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Post by Dreadlocksmile on Aug 24, 2010 9:59:00 GMT
Sooooo...Amazon's Kindle e-reader malarky... To be honest, I'm seriously tempted to get myself one of these badboys. Well, when I say get myself one, I mean drop elephant-dung-sized hints about wanting one in the run up to Christmas. Has anyone got one on here? Opinions please? There are obvious pros and cons, but it just seems to be such a handy little gadget for taking on hols and for commuting. Plus, new releases are sooooo much cheaper than the hardcopy paperbacks. But, I do still love to own a hardcopy of the book. I'm torn!!! What do you guys think about this supposedly wonderous 'new' gadget?
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Post by remyporter on Aug 24, 2010 11:14:58 GMT
I think I'll be adding one of these to my Christmas list. They're looking good these days ...it's the future! And you know you can buy my novel Dead Beat on Kindle for like 2p, well okay $2.21. Lol
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Post by Jim on Aug 24, 2010 13:27:09 GMT
I love my sony reader, loaded with books I have a book for whatever takes my fancy, so easy to dip in and out of different books depending on mood. And it does save a fortuned on importing books from the US, 20 books or so and it's paid for itself, in postage costs alone.
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Post by Dreadlocksmile on Aug 24, 2010 15:56:17 GMT
I love my sony reader, loaded with books I have a book for whatever takes my fancy, so easy to dip in and out of different books depending on mood. And it does save a fortuned on importing books from the US, 20 books or so and it's paid for itself, in postage costs alone. Cheers Jim. All of these points were my thoughts too. Out of interest, what happens if your e-reader / Kindle packs in on you? Do you lose all of your ebooks, or can they be saved/backed up somewhere (i.e. on a PC or something)? Also, does using the e-reader irritate your eyes if used for long periods at a time (this happens to me when reading ebooks on my PC/laptop, so I presumed it would be the same)?
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Post by Jim on Aug 24, 2010 16:50:26 GMT
From what I can gather amazon still owns all your purchases, with sony it's just like any other digital down load, I store the downloads on my Pc and transfer a copy to the reader. You can get a programme called calibre, which is a bit like Itunes. I t allows you to download metadata for your books, such as reviews and the synopsis, really good programme.
I have never had any problem reading from it for a long period of time.
The Non touch screen version of the sony is now only £99 from Waterstones
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Post by steppedonwolf on Aug 24, 2010 19:04:36 GMT
These things have definitely taken off in the states, and if the price for the units in the UK drops soon they'll be a big concern. As Jim says, the beauty of them is ordering books from abroad for peanuts and saving on postal/shipping charges. Reason I haven't bought one is I'm waiting to see what the future will bring in terms of eReaders than can read all formats, not just limited to one. If you want to see what the Kindle looks like, you can try it on your PC: www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311
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Post by Dreadlocksmile on Aug 26, 2010 10:27:24 GMT
So....I know I'm going to sound like a bit of a dumbass here, but with a Kindle reader, you can only read kindle books? Not pdf's or any other format?
So, if that's the case...in theory, after a few years of people buying up the Kindle readers, Amazon could hike up the price of their kindle ebooks, and those with a Kindle reader will have to accept the inflated price rise or get a different reader.
Hmmmmmm...
But I doubt that would happen.
Another scenrio is if a particular author you like only releases ebooks on pdf etc, and not on Kindle friendly media. Bit buggered then.
I think I might follow suit with Mr Chamberlin and hold fire for a bit...to see what develops.
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Post by Jim on Aug 26, 2010 10:33:51 GMT
Kindle are heavily DRM protected, but if you buy books from Smashwords, fictionwise, books on board, waterstones, you can convert to different formats using stanza or calibre, with just a click, that and the sony accepts practically all types of files, except the kindles.
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Post by steppedonwolf on Aug 26, 2010 21:24:51 GMT
Kindle are heavily DRM protected...and the sony accepts practically all types of files, except the kindles. AARGH! Okay, anyone else got an eReader that isn't a Sony or a Kindle? What have been your experiences with them, and would you say they're a better buy than the Sony or Kindle? Enquiring minds wish to know!
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Post by Vaughan on Sept 3, 2010 15:00:45 GMT
A Kindle? No.
Personally I'm not interested in ebooks. But then, I buy my books secondhand. Last weekend I bought five 70's and 80's books for 10p each. You think buying a book for the ereader is going to be better than that? Nope.
In fact, these companies want me to invest £100, £200, or even £300 for a DEVICE on which to read! Erm, I can get a BOOK and read that without a problem. The "yeah, but I can carry HUNDREDS of books with me, rather than a singble paperback" argument is based on a false premise; ie. I don't NEED to carry hundreds of books with me.
Moreover, lose your Kindle - and you lose ALL your books. Great.
