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 Post Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:12 pm 
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Years ago, when the Kindle first came out, and the Nook came out, it seemed to me that Barnes & Noble was way ahead of Amazon. Better device, better price, better book selection. Have had 3 different Nooks, from the Nook Color, to the Nook Tablet, to the Nook HD. Loved them. They even partnered with Microsoft to convert all of my .lit (Microsoft reader) files into epubs so I could read them again. They used an open source file format. I could download my books and read them on my computer, Nook, tablet or (at that time Android) phone.

B&N did some things that pissed me off a bit. I got a Windows Phone, and they never came out with a Windows Phone app, so I couldn't read my books on the phone, forcing me to jump through hoops to remove the DRM on my books so I could read them in alternative ePub readers on my phone. Then they stopped allowing you to download the books, so I had to jump through even more hoops. They also started adding more and more Google onto their devices, and came out with the latest one, which is an Android Galaxy Tab 4, which is riddled with Google, as are all things Android now. I determined I would not buy the next Nook, and began to look for alternatives. I was really looking at the small Windows 8.1 tablets for when the time came that my Nook didn't function anymore, because B&N did make a Windows 8.1 app.

Meanwhile, Amazon had totally pissed me off by no longer supporting the ePub format, so if I got a Kindle, I couldn't read my existing library on it, and going with a proprietary file format. They also refused to carry certain books of the conservative stripe, to which I belong. They did have some books, however, that B & N didn't have. And they have an app for every device I own. I actually bought a book from them and read it on my phone and my Surface, because B & N didn't have it.

Well my Nook is still going strong - but my eyes are not. I'm having some eye issues, and backlit screens just really aren't good for them. I had previously looked at the Nook Simple Glo devices, but they were pretty bad, the LED lighting being so uneven as to be unreadable for me. Well it got to a point where I just wasn't going to be able to read very much (meaning not for any extended period of time as my eyes would get too tired) on backlit devices. Books don't work either as the print is too small, and my hands don't like holding them either.

So I investigated the Kindles, and saw their eInk/ePaper device, the Voyage. I got one. I am thrilled with it! I am also thrilled with the ebook management program Calibre, to which I owe all my thanks for being able to convert my ebooks from one format to another and to remove the DRM (digital rights management) code from both B&N and Amazon books. (Not written or supplied by Calibre, but by a plugin written by Apprentice Alf! :))

One thing I love about the Kindle, is its dictionary. The Nook uses Merriam Webster - not my favorite dictionary. The Kindle uses the Oxford American, my absolute favorite dictionary, and also provides the Oxford English, and you can use both, and choose which you want as your default. Also, both dictionaries open as books, so you can use them even if you aren't looking up a word in one of your books.

It has a great feature called Vocabulary builder, which aggragates all the words you have looked up during your reading and lets you return to those to learn better later, including showing you the context in which they occurred.

The screen can go from very bright, to very dim, very easily - your choice - or automatic. (I'm not sure automatic is really working though.)

It's really thin and light. 6.3 ounces. I bought mine without advertisements - I'm allergic to advertisements. Cost me an extra $20. Oh well.

You can get one with 3G if you want, but I don't need it.

Battery life is terrific, goes for days. And, it doesn't cause strain on my eyes. It is true that were it not for Calibre and Apprentice Alf, I would not be so happy - but we are truly fortunate to have both. Now I can buy books from either store, and convert them to run on any device.

In short, I love the Kindle Voyage.

Long post, but I thought some might find it interesting and maybe even helpful.

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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:29 am 
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Hubby has the bog standard e-reader Kindle Patty. Bought that last year, I already had the Kindle app on all my devices, computers and smartphone, also have the Nook app on this 8.1 Notebook.

I don't use the Nook that often as I've found the books I tend to read cost more than Kindle.

After getting hubby the e-reader of course I wanted one but had to go one better, :-) I got myself the Kindle Fire HD 7"
but it doesn't have the camera, although that doesn't bother me as I've found my Lumia 520 took great photos and I'd always got that with me and it's smaller and easier to carry about. I've now upgrade my phone to the Lumia 830 which takes even better photo's so I'm happy.

