covetting a kindle...does it make me a bad person?

julianashcroft

asbokid wrote: »

And with a traditional book, i like the much-vaunted Manual Page-Turning Facility (MP-TF®).

That Facility, which is not currently available on the Kindle, doesn't require costly AAA batteries that need replacing all too often.

The Kindle doesnt use AAA Batteries but uses a built in rechargable battery, that lasts around 40 days between charges.

I have had my kindle about six months now and love it. No eye strain when reading for long periods, and very large storage capacity.

You don't have to get the books from the Amazon Kindle store either, as Amazon don't stock all publishers. I have downloaded ebooks from elsewhere and just transferred them into the Kindle over the USB cable and they work fine.

23n1th

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

wow thanks for all your replies!

I still think its expensive as I get all my books (also cds and dvds) from the library at a fraction of the cost, also I was watching a program last night about brand loyalty and there seems to be an element of surveillance in these gadgets which I am unsure about. For instance, they have remote access to your kindle and could if they wanted to delete books (although I believe they would be in infringement of their own terms and conditions...possible nevertheless)

Also they know what you have read, how many pages and if you finished a book etc which I find very invasive, I think it is to provide feedback to the publishers for future publications. Maybe I'm paranoid??

Another quick question...if I did get one (still tempted) which one should I go for?

My advice is get one, the kindle is the best on the market atm, imo. Don't get a tablet if all you want to do is read books, they have LCD screens which are not as comfortable to read from as the eink screen not to mention you can read the kindle in direct sun light and battery power is no where near as good.

Also the paranoia thing. Dont get the 3g version and turn off wifi. Amazon don't and can't do any of the stuff you've mentioned on my kindle. I manage my kindle with Calibre and have not bought a book from amazon. They can't delete my books or monitor what I'm doing because I don't let them.

asbokid

victor2 wrote: »

The price will come down and the devices will improve, if you can wait! Just look at how that type of technology has evolved, computers, mobile phones etc.

there is definitely a huge margin for price cuts..

if you price the components...

ARM-11 board $7
4GB flash $3
gyricon panel $???
3g module $4
802.11 module $4
sundries $2
Linux OS $free

It's probably less than $25 to produce in volume.

I've got a feeling that these aren't going to take off in a big way. They are never going to reach the level of saturation that we witnessed with cellphones, smartphones, walkmen, mp3 players, gameboys, netbooks, etc.

For a start, the epaper screen on the Kindle is a retrograde technological step. It has a slow refresh rate compared to LCD and suffers from ghosting artifacts that can make reading a strain.

For those with academic needs the book will always remain king since the Kindle has certain limitations that will never be overcome.

There will always be millions of books that are never re-published in Kindle format. The likelihood is that at some point, you will want to, or need to read some of them, and there the Kindle will fail you.

We can all remember exam swats when we juggled 5 books at a time. With paper bookmarks and PostMe tabs holding open the vital pages of learning. Adding furious scribbles in the margins. And the younger generation enjoys the graffiti art of highlighter pens to rote-learn the essential texts of schooling. You can't do any of those things with a Kindle. You also won't be lending your Kindle to anyone, which of course we often do with a book.

I might consider a Kindle if it cost £10 or perhaps £20, simply as a bit of fun to play with, but I think it's just an expensive gadget at the moment.

Ningy

As book and technology lover, I enjoy reading the ardent opinions for and against e-readers.

I have a Kindle and happily explain both its pros and cons to anyone who asks about it. My arguments for buying it were to have it when I'd rather not carry a book and for going on holiday (the arguments against included pure curiosity and the fact that I have access to a lot of books already). Sometimes I read it at work; sometimes I pick a 'real' book off the shelf and read that. If I want to read a particular book and it's cheap on Amazon - I'll buy it. If I can get the same book in the local second-hand shop - I'll buy that.

For myself, 3G is completely unnecessary - I can do the admin at home on wifi.

It will be interesting if Overdrive+Kindle happens over here. My two local library services both offer e-books through Overdrive (yet I still bought a Kindle knowing it was incompatible).

If you are someone who either spends a lot of money buying new books or has difficulty obtaining/holding/reading print of books, a Kindle could be a really good alternative. Somebody who happily visits their local library and primarily sits at home reading wouldn't necessarily benefit.

RussJK

I think it's only a sin if you covet your neighbour's wife's Kindle...

everett_psycho

we've had this argument in our household, i'm a tech nut that doesn't read much and my girlfriend loves her books and is coming around to gadgets, she's said most of the points on here to me at some point but is coming around to the idea of a kindle. It means she can stick it in her bag and take it to work and pick from hundreds of books, even better she can take all her books on holiday with her and not worry about running out or baggage weight. We've not got her one (yet ) but i got my self a vega the other day and she was impressed with the kindle app. It's far from perfect on a tablet for all the reasons mentioned before but i think it's winning her over to the idea of reading on an electrical device and then we can swap it out and get her a kindle. It will never replace books altogether but there's definitely reasons for them, if all you do is read 1 book at a time in bed, on the sofa or on the train it's a perfect for you.

