Should I buy one?

Yes, it's more portable/light/efficient than a book and is much easier to read than any tablet (because it's e-ink instead of a digital image and is on a non-reflective neutral screen).

If you disagree, try hauling something like the Recognitions around to read in your spare time.
You can change formats, you know.

I was about to get me a Kobo Glo HD right now. I can just drag my pdf's into it right?

>You can change formats, you know.
it's way more tricky than you think for stuff like pdfs etc

I recall just using Calibre to convert a pdf to an epub, and it working fine.

I hate to say, PDF's are shit on e-readers still... considering most are illustration heavy.

well if you are ok with how it converts, lol

i usually avoid files converted by calibre

I'm experienced with this shit since I do it all the time. Everything converts well except for PDF's.

I have a Kindle 4 and it's great. Got it used for $40 and it has repaid its value many times now.
I pirate all my books, and with Calibre managing them is easy and it's almost like having a real library.
If you want to buy one, here's some tips:
Get one that's backlit, it's well worth the money. Doesn't have to be a Kindle.
Pdf's suck in all readers (except the Voyage) so pdf support isn't a selling point, neither is multi-format support since you'll be using Calibre so you can convert to whatever's convenient.
Get a nice case for it. I have a black leather folding one and it's an upgrade to the experience.

You probably wouldn't want to do that anyway. Get a tablet instead if you want to read pdfs.

But if you do convert pdfs with Calibre they will usually be massively fucked with all the extra bits that are on every page like the page number, the title of the pdf or author appearing in the middle of the text over and over again. Would not recommend.

It's really cheap in the long run if you pirate.

I don't mind having to use Calibre, it's more of a library managing software for me than a crutch to workaround the file format limitations. I have a backlit one which is nice in the evening so I don't have to place the Kindle directly in the light of the lamp on the bedside table but can lie more comfortably.

generally it's much better to get a reader which needs no conversion and which adds books when you upload them to it like on a flash drive without any software for that

i.e. not kindle

yes

it's basically drag and drop files into the device and it can read epub, mobi, pdf, etc.

but it does favor epub, however, which I assume is the opposite for Kindle with mobi's. Some functionalities get lost with mobi's on the Kobo, and ocassionally more errors occur, though I never got something unreadable. If you want the best experience, I think it's a good idea to invest time on getting to know Calibre, otherwise, stick to an ebook's preferred file extension.

kindle + bibliotik master race here, life is good

Bought a Kobo Glo hd a few months ago. I've read a couple of books on it and it's great. Also got a magnetic case with auto wake from aliexpress for like 3$ and it works very well.

What is a good e reader that readily accepts multiple formats? Thanks senpai

Kobo glo hd
Nook

That's a toughie.
First off, every pdf is gonna be shit no matter what you use. So forget it. Calibre also can't convert pdfs worth shit, so double forget it.
Kobo makes .mobi files look funny and don't support .azw3 at all. Epub works fine, though, so most ebooks will work.
Kindles don't support .epub, but do support both .mobi and .azw3, plus Calibre converts .epub perfectly.
I don't know a think about Nooks.
Choose whatever you like.

The more you read the more you'll "profit" from it. It quickly pays for itself and then gives you free books(if you pirate of course)

I have the kindle paperwhite and I couldn't recommend it enough.

Pros:
- Free books
- Instantaneous access to rare books (don't have to order online then wait for shipping)
- Can give your entire library to others if they have an ereader (no more lending books and not getting it back)
- Carry thousands of books with you if you only bring the ereader
- Carry potentially millions of books if you bring your laptop or store them in a self hosted cloud service (super easy to do and great for travel)
- Built in backlight for night time reading
- e-ink and printed ink are on par with each other now
- vocabulary building tools and auto generation of a text file with highlights/notes are massively useful
- charging isn't really an issue now as it is super quick and can last a month of active use
- hold large books like "War and Peace" in one hand easily

Cons:
- writing notes always feels better
- text books should almost always be PDF or paper
- can't lend your books to non-ereading people

Other Notes:
Since a lot of light novels are read on ereaders by middle aged moms, using an ereader often more associates the owner with paper back fiction by bystanders. I honestly don't give a fuck because of how much money it has saved me, but that's worth note. Also, purchasing a case isn't necessary but it is worthwhile. I always found it nice to pop off the case when I'm at home since dropping it isn't an issue. I do so because the cases for most ereaders make it go from "perfectly fitting to read" to "this is okay I guess."

Final thoughts:
If something happened to my kindle right now, I would happily buy either a new kindle or try a kobo Glo. For MOST books, I think it is a superior choice.

