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Ask your questions! Get answers! Maybe even useful answers!
Ask anything! Ask about ereaders, or filetypes, or conversion methods, or where to find books, or which authors don't like ebooks, or what software works on which computers, or anything else ebook-related. Preferably, put the question, or part of it, in the subject line. That way, the questions will be easy to find, and new readers who show up can see if their question has been asked before.
Feel free to post links to your journal where you've spelled out your questions in detail (or just make a new post here; it's totally fine to make a long post about "thinking about ebook readers; what's the pros & cons of these two?")
Answer questions! If you know about a certain aspect of ebookery, jump in with answers!
E-ink readers!
Man I love the idea of them, being able to take a gazillion books with me while I am on the bus or train. The portability is a plus, and the fact that I don't have to go to the library and borrow stacks of books and have to remember to return them...
Of course the e-readers are best for novels, which means a 5 or 6 inch screen is best. THe latest Sony T1 that my brother was given for christmas means he doesn't have to worry about PDFs that are printed in 2 columns, and I WISH I could get my hands on it , but my brother is seeeelfish.
My sony PRS-600 hadnt been used for months though, because I do so much internet surfing, I fail. When I got it back out to read, I was shocked! The screen had faded so much, I could see images from three pages ago, I couldn't read on the second smallest font size. Ghosting was bad, especially in the centre of the screen. I was heart-broken.
Morosely, I went online to search for a new e-reader, because Sony readers are, unfortunately, not repaired or sold in Singapore. There aren't much that use the Pearl screen, that I'm willing to pay for. I wouldn't mind a PRS 650, but it's difficult to get, I don't want to touch Kindles with a ten-foot pole, and I don't even know where to start getting a Hanlin.
I wanted a reader that could also read Chinese natively - I wanted to get back into reading Chinese texts, improve my language, without having to convert them into giant PDFs. Jin Yong's novels are wonderful because I already jknow the storylines and just need to read them over and over, but it's so time-consuming to convert them into PDFs, and I don't want to brick my Sony by flashing it for Chinese.
So the ones I REALLY want is the greenbook, hanlins, irivers and the hanvons. Hanvon, unfortunately doesn't seem to have as good a reputation as Hanlin, and greenbook is, while cheapest of the lot, has apparently crappy software (but excellent hardware). The irivers still all use the old e-ink screens, and while they are awesome for reading comics, I don't have any mangas TO read and I don't really need a keyboard.
Other than the greenbook, they're all expensive, about $400 if I can get them here in Singapore.
Meanwhile, I just kept reading on my sony, turning the font size up to Large (the middle sized font) morosely.
Which was when I realised, about one and a half YA books later (250page-novels), the fonts were getting clearer. The ghosting was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had started out. I finished the second book today, and then started on a third, and realised that it was getting good enough I can actually turn the size back down to the second smallest size, and still read it, with only the occasional back-and-forth to turn the page's words darker.
It seems that dis-use lets the screen degrade, but use, consistent and long use, actually makes it improve.
How strange! Does anyone have any insight on this? Or is this just me?
Also, would anyone like to add any tips on how to flash a Sony PRS 600 with a Chinese hack? With step-by-step instructions. I've read Mobilereads but I got intimidated, because my language ability in Chinese is pretty poor, and if I destroy my sony I won't have another reader till I can get my hands on a Hanlin.
AND. Would anyone know where to GET a Hanlin in Singapore? I know the iRiver and this weird little thing called KeyReader can be found in Funan ITmall, and the Greenbook is potentially bought from iKnow. But I really would like to get my hands on the Hanlins, I've heard excellent things about it, and how its language support is extensive. Though I'd like a Pearl screen on the hanlin too.
Man I love the idea of them, being able to take a gazillion books with me while I am on the bus or train. The portability is a plus, and the fact that I don't have to go to the library and borrow stacks of books and have to remember to return them...
