Kindle Books

[fantine33]

Anyone have any experience with these?

I think I've mentioned before that I don't do well with audio books because I can't keep my mind focused on it like I can do visually. The same holds true for books (or anything else) on the computer. Sometimes I can't even make it through a long post!

I think it's also the tactile thing. I don't like a newspaper or crossword puzzle on the computer, I need the feel and smell of the newspaper in front of me. I think the same holds true for books. Plus you can take a book anywhere, you can't do that with the computer.

So, the Kindle seems to be the best of both worlds. But, I don't know. I probably would end up reading a lot more, because I hear of a book or read a review and think, "hmmm, that sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out" and then, of course, I forget about it. With a Kindle, I could just zip zap and there it is (as I understand it). Which could also be dangerous, both to the pocketbook and my VH1 Celebreality habits.

[fantine33]

PS: I really do want to know, I'm not just posting to hear my fingernails click. And I will actually read responses and thank you (or at least acknowledge your effort) for them. Unless you're just responding to be a smart ass to me.

[minimetoo26]

I know nothing about them, except they picked a very unfortunate name for them. It sounds as if they want to burn books and replace them with a screen.

I'm too much of a flip-back-and-reread person for that. Sometimes I'll get an "AHA!" late in a book and have to go back to something that makes more sense now that I know where they were headed. YMMV.

[MarleysGh0st]

No personal experience with one and I don't think I'm ready for an e-book reader, for various reasons. Jerry Pournelle has written about them in his Chaos Manor column, which might be more technical that you'd like, but you may find it interesting. Best I can offer.

[kayrharris]

See, you're always making me look up stuff. I've never heard of Kindle books, so I looked it up. Amazon.com is out of stock due to popular demand and they're sorta pricey.

Interesting concept and it would certainly keep me from losing my books, which I tend to do on occasion. I always find them, but it may take me a while, but the same thing same happens with my digital camera.

Sorry, I'm not any help, more like my usual mindless dribble.

[christie1111]

Never heard of them.

Just thought I would respond so I could hear my fingernails click.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I have never heard of them either.

I like books on tape for car trips, but prefer to have books in my hand so that I can see the words.

[tanstaafl2]

Never used one. As noted it is pricey for what seems to be basically a one function device. Apparently no monthly fee involved so that is good.

Without one in hand hard to say but seems small and if you read fast you will be updating the screen a lot. Or if it scrolls I find that hard to follow personally.

I wonder if it has a text search function? Presumably you can save at a particular spot and be able to come back to that spot later.

That said a couple of thorough and positive reviews on the amazon page for it which you have probably already read.

Amazon Kindle

The problem to me is that there apparently isn't a mechanism for storage of titles for rereading down the road. If I want to keep the book then I will buy a book anyway and then I don't really need this. Would be nice to be able to buy an e-book and then download and store it somewhere else to read again if you want. I suppose the fear is sharing them with others so that those people don't have to buy them. Seems like you could incorporate a code stamp of some kind so that it would only work on the specific device that downloaded it. Then you could store it on a PC or other storage device. And load it back up again as desired. I hate buying something that I can't keep if I want to.

If you are an avid magazine/newspaper reader that aspect might be interesting, especially for a frequent traveller.

[fantine33]

I know nothing about them, except they picked a very unfortunate name for them. It sounds as if they want to burn books and replace them with a screen.

I'm too much of a flip-back-and-reread person for that. Sometimes I'll get an "AHA!" late in a book and have to go back to something that makes more sense now that I know where they were headed. YMMV.

I kind of thought that was exactly why they chose the name, but maybe they're not that clever.

I love the AHA! I thought I invented that term, but I guess not. But it has to be organic to be an AHA! They can't just pull something out of their asses, it has to be something that I could have garnered from what I have read so far. Like in Life of Pi, great AHA! in there.

Which is one of the reasons that the Kindle seems to be getting there in terms of electronic reading. It seems to be the closest you can get to reading an actual book, although flipping the page electronically isn't exactly riffling through.

Marley, that article actually was quite helpful. It gave downsides and upsides in plain language and I just skipped over the tech stuff that didn't matter. It seems like they "getting there", maybe beyond Betamax but not yet into VHS territory, much less DVD-ville.

[fantine33]

See, you're always making me look up stuff. I've never heard of Kindle books, so I looked it up. Amazon.com is out of stock due to popular demand and they're sorta pricey.

Interesting concept and it would certainly keep me from losing my books, which I tend to do on occasion. I always find them, but it may take me a while, but the same thing same happens with my digital camera.

Sorry, I'm not any help, more like my usual mindless dribble.

Mindless dribble? No! If I can make you look up something, then it makes my day complete.

