[aklug] Re: Calibre and a Kindle

The advantage of e-ink/B&W devices is with the wifi/3G turned off the batter=
y life is amazing and the display is very easy on the eyes (like reading pap=
er - no flicker at all). My Kindle is the only gadget I've owned where I nev=
er thought about charging it and when I did need to charge it the warning po=
pped up with several hours of use left. The issue you will have with the bla=
ck and white Ebook readers is that they tend to run very low power cpu's and=
 the e-ink displays do not update quickly enough for a clean browsing experi=
ence for things like magazines. The newspapers and other non-book media I've=
 read on my kindle always felt castrated.

Since you did not elaborate further on your magazine I'll give a couple of s=
cenarios:
-If the magazine you read is for the iPad/iPod as a app then no, unless ther=
e is a version for the other readers, the web or one in a common Ebook forma=
t or text (not PDF - the b&w kindle will read pdf's but it is painfully slow=
 and you lose the ability to resize text/etc. easily). If it is a app based m=
agazine it's worth checking to see if they have started publishing a Android=
 version since there are Android tablets out there that serve as Ebook reade=
rs.

-If the magazine is in web format you can browse to it on the kindle but it i=
s crippled due to the Kindle browser being fairly basic. The better way in m=
y experience is to use the Instapaper (or similar) service, where you can bo=
okmark a bunch of pages and have them sent to your device for later browsing=
/reading. That makes the process fairly automatic, which is nice.

As Mike mentioned there is also Calibre, which is a excellent tool but requi=
res converting/downloading issues to your device via your computer adding a e=
xtra step each time you want the mag. It's good but if the magazine comes ou=
t every day or week the constant conversion treadmill could become cumbersom=
e.

Another thing to do is if the magazine is popular be sure to check the Amazo=
n and B&N online stores to see if they already have a native version.

Recently I had the privilege of receiving a Nook Color - it is a Android tab=
let in disguise with a 800mhz processor, 512MB of RAM and 8GB of flash (with=
 a microsd slot). I've switched to it for reading and although it's heavier t=
han the kindle and has a LCD the sheer capabilities of the device rock - the=
 web experience is very good and once rooted (the xda developer forums are a=
 great resource - lots of info just a google away) you can load all the othe=
r Ebook reading apps along with many other android applications. I'm using t=
he Built-in Nook app combined with the Kindle app and Calibre (the nook app h=
appily accepts books you copy to the device if in the right formats - which C=
alibre facilitates) to read everything I want. I've also loaded NewsRob - a g=
oogle/rss reader application which gives me access to all my news.

After spending over a year as a avid Kindle fan now I'm torn - for straight b=
ook reading it is still the superior device (better screen and battery life)=
 but once you want complex articles/magazine/newspaper reading or PDF readin=
g it just doesn't stack up IMO. I must plug the nook color in after heavy us=
e but I've just accepted that there is one more charging cable on my nightst=
and :^)

-Alan

On Feb 20, 2011, at 22:00, Jim <jim.wadell@gci.net> wrote:

> I have been trying to decide between kindle and nook. Can the Kindle do=20=

> feeds intended for ipad/ipod? One of my favorite mags does its online=20
> that way.
> JIm
>=20
> On 02/20/2011 04:37 PM, barsalou wrote:
>> Recently I had the great fortune of coming into possession of a V3 Kindle=
.
>>=20
>> Because I follow this list, I remembered that Jim had talked about Calibr=
e.
>>=20
>> This is a great tool and works fairly well getting new information
>> downloaded onto the Kindle device.
>>=20
>> I'm playing with downloading magazines and other RSS feeds at the moment.=

>>=20
>> Great stuff.
>>=20
>> Mike B.
>>=20
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Received on Mon Feb 21 09:46:48 2011