E-Reader Purchasing: Browser?

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

Hi! I'm new (and very grateful for) this community because I love reading and would like to purchase and e-reader.

I have 2 main inquiries:

1) I'm still deciding which e-reader would suit me best, and since I mostly read fanfiction online (thought there are some which I do save), I was wondering which e-reader would do the job most efficiently.

I looked around the internet a few times, as well as called to inquire about several different e-readers, and I've been circling around 3 main ones:

- The Kobo Touch
- The Kindle Touch
- The Sony Reader Wifi

When I've looked around for answers about their browser functions, most of them were similar: The browser is limited but workable.

Thus my question is, which e-reader can best function if I were to go read fanfiction/blogs online? If I were, let's say, to go to livejournal, insanejournal, dreamwidth, archive of our own or simply just browse in google for fanfiction?

2) Which e-reader can best allow me to organize and read pdf files (or are there files that I convert to read my fanfiction downloads better?)

Thanks!

Comments

[taylorgibbs.livejournal.com]

I don't think the browsers in any of these are stellar. I have a Kobo and the browser is not good. It is also very hard to read web pages, for me, on the screen. I had a first gen Sony Touch and we have a Kindle Touch in the household, and I've found this across the boards with the eink readers browsers.

The best thing for reading online, to my eyes, is a tablet--be it Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet, or Android platform.

PDF isn't a great format for any of the eink readers. The reflow of the text is awful. I can't resize most of the text.

Ao3 allows downloads of multiple formats, and mobi (for Kindle) or epub renders much better. There is also the free program Calibre. which will convert your PDFs to Mobi or Epub and with one click, you can upload them to a USB attached reader.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

This was very helpful! Thank you.

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

I have a Nook Color which I hacked to run the Android tablet software off an SD card, and I can FINALLY use it for fanfiction the way I always wanted to.

As it was, it was great for reading for fanfic that I'd saved either off LJ, or off AO3 and other places, and that was super easy to do, and looked nice. The main problem there was that I had no file magagement capabilities directly on the Nook (I wanted to be able to move or delete stories as I read them.)

NOW - I use MoonReader+ (app) which DOES allow me to move, rename or delete files on the fly. AND with Dolphin Broswer, I can actually download stories directly ON the Nook that I can then read offline.

I LOVE it!

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

For MoonReader+ then, do I need to hack my e-reader or tablet?

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

I believe you do. It's an Android platform app. I'm not sure if it would work on an unhacked Nook Color or not - several Android apps do, but because B&N set it up that way, so it's the ones they want.

Hacking it isn't all that hard, it just takes a little research, an SD card, and about an hour or so. I could find the link I used if you (or anyone reading) is interested.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

Yes please!

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

http://forums.androidcentral.com/barnes-noble-nook-color/105519-how-download-run-cm7-off-sd-card-easy-follow-no-root.html#anb

You can read most of it, but you have to register to see the links. He's got links to all the little programs and components you need.

You really do need to read his whole guide first, and I'd read the last several pages of comments too, to see what people are saying. I don't think you need to read the whole thread, it's very long.

[sassyinkpen.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's going to let you read my commnet with the link - it says it marked it as SPAM

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

I could read it :)
Thank you so much for the information! It was extremely helpful!

[chibifukurou]

I can't speak for the Sony or the Kobi, but the Kindle allows you to surf Ao3 and download ebooks in .mobi directly to your home screen. I've also used it to read LJ fic search communities and comment fic communities. You usually have to change the screen rotation so that it's horizontal but it works fine. The only thing that you have to keep in mind is that the screen refresh might not work properly while your in the browser, so you might have to reset the screen manually. It's pretty easy to do just google for instructions and be a little patient.

If your looking to do a moderate amount of browsing, mixed with a large amount of e-book reading you might be better off going for a Fire. Because it has the browser to support checking your email and replying to comments, etc. The battery life isn't the best of a fire, but if you keep the wifi on constantly any other e-reader battery will go pretty fast anyway. You can hack an e-reader and get it to work, but I'd only recommend doing it if you really know what your doing (if you break it mid hack you're probably not going to be able to get it fixed under the warranty), and even then e-ink tablets really aren't meant for heavy browsing. They are basically run by calculator processors which limits the amount or memory you have available.

If a lot of what you want to do is purely browser based, a tablet is probably going to work better for you.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! This was very helpful.

[josieb1.livejournal.com]

The Sony will be the best for PDF. The Kindle doesn't cope very well as IMO it's virtually unreadable for PDF. I have a Kindle Touch but don't really use the browser. tbh you need a tablet or a smartphone for online reading and an ereader for stories you put on it.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

hmmm... That's what most of you are saying :) Thanks for you help!