Of course the e-readers are best for novels, which means a 5 or 6 inch screen is best. THe latest Sony T1 that my brother was given for christmas means he doesn't have to worry about PDFs that are printed in 2 columns, and I WISH I could get my hands on it , but my brother is seeeelfish.
My sony PRS-600 hadnt been used for months though, because I do so much internet surfing, I fail. When I got it back out to read, I was shocked! The screen had faded so much, I could see images from three pages ago, I couldn't read on the second smallest font size. Ghosting was bad, especially in the centre of the screen. I was heart-broken.
Morosely, I went online to search for a new e-reader, because Sony readers are, unfortunately, not repaired or sold in Singapore. There aren't much that use the Pearl screen, that I'm willing to pay for. I wouldn't mind a PRS 650, but it's difficult to get, I don't want to touch Kindles with a ten-foot pole, and I don't even know where to start getting a Hanlin.
I wanted a reader that could also read Chinese natively - I wanted to get back into reading Chinese texts, improve my language, without having to convert them into giant PDFs. Jin Yong's novels are wonderful because I already jknow the storylines and just need to read them over and over, but it's so time-consuming to convert them into PDFs, and I don't want to brick my Sony by flashing it for Chinese.
So the ones I REALLY want is the greenbook, hanlins, irivers and the hanvons. Hanvon, unfortunately doesn't seem to have as good a reputation as Hanlin, and greenbook is, while cheapest of the lot, has apparently crappy software (but excellent hardware). The irivers still all use the old e-ink screens, and while they are awesome for reading comics, I don't have any mangas TO read and I don't really need a keyboard.
Other than the greenbook, they're all expensive, about $400 if I can get them here in Singapore.
Meanwhile, I just kept reading on my sony, turning the font size up to Large (the middle sized font) morosely.
Which was when I realised, about one and a half YA books later (250page-novels), the fonts were getting clearer. The ghosting was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had started out. I finished the second book today, and then started on a third, and realised that it was getting good enough I can actually turn the size back down to the second smallest size, and still read it, with only the occasional back-and-forth to turn the page's words darker.
It seems that dis-use lets the screen degrade, but use, consistent and long use, actually makes it improve.
How strange! Does anyone have any insight on this? Or is this just me?
Also, would anyone like to add any tips on how to flash a Sony PRS 600 with a Chinese hack? With step-by-step instructions. I've read Mobilereads but I got intimidated, because my language ability in Chinese is pretty poor, and if I destroy my sony I won't have another reader till I can get my hands on a Hanlin.
AND. Would anyone know where to GET a Hanlin in Singapore? I know the iRiver and this weird little thing called KeyReader can be found in Funan ITmall, and the Greenbook is potentially bought from iKnow. But I really would like to get my hands on the Hanlins, I've heard excellent things about it, and how its language support is extensive. Though I'd like a Pearl screen on the hanlin too.
I just posted about a few things including a contrast between the wastefulness of the print publishing model and new eReader ownership stats.
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theferret has a post about the Hugo Awards.Apparently the Hugo Award for best Science Fiction/Fantasy is awarded by vote, and all you need is a participating membership to ChiCon in order to vote. A participating membership costs $50. For $50 you get to influence who gets the award, and you receive a free "packet" of all the nominated works in eBook form.
He's even offering to pay for a couple of people's participating memberships. Go read!
Also, at
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dark_agenda, phiis offering to buy a participating membership for a randomly chosen POC member who would like to do this.Apple's announced it's going to reinvent textbooks by turning them into multimedia extravaganzas that only work on an iPad. Setting aside, for the moment, the idea of textbooks only for those students whose families can afford a $400-600 device to read them (and the risk of sending said device to school with a teenager), and that the Terms of Use may not work for minors, who can't enter legally binding agreements. Assume we're living in Perfect Apple-land, where everyone can afford an iPad for every child and parents happily assume full liability for all actions their kids might commit with unrestricted internet access.
