(no subject)

[strina]

So I'm currently borrowing my aunt's Kindle and I think I need an ebook reader of my very own. Car repairs mean I won't have the money for at least a month, but does anyone have any recs? Anti-recs?* Links to awesome sites with lots of fanfic ebooks?**

*I will not be getting a Kindle, because a) I hate Amazon and b) I pretty much hate the Kindle; why can't I skip to the last chapter? Why does it not tell me anywhere I can find how to follow the stupid quick links? Why does the user manual give me sort options that do not appear on the screen at any point?

**I know you can use fanfic downloaders and convertor programs and make ebooks, but I am laaazy. Everything I've put on the Kindle comes from this Ebook Library or Ralst's page here.

Comments

[inkstone]

The skipping to the last chapter or lack thereof isn't the Kindle's fault though. That's the fault of the publisher and how they chose to design their ebooks. With some publishers, you can go to the table of contents and jump to the last chapter. But if the publishers chose not to include a TOC, you're sunk with typing into random locations and hoping you get chose to the end. This is problematic across the board when it comes to ebooks, unfortunately. Publishers ARE getting better about it but for all that they make noise about how ebooks cost a certain amount of money & that's why pricing is the way it is, they don't really put much effort into designing and creating them.

(And now they're thinking about putting ads into them! Ugh.)

[strina]

It lets me skip to the next chapter every time except for the last chapter, so I had thought there was a working ToC.

(Seriously? Putting ads into things people have already paid for usually just irritates people, not gives you extra revenue!)

[inkstone]

Hmm, I dunno. I checked a couple books on my Kindle (one that had been bought directly from Amazon & another that'd been converted and then loaded on via Calibre) and I'm able to skip to the last chapter on those. Maybe there's just something wonky with the way they coded the ToC (didn't include the last chapter).

(I know, right? A friend and I were saying that if they were going to be putting ads in the ebooks, then the retail price better drop accordingly.)

[saekhwa]

amalthia has ebooks on her site: Ebook Fanfiction Archive.

She also tends to convert the larger fics like J2/SPN Big Bang and Star Trek, I think. Anyway, you might find neat stuff there.

thoughts on other e-readers

[inkstone]

My friend has the Nook and she likes it but she says the backlist choices are often lacking, which she finds frustrating. With new releases, it's great but with other titles, the selection can be hit or miss. I know it's just a matter of digitizing but B&N is a little slow about it.

I had the Sony previously which I liked a lot but lord, if you go that route, I really really recommend the model that lets you download books wirelessly. I think the daily edition might be the only one that can do that currently but ugh. Sony's great in that you have more freedom to shop wherever you want, particularly if you know how to crack and convert ebooks (although really, I guess that's true for any kind of reader), but having to connect your ebook to your computer all the time is annoying. And I didn't realize how annoying it was until I got the Kindle.

Re: thoughts on other e-readers

[poisontaster]

That's not necessarily B&N; it's the publishers and the authors, too. If the publisher no longer has the rights or if they don't think conversion will be profitable enough, if the author won't give permission, etc., etc.

[amaresu]

I have an Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro and love it a rather large amount. It supports a ton of different formats and doesn't tie you to one site for buying books. Which I like.

For websites you can check out Mobilread or ebooks.

[poisontaster]

I have a Nook and I really like it, especially since they added a function to go to whatever page you want. The problem with Kindle or Nook is that they don't support a large number of formats. With Nook, epub is the "best" format to use on it and it's open source enough that if you don't like the Nook, you can take your library and put it on, for example, an iPad.

No matter what kind of reader you buy it's probably that pdfs will look like crap on it; the format is really inflexible and ends up having formatting problems no matter what you do and, unfortunately, a lot of fans who are give an ebook version of their longer stories are doing it in pdf format. I second the rec for amalthia's site; she converts to multiple formats for most readers.

They're not as 'sexy', but the people I know that have Sony readers swear by them and they seem like they have the greatest format flexibility, though don't quote me on that.

Also, no matter what kind you buy, you're not 100% locked into purchasing from a single site. A lot of the epublishers put out their books in multi format and esellers like Smashwords and Fictionwise offer books in multi format...sometimes in formats the original publisher don't even offer.

[sineala]

Kindle navigation:

You follow links by moving the joystick over to them and pressing? I don't understand...

Sort options: From the home screen, move up to the "showing n items" line and hit right, and it offers you the opportunity to sort by title, author, etc. (Sorting by collections -- which are basically tags -- won't work until you've created collections. You can do this from the drop down menu, or you can move down to a book, hit right, and you get a screen with a bunch of options including "add to collection," which takes you to a list of your collections where you can create more if you want. This all only works if your Kindle has the newest software update.)

I [heart] my Kindle, so I am unable to advise you on other ebook readers.

[noxie]

I have a Sony ebook reader, and I love it lots.

[dine]

you might look at the BeBook - it supports a lot of formats and comes in a couple different sizes; it's the one I'll be buying as soon as cash allows. my friend rattlecatcher has owned several (replacements necessitated by owner-accidents) and really likes it tons

[amalthia]

I think Sony is coming out with a new e-ink reader sometime this month or next month. I've been reading rumors of two new releases. I hear one of them will have wireless.

Now as for finding sites with a lot of ebooks....I myself have not found any but I have great hopes that the A03 will add an export to epub/mobi option to their site someday. I know the efiction archive people are talking about coding it into the new/upcoming release of efiction. I think if things like this can happen it'll help make fan fiction formatted for ebook devices much more accessible.

In the meantime, the way I'm creating ebooks is a slower and I still need permission to share the works on the archive. So my personal collection is much larger than what you see on the archive.

I also went with RTF because when I first got my Sony the Kindle had not come out yet and I had thought they would support RTF or word doc at least. But they didn't. So it's really hard to provide formats that work on all devices.

[strina]

I am SO GLAD you run that archive, by the way. It is AMAZING, and I actually use some of the RTF files just to read on my desktop because I generally like my fic low-formatted and in one big file. But yes, just about everything I've managed to put on the Kindle has been mobi files from your archive (sorting by available formats = so awesome), so THANK YOU!

[amalthia]

I'm slowly but surely trying to add more formats for the stories currently hosted. :) If you have any requests just drop me a note. :)

Waves and you're welcome.

[inkstone]

Coming back because I just remembered this post: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/05/16/dear-jane-what-ebook-reader-should-i-buy/

It's from a few months ago but it covers the various considerations that come into play when deciding on an e-reader.

[nonniemous]

Oh, ebook libraries for fanfic! While I supposedly bought my Nook to help save my back when it comes to hauling around books for school, it's really loaded up with fanfic I've converted. *g* Thanks for the links to the libraries for it!