Author Topic: Kindle (Read 3596 times)

DolphinFace · « **on:** February 13, 2019, 10:04:24 PM »

What are people's experience of kindle? I got one for Christmas and have just unwrapped it.

Are kindle books generally good value verus paperback or is Kindle a load of old shite?

touchingcloth · « **Reply #1 on:** February 13, 2019, 10:10:16 PM »

I have always been one of those luddites who talks about how the experience of an e-reader doesn’t match that of a paper book (and I still am), but when I moved house and had all of my books in storage I bought myself a Kindle. It’s dead good. I’ve never paid for a book on it and tend to just pirate copies of books I already own or have bought in a charity shop since I still like to have the physical thing. The best thing about it is you can download an e-book in less than a second, and then email it to the Kindle so you don’t need to faff with cables. It’s particularly good for travelling as I used to pack two or more books with me which is a pain in the arse.

Twed · « **Reply #2 on:** February 13, 2019, 10:13:30 PM »

touchingcloth is right. It's cheaper because you can steal.

Books are nicer, but e-ink does make reading digital stuff less miserable.

touchingcloth · « **Reply #3 on:** February 13, 2019, 10:21:17 PM »

I think new releases are slightly cheaper than the hard copies (8.50 rather than 9.99 kind of thing - I’ve never actually bought one), and if you don’t want to thieve then the Amazon store has a lot of free books if you want to go back to Victorian authors and earlier.

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #4 on:** February 13, 2019, 10:27:09 PM »

Found mine in a draw from 2011 - charged it up, still works great and got a load of books on there. Easier than lugging a load of books around.

imitationleather · « **Reply #5 on:** February 13, 2019, 10:30:48 PM »

It's absolutely banging for pirating stuff, but you still need some physical books lying around your gaffe otherwise people will think you can't read.

DolphinFace · « **Reply #6 on:** February 13, 2019, 10:58:22 PM »

Where are people pirating from? I just spent a tenner on Amazon and feel dirty. But yeh, seems pretty good so far.

imitationleather · « **Reply #7 on:** February 13, 2019, 11:18:11 PM »

Quote from: DolphinFace on February 13, 2019, 10:58:22 PM

Where are people pirating from? I just spent a tenner on Amazon and feel dirty. But yeh, seems pretty good so far.

Google the book title you're after and .mobi. Get a copy of a program called Calibre to make it all ship-shape for Kindle and you're flying.

Paying for eBooks feels seriously weird. I've had a Kindle for years now and it has never stopped feeling odd. Amazon I think has cottoned on to that most people feel this way and is trying to establish a kind of Spotify for eBooks, but the selection is nearly all shit I'd never want to read so it's far more like the Netflix for eBooks at the moment.

Twed · « **Reply #8 on:** February 13, 2019, 11:36:30 PM »

Quote from: imitationleather on February 13, 2019, 11:18:11 PM

Google the book title you're after and .mobi.

"mobi dick.moby"

0 results

touchingcloth · « **Reply #9 on:** February 14, 2019, 12:02:18 AM »

Quote from: DolphinFace on February 13, 2019, 10:58:22 PM

Where are people pirating from? I just spent a tenner on Amazon and feel dirty. But yeh, seems pretty good so far.

Plus one for the title + mobi search, though using "epub" instead of mobi works equally well if not better for some titles. Kindles understand mobi files natively, but using Calibre (+1 to that recommendation from imitationleather) epub files get converted to mobi when you email them to your device so it makes no odds. AZW3 files are the properly native Kindle files, but they're tougher to come by and don't offer any benefits so far as I can see.

LibGen is my go to place before I head to google - http://gen.lib.rus.ec/. Pop an author or title in the search box and look for epub results. Kindle's read PDF files, but you'll soon come to realise that they're shite, mainly because they display fitted to your device's screen and you can't zoom the text back to a comfortable level.

DolphinFace · « **Reply #10 on:** February 14, 2019, 08:26:11 AM »

Has anyone used mobilism? I joined, downloaded a book and ravaged my computer with a load of shit I've been deleting ever since. Had all the books mind..

I'll check out what's been mentioned

ToneLa · « **Reply #11 on:** February 14, 2019, 08:30:29 AM »

https://b-ok.org for the book, https://ebook.online-convert.com to make it a mobi, then email the mobi to my kindle's address.

olliebean · « **Reply #12 on:** February 14, 2019, 11:49:11 AM »

Quote from: touchingcloth on February 14, 2019, 12:02:18 AM

AZW3 files are the properly native Kindle files, but they're tougher to come by and don't offer any benefits so far as I can see.

I think on my Kindle Paperwhite azw3 files allow you to customise the font weight, whilst mobi files don't. Possibly there are other advantages as well, but that's the only one I've noticed.

You can't email azw3 files to the Kindle, though, you have to copy them onto it via USB.

