BOOKS, TABLET or KINDLE?

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

What is that?

Kobo is a Kindle competitor with the added bonus that they also have an application for smart phones and tablets so you don't have to decide between tablet or e-reader - you can use both.


I could be wrong, but I think they also have the only waterproof e-reader on the market. Id this is correct, that's an obvious benefit over the Kindle for use on a boat.

[BlueChicago]

For me, the combination of a Kindle Paperwhite, iPad, and traditional books works best.


Pro's:

1. The Kindle software can be loaded as an App on you iPad.
2. With internet access (for both iPad and Kindle device), you can pick up the iPad and start reading where you left off on the Kindle device.
3. You can change fonts size and style on the Kindle software (Kindle device or Kindle on iPad)
4. A built-in dictionary allows you to press on a word to get a definition or a wiki reference
5. The Kindle Paperwhite is easy on the eyes (benefits of eInk screens).
6. The Kindle Paperwhite has a battery that can easily last a week
7. You can bookmark pages, or highlight text
8. There are Paperwhites that are waterproof (I don't know what the IP rating is)
9. Almost all books on Kindle are less expensive than their paper counterpart
10. You can have your full library on multiple devices concurrently (Kindle, iPad, smartphone, laptop)
11. Takes up sooo little space, and so light!
12. You can transfer .PDF files to your Kindle (device and iPad)



Cons:

1. Batteries do run out of juice if you forget or just can't charge
2. Figures, photos, diagrams, etc. are frequently of poor resolution on the devices - sometimes to the point of being illegible
3. Many older sailing-related books are not available on Kindle
4. Sometimes it is simply nice to hold and read a real book
5. Without internet access, the wiki references and sync features are not available
6. My book won't break, if it slips out of my hand or slides off the table


I won't get rid of all my books, just most of them.

[stainless guy]

I second the kobo e reader it has the overdrive software installed that makes it much easier to directly download from a public library also waterproof, the battery lasts almost a month with everyday use for an hour or so

[Vasco]

We have two Kobos. No more smelly paperbacks. No more scrounging books and trying to organise book exchanges. Just download them from the library. When cruising I read three or four books a week. Always used to worry about getting more books. Not any more. Laptops aren't any good for reading books, even my small one with a SSD. Power hungry and awkward to hold.

[01kiwijohn]

You have a big enough boat to carry whatever you want. For the past 9 years I have been using a basic Kindle. To read, on watch, at night, I use a headlamp.
Top secret! Before each trip I download a bunch of books form whatever sources I can, then turn on the airplane mode. That way I have them for the duration.
Try it anyway, it's relatively cheap. Good luck.

[meirriba]

Kindle paperwhite is the solution.
Battery keeps long time.
Can read at night without bothering neighbours with screen glare.
Nice screen - almost booklike.
AND - Most importantly, saves space on a boat.
But - we still carry paper books: technical and pilot books which take most of the boat shelves.
Literature is almost exclusively on 2 kindles.

[LeeV]

We use an iPad. Books are in the Kindle app (free) and if I don't get them in pdf form, I convert all the manuals, documentation, nav notes, tips on maintenance, cruising, etc... to pdf and store them in the iBooks library. That way if they have photos I can open them up, zoom in, etc....e.g., I downloaded a series of photos and verbiage on creating a really nice anchoring bridle (thanks Cotemar!), laid it out on a Word doc, saved as a PDF, emailed it to myself, downloaded and saved it. Easy, but I'm sure there are other methods. I know my iPad weighs waaay less than all my books! :-)

Congrats!

[Tom and Maje]

We have Kindle Paperwhites for reading. Our nav book are in book form, and we use an iPad for the Garmin Blue Charts. They are unbelievably handy.

Maje

[wizoc]

Ipad with Kindle app!
There are too many other uses not togo this route.

[250224]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

But the book thing is not about show.

Understood. But I also thought about the 'beauty' to just hold a real physical book and thus completely agree with Sujijn: "I will say that as convenient as the Kindle is, when I can relax with a real book for pleasure reading the superiority of that experience always jumps out at me."

(don't think this will change in the next 100 years...)

Most of my treasured reference books and Admiralty Volumes are like old friends.....but being old are often out of date for modern applications, it is really dead weight to bring onboard

Beautiful dead weight... (on your boat wouldn't there fit 3 libraries at least?) -- I believe many books like e.g. the Reeds or the 'CCC Orkney and Shetland Islands' guide will never make good e-books. One has to be able to quickly flip through. Big reference books like the Boatowners manual from Calder (there is a Kindle edition), might work. Just try it to see if the reading experience is good for you.

Can all the best boating reference books on electricity/aircons/ electronics ....knots etc...be downloaded?

Don't know. But have a look at Amazon, if it is not there then (most probably) not.

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I wouldn't want one that was a dedicated reader with limited functionality beyond that. Depending on the model some kindles are just branded android tablets. ...[snip]... Why not get all that extra functionality for the same cheap price?

