O/T - Advice requested - Best e-reader?

Goldstone1976 · Jun 10, 2015

Hi All,

I've decided that I really need to do something about the rooms full of over-laden bookshelves and piles of books lying around on every available surface. Step 1 involves not buying any (probably in reality, it's "many" rather than "any") more books. Step 2 (which I'm not at all convinced I will actually enact) involves a cull of dead trees. I reckon if I enacted step 2 I could easily double my usable floor area.

Any hoo. I want to buy an e-reader. I'm more than happy for it to be a dedicated device that is engineered to make reading easy and enjoyable, rather than be a multi-functional device that I can also use as, for example, a web browser - I have a laptop, desktop, smart phone and tablet to cater for those needs.

Which device is currently deemed the best? Should I also be concerned about which online bookshop (or e-format) the device connects to - range of books available, price of book, etc...?

The only one I've heard of is Kindle, but there have to be others, right?

Any advice gratefully received...

Bozza · Jun 10, 2015

Kindle all the way.

Paperwhite is the one to go for now as it has the built in light so you can read in dimly lit and dark conditions.

KZNSeagull · Jun 10, 2015

Buy a bigger house. You can never, ever have enough books. Proper ones.

Triggaaar · Jun 10, 2015

Goldstone1976 said:
Any hoo.

blue'n'white · Jun 10, 2015

Kindle for me all the way
There ARE others but Kindle has the backing of Amazon so I think it has the biggest library
I think it probably depends on what sort of books you want to read as photos etc only come out as greyscale on a Kindle so any text books/ biographies etc may possibly be better on a Kindle Fire which is in colour but you cannot easily read a Kindle Fire in sunlight.
Personally I still buy books too - if they're subjects about which I have an interest - but for "ordinary" common or garden reading the Paperwhite wins hands down. Huge advantages in that you can carry a whole library in a light, easily used format which fits in your (admittedly quite large) pocket
Disadvantages are that it's not particularly easy to access the index and flit from subject to subject but you'd probably actually buy that sort of book anyway.
Amazon is relatively cheap too though popular authors still hold their price (much like The Beatles albums still go for the price of a new CD) but Amazon do have a lot of offers of books for a quid or so.

Cadiz Seagull · Jun 10, 2015

Bozza said:
Kindle all the way.

Paperwhite is the one to go for now as it has the built in light so you can read in dimly lit and dark conditions.

I'll go along with his nibs on this.

But then I'm a crawler.

GOM · Jun 10, 2015

People recommend Kindle like they recommend Apple. There are others out there that can read multiple formats, and are cheaper. Go to a store and try them for yourself.

Fungus · Jun 10, 2015

A dedicated e-reader is definitely the way to go. I still use my original Kindle, and wouldn't dream of reading books on my shiny tablet.

PS. Remember to take your dead-tree versions to the charity shop!

matski_98 · Jun 10, 2015

GOM said:
People recommend Kindle like they recommend Apple. There are others out there that can read multiple formats, and are cheaper. Go to a store and try them for yourself.

Trouble is the others aren't very good. For e readers I've tried the iPad, iPhone, Kobo, the Nook and three iterations of the Kindle (including the Fire) and the Kindle Paperwhite is just a nicer thing to use from a purely functional POV.

It frustrates me that you get tied into Amazon and its a ball ache to get your own books onto the thing but its by far the best screen reading device out there in terms of usability and screen quality.

Fungus · Jun 10, 2015

matski_98 said:
Trouble is the others aren't very good. For e readers I've tried the iPad, iPhone, Kobo, the Nook and three iterations of the Kindle (including the Fire) and the Kindle Paperwhite is just a nicer thing to use from a purely functional POV.

It frustrates me that you get tied into Amazon and its a ball ache to get your own books onto the thing but its by far the best screen reading device out there in terms of usability and screen quality.

I've <cough> got a DVD full of old-ish books, I just email them to my Kindle account and they magically appear. Ditto for PDFs, eg. the supporter's club newsletter and almanac. Also got all my old holiday diaries, etc. New ebooks are usually far too expensive, but I think that's because of the added VAT?