Okay then. On to the textbooks. Apple's big slide on the screen says they'll have
Okay then. On to the textbooks. Apple's big slide on the screen says they'll have
- Gorgeous, fullscreen books
- Interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos
- Fast, fluid navigation
- Highlighting and note-taking
- Searching and definitions
- Lesson reviews and study cards
Hi guys. I tried recently to download and read Chinese ebooks (in epub format), and found that Adobe Digital Editions appears not to support the fonts. I've noticed earlier that even symbols like é weren't being rendered properly, but this novel is entirely rendered in question marks. I tried to look around online for solutions, but most of them are from message boards dated 2009-10 and seem to point at new updates, which isn't very helpful. I do have Asian fonts installed (I don't have a reader - this is my computer); they display correctly in other applications.
Anyone have suggestions or ideas about fixing this? Thanks in advance!
Anyone have suggestions or ideas about fixing this? Thanks in advance!
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(teafeather Jan. 20th, 2012 08:48 am)
teafeather Jan. 20th, 2012 08:48 am)If you recently purchased the DAISYtoEPUB conversion software from Don Johnston, you may be eligible for a free upgrade to version 2. Check your spamtrap, that's where my notification email ended up.
If you're wondering what the heck DAISY is and why someone would pay $100 USD for conversion software, DAISY is hybrid ebook/audiobook format used by people with print disabilities and there is currently no free software available to do easy/automatic conversions of the ebook side of the DAISY format.
I have no affiliation with Don Johnston other than being a satisfied used of their software.
If you're wondering what the heck DAISY is and why someone would pay $100 USD for conversion software, DAISY is hybrid ebook/audiobook format used by people with print disabilities and there is currently no free software available to do easy/automatic conversions of the ebook side of the DAISY format.
I have no affiliation with Don Johnston other than being a satisfied used of their software.
I have a Kobo that I got for Christmas and while I'm happy with it I'm finding the featured recommendation thing annoying and I was wondering if there's any way to do away with it?
In sad news, squee!Book's epubs have mostly been broken for me since I posted this entry last week. If I load them directly to my ereader, I get a Page Error when I try to read them. If I convert from epub to epub in Calibre, it does this crazy thing where it treats 10...or 50... pages as if they are one page. While I have gotten it to work on occasion, it's not working more than it is working.
Howdy, y'all. I'm having a bit of a problem with my Kindle Fire... it displays all the fanfiction I've put on it as "Books"! This is very bad, because, well, as you may know, fanfiction isn't exactly something I'd want the average "Ooh, can I look at your Kindle" person to see when they start browsing through my books.
I had previously converted the fanfiction files (from .pdf to .mobi) through Calibre, and yes, the [PDOC] tag is still there... which is why I don't understand why the Kindle is filing them under "Books." Does anyone know how to fix this?
I had previously converted the fanfiction files (from .pdf to .mobi) through Calibre, and yes, the [PDOC] tag is still there... which is why I don't understand why the Kindle is filing them under "Books." Does anyone know how to fix this?
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I just used squee!Book to translate a fanfic to epub format for my ereader and noticed that it now accepts Dreamwidth links for stories. My life has just gotten much better!
If you've never used it before, you plug in the title, author, and link to the story or the text of the story and it will create a book for you to save on your computer. It looks like you can use a photo to create a custom cover as well but I haven't played with that yet.
According to the site, it accepts links from "Fanfiction.net, Livejournal, Dreamwidth & AO3...[and]text from other URLs will need fixing...."
It will create a book in these formats: .txt .html .pdf .rtf .fb2 .epub .mobi
ETA: The About page made me laugh. It's also full of other good information that I didn't know and thus, did not share with you.
If you've never used it before, you plug in the title, author, and link to the story or the text of the story and it will create a book for you to save on your computer. It looks like you can use a photo to create a custom cover as well but I haven't played with that yet.
According to the site, it accepts links from "Fanfiction.net, Livejournal, Dreamwidth & AO3...[and]text from other URLs will need fixing...."
