When the Kindle Fire was being launched, part of the out-of-the-box experience was that a) it already knew what account it was associated with and b) if you weren't already a Prime member, it phoned home and automatically gave you a non-renewing 1-month free "preview" (not a "trial", since those automatically converted into paid memberships) of Prime so you could watch Prime video, use Kindle lending library, etc. I own a paperback copy of how book I wish I could also own an epubs copy, but unfortunately that seems impossible due to the imposed preferences of the author. Hofstadter who insist on strict fixed formatting are within their rights to do so, but are misguided. In my opinion, a reflowable format should always be offered to those who want it, but certainly not forced on everybody. Some people prefer PDFs and their opinion is no less valid the preference for reflowable formats. Offering a PDF, or even many PDFs, is fine. If the aesthetics or functionality of the reflowable experience offended those users, they probably wouldn't remain users/owners of such a device for long. If there were a richer format that included those things but worked well with TTS, wouldn't that be worth offering for download? And isn't an epub exactly that sort of format?Īctive users of ereader devices predominantly use them to read reflowable formats. A lot of people who use text to speech (TTS) still have some vision or even full vision, and would like to see the pictures or bolded/italic text. The problem with plain text is you lose the styling and images. But if you have a system for generating a selection of PDFs, including a text version would be trivial. Sorry, that's my bad for using an initialism without clarification. Kobo has a book search that is ok, but not as good. One thing missing is 'X-Ray', which is neat but not essential technology Kindle has. is the reader comparable to Kindle: yes, same settings I use on devices and laptop, fonts, brightness, clarity etc all comparable are the books I want on there: yes, ever one of the 5 or so books I looked at are listed on the store, newest version are prices comparable: no, Kindle is cheaper in some instances but there is a price match (I used it, it works) does the store work?: Yes, the interface is reasonable if slow, I could find books on it and buy is there an export path if they go under: its Adobe DRM, so assumably yes with their support is the company behind Kobo credible, will it be around for a while: yes, its owned by a credible company, 13.4% e-reader market share, probably shrinking no native linux client: not a deal breaker for me supported formats, for the Linux issue: EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, CBR I did a high level pass over the ecosystem before choosing them as an alternative to the Amazon monopoly, they seem somewhat equivalent to Chrome vs Firefox: Others specifically mentioned Kobo as an alternative. It isn't perfect, but until another ecosystem can match the audible/kindle whispersync feature with apps on literally every device (including smart speakers, ai devices, etc) then I will stick with Kindle, even if the books are more expensive, because it is just easier. I realize that I sound like a fanboy, and I am. So I prefer to just buy them ala-cart with the kindle book bundles. I don't maintain an audible subscription because I have found that I can often buy books + audible versions bundled together for the same price (and often less) than a month of Audible. I literally just purchased a book about 10 minutes ago and added the audible narration. The new Kindle Paperwhites also support Audible on them via bluetooth headphones and you can listen while you read along. It is really awesome, and makes the Kindle worth it in my opinion. Seamlessly staying in sync across all these devices. Then I can read more on my iPhone via the Kindle iOS app while I wait for a meeting to start, then I can listen to the Audio version on my Alexa in my office, come home and listen to the Audio version on my Sonos speakers while I cook dinner, and then go back to my Kindle as I settle down in bed for the night. Then I can jump into the car at work and listen via the Audible CarPlay app in my car. The next morning I can read a chapter on my iPad. So I can literally read a book on my Kindle one night. But even more impressive is that you can skip in and out of the audible versions at will as well, and stay in sync. So if you read a chapter on your phone, and then go to your Kindle later that night, it will keep you in the right location. It syncs your location in the book across all devices (I use iPad, Kindle Paperwhite, and iPhone, Sonos, Alexa, etc). I enjoy the "Whispersync" Audible/Kindle integration and multi-device support.įor those that don't know, Whispersync is easily the Kindle's "killer feature".
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