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Anyone ereading manga?


efaardvark

Do you e-read manga?  

11 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you e-read manga?

    • Yes
      8
    • No
      3


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I'm a big reader and I'd like to get into e-books.  I've tried a couple times and never really got hooked.  Kindle is ubiquitous, and I do like their e-ink "paperwhite" display, but Amazon is way, way too restrictive with their content.  I also would like a larger reader that handles full-sized content like you would find in magazines or professional journals.  Ideally I'd like one that I can take notes with and/or sketch into too so I can get rid of both my book pile and my composition/note book. 

The best reader I've used to date (IMHO) was the ill-fated ILiad reader, if anyone remembers that.  Honestly, it wasn't that great an experience, but it did have potential and did (most of) what I wanted without throwing unnecessary digital restrictions or proprietary format issues in my face.  These days it would probably be one of the larger-format Oynx Boox devices.  Their latest device looks pretty awesome, though quite expensive.

Anyway, I'm guessing most people here might not care about most of that but I'm thinking of making another go of getting into e-reading and one of the things I would like to do with it is read manga.  Just wondering if anyone here is doing that and if they have any advice on what features to look for or avoid, or if anyone has an ereader that they really love or hate.  Where do you get your e-manga?  TIA...

Edited by efaardvark
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Amazon is not really that big of deal to me. I do read manga in an electronic format and get them from the Kindle store, but not necessarily read them in the apps.

Normally, I use an iPad, and use OneNote for notes.

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I mostly read manga online with scans in particular translated scans on a few websites. I have also used the Manga reader app both for mobile and desktop though sense there are plenty of manga website I see no point installing another app to my computer when I can just go online for it. Though it is pretty nice on mobile when out and about, or laying in bed.

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13 minutes ago, ArchieKun said:

I mostly read manga online with scans in particular translated scans on a few websites. I have also used the Manga reader app both for mobile and desktop though sense there are plenty of manga website I see no point installing another app to my computer when I can just go online for it. Though it is pretty nice on mobile when out and about, or laying in bed.

That sounds a lot easier than what I am doing, but I would not really go into it here, since my method can be discovered through Google searches.

Still, it is annoying, due to the fact that it requires the Kindle desktop app.

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1 minute ago, brycec said:

That sounds a lot easier than what I am doing, but I would not really go into it here, since my method can be discovered through Google searches.

Still, it is annoying, due to the fact that it requires the Kindle desktop app.

I found most of the manga and web comic sites I read via Google. Google basically owners the internet, or at least owns the tech that drives it. I like reading most manga online, or electronically but the ones I really like I collect the actual graphic novels.

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SO I totally e-read I have several apps on my phone that i downloaded. So I have to pay some are free or I get points for reading then I can use those points to get locked episodes and stuff.  Saying all that I still like having a book in my hands and turning the pages myself call me old school. lol

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21 hours ago, brycec said:

That sounds a lot easier than what I am doing, but I would not really go into it here, since my method can be discovered through Google searches.

I played with my mom's kindle for a while so I'm familiar with those methods.  Not really interested in jumping through those sorts of hoops anymore though.  If they don't want to sell what I want on the up-and-up then I'll oblige by not buying.  There's plenty of content out there that does give me what I want without the hassles.  Don't get me wrong... I have no problem paying for what I want, and I'd like to support the actual content creators with my $$$, but they made their choice and I can do without the toll booth operators taking their ridiculous "overhead" (usually many multiples of what the artists themselves get).

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42 minutes ago, efaardvark said:

I played with my mom's kindle for a while so I'm familiar with those methods.  Not really interested in jumping through those sorts of hoops anymore though.  If they don't want to sell what I want on the up-and-up then I'll oblige by not buying.  There's plenty of content out there that does give me what I want without the hassles.  Don't get me wrong... I have no problem paying for what I want, and I'd like to support the actual content creators with my $$$, but they made their choice and I can do without the toll booth operators taking their ridiculous "overhead" (usually many multiples of what the artists themselves get).

That’s true.

Sadly, the emanga site is the only one I really know about that sells manga without DRM, and until that disappears from everything, the so-called illegal sites are the only way to get the content.

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13 hours ago, brycec said:

the emanga site

Yes, nice that they offer PDFs too, which is what I have kind of gravitated to for my own library.  The old fictionwise site also had PDFs and quite a lot of my e-library is PDF as a consequence, including about 3 years of a SF magazine called Analog that I have subscribed to since I was 12.  For a while that site alone made me think that ebooks were finally a thing, and I was glad to give them my money.  Then they shut down.  :( Fortunately all the stuff I bought from them is still safely stored on my NAS.  (Dont try this with "your" kindle collection btw.)