I have never heard of them either.

I like books on tape for car trips, but prefer to have books in my hand so that I can see the words.

The book in hand thing is a major deal to me as well. I got one of those book stand "Reader Remedy" things when my hands were really bad as well as book weights for hardbacks. But I just can't enjoy a book as well as when I'm actually holding it and turning pages.

[fantine33]

Never used one. As noted it is pricey for what seems to be basically a one function device. Apparently no monthly fee involved so that is good.

I wouldn't spend $400 on one. But I figure, like any new technology, once the prices start dropping, they should do so fast. Or get a used one. Although, according to that article Marley provided, it has to be registered, so that might not work.

Without one in hand hard to say but seems small and if you read fast you will be updating the screen a lot. Or if it scrolls I find that hard to follow personally.

I wonder if it has a text search function? Presumably you can save at a particular spot and be able to come back to that spot later.

One of the major appeals for me is you can change text size. For those times when I can't locate my "Damn, I'm old!" two buck chucks.

I hadn't thought of the search function, but I bet they have that, since there's a keyboard involved. That would be a very nice feature, especially when you have to do the flip back and figure out what you missed thing that Mini referenced.

The problem to me is that there apparently isn't a mechanism for storage of titles for rereading down the road. If I want to keep the book then I will buy a book anyway and then I don't really need this. Would be nice to be able to buy an e-book and then download and store it somewhere else to read again if you want. I suppose the fear is sharing them with others so that those people don't have to buy them. Seems like you could incorporate a code stamp of some kind so that it would only work on the specific device that downloaded it. Then you could store it on a PC or other storage device. And load it back up again as desired. I hate buying something that I can't keep if I want to.

It supposedly holds up to 200 titles. So that's a lot of books. And, honestly, if there was a book I loved so much that I had to keep it past 200 titles, I'd probably buy a hard copy. That's one of my problems. There are so many books I don't really care for, but I cannot throw out a book. Sometimes I'll sell a bunch on ebay, but they still lie about the place until then. I like to keep stuff, so I have enough reading material that I don't want to get rid of that needs room to breathe.

It's funny that they'd be so proprietary about storing or copying books. Because it's not like anybody ever borrows real books to anybody. In fact, they'd probably be better off anyway because people wouldn't be getting all their reading material from used book stores, which doesn't give the author or publisher anything at all.

We used to have this AWESOME UBS downtown that I used to go to all the time and come home with stacks every trip. After they closed down a few years ago, I still haven't been able to find one as big, organized and versatile. I'm still sad about it.

Hey, Neil Gaiman likes them (the Kindles). And, if they're good enough for Neil, they ought to be good enough for me. Ha!

[tanstaafl2]

Without one in hand hard to say but seems small and if you read fast you will be updating the screen a lot. Or if it scrolls I find that hard to follow personally.

I wonder if it has a text search function? Presumably you can save at a particular spot and be able to come back to that spot later.

One of the major appeals for me is you can change text size. For those times when I can't locate my "Damn, I'm old!" two buck chucks.

I hadn't thought of the search function, but I bet they have that, since there's a keyboard involved. That would be a very nice feature, especially when you have to do the flip back and figure out what you missed thing that Mini referenced.

Yes, I am the same way as I like to go back and forth. The search function would be nice. Good point about changing text size although again I find if I get thru a screen worth of text quickly and am constantly scrolling it could be annoying to me. Perhaps it is no worse than turning the page of a book but that screen doesn't look large enough to hold a pages worth of material at a time from most books.

The problem to me is that there apparently isn't a mechanism for storage of titles for rereading down the road. If I want to keep the book then I will buy a book anyway and then I don't really need this. Would be nice to be able to buy an e-book and then download and store it somewhere else to read again if you want. I suppose the fear is sharing them with others so that those people don't have to buy them. Seems like you could incorporate a code stamp of some kind so that it would only work on the specific device that downloaded it. Then you could store it on a PC or other storage device. And load it back up again as desired. I hate buying something that I can't keep if I want to.

It supposedly holds up to 200 titles. So that's a lot of books. And, honestly, if there was a book I loved so much that I had to keep it past 200 titles, I'd probably buy a hard copy. That's one of my problems. There are so many books I don't really care for, but I cannot throw out a book. Sometimes I'll sell a bunch on ebay, but they still lie about the place until then. I like to keep stuff, so I have enough reading material that I don't want to get rid of that needs room to breathe.

200 titles seems gracious aplenty so that would seem to be less of an issue. Of course if the whole thing goes Tango Uniform then you have lost it all if there is no mechanism to back it up. That would have the potential to make me unhappy.

[KillerTomato]

Anyone have any experience with these?

