(Untitled)

[stellamira]

I've been reading an awful lot lately, both books and fanfiction. I don't mind reading long texts on the computer screen, but I'm still finding it way more comfortable (and containing way less sources of distraction) to read on the couch or in bed. So I've been printing out lots. I've found a good combination of small font size and little free

Comments

[_titch]

Kindle's are fine for fic. I don't use their software. I downloaded Calibre to manage everything which will convert most file types.

[stellamira]

Great! I don't mind a little converting work; I do that right now for the printouts, too.

[hsb]

You can use bookmarks in ereaders, but it is irritating, since you have to page back to the start of the section you want to mark. If it's a long passage, that's annoying.

H

[stellamira]

Well, I guess it's not as easy as sticking a post-it in anymore. :) But that's probably something I'll have to get used to when using.

[stellamira]

Well, I've had my kindle since yesterday, and I'm very happy. ;)

And I installed Calibre and am learning how to use it. AO3 is awesome - unfortunately not everything I want to read is uploaded there, but I'm doing okay so far.

[stellamira]

Oooh, so many links! I'll probably try them all out - thank you!

[_bettina_]

I think I've read more fanfiction on the Kindle than books, so yeah, very suitable for fanfiction as well. :)

[stellamira]

I can't imagine myself buying ebooks for it, so naturally I'll have more fanfiction - or free books from the Gutenberg project. But if I have the choice to buy a real book or an ebook the paper will always win.

[_bettina_]

I thought so, too, but it's really handy to only pack your Kindle when you're travelling instead of several books. :)

[chalcopyrite]

Paging back and forward can be a little awkward; I use the font on my ereader (a BeBook, if you care *g*) turned up, so the page numbers don't match up with the screens. But minor things you learn to deal with.

What I've heard, and I think it's probably right, is you'll like whatever reader you get. Decide what's important -- like, do you care if it has a colour screen? Do you want WiFi or 3G, or do you care? -- and see what has the features you want.

Kindles are special snowflakes, but if you're using it for fic -- AO3 has ebook downloads in a bunch of formats, I've encountered a few formatting hiccups, but nothing that put me off. If you end up reading actual books, Kindle of course has Amazon as a dedicated supplier of .mobi format ebooks. Of course a lot of retailers have epubs, which is the non-Kindle standard file.

Which is all a long way of saying I love my ereader for reading fic, and I wish you luck in your search!

[stellamira]

Ah yes, I knew someone had a BeBook at Camp, but I didn't remember who.

I did get a Kindle, after all. Yey, sometimes I manage to make a decision very quickly. I was very easy to please, all I need it to do is display black text on (more or less) white background. Right now I miss jumping forward - or backward - more than one page at a time (or if you can, I haven't found out how yet), maybe that'll change in the future. I guess it's not that bad if I can't impatiently skip forward to see when the characters share their first kiss already. *g*

So far I've been using Calibre to convert everything that doesn't come in the Kindle format already. Works out nicely.