Anyway, yes, sites like emanga and fictionwise, and efforts like crossroads are why I keep trying this e-thing.

FWIW, my favorite ebook to date is probably that Cassini picture book released a couple years ago.  Sorry, not anime/manga related, but cool nevertheless.

Edited by efaardvark
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1 hour ago, efaardvark said:

Fortunately all the stuff I bought from them is still safely stored on my NAS.  (Dont try this with "your" kindle collection btw.)

Actually, I do, but not before decrypting them. Only annoyance right now is that the plugin used seems to have an update every time I go to add a book.

I just wish emanga was not all one particular publisher, since there are series that I want and they do not have.

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41 minutes ago, brycec said:

I just wish emanga was not all one particular publisher

That is a problem, but I'll take what I can get at this point.  That was the beauty of fictionwise.  They had a large selection of material from different authors and genres.  Not just obscure stuff either.  I found a bunch of my favorites there too.. Niven, Bear, Silverberg, Spinrad, Stine, Ellison, Weber.  (I'm into SF, but they also had other genres like mystery, fantasy, etc.)  Even collections like magazines like Analog or anthologies where it is typically hard to get all of the authors to grant permission for e-release were there.  It was a lot of fun while it lasted.  I spent a small fortune there.

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I didn't vote because it depends. If I really enjoy a series I like to buy them and read them. I love Kaori Yuki- so normally if there is anything she does I enjoy it enough to purchase. Even if it takes a few years to collect them. I rarely read e-manga but I do read every once in a while. I like to use it to check out what an unfamiliar manga might be like and whether or not I want to purchase.

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  • 1 month later...
On 2/21/2019 at 2:22 AM, HanaApril said:

I prefer reading a physical book than something online on a tablet or computer. I guess I'm old fashioned like that. 

I think a lot of us go for reading it online because it is usually free, and comes out faster most of the time. At least in regions outside Japan since the internet often gets translated scans before the official English translations of the manga in question. This is also true if there is not going to be a English translation. Though when there is it is nice to read a book, and I have tried reading Japanese manga in physical format it is very fun. I just think the whole idea of reading it online is for conveyance more than preference. Though both have their pluses, and minuses.

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The only manga I've ever really e-read was Pokemon, Bleach and Berserk. Pokemon was so weird in the manga compared to the show xD

Berserk was... I don't even wanna remember it tbh

Bleach was even better in the manga than the anime really, so muchly enjoyed that

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52 minutes ago, BleachKing96 said:

The only manga I've ever really e-read was Pokemon, Bleach and Berserk.

Don't blame you on this at all even more so in terms of Pokemon, and Berserk. Pokemon is just so hard to find, and Berserk just updates to slowly to keep up any other way.

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  • 3 months later...

Getting closer to getting an e-reader.  I use an old-school (i.e. paper) composition book for notes at work and home and my home one is nearing the end.  I was thinking of maybe replacing it with an e-ink tablet if I could find one that I like and that also behaves as a decent e-reader.  I still really like the Onyx Boox Max2 Pro tech-wise, but the thing is $850US.  😱  (I "need" the larger screen because a significant chunk of what I want to view is PDFs formatted from full-size magazines, and I haven't been happy with trying to view them on 6" or 8" displays.)  By comparison the Note Pro 10.3 is "only" $600, has a frontlight, and actually a better display dpi than the Max2 while keeping the same quad-core CPU, memory, and storage.  Thinking it'll probably perform better since it doesn't have as many pixels to push too.

All of which is my way of saying that I think my technology acquisition disorder is manifesting.. I'm feeling the urge to splurge.  I mean, I basically just need a new $2 composition book, right?  So naturally I'm looking at a $600 e-reader instead.  I should probably get my head examined first.  :D

Edited by efaardvark
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3 hours ago, Kinbaryu said:

I don't have a tablet or such to read with though, just my computer. 

I've been doing the computer thing for a while myself.  Not really happy with that because of the ergonomics and (lack of) mobility however.  And of course the computer is a little hard to take with you when you want to read in bed.

I do have an old 8" Samsung Galaxy A(?) that was my last attempt at a reader.  I also had a 10" ipad at one time.  Battery life just isn't there, and for me the light-emitting screen seems to occasionally trigger eye strain and headaches.  I almost never get headaches reading a book, even if I read in an odd position all day.  But sit down at the computer or with a pad to do some serious reading and odds are about 50/50 that I'll have a headache in a couple hours.

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