/lit/ - Literature

They're worth it for pirating things you don't have easy access to / travel / etc.

If I have a physical copy available I go with it but otherwise ereaders are fine.

better than physical books

>>6675140

I have the latest Kindle Paperwhite and I really like it. I don't even pirate books anymore, I just pay for them on the Kindle Store.

>>6675140
Highly functional but cold and lifeless

I have a kindle fire. Do I need an Amazon account with credit card data in order to download apps?
I can only read pdf's right now.

>>6675140
More trouble than they're worth.

Everyone on /lit/ talks about how great ereader are then we get threads about "oh noes it broke" or "why are all my files corrupt?" or "how can I convert a .book file to a .livre file?"

>>6675160
Pretentious faggot

>>6675160
>Cold and lifeless
Lmao kill yourself

>>6675140
utterly unethical

>>6675225
>implying

>>6675225
thats a nike logo there bud.

get rekt

>>6675225
nurse convention

>>6675277
nice try

>>6675140
Fantastic.

>>6675140
Good for travelling and generally all the stuff you won't have to revisit several times over, scribble in or underline.
Textbooks, poetry, anything else I prefer in physical form.

>>6675392
This exactly. It's a pain in the ass to hunt for certain things, go back far etc. on ereaders. But for straight through reading, they are great.

>>6675170
never had my kindle break in the 6 years I've had it tbh

>>6675155
Same, it's definitely useful for reading pdf's too. I like using it on my commute, as it means I can switch between fiction and non-fiction quickly.

>>6675567

>reading pdfs on kindle paperwhite

>>6675140
Not my cup of tea; generally, when I read I like to disconnect entirely from all electronics, so for me ereaders are obviously not going to work.

>>6675392
>scribble in or underline.

I agree with this; my copy of the Iliad is covered with little notes so that I can go back to revisit thoughts.

>>6675567
>>6675415

can you read pirated .pdf files on a kindle? I fucking hate my ereader because I can't read when it's sunny. if not, is there a way to "jailbreak"? are there other alternatives that offer similiar "paper white" screens?

>>6675591
hey, that photo is one i edited together on my type writer and faxed to my wife

nice to see someone using it

>>6675677
you can jailbreak a kindle, i read an article about how to do just that when i was looking to change the screensaver (paperwhite btw) but i realized i just don't care enough to actually do it...you can read pdf files okay but the conversion is crap, line and segment structure get messed up and if the pdf has page numbers it'll show up at random places....any other files are fine though

I like them better than physical books. Paper books are cold and lifeless, and they will never replace the sweet fragrance of the e-ink, the burning feeling of the metal in your hands when you are reading under the sun, the electromagnetic field of the kindle battery

>>6675714

sorry for stupid questions, never used a kindle and don't have a friend who owns one, they prefer actual books

>you can read pdf files okay but the conversion is crap, line and segment structure get messed up and if the pdf has page numbers it'll show up at random places

does that change with jailbreaking?

>any other files are fine though

like what? .epub? do you Have to buy every book from the kindle store or can you just put any .epub from your harddrive onto your kindle (assuming not jailbroken)?

>>6675717
kek

>>6675724
there may be some way of converting pdfs without messing up the structure but i have yet to find it

>do you Have to buy every book from the kindle store
lol'd i have never bought one book from the kindle store and have read hundreds on the kindle...i use calibre, it's free and you can convert to .mobi (from virtually any format) and easily put into the kindle..it'll convert pdfs too but the formatting is a bit off as i previously stated

>>6675677
sure
I don't know about the newer kindle versions but I've got a kindle 4 and download pirated books all the time, don't need to jailbreak it or anything. Don't even need an amazon account.

>>6675724
I usually use an online converter to convert epubs (you can't read epubs on kindle iirc) to the native .mobi format and it works out well
You can do the same with pdfs but the results range from acceptable to disastrous

>>6675753
>>6675763
>>6675775

thanks, you guys are great. my bday is on the 21st and I'll get my parents to let me choose the ereader this time

>the first one broke after a month of me barely even using it for no reason at all
>second one has buttons that don't even react, I enrage every time I try to read something

my dad's the greatest dad ever, but sometimes he likes being cheap. it's okay, tho. pretty sure both those ereaders together were below 100 bucks.

>>6675798
get the kindle paperwhite, it should be under 100$ and it's predecessor, the voyage, is not much of an upgrade

>>6675140
how else will I show off how cultured I am if nobody can see my bookshelf?

>>6675820
The paperwhite is great! i have had previous kindles and nooks and have thought they were okay but the paperwhite is great!

>>6675843
You're joking but it's a problem I haven't figured out how to solve. When I was a kid I always thought that my house would be full of bookcases but I can count the physical books I have bought since I moved out with one hand.