Frankly I think these devices are a gimmick. People love toys, so they're tempted. But, as a READER, they're just not very compelling. They're "cool", but they're a solution looking for a problem.
Having said that, I can see I might have a use for one for technical materials. But that's not a compelling need either.
Cut through the marketing nonsense, and ask yourself why you'd want one of these. Honestly. For the price of the device you could buy a LOT of actual books. I know what I'd rather have.
Having said that, let me say that if you are tempted into buying such a thing, then there's really only one device to own - the iPad. And that comes from an Apple hater. It has lots of applications, and will devlop over time.
However, I'd want a device that had changable batteries.
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Post by steppedonwolf on Sept 21, 2010 11:40:48 GMT
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Post by Dreadlocksmile on Sept 28, 2010 11:03:23 GMT
Does anyone know if Kindle readers support standard pdf documents as well as the specific kindle documents? If not then this will seriously make me reconsider my xmas hinting...
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Post by Jim on Sept 28, 2010 12:22:00 GMT
The original Kindle supported only unprotected Mobipocket books (MOBI, PRC), plain text files (TXT), Topaz format books (TPZ), and Amazon's proprietary DRM-restricted format (AZW). Version 2.3 firmware upgrade for Kindle 2 (U.S. and International) added native Portable Document Format (PDF) support.[32] Earlier versions did not fully support PDF, but Amazon provided "experimental" conversion to the native AZW format,[56] with the caveat that not all PDFs may format correctly.[57] It does not support the EPUB ebook standard. Amazon offers an email-based service that will convert JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP graphics to AZW.[58] Amazon will also convert HTML pages and Microsoft Word (DOC) documents through the same email-based mechanism, which will send a Kindle-formatted file to the device directly for $0.15 per MB or to a personal e-mail account for free. These services can be accessed by sending emails to <kindleusername>@kindle.com and to <kindleusername>@free.kindle.com for Whispernet-delivered and free email-delivered file conversion, respectively, but these are services available just for those who bought a real Kindle device, not available for those who just own the digital Kindle application (iPhone, iPad, etc.). The file that the user wants to be converted needs to be attached to these emails. Users could also convert PDF and other files to the first-generation Kindle's supported formats using third-party software. The original Kindle supported audio in the form of MP3s and Audible audiobooks (versions 2, 3 and 4), which had to be transferred to the Kindle via USB or on an SD card. However there is software available (e.g. Calibre) which can convert a non-DRM EPUB file into the Kindle Format. A book may be downloaded from Amazon to a limited number of devices at the same time. The limit ranges from one to six devices, depending on an undisclosed number of licenses set by the book publisher. When the limit is reached, the users have to unregister some devices in the Manage Your Kindle page in order to add new devices.[59] E-books of unencrypted .MOBI files, .TXT files, or .AZW formats can be transferred to the Kindle over a USB connection and read, but any other e-book formats are not supported. The original Kindle and the Kindle 2 firmware before the 2.3 firmware update cannot read e-books or files in the PDF format. However, PDFs and several other file formats can be converted using a number of downloadable applications, free conversion by email, or a similar method that sends the converted content to the owner's Kindle for a fee.[24] Amazon owns Mobipocket,[60][61] and the Kindle AZW file format and DRM scheme are similar to the Mobipocket file format and DRM scheme, yet Kindle is not able to read DRM-protected Mobipocket books without resorting to third-party conversions tools. Initially, Kindle 1 only supported the ISO 8859-1 (Latin 1) character set for its content; Unicode characters and non-Western characters were not supported. A firmware update in February 2009 added support for additional character sets, including ISO 8859-16. Kindle 2 added support for Audible Enhanced (AAX) format, but dropped support for Audible versions 2 and 3. Using the experimental web browser, it was possible to download books directly on the Kindle (in MOBI, PRC and TXT formats only). Hyperlinks in a Mobipocket file could be used to download e-books[62] but could not be used to reference books stored in the Kindle's memory. Kindle DX added native support for PDF files. The original Kindle and Kindle 2 did not allow the user to organize books into folders.[63] There is an option to select whether documents, subscriptions, books, or everything on the device appear on the home page. Another option orders the items on the home page according to title, author, or download date. Books may also be tagged with one or more keywords by inserting the tags into notes added to the book. Users can then search for books by tag.[64] Kindle software version 2.5 (released July 2010) allowed for the organization of books into "Collections" which is roughly correspondent to folders.
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Post by Dreadlocksmile on Sept 28, 2010 13:23:22 GMT
For that good sir...have a karma. Thank you!
Very interesting indeed. So in a nutshell - yes, you can read pdf's on it! Back on track with my Kindle for Xmas hints...
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Post by steppedonwolf on Sept 28, 2010 13:28:24 GMT
These things are great for reviewers and editors as well as the general reader.
Editors love them because they can make notes on the MS as they go along; saves on paper.
So, DLS - have you written to Santa yet?
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