Comments on: Kindle Paperwhite reviewed

By: B E Pratt

B E Pratt — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 21:30:00 +0000

I’ll second that. I also ran into a PDF reader called Sumatra that I found when Foxit was having a few problems (fixed now). From the site: “Sumatra PDF is a free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) reader for Windows.” See http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/free-pdf-reader.html
No affiliation; I was just surprised to see a PDF reader that was this versatile.

By: Vincenzo Ravina

Vincenzo Ravina — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:53:00 +0000

That’s likely. It’s not a better option for Americans, but it seems to be a better option for Canadians for book availability, library borrowing, et cetera according to this forum thread: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157338

By: Zig

Zig — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:40:00 +0000

I highly recommend the free (and if I recall correctly Open Source) Calibre — http://calibre-ebook.com/download
It is quite good at converting from one format to another.
To rip the DRM you need to install plugins.
General article: https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/ebooks-formats-drm-and-you-%E2%80%94-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/
The Calibre plugins: http://stream-recorder.com/forum/download-drm-tools-archive-t7955.html?t=7955

By: Marc Mielke

Marc Mielke — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:04:00 +0000

My Kindle Fire read ePubs just fine. It was non-Amazon .mobi files that were weird – not really, they just got listed under Documents rather than Library, and on the carousel were arranged in their own alphabetical order, and didn’t display the % read correctly.

(You know what…never mind. I just realized that the software I used to transfer epubs to my Kindle converted them automagically. Still, though, they were arranged differently from non-converted mobi files, so I still thought of them as epubs.)

By: Kludgegrrl

Kludgegrrl — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Yeah, I’m not crazy about the kindle for that reason either… Obviously different devices suit different folks, but it bugs me how Kobo tends to get left out of the conversation. Maybe because it’s Canadian??

By: Vincenzo Ravina

Vincenzo Ravina — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:58:00 +0000

There’s also the Kobo Glo – http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/19/hands-on-with-kobos-glo-and-mini-e-readers-video/

I don’t like how the Kindle doesn’t read ePubs.

By: Teirhan

Teirhan — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:28:00 +0000

It looks like a really nice reader. On the other hand, from the images I’ve seen it doesn’t really make THAT big a jump over the nook simple touch w/ glowlight. Maybe it’s much more noticeably different when you have both readers in hand.

I’m happy with my NSTw/glowlight, but at the end of the day for me it’s as much about ecosystem as it is about the device. B&N’s ecosystem is less broad than Amazon’s but with Nooks (which are android based) you have the choice of rooting and gaining access to multiple ecosystems. I don’t use it much anymore as I prefer to purchase .epub books when possible, but I have my NST rooted and I have the amazon kindle app installed in case they ever have something I want that B&N doesn’t have. In my mind, that’s the real choice you make with nook vs kindle: the possibility of multiple ecosystems, or just amazon’s.

In any case, there’s real competition in the eReader space currently, and that’s a net win for us consumers. I’m excited to see what comes next from both lines. :)