[GTALUG] e-reader recommendations

[Nicholas Krause]

As Evan stated about ePubs I'm not sure if that's changed. As from my experience I was thinking about it
a few years ago, however I decided not to due to my reading habits. The only pro was it's lighter than
books and the eink is pretty close or identical to a book. However three things that were of concern
at least to me are:
1. A lot of books aren't in ebook format either due to being out of print or otherwise. Outside of
more academic texts, the numbers in my experience were between 10 and 30 percent of what I was looking
for in more consumer areas like fantasy or other fiction.
2. Depending on what your reading the ebook can be more expensive and even then it's not much of a
savings unless the book is already in the public domain like Dickens e.t.c. versus paper. It depends
on what but normally it is cheaper actually to just find a used book store versus the average 25%
discount actually.
3. This may not matter depending on what your reading but note taking in terms of my more complex
reading has been much better in paper and I read faster/get more out of the texts which believe
me is huge when there that complex. I would state the difference at least from a non eink screen
is something like 35% or so if I had to qualify it in terms of metrics. So it's pretty big with
higher level academic and programming texts. So that's my warning if your using it for these
sorts of texts.

As for ereaders if your looking for one Kobos are fine, and the biggest advantage in terms of the
ones I've used is to Evans point is that Kobos are more open. They were the only ones at the middle
to higher end versions that are waterproof from memory, not sure if that matters to you.

Hopefully this helps you Trevor,
Nick


On 5/11/21 2:18 PM, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
> I once had a Sony e-reader, it was great for purpose. As has been suggested, it's best for the ePub format, less good with PDFs.
> 
> For whatever reasons, the landscape for eReaders has consolidated into two brands -- Kobo and Kindle.
> 
> The situation may have changed since I last checked it out, but last I recall Kindles were optimised for Amazon content and didn't do unlocked ePubs very well.
> 
> They also used to be cheaper, but as I look now the current price on an 8" Kobo is $50 more than I paid for my 9"Android tablet. That's if you buy locally. If you don't mind going offshore there are dozens of offers at less than $100 on aliexpress (here's one example <https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001613017326.html>).
> 
> -----
> 
> Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
> @evanleibovitch / @el56
> 
> 
> On Tue, 11 May 2021 at 13:41, Michael Galea via talk <talk at gtalug.org <mailto:talk at gtalug.org>> wrote:
> 
>     On 2021-05-11 10:26 a.m., Trevor Woerner via talk wrote:
>      > I'm looking for recommendations for e-readers. Ideally these
>      > recommendations would come in the form of "I have used <the following
>      > e-readers> and <this> is the one I like best for <these reasons>" ;-)
>      >
>      > Nice to have features:
>      > - be able to read websites (i.e. surf the web)
>      > - be able to mirror a screen from my desktop (or act as another monitor)
>      > - be able to take notes
>      >
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>     I bought a Sony PRS-500 in 2003, and its still going strong. I have read
>     thousands of books on it.
> 
>     Others on the list have pointed out that "the only advantages of an
>     e-reader, such as the Kobo, are battery life and using in bright
>     sunlight."
> 
>     Another big advantage is that they are small and light, while still
>     retaining the paperback size format. As with all modern devices, they
>     reflow documents to aid the aging eye
> 
>     Finally, witness the battery life.  My mother-in-law uses a kindle and
>     the daily recharge is part of routine. I get by with about 2 weeks of
>     1-3 hours a day use before charging, and that return to 3 weeks, after
>     the next (per-decade) battery replacement.
> 
>     -- 
>     Michael Galea
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