It will create a book in these formats: .txt .html .pdf .rtf .fb2 .epub .mobi
ETA: The About page made me laugh. It's also full of other good information that I didn't know and thus, did not share with you.
It's been a while since I checked out what was new on the Baen ebooks site. I just went there and they have updated the site layout and the web address. It is no longer webscription.net. Instead, it is BaenEbooks.com. I was able to log into my account without any issues.
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So here's what I want.
An ebook reader app.
Do you know any apps that fit all the criteria?
An ebook reader app.
- It works on both the iPod/iPad and Android smartphone.
- It stores books and bookmarks in the cloud so when I open the book on a different device, it remembers where I was.
- It also stores books and bookmarks locally so I don't need to have wireless access to use it.
- It lets me upload and store DRMed and non-DRMed epub format books.
- Bluefire: Doesn't store bookmark data online.
- Google Books, Nook: Can't upload your own books, as far as I know.
- Kobo: Stores bookmark data online for books you get through its store, but not for books you upload.
- Kindle: Doesn't support epub.
Do you know any apps that fit all the criteria?
So, I have a shiny new Pandigital Novel eBook reader. It reads .pdf and .epub, but whenever I try to download fanfic from the AO3 it tells me it doesn't support the format. Has anyone else had trouble downloading epubs from AO3?
edit - 12/29/2011: A commenter let me know that the promotion is over, so the price is back to regular price.
Via the author's journal,marthawells:
I haven't read the book myself, so here's a summary from Amazon :)
Via the author's journal,
marthawells:If you don't already have it, the Kindle US edition of The Cloud Roads is still currently free: here.
I haven't read the book myself, so here's a summary from Amazon :)
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Moon's world is populated by many different intelligent species (none of them human), and he has never known which one he belongs to. Orphaned at a young age, he's wandered from tribe to tribe, hiding a dangerous secret. Like the universally hated Fell, whose only aims are slaughter and conquest, Moon can fly—which leads to predictably violent cases of mistaken identity. When he does find his own people, the Raksura, life doesn't get any easier, since their internal politics are vicious, and they too are in imminent danger from the Fell. Cue hairsbreadth escapes and feats of derring-do, as Moon helps his new family evacuate their doomed colony and then rescues a group of kidnapped children. Wells (The Gate of Gods) merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with.
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Hi,
I've owned a Kobo Touch for a day and a half. It's pretty great! I put fanfic on it, and a few things from Project Gutenberg. I'm trying to use Calibre to customize the cover pages for fanfic.
I tried using squee!Book and failed a few times.
But what I'm having issues with right now is the touch-screen.
When I was first reading, it took me a little while to figure out that I needed to tap in the lower-right corner of the screen to turn the page. Once I did, reading went fine!
Yesterday, I set the Kobo Touch inside my purse, and didn't touch it for a few hours. (I went to a football game; the Touch stayed inside.)
I tried using the e-reader last night; the single button on the bottom works, but I can't tap the screen to turn the page.
I powered it off/on again.
This morning, I tried to turn pages and it still didn't work.
I connected it to my laptop with the USB cord. I cannot fully "connect" it to my computer to manage files because to do so, I have to tap "Connect" on the Kobo screen.
Basically: The tap/touch feature seems to be not working, after a day of infrequent use.
Has this happened to anyone else?
I am not very good with technology, so there could be something easy I'm missing, and wanted to check in with others.
Does this sound like a case where I need to take it back to Best Buy and get it replaced, or something?
I've owned a Kobo Touch for a day and a half. It's pretty great! I put fanfic on it, and a few things from Project Gutenberg. I'm trying to use Calibre to customize the cover pages for fanfic.
I tried using squee!Book and failed a few times.
But what I'm having issues with right now is the touch-screen.
When I was first reading, it took me a little while to figure out that I needed to tap in the lower-right corner of the screen to turn the page. Once I did, reading went fine!
Yesterday, I set the Kobo Touch inside my purse, and didn't touch it for a few hours. (I went to a football game; the Touch stayed inside.)
