But our heroine did buy a Kobo.
Sep. 10th, 2011 01:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agoodwinsmithI like to read a lot, and I like to travel by bus, so there is lots and lots of time when all I am doing is staring into space, when I could be reading.
I am really happy with the Kobo. It has a touch screen, and it is plumbed for wireless internet access - so that one can buy books anywhere, I guess, but I doubt that I would be comfortable placing an order over an unknown system, but hey.
I find reading with it very easy, Turning the page is easy, and the turn is exactly right to be smooth, just like turning a paper page - no loss of flow in the book. It is also easy to turn off the features you don't want. I've turned off the wireless, to extend the battery use, and I've turned off their silly reading incentive program because it is designed for people who need to be rewarded for reading.[1]
The only thing that I am not entirely pleased with is how it handles footnotes. It shows them, but, while the superscript looks underlined like an internal link to the footnote text, it doesn't actually go anywhere. I am assuming that the footnotes are somewhere at the end of the book, but I haven't gotten there yet, and there is no easy way to flip between pages widely separated from each other in sequence. I am re-reading a Pratchett book, so it is not like I am really missing much, but I would hate to be trying to read a new Pratchett or a new scholarly work. Reading the footnotes at the end, out of context, is just not good. But I think this will not be a deal-breaking issue. It would prevent me from buying an e-version of a textbook for a class, though.
So, I've been reading the Kobo on the way to work every morning, and I'm very happy with it.
[1] - this does not describe me in any way.
I am really happy with the Kobo. It has a touch screen, and it is plumbed for wireless internet access - so that one can buy books anywhere, I guess, but I doubt that I would be comfortable placing an order over an unknown system, but hey.
I find reading with it very easy, Turning the page is easy, and the turn is exactly right to be smooth, just like turning a paper page - no loss of flow in the book. It is also easy to turn off the features you don't want. I've turned off the wireless, to extend the battery use, and I've turned off their silly reading incentive program because it is designed for people who need to be rewarded for reading.[1]
The only thing that I am not entirely pleased with is how it handles footnotes. It shows them, but, while the superscript looks underlined like an internal link to the footnote text, it doesn't actually go anywhere. I am assuming that the footnotes are somewhere at the end of the book, but I haven't gotten there yet, and there is no easy way to flip between pages widely separated from each other in sequence. I am re-reading a Pratchett book, so it is not like I am really missing much, but I would hate to be trying to read a new Pratchett or a new scholarly work. Reading the footnotes at the end, out of context, is just not good. But I think this will not be a deal-breaking issue. It would prevent me from buying an e-version of a textbook for a class, though.
So, I've been reading the Kobo on the way to work every morning, and I'm very happy with it.
[1] - this does not describe me in any way.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-11 06:50 am (UTC)Project gutenberg.com for books out-of-copyright
also Project gutenberg.ca and .au (different copyright laws, death of author+50 years)
Also http://www.manybooks.net/ for free books.
I have recently read two books by Josephine Tay, and before that, a couple of Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayer. And before that, The Prize in the Game by Jo Walton which is Creative-Commons licensed and at manybooks.net
And Also, Calibre http://calibre-ebook.com/ for converting among ebook-formats.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-11 11:30 pm (UTC)