None personally, but Stephen King wrote an article about the Kindle a couple of weeks ago for EW.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20172616,00.html

[fantine33]

200 titles seems gracious aplenty so that would seem to be less of an issue. Of course if the whole thing goes Tango Uniform then you have lost it all if there is no mechanism to back it up. That would have the potential to make me unhappy.

So is this on purpose or have you been reading my mail? Ha!

Also, I forgot to say earlier, you don't scroll, there's a 'next page' (or something like that) key. Scrolling would be a deal breaker for me, too.

None personally, but Stephen King wrote an article about the Kindle a couple of weeks ago for EW.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20172616,00.html

Caro, reading that article is what got me to thinking about them in the first place. I'd seen articles here and there and pictures on Amazon but didn't pay much attention because that wasn't something that I considered to be 'for me' (due mainly to reasons mentioned above).

On a related note, is it just me or does EW suck lately? I've been a subscriber since (I think) 1989. It used to be a happy day when it came on Saturday instead of Monday and I'd piss and moan when there was a double issue because that meant I had to wait two weeks for the next one.

Now I have stack of them from maybe the last 6-8 months that I haven't even read. Of course, I can't throw them out if I haven't read them because that would be wasteful (it was this same reasoning that caused me to quit taking the paper several years ago). Some are lying on a table in the garage where I just tossed them after getting the mail because I couldn't even be arsed enough to bring them into the house.

So is it the magazine, our entertainment times in general or just my personal ennui?

[minimetoo26]

On a related note, is it just me or does EW suck lately? I've been a subscriber since (I think) 1989. It used to be a happy day when it came on Saturday instead of Monday and I'd piss and moan when there was a double issue because that meant I had to wait two weeks for the next one.

Now I have stack of them from maybe the last 6-8 months that I haven't even read. Of course, I can't throw them out if I haven't read them because that would be wasteful (it was this same reasoning that caused me to quit taking the paper several years ago). Some are lying on a table in the garage where I just tossed them after getting the mail because I couldn't even be arsed enough to bring them into the house.

So is it the magazine, our entertainment times in general or just my personal ennui?

Well, my mom had a 10-year subscription to Us, which runs out next year even though she died three years ago, so my dad brings it to me, and I don't know who half these people are, since I don't watch The Hills, or much of anything, actually. My paper runs the celeb birthdays on the back of the comic section, and I don't know any of the people under 30 anymore.

Too many uninteresting media hos in the ragazines.

[tanstaafl2]

200 titles seems gracious aplenty so that would seem to be less of an issue. Of course if the whole thing goes Tango Uniform then you have lost it all if there is no mechanism to back it up. That would have the potential to make me unhappy.

So is this on purpose or have you been reading my mail? Ha!

Might get in trouble if I respond to that one. Umm, no, no I am definitely not reading your mail...

Also, I forgot to say earlier, you don't scroll, there's a 'next page' (or something like that) key. Scrolling would be a deal breaker for me, too.

Yes, I saw that in the EW article I think. A much better option.

[KillerTomato]

On a related note, is it just me or does EW suck lately? I've been a subscriber since (I think) 1989. It used to be a happy day when it came on Saturday instead of Monday and I'd piss and moan when there was a double issue because that meant I had to wait two weeks for the next one.

Now I have stack of them from maybe the last 6-8 months that I haven't even read. Of course, I can't throw them out if I haven't read them because that would be wasteful (it was this same reasoning that caused me to quit taking the paper several years ago). Some are lying on a table in the garage where I just tossed them after getting the mail because I couldn't even be arsed enough to bring them into the house.

Nah, it's weaker than it used to be. Partly, I think, because it's started to fall into the whole paparazzi trap of TMZ and the like. It's at its best when it stops with the muckraking and sticks to the reviewing. I used to wait for it to arrive, too (although mine comes on FRIDAY, neener neener neener!), but like you, now I wait for a couple of them to pile up, and leaf through the crap to get to the one or two things each issue that interest me.

But even the reviews kinda suck now, too. Lisa Schwartzbaum and Owen Glieberman have their moments (although I find myself disagreeing with them both more often lately). But I've gotten tired of the DVD reviews being nothing but TV on DVD, except for a short blurb or two on a new release. And since most pop music being made nowadays blows, I don't even bother with the Music section. The Books section has become a joke too... One or two paragraphs for most of the books...you can't do serious criticism like that.

An issue used to take me an afternoon or more to read I can now get through in under an hour. And the fact that they've suddenly decided to add Diablo Cody as one of their "last page" columnists shows just how "trendy" they've decided to go. It's only been two columns so far, so Ill give her the benefit of the doubt, and hope I grow to like her more, but so far, I'm unimpressed.