A colleague showed me a thin one one with light that can be regulated from cold to warm and had very fast notetaking functions.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So far the kindle oasis is the best ereader in term of hardware and ergonomy I've used and that's comparing to a kobo sage I also have and to all the ereaders I've had over the years (never had sony but I used to purposefully avoid amazon)

How on earth can it be best in terms of ergonomy if it isn't symmetrical and requires rotating it 180 degrees to change hands instead of just... passing it to the other hand?

Changing hands is not something I do more than 4 times an hour and the non-symmetrical shape makes it fit my hands much better.
Post reply on HN