Of course having the Fire means I can do more with it than just read books, I have Calibre on here as well but to be honest I've not worked out how to get the books I already have into it, I really will have to look at it again.

I'm typing this from Windows 10 so can't try it yet as I've not got all my programs on this version.

Enjoy your toy Patty, I love all this technology keeps my old grey cells ticking over. :-)

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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:40 am 
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Indeed it does , Joan. Thanks. :)

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 Post Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:04 pm 
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I've never owned a dedicated e-reader but do have Nook and Kindle on my 10 inch tablet. To be honest I haven't messed with Kindle but use Nook all the time. One thing I like about Nook is that hardly any of the books I've selected contain DRM. There is almost always a notice at the beginning that the book does not contain DRM at the author's or publisher's request. That is probably due to the genre that I read, mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy.

There IS a factor about DRM that I don't understand. When I went from my old 8 inch tablet to the 10 inch I had no issue with the few titles I have that are DRM protected. I set up the 10 inch with the same Nook credentials and my library was intact with a download button on each title. I selected to download and have had no issue. This is also true if I use Nook on my laptop and desktop. I thought that part of DRM was that you could only read on the device through which the title was purchased. Then again I can't say that I really understand DRM... ;)

I haven't really been using Android tablets for long but don't seem to be seeing a lot of Google. Since my 8 inch was version 4.2, Jellybean, and the 10 inch 4.4, KitKat, I don't have earlier versions to compare. It is also possible that it may be due to the fact that my tablets are not mainstream. I can't remember who made the 8 inch but the 10 inch was made by an outfit called Double Power. Who knows, mayhaps they do something to remove some of Google...

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:29 pm 
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That download button means you are downloading it to the device, or in this case, the app. There's never any problem downloading your own titles to the device or their own app. I got into DRM removal precisely because Barnes & Noble refused to make an app for my phone. To read on my phone, I had to download a free, or purchase a non-free, 3rd party app. Those apps will not open books that have DRM protection until it is removed. This is purely for my own use, you understand. There's a series of Fantasy books that both my daughters and I adore. As they became available on Nook, I notified them of that fact. They purchased the books. They could have been given my de-DRM'ed copies, but I didn't do that, and they wouldn't have accepted them if I had.

Years ago I had quite a collection of ebooks in Microsoft Reader format (.lit). When Microsoft stopped making the Reader, I had no way to read these. I actually repurchased a bunch of them from B&N in ePub format. Then B&N bought out Fictionwise where I had purchased all my ebooks, and converted all my old .lit books to ePubs and put them in my Nook library. That was very cool. Finally had all the books I already owned in readable format!

Losing the library I had purchased over several years soured me on the whole digital ebook file format issue. I determined then that I would not lose my library of books just because somebody shut down. Kindle originally supported ePubs, but then decided not to. An arbitrary decision, and had I gone to Kindle without Calibre being able to convert my books, I would have lost my entire library again.

I paid for these books, I own them. Amazon and Barnes & Noble and all the rest are violating copyright Fair Use laws which allows you to make digital backups of your purchased digital files. I doubt their DRM encryption would stand up in court, which is why they've never challenged it, they just try to make it harder to do.

If anyone wants to check it out, here is Alf's blog on the whole subject of eBooks and DRM:
https://apprenticealf.wordpress.com/201 ... perplexed/

I highly recommend it.

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 Post Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:26 pm 
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Interesting read Patty, thanks. :)

My take on the whole thing now is that it is exactly like my "ripping" my DVDs to an external drive. While U.S. copyright laws allow me to make ONE archival copy of a DVD the people that make the DVD are under no obligation to allow me to do so easily.

I bought a DVD that my ripping software would not handle. I actually contacted the supplier/producer/whatever of the DVD and requested help in making my legal archival copy. LOL! I'm sure that you can imagine the result... I was bluntly told that yes I had the right to make a copy but there was no law that said that they had to allow/help me do so. Obviously I got no actual help. ;)

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 Post Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:05 pm 
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I would say, yes, Jay, it is exactly the same thing!

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