GOM · Jun 10, 2015

matski_98 said:
Trouble is the others aren't very good. .

In your opinion of course.
Just google for e-reader reviews and yes the kindle is excellent but it is not alone, others like the Nook Glowlight and Kobo Glo also get good reviews and do not tie you into Amazon.

matski_98 · Jun 10, 2015

Oxy McFloppie-Tish said:
I've <cough> got a DVD full of old-ish books, I just email them to my Kindle account and they magically appear. Ditto for PDFs, eg. the supporter's club newsletter and almanac. Also got all my old holiday diaries, etc. New ebooks are usually far too expensive, but I think that's because of the added VAT?

Yeah I've also got Calibre which allows me to upload books I've *ahem* acquired to my Kindle. I wasn't saying it couldn't be done my point was the proprietary ebook format that Amazon use and the lack of native support for other book formats makes it a ball ache to use the Kindle to read any book, in any format on a reader that I own.

Acker79 · Jun 10, 2015

I don't like to brag, but I'm pretty good at reading e. In fact, I can read all 26 letters.

matski_98 · Jun 10, 2015

GOM said:
In your opinion of course.
Just google for e-reader reviews and yes the kindle is excellent but it is not alone, others like the Nook Glowlight and Kobo Glo also get good reviews and do not tie you into Amazon.

... In the other reviewers opinion of course

In my experience the Kobo was even worse than the Kindle for getting non Kobo content onto. Other opinions are also available.

Fungus · Jun 10, 2015

matski_98 said:
Yeah I've also got Calibre which allows me to upload books I've *ahem* acquired to my Kindle. I wasn't saying it couldn't be done my point was the proprietary ebook format that Amazon use and the lack of native support for other book formats makes it a ball ache to use the Kindle to read any book, in any format on a reader that I own.

To be fair, it's a while since I thought about it, ie. since I found what worked for me. My DVD is full of "mobi" files which are compatible. The email process includes some sort of automatic conversion, doesn't it? I looked at Calibre but haven't touched it for ages.

tricky · Jun 10, 2015

kobo for me - cheaper, also has a light, does what it says on the tin. My wife has devoured about 400 books in the last 12 months on hers and she thinks its great.

leigull · Jun 10, 2015

Got a Kindle Fire 18 months ago. Have read 23 books since, love it. The other features on it, email, FB, Twitter etc are mildly useful, but would happily live without them as the Kindle doesn't do them that well. The other apps available seem pretty poor too. I'm happy to be tied to Amazon with it. I like the option for a black background and white text to read, find that nicer that the normal black text on white background. Can also read a Kindle Fire in pitch black, haven't had a problem in sunlight either. I have the kindle app on my phone too, so if going somewhere I don't want to take the Kindle itself but want to read a book, I can pick up exactly where I left off from my Kindle, on my phone as they sync together.

cardboard · Jun 10, 2015

Had my Nook for three and a half years, no issues at all. Love it.

burnee54 · Jun 10, 2015

Paperwhite. No doubt about it. I love the fact that you get free 3G connection included in the price. If you want cheap books to fill it up have a look on ebay I bought four DVD's on there which gave me 400,000 books. Book format conversion is a doddle with Calibre which is free. Get it here.
Also, I have discovered Bookbub.
Put in your preferences and you get an email every day with at least three free books and many more starting at .99p. Sign up for it here.

Green Cross Code Man · Jun 10, 2015

burnee54 said:
Paperwhite. No doubt about it. I love the fact that you get free 3G connection included in the price. If you want cheap books to fill it up have a look on ebay I bought four DVD's on there which gave me 400,000 books. Book format conversion is a doddle with Calibre which is free. Get it here.
Also, I have discovered Bookbub.
Put in your preferences and you get an email every day with at least three free books and many more starting at .99p. Sign up for it here.

The paperwhite is a wonderful device. Had kindle 4 before but haven't looked back, part due to the good advice of those on this board. However it should be pointed out that 3g isn't standard, it takes the cost up by about 50 quid. For my money, that's overpriced for something that I'd hardly use anyway.

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