[yukisa.livejournal.com]

I've got the Sony and it is okay for surfing from time to time. And I guess you can theoretically surf LJ and read as you go along. But I never really triyed... From AO3 you can download directly to the reader. Generally, you could root it, I guess, then the surfing capability might be better....

pdf work most of the time, but I find epub much more comfortable, so I convert everything (really easy with calibre).

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

My first choice was the Sony one, even though it was more pricey, because I believe it would suit my reading needs best. Thank you for your input :)

[chosenfire28.livejournal.com]

I have a Kindle Keyboard, not a Touch, but I've been browsing on it to read fics a little limited and prefer instead to download them onto my Kindle. Honestly, if you are looking for something to be able to browse the internet to read fics I would strongly recommend the Kindle Fire. I have one and use it for that all the time when I just want to read something instead of going through the steps to save it. One of the best things is you can zoom to make the text bigger without losing part of the page and can even have it changed to a simpler format for reading.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

I think it'll be a bit pricey for me to get both, although I would really like it since I love reading books as much as I do fanfics... Thanks for sharing!

[amalthia]

I have the Sony PRS-650 and I use Calibre's Fanfiction Downloader plugin to download fics directly from A03/ksarchive/ff.net/and other harry potter archives into my Calibre.

Or you can just use the a03's download mobi/epub buttons to download the story directly to your device. :)

I hear the wi-fi browser is about the same as all other e-ink browsers.

Now as for organizing large collections all the reading I've done suggests that the Kindle is the hardest to use to organize your stuff, plus if you add a lot of stories it'll take forever for the Kindle to index them the first time?

I've been able to add over 1000 stories to my device and find what I want in under a minute. It sorts by Title, author, date, date added, and it lets you jump to anywhere between A-Z. You can also easily create your own collections, change the screensaver, and manage your collections on the device. In terms of sheer organization easiness the Sony I think beats all the other devices.

With Calibre you can also set up a content server so you can access your Calibre collection from your device.

If you're mostly going to be reading fan fiction I really recommend the Sony. I've had this line of readers from the beginning and so far it's been a solid device and I think the only one that makes it easy to manage a large collection on the device.

You can also check out library books on the Sony.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

OH THIS WAS SO HELPFUL! Thanks a bunch!

[amalthia]

I look forward to hearing which device you end up with. :) And if you decide on the Sony I'm almost always around to answer questions. :)

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

I'm very strongly inclined towards Sony! Its quality seems to be worth its high price, so :) Thank you for your very kind offer!
I'll make sure to take you up on it!

[delibby.livejournal.com]

I haven't played around with a Kobo, so I can't talk about it. But for work I played with the newest Sony for a week and a Kindle Touch for about a week after that. I love the Sony, and was annoyed by the Kindle. The Kindle just wasn't working as well. The Sony was just a better device.

I read LJ and DW on the Sony and posted comments with no problem. I read from AO3 on it and it worked just fine.

Between the Kindle Touch and the Sony wifi touch, I fully recommend the Sony. I can hesitatingly recommend the Kindle Touch, but fully recommend the Sony.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

Another point for the Sony :) Thank you for sharing!

[texas-nightowl.livejournal.com]

I can't really provide any feedback on browsing with any of the devices...I've only had a Kindle 3, and I don't bother to browse with it. I agree with one of the comments that a tablet type device would be better for lots of browsing...however for long reading sessions, I prefer the e-ink screens on the e-readers.

Like others, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Calibre. I use FLAG (flagfic.com) to download stories in epub/mobi format from some sites, or direct download from others (AO3) and covert them as necessary in Calibre and load them on my Kindle.

FWIW, I absolutely DETEST PDF format for ebooks, even when reading on my PC. It can really look awful sometimes. So I stick to mobi/epub formats.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

That's why I want the e-readers, because I have long-reading sections, and eventually with my smartphone, my eyes start to feel strained... But I've been hearing things about Sony, so *cross fingers*

Thanks for your input!

[amalthia]

Whichever device you pick I highly recommend Calibre for organizing your ebooks/fanfiction.

email me at amalthia at gmail.com and I can share the link to my content server so you can get an idea of how custom columns may be useful. :) if you're interested that is.

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

I emailed you! Thanks for helping :)

[littleisle.livejournal.com]

*My email's littleisle at hotmail.com !

[arletha.livejournal.com]

Practical suggestions - Apropos , if someone require to merge some PDF files , my kids merged a service here http://goo.gl/duFT08