Ebook Reader Suggestions?

I'm going to do a little research myself, but I wanted to ask all yous out there your opinion. Do you have any experience and suggestions for a good ebook reader?

Im hopefully looking for something that supports DRM free books, open standards, etc.

I want to stay away from the kindle, unless people really think there are no issues with them and can be used completely without connecting to amazon for books?

I had a Nook and I loved it until I found out that Adobe was watching me read every single page. So, I got an Android tablet and installed FBreader through Google. I really like it.

https://fbreader.org/

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If you need a EBook Reader / Tablet, you can't go wrong with a Nexus 7. You can root it and do what you wish, play with ROMs and get updates. Also it's dirt cheap and battery life is amazing. I think the 32GiB model goes for $150 right now.

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I actually use a Nexus 7, and its a good size, i but the brightness pretty much to the minimum, but find it a little hard to read for long periods, which is why i was considering something with eink.

If the general consensus is still a tablet, what i might to is root it and see if playing with the colours and lower brightness levels will improve reading.

What sucks now is, 7 inch tablets are becoming more and more uncommon. If brightness is of concern, there are a few brightness apps on the play store that will lower the brightness even further than the tablet will for optimal reading.

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Nothing beats Eink when ebook readers are concerned there is virtually no fatigue or strain on your eyes from the harsh light of standard lcd displays, and the new ones even have backlight to assist in low light conditions. i dont know about newer versions of kindle but i mange mine with Calibre which lets me manage drm free ebooks and sync my libraries to the kindle. It will also help filling up your metadata from the web using isbn from the books

i say give the kindle a try but first look if the newer ones still function with calibre which you can get for free from **

here

** (i suspect other ebook managers will also work but i havent tried them out)

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I have been eyeing a kindle paperwhite. Seems top of its class. A little pricy though. Currently use Google Play books on my One A9. I set it to black background white text. Really easy on the eyes with the AMOLED screen. Also night mode works well

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i say go for the kindle e ink is seriously good at mimicking paper

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I have actually done a lot of research about this in the last few weeks. I have tried everything from my current ipad, which I do not suggest but you can force to handel drm free books. I have also tried several different android tablets that I borrowed from friends of mine, and a mircosoft surface 3, all of which are nice but the screens on all of the tablets are to bright. The android tablets are probably the easiest to use followed by the surface, but after long periods of reading I would have headachs and my eyes would hurt from the screens being so bright.

I am currently borrowing a kindle paper white, and it has been the easiest to read on for longer sessions without developing eye strain but I have found it a litle more difficult to get a copy of my books on to it. Granted I haven't fooled with it to to much (its the father in laws) because I dont want to completely wreck it. However I have ordered one and would suggest it because its the easeist for long term reading.

Go with the Kindle white.

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I have an iRiver STORY HD. I've yet to run into a file format that won't work. While I was originally searching for mine I remember a company named "Kobo" making it to the finals. Since then, I came across this (seemingly) badass ereader called "Mirasol" it has color, but instead of emitting light the screen reflects light. I have zero experience with the latter two devices but the iRiver (while ugly) treats me well.

And as a bonus I'll mention Yotaphone. I have absolutely no idea if they are good or not but the concept is something I wish all phones had.

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My understanding is that you don't actually have to jailbreak the kindle. Just use Callibre to convert other formats to kindle. Even ePUBs rented from the library should work 😁

Please correct me if I'm wrong though!

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Yep that's correct. I've been using a kindle for 3 years now, the battery lasts forever. I once left it in standby for 6 months, when I resumed it, it still had battery left. Really good device it doesn't cost that much.

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I've been thinking about getting an ereader. Was looking at the different kindles from Amazon, they looked pretty good. I just really like owning physical books, anybody else suffer from this dilemma?

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If you're reading for more than half an hour at a time ignore all the people who say get a tablet. You want an eInk screen.

The two big choices around here are Kobo and Kindle. They're essentially the same device for all intents and purposes. The only difference is Amazon only accepts their own format for Kindle books, whereas the Kobo reads epubs. Even that is fairly irrelevant though as Calibre will convert files between the two. Kobo does make a waterproof version though, which if you're taking it on vacation could be kind of nice. In the end though, I'd go with whichever one you can get a better deal on.

One thing to note, the bulk of the "free" ebooks online (if you're going that route) seem to be .pdf files. This is where you want a tablet. pdf on ereaders is just about the worst. There's no text resizing and the refresh rates aren't fast enough on eInk to scroll around the page confortably if you're zoomed in.

I've got an original Kobo and an old Sony PRS350. I do all my reading on the Sony because I really like the hardware buttons, but when it finally dies I'll probably replace it with a newer Kobo. All my books are epub and converting all of them would be a pain.

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I do like physical copies more than electronic ones. But the fact that I can carry 100+ books in a single device is a major selling point. Plus the fact I can read PDFs too.

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I usually read at home, but I have always preferred reading on a tablet, black text on a white background is so much better than blackish text on a yellowish background. But I like having the physical book, I like slowly filling my bookshelf with books.

Although I am a bit concerned with what @nowherebound said about Kindles only accepting their own format for books. I plan on buying many eBooks from the Black Library, but they come in ePubs.

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I can't stand reading on a standard screen, it gives me eye strain after a while.

You can use calibre to convert epubs to amazon's file format.

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And on the flip side with the right plugin calibre to covert Amazon books to ePub.

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You know, this makes me wonder, why the hell can't I just buy a physical book and receive the ebook format along with it? Why do they charge twice for basically the same thing? I can understand having to buy the physical book after an ebook because it's a physical product.. But why do I have to buy the same thing twice if I want both?

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I'm wondering the same. For example see how much this ebook costs:


Costs more than the physical copy, like really? 48$ dollars for an ebook?!

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