Kindle ebook reader
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| Steve |  | Kindle ebook reader | 19-08-2010 @ 16:31 |
nothing to hide, please follow my life on webcam Member 255, 3732 posts | Has any body got a Kindle or similar ebook reader and what do you think of it? | ||
| ranathari | | ... | 19-08-2010 @ 16:51 |
 sumo ?? no ! no ! Member 1399, 557 posts | I have a Sony PRS600 (6 inch touchscreen eReader) and I absolutely love it. I'm a heavy reader and it's so much nicer to have something tiny that I can throw into my bag when I go out - no having to decide in advance what I want to read because I've got several hundred books available instantly. I love the touchscreen because it's far more intuitive than buttons but it makes the screen a little shiny; the Kindle doesn't have this problem and the screen's even higher quality than my Sony. Battery life is measured in weeks so it's good for holidays too. Drawbacks are the high prices of eBooks - UK publishers are absolutely paranoid about losing their revenue stream because there's not much of a role for them in an eBook market so they're trying to kill it by charging silly money for eBooks. There was a book I was looking for a few weeks ago where the paperback was £4 on amazon.co.uk but the eBook was £20!! The Americans already have sensible pricing plans so hopefully that'll spread over here with time. Libraries are starting to build eBook collections too so that'll be a good source of books in the future. It's also trivially easy to pirate ebooks if you want them but that's probably a verboten topic here. Don't worry about different formats. If you download and use Calibre to manage your eBooks, it'll convert them to whatever format you need for your eReader - it deals with a lot of the limitations of the Kindle. You can't read in the dark either unless you buy a case with a reading light built in. The first batch of the new Kindles is already sold out in the UK so you'll have to wait a bit if you didn't pre-order. | ||
| Cuddles | | ... | 19-08-2010 @ 23:56 |
 Eat.Cycle.Sleep.Win Member 2, 12511 posts SQ 190, BP 150, DL 280620.0 kgs @ 99kgs UnEq Administrator | Not quite the same but I've had the chance to read using an ipad and was actually pretty impressed at how user friendly the whole process was. But I dont mind spending lots of time looking at screens anyway. | ||
| Tannhauser | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 01:27 |
 fighting woo with woo Member 206, 1491 posts SQ 227.5, BP 165, DL 260652.5 kgs @ 100kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 20.08.2010 @ 01:28 AM by Tannhauser I can see the appeal, and the practicality. Books are becoming a major storage problem in my house.All the same, personally I wouldn't buy one. I spent hours a day as it is staring at a screen. But the main problem for me is that Kindlesetc have no sensual appeal. If I go over to the bookcase now - excuse me - I am now holding Keith Bosley's translation of 'The Kalevala' (not a favourite, but it will do). It smells pleasantly musty. The pages are yellowing, because they are ageing - in the same way that I have aged since I bought it. I can flick through it. There are dog-ears for the bits I liked. There are creases on the spine, and each one marks where I put it down: maybe I was fed up with it, or I went to sleep. It's organic and imperfect and real. It's got a great front cover, too, with a picture to pore over and touch. It was something that I bought on a trip out, at a particular time in my life, not downloaded in my living room. It has provenance. For the same reason, I can't bring myself to move from CDs to MP3. Too neat, too easy, too sterile. [/gay]  | ||
| spug_myers | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 11:02 |
 is weaker than a guy who trains in the poshest gym Member 21, 70 posts SQ 220, BP 155, DL 275650.0 kgs @ 100kgs UnEq | Tannhauser said:I spent hours a day as it is staring at a screen. The passive screen on my reader feels like a break from computer work to me, maybe not for everyone though. I had a large collection of (cheap) books when I lived in Scotland, 6 bookcases stacked 2 books deep. When I moved south I couldn't see the point in dragging them with me so gave the majority away to visitors (I still see them sitting untouched in piles when I visit them). I won't build up a book collection again. Plus I've got XL TV package on Virgin now so don't need them anyway. | ||
| Doc_D | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 11:26 |
 please use accurate taxonomy in our communication Member 871, 469 posts SQ 240, BP 137.5, DL 262.5640.0 kgs @ 89kgs Eq | Tannhauser said:It's organic and imperfect and real. I agree completely. I'm biased for two reasons: first, very old books form an important part of my life; and second, engagement with written/printed material is of a different order than that involving screen reading (this is doubtless in part a reflection of my age and pre-computer education, but a colleague who has been using ebook readers with people half my age has discovered that all of these youngsters have reported precisely the same kind of relative detachment from a screen in comparison with a printed page). A screen is fine for rapid dissemination and ingestion of information, but for a truly engaging reading experience, I'd stick to books. | ||
| Tannhauser | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 11:41 |
fighting woo with woo Member 206, 1491 posts SQ 227.5, BP 165, DL 260652.5 kgs @ 100kgs UnEq | spug_myers said: The passive screen on my reader feels like a break from computer work to me, maybe not for everyone though. What is a 'passive screen'? | ||
| spug_myers | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 11:58 |
is weaker than a guy who trains in the poshest gym Member 21, 70 posts SQ 220, BP 155, DL 275650.0 kgs @ 100kgs UnEq | Tannhauser said: What is a 'passive screen'? I mean it doesn't refresh. It looks very different to a computer screen or something like the iPad to me. | ||
| MrSmall | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 12:09 |
Gone and easily forgotten....... Member 331, 22298 posts SQ 185, BP 100, DL 230515.0 kgs @ 85kgs UnEq | Doc_D said: I agree completely. I'm biased for two reasons: first, very old books form an important part of my life; and second, engagement with written/printed material is of a different order than that involving screen reading (this is doubtless in part a reflection of my age and pre-computer education, but a colleague who has been using ebook readers with people half my age has discovered that all of these youngsters have reported precisely the same kind of relative detachment from a screen in comparison with a printed page). A screen is fine for rapid dissemination and ingestion of information, but for a truly engaging reading experience, I'd stick to books. I much, much, much prefer reading off paper and I have been using computers for long periods of the day since I was about 5 or 6. | ||
| spug_myers | | ... | 20-08-2010 @ 12:15 |
is weaker than a guy who trains in the poshest gym Member 21, 70 posts SQ 220, BP 155, DL 275650.0 kgs @ 100kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 20.08.2010 @ 12:20 PM by spug_myers Doc_D said: engagement with written/printed material is of a different order than that involving screen reading This hasn't been my experience with it. If it's a novel I'm reading on it I feel no difference in engagement with the story. Maybe as you become accustomed to the reader the novelty wears off and the content becomes important again. The main difficulty I've had is with technical books which are printed at a larger size. The scaling on my early Sony (PRS-505, got it half price at launch) isn't great. I've found switching to landscape mode and viewing each page half at a time is more effective that relying on the zoom. Since doing that I've been pretty happy. I'd echo what Ranathari said about pricing though. Luckily I like reading old novels which you can pick up free and I convert a lot of online documentation and articles for work to pdf for reading on the tube. Smalls - this is the technology I'm talking about, I like a break from the computer screen myself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper | ||