What is the best device for Side loaded content?

JimPhelps · 05-06-2016, 06:14 PM

Hello everyone. New guy here (obviously). And I'm looking for some advice about getting an e-ink device.

I've used a Nook HD+ for a couple years and recently my phone for reading my ebooks but I'm just tired of the battery life being so bad compared to an e-ink. Don't get me wrong, I love my Nook HD+, its just that its so big, it doesn't lend itself well for when I travel, so getting something in the 6" screen size thats lighter is very appealing. So I'm trying to make that jump, but from what I've been reading, it doesn't look like its easy to decide which device will work best for me.

I have a lot of side loaded books (some almost 10MB in size, others about 0.1 MB). I was going to get the Nook Glowlight Plus, but I keep hearing that space available for side loaded content is either 500 MB or 214MB....if true, not enough for me. But I don't even know if that is true.

Then I thought about getting a Kindle Paperwhite, but I've heard stories very similiar to the NGP in regards to storage size....

Then I heard about the Kobo Glo HD...and I've been told that of the 4 Gigs of space, about 3 GB are usuable for side loaded stuff, plus its supposed to have an SD card slot (hey, more space sounds good!).

I really wanted to stay in the Nook hemisphere but lack of space is a non starter. I also wanted a device that had back light for dark reading.

Can you guys give me any advice on which device would be best for me? I see that a lot of sites are doing sales this weekend so I guess I'd better strike while the sales are hot.

Thanks in advance for y'alls help!

AnemicOak · 05-06-2016, 06:25 PM

According to B&N's specs on their website the Glowlight Plus doesn't segregate content like the earlier Nook's did. With that knowledge then no current devices segregate storage space for sideloaded content anymore (Nook was the only one that did). All of the devices you mentioned have 4GB of storage, but I'm unsure how much is actually available for content (I'd guess 2.5 to 3GB).

Paperwhite = 4GB, unsure how much is actually available for content

Glo HD = 4GB, unsure how much is actually available for content
Aura H20 = 4GB, unsure how much available for content, plus microSD slot

Glowlight Plus = 4GB, 2.5 GB for content (both Nook store and sideloaded)

eschwartz · 05-06-2016, 06:52 PM

With the original Paperwhite, Amazon flirted with 2 GB internal memory, but they quickly backtracked and every other model (including all current models) has the usual 4 GB.
A Kindle has about 3.25-3.50 GB available for sideloading books -- that means you can store on average roughly 3500 books on a Kindle.

I personally cannot fathom why anyone would need expandable storage, unless they read a lot of manga or other unusually large ebooks.
(PDF tends to the larger side as well, although that format is to be avoided if possible...)

...

Stay away from the Nook. Barnes and Noble has been doing everything they can to act like they are going out of business. e.g. they finally outsourced their development and tech support to India, their website is a constant disaster, they are breaking the vaunted ADE compatibility

...

Barbara1955 · 05-06-2016, 06:53 PM

I don't think there are Any ink readers with Backlights. They are front lights. That being said Kobo does the ebub format which is what the Nooks use. Amazon don't do epub. They use Mobi & a few others.

There is a Fire Tablet on amazon that 6" great for sticking in a pocket. It has back light 8 gig of space 8 hours of reading you can Side load Kobo Nook and a few other apps that does epub. Hope this helps

JimPhelps · 05-06-2016, 07:13 PM

My mistake, I meant just a light up screen like Paperwhite, Glo and NGP had. Not backlit Katie. And I'm not looking for a tablet, just an ink reader. Battery life for one reason.

Wow, they all have about 2.5gigs or more for sideloaded content? That's different that what I had been reading when googling them. I've read reports that for the NGP, of the 2.5 available, more than 75% was reserved just for B&N content. At least, that's where I was getting the 500MB or less for side loaded stuff.

Considering how usually everybody keeps raving about the Kindle Paperwhites being so good (or the Voyage or Oasis---sorry, I don't have that much to spend) I suppose maybe I should look at those more carefully...but I just hate being restricted on formats. Kinda like Apple I guess, oh you have your own format for your device and don't like or use any others? Well this over here can...Sorry, getting off topic there. I'm just not an Apple fan and Kindle seems like Apple-Lite to me which is why I never really considered it that hard.

Kobo Glo has getting a lot of my attention since I first heard bout it yesterday, but knowing so little about it, are there any things y'all like or dislike about them to recommend for or against it?

And as bad as B&N can be....I'm still thinking about that NGP...I feel like Dave Letterman when he was getting that last ditch offer for the Tonight Show before he jumped to CBS...Well, if you have read Bill Carter's The Late Shift, you'll know what I mean. I just can't quite say no and leave the B&N hemisphere...

eschwartz · 05-06-2016, 07:28 PM

calibre can seamlessly covert your books to Kindle formats.
(I should note that Amazon used MOBI before EPUB was invented. So they never switched to EPUB.)

As for the NGP -- the older Nooks did indeed restrict you, but the latest Nook fixed that (and added several more problems) by switching to MTP.

JimPhelps · 05-06-2016, 07:34 PM

What are some of the other problems Eschwartz? and forgive me but, MTP?

Barbara1955 · 05-07-2016, 01:28 PM

Seems to me IF its the Battery life that bugs you... You should look into things like this: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...ge%2Caps%2C523

I picked up a couple at Best Buy for less than $10 each.

JSWolf · 05-07-2016, 03:16 PM

The Kobo Glo HD does not have a card slot. The last Kobo made that has a card slot is the Kobo Aura H2O.

LucyOne · 05-07-2016, 03:31 PM

With lots of sideloaded content I'd definitely get a device with a micro SD card slot. Have you had a look at Pocketbook models? They all have card slots.

JSWolf · 05-07-2016, 03:34 PM

The Kobo Aura H2O is a very good device for side loading. You do have a card slot if you need and Calibre can manage collections for you. The screen is very nice at 6.8". The extra .8" is very nice to have especially if you want/need to read with a larger font size.

barryem · 05-07-2016, 07:37 PM

I have a Nook Glowlight Plus and while there are a lot of good things to say about it it has one very serious showstopper problem and another rather unpleasant problem. I don't use mine much.

The big problem is that N button which is no longer a button but is now a capacative spot below the screen. If you touch it off you go to the home page. And it's located in exactly the hardest place to avoid touching while you read. I rarely get through a whole page without finding myself back at home suddenly. It's terribly irritating! It makes me want to string up whoever designed that tragedy!

The irritating problem is that someone had the bright idea of making the dictionary popup have a pale shade of gray against a white background, very difficult to read. This is a much dumber flaw than the N button but it matters a lot less.

Other than that it's a really nice device. If those problems went away it might be the nicest of them all.

I also have a Kobo Glo and a Kobo Aura. The Glo is not the HD, but the older model that does have a micro SD card slot. I never used that slot but it's there if I ever wanted to.

The Glo is also a very nice device with an excellent screen and no serious showstopper problems at all. From what I've read the Glo HD is even nicer although it doesn't have external storage. That wouldn't matter to me at all. Kobo's tend to be a bit buggy. They have a lot of nice features and most of them work some of the time. A few even work all the time. None of the bugs are problems but sometimes they can be mildly irritating. Still, even with that it's a very nice device. If it was my only ereader I would be fine with it.

I also have all 3 Paperwhites and a Voyage. No external storage but very nice devices. The downside as you said is mobi only but even though the Kobo can read Mobi most of it's features don't work well with it and you'll find yourself converting to epub. With the Kindle you have to have Mobi or one of Amazon's more advanced formats so you have to convert a lot but Calibre makes that trivial.

I do most of my reading on my Voyage but I use the Paperwhite a lot too and the difference in them is small enough that I sometimes wonder why I got the Voyage.

The Kindles are very stable. Everything works as you expect it to. There aren't nearly as many features as the Kobo but the important features are there and they work well.

My preference is for Kindles but Kobos are also good and I suspect you'll be happy with whichever of them you choose. You might not be happy with the Glowlight Plus unless you can keep your finger off that *&%&&%*+@ button. I can't.

Barry

eschwartz · 05-07-2016, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimPhelps

What are some of the other problems Eschwartz? and forgive me but, MTP?

Media Transfer Protocol

It is less robust than USB transfer, extremely irritating to use on OSX (or so I hear), and also has the interesting side effect of losing the ability to authorize the device with Adobe Digital Editions.
B&N did eventually provide a updated firmware with the ability to sign into your ADE account from the device itself. Although many people were having trouble getting that update, and it is still shameful to ship a new device in such an unworking initial state. Also I have no idea if they were finally able to get the firmware out to everyone!

JimPhelps · 05-08-2016, 05:55 PM

Thanks for the help guys. I already have calibre and have been using it for putting my books on my Nook HD+ and my phone so I'm pretty familiar with it. (Still haven't figured out the "virtual library" function though. Glad I have my books organized by series and authors so at least I can find what I'm looking for fast enough)

I looked at the listing for the Pocketbook reader and the price listed seemed too much for me. I think it was $189.99. Yikes. So far, the main 3 look pretty much even down the line of storage space available for side loaded stuff and they all have light up screens for night reading. Now the hard part....

Nook Glowlight Plus 4 GB (2.5GB) $129.99

Kindle Paperwhite 4 GB (2.5GB), $119.99 + $20 for no ads

Kobo Glo HD 4 GB (2.5GB) $129.99

I wish one of my local stores sold the Kobo in store so I could at least try it out. Oh well, may end up just throwing a dart over my shoulder to decide.

eschwartz · 05-08-2016, 06:05 PM

I just checked the userstore partition size for my Kindle Touch.
3.3 GB

I can't imagine that the PW is significantly different.

...

Do you think the ads on a Kindle will bother you? Note that they only appear on the homescreen listing and the screensaver... NOT when you are reading. (This for some reason confuses many people.)

05-06-2016, 06:14 PM	#1
JimPhelps Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Georgia, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook HD+, LG G4	What is the best device for Side loaded content? Hello everyone. New guy here (obviously). And I'm looking for some advice about getting an e-ink device. I've used a Nook HD+ for a couple years and recently my phone for reading my ebooks but I'm just tired of the battery life being so bad compared to an e-ink. Don't get me wrong, I love my Nook HD+, its just that its so big, it doesn't lend itself well for when I travel, so getting something in the 6" screen size thats lighter is very appealing. So I'm trying to make that jump, but from what I've been reading, it doesn't look like its easy to decide which device will work best for me. I have a lot of side loaded books (some almost 10MB in size, others about 0.1 MB). I was going to get the Nook Glowlight Plus, but I keep hearing that space available for side loaded content is either 500 MB or 214MB....if true, not enough for me. But I don't even know if that is true. Then I thought about getting a Kindle Paperwhite, but I've heard stories very similiar to the NGP in regards to storage size.... Then I heard about the Kobo Glo HD...and I've been told that of the 4 Gigs of space, about 3 GB are usuable for side loaded stuff, plus its supposed to have an SD card slot (hey, more space sounds good!). I really wanted to stay in the Nook hemisphere but lack of space is a non starter. I also wanted a device that had back light for dark reading. Can you guys give me any advice on which device would be best for me? I see that a lot of sites are doing sales this weekend so I guess I'd better strike while the sales are hot. Thanks in advance for y'alls help! Last edited by JimPhelps; 05-06-2016 at 06:16 PM. Reason: clarification

05-08-2016, 05:55 PM	#14
JimPhelps Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Georgia, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook HD+, LG G4	Thanks for the help guys. I already have calibre and have been using it for putting my books on my Nook HD+ and my phone so I'm pretty familiar with it. (Still haven't figured out the "virtual library" function though. Glad I have my books organized by series and authors so at least I can find what I'm looking for fast enough) I looked at the listing for the Pocketbook reader and the price listed seemed too much for me. I think it was $189.99. Yikes. So far, the main 3 look pretty much even down the line of storage space available for side loaded stuff and they all have light up screens for night reading. Now the hard part.... Nook Glowlight Plus 4 GB (2.5GB) $129.99 Kindle Paperwhite 4 GB (2.5GB), $119.99 + $20 for no ads Kobo Glo HD 4 GB (2.5GB) $129.99 I wish one of my local stores sold the Kobo in store so I could at least try it out. Oh well, may end up just throwing a dart over my shoulder to decide. Last edited by JimPhelps; 05-08-2016 at 06:01 PM.