Jobey · « **Reply #13 on:** February 14, 2019, 01:41:28 PM »

I'm on my 4th kindle cos they are weak as fuck. Probably intentional.
Already scratched one I've had for two months and now the screen has horrible marks and glare.
Absolutely great though.

Twed · « **Reply #14 on:** February 14, 2019, 02:31:54 PM »

Do you use a cover?

Huxleys Babkins · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2019, 02:43:17 PM »

Still got my keyboard one from 2010 with an Amazon leather cover. It's kept it nice for all these years although it does add a fair amount of bulk.

Still holding off upgrading, even though the new ones are better in every conceivable way. Hoping that this years update will have a warmer backlight and then I might take the plunge. Don't want that blue light when I'm reading at bedtime.

Jobey · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2019, 03:03:17 PM »

Quote from: Twed on February 14, 2019, 02:31:54 PM

Do you use a cover?

Yeah, but all it takes is me dropping my keys on the screen and it's fucked.
I dropped another and the screen cracked and was unusable.
They are not built to last in my experience.

olliebean · « **Reply #17 on:** February 14, 2019, 04:46:05 PM »

Quote from: Jobey on February 14, 2019, 03:03:17 PM

Yeah, but all it takes is me dropping my keys on the screen and it's fucked.
I dropped another and the screen cracked and was unusable.
They are not built to last in my experience.

Well not if you keep dropping them or dropping things onto them, no.

Jobey · « **Reply #18 on:** February 14, 2019, 04:52:23 PM »

Do u want a fight?

FerriswheelBueller · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2019, 04:52:53 PM »

Quote from: Jobey on February 14, 2019, 04:52:23 PM

Do u want a fight?

no u

Jobey · « **Reply #20 on:** February 14, 2019, 04:55:10 PM »

Yeah if you want one

ToneLa · « **Reply #21 on:** February 14, 2019, 05:43:49 PM »

My last one got a screen dent that fucked it and I complained and got fifty bar off the new one!

touchingcloth · « **Reply #22 on:** February 14, 2019, 09:25:00 PM »

Quote from: olliebean on February 14, 2019, 11:49:11 AM

I think on my Kindle Paperwhite azw3 files allow you to customise the font weight, whilst mobi files don't. Possibly there are other advantages as well, but that's the only one I've noticed.

You can't email azw3 files to the Kindle, though, you have to copy them onto it via USB.

That might be the reason why I’ve forgotten that I never bother to look for them any more. It does the X Ray thing with AZW3 files, but I don’t really know what that’s for and I’ve never missed it. The font weight is fine for me, I’ll take the standard over having to use cables, ta.

ToneLa · « **Reply #23 on:** February 14, 2019, 09:51:38 PM »

? my pirated mobi files, I can change the font, size etc. just fine...

touchingcloth · « **Reply #24 on:** February 14, 2019, 09:59:02 PM »

I can change the font and size, but not sure I’ve ever been able to change the weight (which I assume means making the characters thicker rather than just bigger overall). I can definitely change the size, though, which is the main thing to me for readability.

olliebean · « **Reply #25 on:** February 14, 2019, 10:05:42 PM »

Quote from: touchingcloth on February 14, 2019, 09:25:00 PM

That might be the reason why I’ve forgotten that I never bother to look for them any more. It does the X Ray thing with AZW3 files, but I don’t really know what that’s for and I’ve never missed it. The font weight is fine for me, I’ll take the standard over having to use cables, ta.

I saw somewhere that if you set Calibre to convert to the new mobi format it has similar advantages to azw3 but can also be emailed to the newer Kindles. Haven't got around to trying it yet, though. The last book I converted from epub had a custom font that put the whole text in italics, so I was quite glad to lose that with the conversion to old-format mobi.

touchingcloth · « **Reply #26 on:** February 14, 2019, 10:21:49 PM »

I use Calibre to convert epubs to mobi, and when they’re on my Kindle (gen 1 Paperwhite, I think) I can embiggen and ensmallen text, choose a font, navigate through chapters and set bookmarks. That’s all I need, so I’m happy.

TIAL · « **Reply #27 on:** February 15, 2019, 12:30:42 PM »

I love my Kindle and the e-ink really does look like it's printed on paper.

Another useful thing I love is the integration with Instapaper. If I see a long-read article on the web that I want to save for later, I can just click the Instapaper browser extension and it sends the article to my Kindle.

ToneLa · « **Reply #28 on:** February 15, 2019, 01:52:52 PM »

I love the new one, I read it in the bath, drinking wine, because I'm like that. Drop it in the bath? No worries. Also, got no ingrained bezel corners to collect dust or hair either; the screen is under the top layer of whatever transparent stuff they're using (it ain't glass)

Sebastian Cobb · « **Reply #29 on:** February 15, 2019, 07:14:44 PM »

I got a nook when they were 30 quid. Rooted it and put kindle app on it, but I still tend to convert with calibre. I only use it for stuff out of copyright mostly, just buy books for pennies from abebooks mostly.

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Author Topic: Kindle (Read 3596 times)