Recommend an ereader?

[Werewolf]

Calibre does some pretty janky conversions.

I have an old one, battery is okay. I think they all have backlights now so that isn't a deal breaker. Very good purchase, I use mine to read pdfs too.

I think the quality of the conversion depends a lot on the source material.
IIRC modern EPUB/AW3/MOBI are all fairly similar in how they work except for the compression levels and DRM so conversions from a modern EPUB or AW3 or the other way tend to be pretty good, much better than the old days of LRF etc, especially as most modern physical ereaders are roughly the same in PPI and screen size.

I have some really old ebooks that I have replaced as they really didn't flow well on the ereaders as I think they were set for computer displays.

 

[413x]

What do you mean by technology for reading exactly?

I've been using my phone as my primarily e-reader (for novels, at least) for over 3 years now, I find it a superior experience to using a kindle for my uses.

For context, I get through roughly two books a week on average. Battery has never been a problem either, although that'll depend on your overall use case for the device and which phone you own.

The screen is completely different technology right? It's supposed to look like paper?

A phone screen is quite bright, not great on battery life etc. Otherwise everyone would just use their phone?

 

[Gray2233]

The screen is completely different technology right? It's supposed to look like paper?

A phone screen is quite bright, not great on battery life etc. Otherwise everyone would just use their phone?

To an extent yes, but that's not necessarily the case depending on the phone and the reader, and at least some of that I'd put down to marketing.

Some of the apps are really good at giving you background/page colour and texture options, plus the quality of phone screens has improved immensely and you can of course adjust brightness to whatever you want. I think many have a separate device partially out of habit but also because they already use their phones for so much they might not want another battery drain. It may be a bit of a niche use case, but given the apps are free and almost everyone has a smart phone and/or tablet anyway, it's worth giving them a shot before making an investment to see how you get on. The battery life thing can be solved quite easily by getting a slim battery pack for your phone, it'll still be a smaller footprint than an e-reader + phone and I think some decent sized battery banks even support fast charge if you don't want to deal with having the thing physically strapped to your device.

Example:

Spoiler

This is how I have Cool Reader set up, so personal preference on my end rather than anything enforced. I can choose the background colour and texture, the font size and type, and a whole bunch of other things to get it looking however I want. It also has a better PPI than a Kindle would offer me, and as mentioned earlier brightness adjustment is simple too and I often have it quite low while reading in bed.

Being able to easily read while holding the device with one hand is important to me also, which was the case with older Kindles that had physical side buttons, the newer iterations I do not like at all.

 

[413x]

To an extent yes, but that's not necessarily the case depending on the phone and the reader, and at least some of that I'd put down to marketing.

Some of the apps are really good at giving you background/page colour and texture options, plus the quality of phone screens has improved immensely and you can of course adjust brightness to whatever you want. I think many have a separate device partially out of habit but also because they already use their phones for so much they might not want another battery drain. It may be a bit of a niche use case, but given the apps are free and almost everyone has a smart phone and/or tablet anyway, it's worth giving them a shot before making an investment to see how you get on. The battery life thing can be solved quite easily by getting a slim battery pack for your phone, it'll still be a smaller footprint than an e-reader + phone and I think some decent sized battery banks even support fast charge if you don't want to deal with having the thing physically strapped to your device.

Example:

Spoiler

This is how I have Cool Reader set up, so personal preference on my end rather than anything enforced. I can choose the background colour and texture, the font size and type, and a whole bunch of other things to get it looking however I want. It also has a better PPI than a Kindle would offer me, and as mentioned earlier brightness adjustment is simple too and I often have it quite low while reading in bed.

Being able to easily read while holding the device with one hand is important to me also, which was the case with older Kindles that had physical side buttons, the newer iterations I do not like at all.

I will have a look.
Mainly as ereaders are so expensive vs what I thought.
If a phone can get me 90 percent of the way there I'll use that.

 

[Gray2233]

I will have a look.
Mainly as ereaders are so expensive vs what I thought.
If a phone can get me 90 percent of the way there I'll use that.

Definitely worth a shot, give it a little bit of adjustment time but as mentioned I highly recommend Cool Reader.

Calibre Ebook Manager (as mentioned by others) is well worth using too to help convert files as needed or manage your library.

 

[loftie]

The screen is completely different technology right? It's supposed to look like paper?

A phone screen is quite bright, not great on battery life etc. Otherwise everyone would just use their phone?

It really depends on you. As I said before, my phone is OLED. My preference is to have a black background with an off white text. All the black areas are not emitting any light on my phone. That said, my tablet is IPS (AFAIK) so with the same setup - which is how I have it - the black background is giving off light. But the tablet gets so dim it's not an issue in the slightest even in a pitch black room. But that's for me, and it might differ for you.

As Gray2233 said, it's worth a shot. You won't really lose out if you don't like it. I would suggest trying out different backgrounds, text colours, fonts and layouts so you get an idea of what you prefer.

And to me, e-ink screens are very much like paper - there's even colour ones!

 

[Crizzy]

I love my kindle. I had the original unlit version, until I broke the screen, then I replaced it with the paperwhite about 10 years ago, and haven't looked back since.

For me, putting down the phone keeps me focused and free from the usual distractions that I inevitably cave in to when reading from my phone! Maybe I just don't have the willpower .

 

[BMox81]

Once they sort out the yellow screen issue I can see myself getting a Colorsoft.

 

[MatsyLR]

My mam still just uses a Kindle paperwhite and sideload as needed.
Getting the newest one @ Christmas