As for price, there's rumblings about in the tech world it will come down in price significantly. There was news not so long back that amazon were going to trial and ad based kindle, so you got the kindle much cheaper but had to put up with some adverts here and there (mainly as a screensaver on it) and some places even went as far as hinting it may eventually end up as a free product and amazon when questione didn't rule it out, annoyingly i don't have my source to hand

23n1th

asbokid wrote: »

there is definitely a huge margin for price cuts..

if you price the components...

ARM-11 board $7
4GB flash $3
gyricon panel $???
3g module $4
802.11 module $4
sundries $2
Linux OS $free

It's probably less than $25 to produce in volume.

I've got a feeling that these aren't going to take off in a big way. They are never going to reach the level of saturation that we witnessed with cellphones, smartphones, walkmens, mp3 players, gameboys, netbooks, etc.

For a start, the epaper screen on the Kindle is a retrograde technological step. It has a slow refresh rate compared to LCD and suffers from ghosting artifacts that can make reading a strain.

For those with academic needs the book will always remain king since the Kindle has certain limitations that will never be overcome.

There will always be millions of books that are never re-published in Kindle format. The likelihood is that at some point, you will want or need to read some of them, and there the Kindle will fail you.

We can all remember exam swats when we juggled 5 books at a time. With paper bookmarks and PostMe tabs holding open the vital pages of learning. Adding furious scribbles in the margins. And the younger generation enjoys the graffiti art of highlighter pens to rote-learn the essential texts of schooling. You can't do any of those things with a Kindle. You also won't be lending your Kindle to anyone, which of course we often do with a book.

I might consider a Kindle if it cost £10 or perhaps £20, simply as a bit of fun to play with, but I think it's just an expensive gadget at the moment.

Reading from LCD's strain's your eyes a lot more than e-ink screens not to mention their high power consumption making all LCD based ereader second grade. Whilst you can argue the e-ink is retro grade tech nothing else compares for reading other than paper and ink.

Ghosting may occur but disappears after a few refreshes, my kindle has been on permanently since it was bought last year with no ghosting.

I don't think the kindle is aimed at academics where a book is unbeatable. Kindles/other ereaders are aimed purely at book readers.

And whilst they might not be as popular as mobiles and computers there is a definite market for them. I think the only problem will be that they by their nature aren't as disposable as the aforementioned, once you have one unless you don't like it you won't need to upgradie it. I can't see myself upgrading from my Kindle 3 any time in the near future.

23n1th

everett_psycho wrote: »

... As for price, there's rumblings about in the tech world it will come down in price significantly. There was news not so long back that amazon were going to trial and ad based kindle, so you got the kindle much cheaper but had to put up with some adverts here and there (mainly as a screensaver on it) and some places even went as far as hinting it may eventually end up as a free product and amazon when questione didn't rule it out, annoyingly i don't have my source to hand

And we all know there are mods out for the kindle to change/add new screensavers, so it shouldn't be a problem.

debitcardmayhem

I have a Sony 505 , and the Kindle is fine too, not really interested about the pros and cons of Wifi/3G/Pad/Tablet/Whatever New Tech comes next. The biggest con in the world (oh ok as far as the UK is concerned) is 20% VAT on eBooks (of any flavour) vs the 0% VAT on printed books. I won't go as far as the environmental benefits, nor won't venture in to the Net Book Agreement (NBA) argument, nor the piracy concerns of authors. I buy a paperback book £4.36(rrp 7.99) from amazon post free, give it to my neighbour reads it and then passes it on to his son who reads it sells it in a car boot sale, and there cycle then goes on ad infinitum until the binding drops off, on a good day with a following wind 2000 people have read that one book, nothing comes back in to the economy/nor author after my initial purchase, the only people that benefit are those that read the book. Oh and remember the (un)real book I bought from the online seller it costs me 5.23 because of vat and I cant pass it on to others / sell on ebay / boot sale because it is a proprietary format, and has DRM. So I will pass on every old printed book I have to people who have got the same spectacles and same prescription and colour as mine, and were bought from the same store as mine, oh and I forgot if they are registered for VAT.

But truly I would buy an e-ink reader again and again , it's the other bits that wind me up.

Moonflowers

asbokid wrote: »

I

And with a traditional book, i like the much-vaunted Manual Page-Turning Facility (MP-TF®).

That Facility, which is not currently available on the Kindle, doesn't require costly AAA batteries that need replacing all too often.

A Kindle doesnt need batteries, it comes with a charger.

I love my Kindle it was a great investment. I have "bought" for free loads of the classics, as well as current books too. I now have over 100 books on my kindle & will never run out of reading material on a flight or holiday again.

If you can manage to pay for one, I'd say go for it!