>>6675140
The other day I went to the book store after a long time of only downloading books. I felt pretty uncomfortable surrounded by people looking at the books like objects. I remember some comments here and there: "do you know that book, its called Hesse, and don't know the writer", and "¿how do you read this? Ecce homo: ecksee homo? Is it about homosexuals?"
I was looking for a PKD short stories compilation, because I had decided it would be nice to have a physical book, then I saw how overpriced it was, and remembered that in my country buying books is like buying a nice ornament.
I didn't buy anything, but I drank some free wine.

>>6675140
I got into this because I like books, not reading.

Hi people

I mainly browse /co/, /fit/ and /v/, so first time here

Yesterday I was trying to read Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru, and procastinating, because it is a heavy book, but later, somehow, I found a PDF and read it non stop for 4 hours.

I realized that nowadays I very much prefer reading by scrolling down a screen, that by turning the pages of a physical book.

What should I get? a tablet or a Kindle?
I would use it mainly to read free books written by dead authors, XIX century English writers, Spanish XVII century literature, that kind of stuff, although I would like to read some modern history books too.

Do I need a Kindle to read the digital version of this, for example?
http://www.amazon.es/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552

can I read free pdf's downloaded from the internet on a Kindle?

>>6676813
It depends. PDFs are hard to read on Kindles due to the screen size. Most PDFs can be converted to normal ebooks but some are scanned images or have weird OCR problems.

Anyway, even with that caveat, I can't recommend the paperwhite enough. It's probably the best ereader in the market considering price/value.

>>6676845

with Kindles do you scroll down, tap to change page, or you can choose?

Anyone else use the Kobo Mini?

>>6675140
Only good without the backlight

>>6676943

does it need one? its a fucking gameboy

Why would you need an ereader if you have a smart phone?

>>6675160
You pretentious little cunt

>>6675160
just like human society

>>6676886
Conveniently to carry around, but cold and lifeless

How will people know what I'm reading on the train if i'm using some shitty e reader

>>6677035
Better on the eyes and the battery life is literally hundreds of times better. If reading is part of your daily routine, it's worth the hundred bucks. Will probably save you money in the long run, especially if you pirate.

>>6675591
It actually works really well for the A5 sized pdfs, plus you can still read diagrams. Also, it's easy to convert pdfs into the mobi format.

>>6675677
>>6675714
All you have to do is drag and drop them into the kindle.

>>6675140
Btw is the cover in picture best kind? Does it hold the reader well?

I thought they were worthless because I always feel like I half-read things when I read them as ebooks and I have a higher failure rate when it comes to finishing those books.

Then I realised you can eat and read much easier with an ebook - so now they are clearly the winner.

>>6675225
Why are they unethical?

>>6678021
They exploit workers in third world countries, like many other large corporations.

Plus they dodge billions in tax money, which is utterly retarded as this essentially fucks over both the people that work for them and also the consumers.

Amazon is a cancer that needs to be treated

>>6677994
I've got this cover (it's the official amazon one) and it fits really well, especially as the kindle is held with that plastic surround. Quite pricey for a cover though.

>>6675820
>predecessor

>>6678257
I have this kind that covers the edges and it is bad cause it covers a bit of the screen too. I am going to buy the one in op picture but chinese version, hope that it is better.

>>6675160
That's just what you've been tricked into thinking. Books evoke images of fireplaces and impassioned academics throughout the ages, but that is simply your impositions onto the medium. E-readers are newer and therefore hold no connotations for you. They're only cold and lifeless because of your psyche.

How are people suposed to realize how smart I am if they can't see books in my house.

>>6678248
If I remember correctly, Amazon gets some of the parts for their kindles from a Chinese manufacturer(forgot its name), who've previously made parts for Apple. Back then, they were exposed using poorly treated and paid sweatshop workers.

>>6678248
I'm sure all those workers will jump for joy when you start an "ethical boycott" of their products.

I read books I get off of Gutenberg and whatnot on a first gen kindle I just got for cheap. Works well enough. Better than reading on my ipad was.

>>6675166
Calibre

ereaders are convenient and for that alone they are worth buying.

>able to use pirated books
>massive library on device smaller than most books
>built in dictionary
>back-lighting available in most devices
>adjustable fonts (size and type)

Where ereaders suffer most is formatting. Also, a lot of people enjoy the tactile feel of a book. Flipping real pages, and being able to physically see how far along you are gives you a genuine, intuitive feeling of progression. Ereaders give you x/xx page numbers or percent complete but its not the same in my experience.

Also, a lot of people like the idea of having a "library".

Basically everyone should have both imo.

What is the cheapest ereader or is kindle the best way to go?

>>6675140
As a /g/-and-/x/-fag, I'm too scared of shit like the 1984 incident to get a Kindle, but some of the ones where you can just plop a PDF or EPUB of your own on there look nice. Still never going to be as cozy as a physical book though.

>>6678248
>exploit workers

lol when will this meme end. I'm sure you're doing wonders putting them out of a job m8

>>6675140
Amazon's conversion software is the buggiest piece of garbage ever written. Even their own support has no idea how to solve problems coming from it.