Ebook reading

A note about ebook reading. And I mean that in the broadest sense, including for example web articles which have been collated and converted to a more readable and distraction-free format by apps such as InstaPaper. The note is:

Fine-tuning is important for comfort.

I started to use calibre again, an app which can do what InstaPaper does, except do it automatically for a whole bunch of sites, and then send the articles/mags to your ebook reader, like the Kindle. I now found out I can use it on the iPad (slightly less automatically though), if I have the app ReadMe.

The first few articles I read in ReadMe, I was less comfortable reading than I am with InstaPaper. But then I remembered, as one always should: heck, there are probably settings/preferences for this! So I fine-tuned the background color (sliders for all three colors!), and changed the font from Helvetica to Georgia (better optimized for screen readine), and made the text a couple of points bigger. And bimbo, I felt much better when reading. Despite these changes being small ones individually.

I also note that you can't do this with paper reading... if a magazine thinks it's kewl to have a tiny, thin font and the text placed on top of a photo, you can't do anything about it.

Update: Ooooh, I just remembered an important business book which I've repeatedly gotten almost nowhere with reading, because the font is so dang tiny that it's ridic.
... And.... no, it does not seem to be available in audiobook... But: it's available for the Kindle! And I have the Kindle app installed on my iPad of course.
Bing, bam, boom: literally two minutes later it's done: I have the book digitally now, and now I can read it without dreadful eye-strain. In fact it's perfectly comfortable!

Personally I'm willing to do without the "fell and smell of the paper" to be able to read comfortably.

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Update:

Ganesha Games said:

And every device has its own weird things. For exmple I have discovered that I read much better on the iPad if I use off white/gray text on a black or dark background! In print, I would have never done that... but on the iPad screen, especially if reading at night, an off-white or cream text on black means your eyes will tire much less. It's still not beating the Kindle for me, but for short reading (one hour) it will do.

I think my eyes are more sensitive than the average, as I turn my iPad's brightness to the minimum all the time. This has the pleasant side effect of extending the charge.