I tried using the e-reader last night; the single button on the bottom works, but I can't tap the screen to turn the page.
I powered it off/on again.
This morning, I tried to turn pages and it still didn't work.
I connected it to my laptop with the USB cord. I cannot fully "connect" it to my computer to manage files because to do so, I have to tap "Connect" on the Kobo screen.
Basically: The tap/touch feature seems to be not working, after a day of infrequent use.
Has this happened to anyone else?
I am not very good with technology, so there could be something easy I'm missing, and wanted to check in with others.
Does this sound like a case where I need to take it back to Best Buy and get it replaced, or something?
Roundup of news & blog links, several of which are just confirming what most avid ebook readers already know. I've wasted far too much time in the "bookery" section of my Google feed, and I'm inflicting some of the results on the rest of you.
Publishers Desperately Trying To Protect Print Sales, And Failing
Despite all the breathless talk of “transmedia” and “metadata” and the furious rate of backlist digitization, the overarching strategy was clear: protect print sales at all costs, and pray that e-books will plateau soon (and that international markets won’t take to them with quite the same relish).
Paying authors more might be the best economics for publishers in the long run
If the stores and other intermediaries they rely on go away, they have to find other ways to sell their books. That’s a challenge, no doubt.
But if the authors don’t play along, they have nothing to sell. Making deals with authors is the publishers’ price of admission to the game.
( More links! More quotes! )
Publishers Desperately Trying To Protect Print Sales, And Failing
Despite all the breathless talk of “transmedia” and “metadata” and the furious rate of backlist digitization, the overarching strategy was clear: protect print sales at all costs, and pray that e-books will plateau soon (and that international markets won’t take to them with quite the same relish).
Paying authors more might be the best economics for publishers in the long run
If the stores and other intermediaries they rely on go away, they have to find other ways to sell their books. That’s a challenge, no doubt.
But if the authors don’t play along, they have nothing to sell. Making deals with authors is the publishers’ price of admission to the game.
( More links! More quotes! )
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HuffPo launches a book club around augmented reading
"aNobii was built in Hong Kong in 2006 as a place for book consumers to share their reading preferences. But it took investment from the publishers HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House along with entertainment retailer HMV (LSE: HMV), who want to use it to sell e-books directly to consumers in a bid to fend off Amazon’s growing dominance."
"aNobii was built in Hong Kong in 2006 as a place for book consumers to share their reading preferences. But it took investment from the publishers HarperCollins, Penguin and Random House along with entertainment retailer HMV (LSE: HMV), who want to use it to sell e-books directly to consumers in a bid to fend off Amazon’s growing dominance."
In addition to the restrictions from several of the "big 6" publishers--Macmillan and Simon & Schuster don't allow ebooks through Overdrive at all, Penguin's stopped allowing new content & shut off Kindle access, and Harper Collins only lets them be loaned out 26 times--a new twist in the OverDrive contract has turned up: different selection based on libraries' card policies. If the library allows non-residents access to their ebooks, they get a much smaller selection.
And they work to hide that detail, because dayamn I couldn't write a less-clear contract bit if I tried:
And they work to hide that detail, because dayamn I couldn't write a less-clear contract bit if I tried:
( This is an *impressive* example of obfuscatory verbiage )
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For Harry Potter fans interested in the ebooks, Pottermore is running a survey asking for things like likelyhood of purchase, where you buy your ebooks, what devices you own, and what would make you not buy (I put down 'the presence of DRM').
If you're interested in giving some feedback, here's a link to the Pottermore blog post:
Like reading Harry Potter? Take part in our survey
If you're interested in giving some feedback, here's a link to the Pottermore blog post:
Like reading Harry Potter? Take part in our survey
mary Borsellino, author of The Wolf House, is handing out e-copies of her upcoming book The Devil's Mixtape for people who promise to provide Amazon reviews for it. It is, as far as I can tell, about the devil and three different girls.She really is ever so good. Plenty left, apparently. Pass this around!
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