Talk to me about Amazon Kindle....? who's got it?

[Abstract]

If the advantage you like most about an e-book handheld is that you can have your books with you where ever you go, that same advantage is offered by any handheld or portable digital device because they can all run e-books.

If the advantage like most is the "e-ink" type screen, then that has nothing to do with the e-book reader itself. Display technology is evolving quickly these days and it won't be long before all portables and handhelds have qualities that closely match the e-ink displays, but can also do color and video. For instance, the kindle's screen is 167 ppi resolution, and the new hi-res screen option on the 17 inch MBP is now at 133 ppi. Higher PPI resolutions will now quickly filter down to all handhelds.

What is the advantage to a dedicated e-book reader? Who wants another single-use device to lug around?

Good, now combine both qualities into a single device and the combined reason is why I'd like one (but wouldn't buy one until prices drop). There's no point separating your two reasons. I wouldn't want to read documents on a PDA-type device as a long-term solution, and I wouldn't want to just open up my MBP to read the paper, regardless of the ppi. I wouldn't want to do it on an iPhone, either. The screen is too small. I think a thin device with a 5" screen would be great.

The wireless downloading capability (off EVDO, not WiFi) is fantastic if it continues to be free. I can read blogs and download newspapers from all over the world.

Hmmm.....if I commuted on the train or something, this would be amazing. For now, as a researcher, I just need to read PDFs very frequently, and it seems to be good for that, too.


Too bad about the price, and not selling it to people outside of America.

 

[danny_w]

I have it. The screen somewhat resembles real paper, making it easier on the eyes...

I realize that my eyesight is not what it should be, but the e-ink screen is exactly what I don't like about this and other ebook readers that use it. I have difficulty reading paperbacks for long periods of time because of the contrast (or lack thereof), and much prefer reading on a Palm or my iPhone. The e-ink is just not contrasty enough for me.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Price lowered, if anyone is thinking of getting one.

 

[BoyBach]

I've just watched the short promotional video on the amazon site and although it looks like a seriously nice piece of kit, if it's released here in the UK I think I'll stick to reading normal books.

Maybe it's just me, but I like seeing a bookshelf fill up with my favourite reads!

 

[ocellnuri]

it's completely unfair to compare the price of a hardback to the price of an ebook. An ebook can at best be compared to a paperback.

I think it is a fair comparison. New books are released on Hardcover first, at higher prices (I see them around the $25 most of the time) while the softcover release is staggered. I was looking at a book today that had 1 year between the hardcover and softcover releases. The $25 hardcover was available for $10 on the Kindle though, right away with no 1 year delay.


I've been trying to read more lately, and a device like the Kindle is really starting to attract me. I love the idea of instant gratification, hitting a button and having the book wirelessly loaded. DRM and transferability is an issue... you can hand a physical book off to someone else to read, or store it and read it again in 50 years. I find, though, that I only read most books once. I figure I'll treat it like I do movies. I subscribe from Netflix, and if it's a movie that I must watch over and over I'll pick up a copy to own.

Are there any services for ebooks on the Mac platform? Not Audible, but some way to purchase PDFs or something on the desktop? Like Zinio.com for books?

 

[a456]

I've been trying to read more lately, and a device like the Kindle is really starting to attract me. I love the idea of instant gratification, hitting a button and having the book wirelessly loaded. DRM and transferability is an issue... you can hand a physical book off to someone else to read, or store it and read it again in 50 years. I find, though, that I only read most books once. I figure I'll treat it like I do movies. I subscribe from Netflix, and if it's a movie that I must watch over and over I'll pick up a copy to own.

The great thing about looking for the book you want, or waiting for it to arrive, is you pick something else up and discover new stuff by accident. Also, as you say you can't pass the book to someone else - a great social aspect - and you can't resell or give them to charity.

$359 is roughly £183. Full price books over here are £7-£8. Even if it was as cheap here as it is in the US then it would cost 23 new books, but the fact is a lot of the stuff I read comes from charity shops that charge from 40 pence up to a couple of pounds - we are therefore talking the equivalent of a hundred or more books, all with a resale/charity value that don't need their batteries charging, don't need insurance and don't mind being thrown about.

If you want to read more don't buy a Kindle, because you'll be able to afford less books.

 

[wordmunger]

My wife has one and absolutely loves it. She's a very heavy reader -- probably as many as 10 books per month. But now she can download project gutenberg texts from manybooks.net for free, so that's a big plus. Which is not to say that she doesn't spend plenty of money on Amazon, but overall I'd say she's spending about the same as she was before Kindle -- she's just reading more, and enjoying it more.

 

[zagato27]

I've been interested in the Kindle but haven't really seen one. Last weekend at a family get together......mother in law and brother in law and his family..finally saw one. My brother in law is BIG into digital publishing. He has one and showed it to me. First impressions: pretty neat. The printing and thus reading environment is really nice. I believe that you can adjust print size etc. to fit your taste. Not quite sure if you can adjust fonts. The size is just about right. Seems to be a bit larger than a paperback but maybe not quite as large as a hardcover printed page. The Kindle itself is nicely sized, like "Goldilocks", not to big/not too small. Flipping pages is just a tab/button away. Really nice feature is the wifi capability. Takes you right to Amazon where you download book excerpts to see if you really want to buy it or just download. Nicely done Amazon. As mentioned before the book prices are really reasonable compared to buying a hardcover....I think they are about $9. Not bad. I believe in an earlier post someone said that you could download newspapers from all over the world but I don't know enough about it to say yeah or nay. Would be a nice feature especially if you commuted via public transportation every day. I'm told that you can actually "save" books that you have downloaded to a usb drive and then to your computer so I guess you don't lose them plus the unit has the capability to save a lot of books itself. So far seems pretty neat. Here's where I run into a problem. I like books. I like reading them at night in bed. There's something about turning a page, a paper page. There's something about finishing reading and throwing the book on the nightstand. There's something about taking a book to the beach. Guess I'm old fashioned and just like the look and feel of a "real" book. I'm sure that the new gen is looking at this as the norm and an improvement over "real" books. Computers are second nature to them and it's just a logical result. Think I'll stay with the real thing....at least for the moment. Cheers

 

[idyll]

I just read books on my laptop.. but I did see some kind of Sony e-book reader at Borders recently that I liked quite a bit. I'd never buy one or the Kindle though.