Kobo Touch
Mar. 29th, 2012 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
narcasseToday, while I was off discovering that my GP never received my MRI results and that my upcoming blood tests might well corroborate the possibility of something else being wrong with me, my Kobo Touch was delivered. Interestingly, while WHSmith is the most promoted stockist, both Argos and John Lewis had the Kobo Touch at a lower price. In fact, by the time I looked into it early in the week Argos had run out of stock entirely. I also ordered a cover to go with it, finally, after a few days debate because I wasn’t sure how much use I’d really get out of it on the move.
Despite or perhaps as part of my aggressive downsizing, I’m getting rid of piles of books that I either don’t need any more or that I could really just pick up in ebook format for free. Thankfully, being a fan of classic literature, plenty of the things that I want to read are in the public domain these days. I’ve also changed my attitude to literature as a general theme. While I still appreciate books and will be holding on to plenty of them (they may have to wrestle my copy of Les Liaisons dangereuses from my cold, dead, hands for instance) there are definitely ones that I don’t really need. I have a battered, second hand, copy of La Dame aux camellias which I started reading a long time ago, didn’t like very much, am determined to finish but don’t really need a physical copy of to do so. Similarly, while I’ve been meaning to read The Communist Manifesto for a while now, buying a physical copy has always struck me as a little redundant. Thus, downsizing, in regards to all my material goods, is sensible reason enough to have made the expenditure on an ebook reader.
I’d made my purchase based on the strength of the above benefit but somehow hadn’t quite managed to make the connection between whole libraries of books on one device, which is the reason that I’m absolutely thrilled with this thing. I have a habit of reading several books in parallel at any one time but usually, when I travel, or even if I choose to sit in the living room, in the patch of sun on the couch, I’ll just take the one book with me for ease of transport. With this ebook reader I can just switch between volumes without all the fuss of having to lug extra physical books around with me. For instance, today, around about the point where I’d got bored with the Russian opera on one of the Sky Arts channels, I’d realised that my attention was slipping when it came to The Communist Manifesto, so I switched over to reading The Secret Agent instead, and read a little La Dame aux camellias as well. And, having logged into my wireless network I decided that I needed a copy of Middlemarch as well. This may well seem like a small issue but given that I can have anything like 8 books on my desk at any one time, for me at least, it’s phenomenally useful.
In addition to the delightful business of being able to take any number of books with me at any given time, even the case I’d ordered came with unexpected extras. I am wondering if the protective screen might be that little bit more reflective than the Kobo Touch’s actual screen but it’s useful in not getting my finger grease all over the screen anyway, and the little polishing cloth included is proving effective in that matter too. Curiously, there’s a branding symbol at the corner of the cover but I can’t quite make out what it’s meant to be, because to my eyes it doesn’t half look like the symbol of Clan Tzimisce.
I’m still getting to grips with Calibre and have downloaded my first few ebooks in the Kobo proprietary format but that seems promising too. Similarly, while I don’t know how useful the rudimentary browser is, it’s nice to have the facility to look something up quickly, on a larger screen than my phone, if I need to. The ability to search the Kobo online store seems a little limited using the Kobo Touch itself, but then I could probably also say that about the PC version, because at the moment I’m just searching through the free ebooks available. At the moment I only have 17 books downloaded so far but it’s a start and once I’m a little more focused on what I’m after it’s going to be an awful lot cheaper and more convenient to get hold of volumes at any rate.
Despite or perhaps as part of my aggressive downsizing, I’m getting rid of piles of books that I either don’t need any more or that I could really just pick up in ebook format for free. Thankfully, being a fan of classic literature, plenty of the things that I want to read are in the public domain these days. I’ve also changed my attitude to literature as a general theme. While I still appreciate books and will be holding on to plenty of them (they may have to wrestle my copy of Les Liaisons dangereuses from my cold, dead, hands for instance) there are definitely ones that I don’t really need. I have a battered, second hand, copy of La Dame aux camellias which I started reading a long time ago, didn’t like very much, am determined to finish but don’t really need a physical copy of to do so. Similarly, while I’ve been meaning to read The Communist Manifesto for a while now, buying a physical copy has always struck me as a little redundant. Thus, downsizing, in regards to all my material goods, is sensible reason enough to have made the expenditure on an ebook reader.
I’d made my purchase based on the strength of the above benefit but somehow hadn’t quite managed to make the connection between whole libraries of books on one device, which is the reason that I’m absolutely thrilled with this thing. I have a habit of reading several books in parallel at any one time but usually, when I travel, or even if I choose to sit in the living room, in the patch of sun on the couch, I’ll just take the one book with me for ease of transport. With this ebook reader I can just switch between volumes without all the fuss of having to lug extra physical books around with me. For instance, today, around about the point where I’d got bored with the Russian opera on one of the Sky Arts channels, I’d realised that my attention was slipping when it came to The Communist Manifesto, so I switched over to reading The Secret Agent instead, and read a little La Dame aux camellias as well. And, having logged into my wireless network I decided that I needed a copy of Middlemarch as well. This may well seem like a small issue but given that I can have anything like 8 books on my desk at any one time, for me at least, it’s phenomenally useful.
In addition to the delightful business of being able to take any number of books with me at any given time, even the case I’d ordered came with unexpected extras. I am wondering if the protective screen might be that little bit more reflective than the Kobo Touch’s actual screen but it’s useful in not getting my finger grease all over the screen anyway, and the little polishing cloth included is proving effective in that matter too. Curiously, there’s a branding symbol at the corner of the cover but I can’t quite make out what it’s meant to be, because to my eyes it doesn’t half look like the symbol of Clan Tzimisce.
I’m still getting to grips with Calibre and have downloaded my first few ebooks in the Kobo proprietary format but that seems promising too. Similarly, while I don’t know how useful the rudimentary browser is, it’s nice to have the facility to look something up quickly, on a larger screen than my phone, if I need to. The ability to search the Kobo online store seems a little limited using the Kobo Touch itself, but then I could probably also say that about the PC version, because at the moment I’m just searching through the free ebooks available. At the moment I only have 17 books downloaded so far but it’s a start and once I’m a little more focused on what I’m after it’s going to be an awful lot cheaper and more convenient to get hold of volumes at any rate.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-29 06:28 pm (UTC)Also, you can only buy one book at a time. There is no "shopping cart" to bundle them together, which drives me abso-friggin-lutely NUTS.
But all in all, the convenience of the device makes me overlook these things.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-29 06:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-01 07:11 pm (UTC)