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05-06-2016, 06:25 PM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	According to B&N's specs on their website the Glowlight Plus doesn't segregate content like the earlier Nook's did. With that knowledge then no current devices segregate storage space for sideloaded content anymore (Nook was the only one that did). All of the devices you mentioned have 4GB of storage, but I'm unsure how much is actually available for content (I'd guess 2.5 to 3GB). Paperwhite = 4GB, unsure how much is actually available for content Glo HD = 4GB, unsure how much is actually available for content Aura H20 = 4GB, unsure how much available for content, plus microSD slot Glowlight Plus = 4GB, 2.5 GB for content (both Nook store and sideloaded)

05-06-2016, 06:52 PM	#3
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	With the original Paperwhite, Amazon flirted with 2 GB internal memory, but they quickly backtracked and every other model (including all current models) has the usual 4 GB. A Kindle has about 3.25-3.50 GB available for sideloading books -- that means you can store on average roughly 3500 books on a Kindle. I personally cannot fathom why anyone would need expandable storage, unless they read a lot of manga or other unusually large ebooks. (PDF tends to the larger side as well, although that format is to be avoided if possible...) ... Stay away from the Nook. Barnes and Noble has been doing everything they can to act like they are going out of business. e.g. they finally outsourced their development and tech support to India, their website is a constant disaster, they are breaking the vaunted ADE compatibility ...

05-06-2016, 06:53 PM	#4
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,455 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	I don't think there are Any ink readers with Backlights. They are front lights. That being said Kobo does the ebub format which is what the Nooks use. Amazon don't do epub. They use Mobi & a few others. There is a Fire Tablet on amazon that 6" great for sticking in a pocket. It has back light 8 gig of space 8 hours of reading you can Side load Kobo Nook and a few other apps that does epub. Hope this helps

05-06-2016, 07:13 PM	#5
JimPhelps Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Georgia, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook HD+, LG G4	My mistake, I meant just a light up screen like Paperwhite, Glo and NGP had. Not backlit Katie. And I'm not looking for a tablet, just an ink reader. Battery life for one reason. Wow, they all have about 2.5gigs or more for sideloaded content? That's different that what I had been reading when googling them. I've read reports that for the NGP, of the 2.5 available, more than 75% was reserved just for B&N content. At least, that's where I was getting the 500MB or less for side loaded stuff. Considering how usually everybody keeps raving about the Kindle Paperwhites being so good (or the Voyage or Oasis---sorry, I don't have that much to spend) I suppose maybe I should look at those more carefully...but I just hate being restricted on formats. Kinda like Apple I guess, oh you have your own format for your device and don't like or use any others? Well this over here can...Sorry, getting off topic there. I'm just not an Apple fan and Kindle seems like Apple-Lite to me which is why I never really considered it that hard. Kobo Glo has getting a lot of my attention since I first heard bout it yesterday, but knowing so little about it, are there any things y'all like or dislike about them to recommend for or against it? And as bad as B&N can be....I'm still thinking about that NGP...I feel like Dave Letterman when he was getting that last ditch offer for the Tonight Show before he jumped to CBS...Well, if you have read Bill Carter's The Late Shift, you'll know what I mean. I just can't quite say no and leave the B&N hemisphere...

05-06-2016, 07:28 PM	#6
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	calibre can seamlessly covert your books to Kindle formats. (I should note that Amazon used MOBI before EPUB was invented. So they never switched to EPUB.) As for the NGP -- the older Nooks did indeed restrict you, but the latest Nook fixed that (and added several more problems) by switching to MTP.