Because a Kindle (or Kobo) has an eInk Display which is a _completely_ different thing than a normal screen (LCD, OLED).

Originally Posted by BlueChicago

12. You can transfer .PDF files to your Kindle (device and iPad)

This doesn't work so well if the pdf is not optimized for a certain screen size (e.g. 6" in case of Kindle paperwhite). There are programs, e.g. https://willus.com/k2pdfopt/ to reformat. Or you could open the pdf in Word and then use pandoc and kindleGen to convert the docx further. Workable but not ideal, pdf is not an nice format for a reader.

[ShellBack89]

Originally Posted by bletso

I find it depends on the book. I do most of my leisure reading on the ipad. However when it comes to manuals and technical stuff I much prefer paper.

Bletso



Someone mentioned Kindle over an iPad. You can download the Kindle App onto your iPad and if you have Amazon Prime (movies, music and books as well as expedited shipping), you can get a number of books for free. Amazon uses the Kindle reader app. You can also purchase books through Kindle and use them on your iPad. This way you have a secondary navigation source as well as a source for your reading.



Congrats!



How are you going about selling all your personal items from your house? Are you having an estate company come in or are you going to sell everything yourself?


We are 3 1/2 years out but plan on selling off stuff in the next 2 1/2 years. Already have a plan for our cars but it's all the other "stuff" that will take some time.

[Cheechako]

Books, trade them with others.

[Dooglas]

Originally Posted by stainless guy

I second the kobo e reader it has the overdrive software installed that makes it much easier to directly download from a public library also waterproof, the battery lasts almost a month with everyday use for an hour or so

The Canada based Kobo is basically the successor to the Sony Reader and is a good product. My personal favorite, and very comparable, is the B&N Nook. Like the Kobo, it supports the ebook format used by libraries, and B&N provides free apps for Windows, Apple, and Android systems. The new Nook 3 has a very nice backlight with adjustable color temperature and works great in bright light. The Kobo and the Nook share compatible formats through Adobe Digital Editions as well - something else that Kimble does not do. I travel a great deal by boat and RV. I always have a Nook with me and it carries along an internal library of thousands of books. A battery charge lasts for weeks (compared to hours for a tablet). The fact that you can adjust the size of the font (all ereaders do this) is also a great feature which makes them more readable than paper books - especially paperbacks with their small fonts.

[zboss]

We keep a few books on hand... guide books with charts like the waterway guides and a few Diesel engine books but the rest are quickly removed after we finish them. They get smelly, they mold, they are heavy, and they take up space that I would rather have for provisions or whatever. We have a kindle and we use kindle reader on our iPads.

[wrwakefield]

Pelagic,

We have been through these same transitions over time. We now acquire all leisure reading in electronic [typically Kindle] form. It can all be read on the Admiral's prefered Paperwhite, or a tablet or computer interchangeably. Our leisure reading [Kindle] library now contains over 2000 books- most of them free. [A couple of sources for free leisure reading materials are listed below.]

I like physical books for technical manuals, etc. However, I duplicate as many of them as possible in electronic form. [Many of my technical printed books purchased on Amazon offer the electronic versions at a steep discount after I purchase the printed copy. Some do not...]

I have all the printed manuals [and notes from previous owners] for everything onboard. That occupies thirteen 3 inch wide 3-ring binders. I have almost all the manuals downloaded in PDF form as well, and organized into a virtual ship's library. [Excluding the leisure reading, it is 21GB in size and growing...] The binders are now in off-boat storage...

It is important to us to back-up our virtual library [ship's and Kindle] both on the boat, and in 'the cloud'. Therefore, we keep the ship's library on our tablets and computers, and sync it to 'the cloud' [we prefer Google Drive, but there are many options] to mitigate risk of loss. [Likewise for our 100k+ photo collection...]

The Kindle library is distributed among [downloaded to] several onboard devices [Kindle readers, tablets, and computers] and of course is preserved online in our Amazon account.

I mention our back-up and redundancy strategies to demonstrate if something happened to our electronic devices, our library is still secure and can be downloaded [for free] to new, replacement devices.

Now lets build your new virtual library... Where do we get most of our free leisure reading materials from? [Among many other sources...]

1. Bookbub [A free website that tracks discounted and free books by provider, and emails you when they become available. Sign up for your account, list your preferred providers, reading genres, and notification intervals.]
2. Librivox [Free audio books read by volunteers... Typically not as professionally done as books you can purchase from Audio.com, etc. But they are free...]

If you are voracious leisure readers, for US$10/month you can read any book in Amazon's Kindle library... [You need occasional internet access to download the 'loaned' volumes.]

Best wishes for an outcome that works well for you.

Cheers! Bill

PS: The free ebook sources above are from our extensive Computers, Devices, and Applications page which we maintain for our own sanity, and include many links to related resources. [No ads; we are just sharing info as one of our menial attempts to pay it forward— and perhaps even help a few insomniacs get some rest...]