Kobo H20 is the best thing around.

Reading in the bath has never been this comfy.

>Free books
hahahaha

any other ebook but kindle has it easier with pirated books from irc or gen.lib.rus.ec or something and equally easy with books from gutenberg etc

lrn 2 calibre, mate

I can't stand carrying around a shitton of stuff wherever I go.

You can just use any smartphone as an ereader, the only problem you may have is battery life (My phone lasts 12+ hours easily of constant reading (backlight ALWAYS on)) most people have access to an outlet before that shit would die on you.

If you like camping and bringing shit to read or have some other situation that precludes electricity access for days at a time you should buy one. If not, I don't see why people just don't use their phone, since you are carry that with you anyway.

>If not, I don't see why people just don't use their phone, since you are carry that with you anyway.

funnily my phone works longer than my ebook

also the main difference with them it's not how long the battery lives but e-ink vs lcd displays, e-ink doesn't need the bottom light to be readable and so work like a real paper book when you read in the indirect light, supposedly it strains eyes less and also it makes it easily readable even in a very bright light when a text on an lcd display (tft, amoled w/e you call it) can have problems with being visible. since e-ink ebooks usually have some kind of light too nowadays, they can be read in darkness just like lcd devices

>implying one has a smartphone
I've yet to try one that wasn't horrid.

Do you use an ancient nokia flip phone or some shit? How do you even replace parts that fail on such ancient technology?

Unless you are just trolling me and saying you don't have a mobile phone.

>any cell phone
>replacing parts

the only part which you even can replace for those it's their battery and it easily can serve 10 years and more (they usually recharge from a usb port with a cord which both serves indefinitely and can be replaced being a standard mini-usb or something liek that)

certainly if you broke their display so it cannot be used at all (if it can be used you can ignore a black mark on its display) you probably don't find a service which would replace it and buying a new phone would be cheaper anyway

>Do you use an ancient nokia flip phone or some shit?
It is an ancient flip phone, yes.
>How do you even replace parts that fail on such ancient technology?
Replace parts? It isn't a crummy smartphone. Batteries are the only thing that goes bad.

Really, I hate the user interface on both Android and iOS.

Little known fact: the wireless device in cell phones actually has a lower life span before expected failure. 10 years is ludicrously long given the designed obsolesce of smart phones.

that's why you don't need to replace any parts for them
the easily replaceable parts serve long and for the rest when they break (which take quite a few years) you get a new device

that's about that your line

>How do you even replace parts that fail on such ancient technology?

also

>such ancient technology

>>Yes. Kevin and I designed a habitat for Steve to live in that is completely like his own world. Everything is 1996-oriented.
>>As you can see, the ice man is listening to Ace of Base, which was a very popular group during his era, and primitive drummings soothed his people's tempers.

:^)

There are tons of Kindles on ebay for like $30-50. Definitely worth the money.

Public notice that if you don't use bookerly font you're fucking up

>TFW reading in a language with non-english alphabet and can't enjoy glorious fonts

...

get kobo instead

Check this out
youtube.com/watch?v=HZSGZkEEVfQ

i just use my phone

Am I just fucked if I want to read before bed with an e-reader? Would something like Flux fix that?

What. How would you be fucked? You just lie down and read like any other book.

That's where I get most of my reading done, honestly. I lie down in bed and just read .epubs from my phone. When i go to shit I take an actual book though, so I am reading multiple books at a time.

Yes. Just bought a paperwhite recently when it was on sale for $100. I've been using it a lot recently. Much more than I ever used my old Sony Reader. Mostly because of the light and being able to quickly highlight things and take notes.

Now I just need figure out a way to get ride of the ad screensaver and find a nice history book to read for free. Does anyone have any suggestions?

What period? "History" is pretty vague.

1500s-1800s would be nice. Maybe something with Germany.

>tfw can't find an epub of The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists

Iron Kingdom. Should be easy to torrent.

Thanks based user

Bismarck: A Life is pretty okay too, but somewhat out of your date range.

Thanks again

Never mention any of this again to anyone or so help me God.

If you don't wanna use the library or buy books and you read a lot than yeah.

They're good if you travel around or are away from home for long periods of time. Good for reading in places that would destroy an actual book. Lots of fiction books for sale on them for a good price as well. I like them. That being said, prefer the real thing.

I have one of the first ones with the physical keyboard. It hasn't failed me yet and has a battery life of months.

If you pirate it pays for itself quite quickly.

If you use calibre with a used kindle you get the best device without any need to autistically wring your hands

Ipad is unfortunately king for PDFs

Only if it was a document that was converted to a PDF without headers and footers and page numbers.