05-06-2016, 07:34 PM	#7
JimPhelps Member Posts: 22 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Georgia, USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Nook HD+, LG G4	What are some of the other problems Eschwartz? and forgive me but, MTP?

05-07-2016, 01:28 PM	#8
Barbara1955 Non-Techy Posts: 4,455 Karma: 15499273 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: WV---USA Device: Samsung Cell Phone & Amazon Fires & Kobo eReaders	Seems to me IF its the Battery life that bugs you... You should look into things like this: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...ge%2Caps%2C523 I picked up a couple at Best Buy for less than $10 each.

05-07-2016, 03:16 PM	#9
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,370 Karma: 136466962 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The Kobo Glo HD does not have a card slot. The last Kobo made that has a card slot is the Kobo Aura H2O.

05-07-2016, 03:31 PM	#10
LucyOne Librocubicularist Posts: 617 Karma: 11908623 Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Germany Device: PocketBook InkPad 3 & Touch HD 3, Kobo Clara HD, Kindle Paperwhite 5	With lots of sideloaded content I'd definitely get a device with a micro SD card slot. Have you had a look at Pocketbook models? They all have card slots.

05-07-2016, 03:34 PM	#11
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,370 Karma: 136466962 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	The Kobo Aura H2O is a very good device for side loading. You do have a card slot if you need and Calibre can manage collections for you. The screen is very nice at 6.8". The extra .8" is very nice to have especially if you want/need to read with a larger font size.

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05-07-2016, 07:37 PM	#12
barryem Wizard Posts: 2,459 Karma: 68781975 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Arkansas Device: Paperwhite 4	I have a Nook Glowlight Plus and while there are a lot of good things to say about it it has one very serious showstopper problem and another rather unpleasant problem. I don't use mine much. The big problem is that N button which is no longer a button but is now a capacative spot below the screen. If you touch it off you go to the home page. And it's located in exactly the hardest place to avoid touching while you read. I rarely get through a whole page without finding myself back at home suddenly. It's terribly irritating! It makes me want to string up whoever designed that tragedy! The irritating problem is that someone had the bright idea of making the dictionary popup have a pale shade of gray against a white background, very difficult to read. This is a much dumber flaw than the N button but it matters a lot less. Other than that it's a really nice device. If those problems went away it might be the nicest of them all. I also have a Kobo Glo and a Kobo Aura. The Glo is not the HD, but the older model that does have a micro SD card slot. I never used that slot but it's there if I ever wanted to. The Glo is also a very nice device with an excellent screen and no serious showstopper problems at all. From what I've read the Glo HD is even nicer although it doesn't have external storage. That wouldn't matter to me at all. Kobo's tend to be a bit buggy. They have a lot of nice features and most of them work some of the time. A few even work all the time. None of the bugs are problems but sometimes they can be mildly irritating. Still, even with that it's a very nice device. If it was my only ereader I would be fine with it. I also have all 3 Paperwhites and a Voyage. No external storage but very nice devices. The downside as you said is mobi only but even though the Kobo can read Mobi most of it's features don't work well with it and you'll find yourself converting to epub. With the Kindle you have to have Mobi or one of Amazon's more advanced formats so you have to convert a lot but Calibre makes that trivial. I do most of my reading on my Voyage but I use the Paperwhite a lot too and the difference in them is small enough that I sometimes wonder why I got the Voyage. The Kindles are very stable. Everything works as you expect it to. There aren't nearly as many features as the Kobo but the important features are there and they work well. My preference is for Kindles but Kobos are also good and I suspect you'll be happy with whichever of them you choose. You might not be happy with the Glowlight Plus unless you can keep your finger off that &%&&%+@ button. I can't. Barry

05-08-2016, 06:05 PM	#15
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	I just checked the userstore partition size for my Kindle Touch. 3.3 GB I can't imagine that the PW is significantly different. ... Do you think the ads on a Kindle will bother you? Note that they only appear on the homescreen listing and the screensaver... NOT when you are reading. (This for some reason confuses many people.)