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I like e-readers now

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Re: I like e-readers now

#181

Post by acomjean »

Taywee wrote: post #135
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the use-case, exactly? The only real-life experience I have with wanting to turn ebook pages remotely is during the winter, when my hands are cold and even touchscreen-compatible gloves/mittens don't work well with the touchscreen sensor. But if I ever truly got that desperate, there are several lines of Kobo and Kindle devices with physical touch buttons that would solve the problem.

For me, I'd love to use my e-reader to handle sheet music while playing my piano or cello, but the screen size means that I have to turn pages far more often than with physical sheets, and ends up being impractical in real life. I love playing around with a lot of different sheets and trying things out before deciding if I want to really spend time on it, and I hate how much I have to print to do so, and using screen…

My partner has the foot pedals and a tablet for her violin playing. One community orchestra she plays in most people are using tablets, the other one its paper sheet music. For the tablet its just a pdf reader on the tablet and page up /page down for the foot pedals.

The tablet works, but its smaller, and there is always a question of making sure the batteries are charged up. (though with paper music it the little sheet music light needed to be charged too). Paper is pretty robust though, survives drops...

Re: I like e-readers now

#182

Post by hallarempt »

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?

In my case, because the typography (except for some very obnoxious excceptions) is always the same. Same font, same font size, same margins, just different text. A book cannot distract me anymore through mediocre or awesome typography -- the text is on its own.

Re: I like e-readers now

#183

Post by acomjean »

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.

Manning books in the US watermarks their ebooks too (each page have a "property of XYX" on it). Its not DRM or even unsharable, I think it just makes you think about who your sharing with...)

Re: I like e-readers now

#184

Post by wintermutestwin »

diob wrote: post #158
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…

I absolutely agree. I read with a mechanical arm that holds the book for me so I can read on my back while I try to sleep. I would love a way to turn pages with a little remote.

That's a great idea! Could you please link the arm you use?

Re: I like e-readers now

#185

Post by wintermutestwin »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #110
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…

What is the use-case, exactly? The only real-life experience I have with wanting to turn ebook pages remotely is during the winter, when my hands are cold and even touchscreen-compatible gloves/mittens don't work well with the touchscreen sensor. But if I ever truly got that desperate, there are several lines of Kobo and Kindle devices with physical touch buttons that would solve the problem.

Personally, I find that the tap or swipe to turn pages functionality is insanely difficult when I have highlighted the whole page of text. I miss the world of tactile buttons for many things - get off my lawn!

Re: I like e-readers now

#186

Post by jsjohnst »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #105
kayodelycaon wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the obvious lack of features is so that you can have a focused, distraction-free experience This means the device is more of an appliance than a general computing device. A good example is a reMarkable 2. It is a solid, well-designed digital version of a paper notebook. (I will add paper notebooks aren't searchable.) Yes, anything else, including search, is bolted on but the core experience it was designed for isn'…

Actually, reMarkable is _precisely_ what I had in mind. Distraction-free is just an excuse for obviously unfinished software; just go and see which con most reviews agree on. The hardware is quite capable, but held back by the software.

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".

Re: I like e-readers now

#187

Post by wintermutestwin »

f0e4c2f7 wrote: post #90
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…

I wish there were a Netflix like model for books. I think Amazon has a service like that, but without very much content (last time I checked). If the selection was good I would be happy to pay monthly for what is effectively a library card (which is basically how you do that today with ebooks but for free. Much worse user experience than piracy unfortunately) I too love ebooks by the way. Between that and audiobooks…

Amazon's service IS a "Netflix like model" - like you note about Amazon's model, neither are a comprehensive solution.

The model I want (and presumably you would as well) is a Spotify/Apple Music model, where the vast majority of all books are available for a single subscription. Audiobooks are even worse! Audible's consumer hating model still treats digital media as something you purchase one at a time (or rather two a month).

Re: I like e-readers now

#188

Post by q-base »

On the topic of e-readers I just want to share these two resources for free e-books. I am pretty sure I originally got them from HN and I have been reading almost exclusively from their collections ever since. So if someone can have the same enjoyment from them as I had then they do really deserve a re-post:

https://standardebooks.org/ebooks

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/

Re: I like e-readers now

#189

Post by crackercrews »

jorgesborges wrote: post #174
morsch wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, for me it's just a laziness issue. ;) I just enjoy not having to hold the device. I can just rest my arms wherever they naturally would rest. Or put them under the sheets when the bedroom is cold. Etc.

When I’m in bed I often turn the page with my nose, as one hand is holding the kindle and the other is holding hands with my SO, or petting the cat. So I understand the laziness and am interested in this but it’s a lot of work for a lazy person. Edit: while we’re on the topic can we solve accidentally dropping phones on our face in bed?

There are a bunch of bed mounts for smartphones and tablets. [1]

1: https://www.amazon.com/phone-holder-bed/s?k=phone+holder+for...

Re: I like e-readers now

#190

Post by jsjohnst »

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.

> Unless you pirate them, most books are encumbered with DRM.

Depends on the publisher/genre. Tech books (from O'Reilly/PragProg/Apress/Manning anyway) for example are most often not encumbered with DRM.

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