A library with a huge network is the kwisatz haderach

Explain. I alternate between Palatino, Baskerly, and Helvetica. Bookerly looks weird to me, like something that would be printed on an in class assignment in 4th grade

Usually always better to open a pdf in word and save as RTF before converting to epub.

how easy is to get one if you're a taco taco burrito señorita faggot in tacoland (colombia)?

acrobat allows cropping of header and footer throughout document, and then cleaning of hidden items. Then you can save as RTF

Isn't that the paid version? I can't be having that

i pirated the portable version, its tiny and effective

I've imagined that you'll need something with fair shipping fees for whatever reader you want.

Kindle devices can have their ads disabled if you aren't in the US.

yet again, you don't need kindle

i believe your country may have cheaper ebooks than kindle with more functions too and of a comparable quality, visit a computer shop nearby

made in china of course but who cares

>using a sans serif font for body text

>everybody saying pdfs are bad
I've actually kind of got used to it on my Kobo. It's a bit weird scrolling jerkily around the page with my thumb, but it beats staring into an LCD screen for hours on end.

based fellow bookerly brother

that being said I am open to other fonts, what you recommend?

I bought this one mainly because of its larger size - I think the paperwhites and kobo glo are kinda tiny in terms of screensize personally - but that I can read books now in bath or in a humid swamp is a big plus

It's convenient to do my readings in pdf out of the house.

Most ereaders are sadly pretty shit with pdfs.

Something that is rarely mentioned here is to get one with tonnes of built in dictinaries. They are awesome if you plan to learn a new language and by far my favourite feature of ereaders.

Could you clarify why the Voyage is an exception to PDFs sucking? I'm quite interested in hearing your experience with it.

I'm not really learning a language but English isn't my first language and it's useful for the more obscure words or geographic references.

The whole point of ereaders is the e-ink screen. Reading long texts on a smartphone is unpleasant for some.

It costs as much as a medium-high end laptop though

you should buy an ereader, but not a kindle. Enjoy having no SD slot

kobo aura h2o

I have one question about the Kobo Aura H2O:
Can I use it in a sauna?

No, it'll evaporate

I'm serious. I imagine 100+ degrees Celsius might not be great for an electronic device, but it might as well not care for all I know, I've never owned an ereader before. That's why I'm asking.

the device's feature is being waterproof. Like you said, subjecting it to extreme fucking heat as well might not be the best idea. I own one and I already don't like when the thing gets hot during a sunny day at the beach

I have one of those things and although i haven't empirically tested it yet it's highly unlikely to remain unaffected by the temperature.

paperwhite + libgen + calibre = years of FREE BOOKS

Well a book wont do too hot in those environments either, but I will say that leaving my kindle in a hot car or in a bag on the beach doesnt damage it.

When you turn the brightness down there isnt that much bright light to fuck up your sleeping pattern, the light looks more yellow/grey than blue

The newest kindles are nice and all, but amazon loves their proprietary stuff and isn't very friendly when it comes to different formats

All of their units only sport 4 gigabytes of storage. Sure, you might fit a lot of books on there, but some scholarly books I read contain a lot of pictures and graphs that bumps up the file size to 25 or more megabytes per file. That adds up fast.

I also like to read manga (yeah) and I've converted a lot of volumes to a readable format on my kobo. We're talking about hundreds of megabytes if not gigabytes here. The 4 gigs just isn't enough for me, so I went for a kobo aura that has a micro SD slot and i've expanded my storage to 32 gigs now. That's more than enough

Alright, thanks. I probably won't be trying that, not with a new one anyway.

Everything free means nothing of value.

lol what? Reading great books is valuable, even if you don't pay for it.

>he doesn't understand opportunity cost

please graduate highschool before posting here

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M Y S I D E S
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Yeah, not seeing what opportunity cost is supposed to do here. Not costing money doesn't imply no opportunity cost. And it's pretty clear that user above's "FREE BOOKS" means 'free' in the sense of costing no money.

And anyways, surely we want to define opportunity cost in terms of value rather than vice versa. There could be lots of value without there being any opportunity cost.

So I still don't understand. Want to spell it out for me?

I've got a K4 but a friend of mine has a Voyage. The problem with reading e-books on small screens is that you either have to zoom and pan on every page or try to fit the wold page in said small screen.
In my K4, zooming out makes the letters tiny and blurred because of the low resolution.
In the Voyage, the letters are still tiny but sharp enough to be readable (tested on a DnD 5e handbook)

The problem with reading PDFs*
fuck I'm sleepy