New Amazon Kindle
July 29th, 2010The new wifi only Kindle for $139 looks very tempting to me. I won’t be buying any ebooks, but I have tons of documents in PDF. The problem is that I never did get used to reading for pleasure on my regular flat panel display. I think of pleasure reading as something that happens away from the computer, with no fan noise or bright screens, etc.
Is that E-Ink screen really as good as it’s hyped up to be? Also, are you happy with how the Kindle deals with PDFs?
1. Why does the screen background look grayer than newsprint?
2. For me, the notes I take in a book as it’s being read are the most important result of the reading. I can pick up the book years later, scan the marginal notations and underlined sections, and have nearly total recall of the entire text. Until these readers develop a superior way of taking and re-reading essential notes, they’re not up to my requirements.
3. It is very tempting, even with their deficiencies, to buy one just as a backup reference library. But I don’t see them replacing a physical library soon.
I probably shouln’t post a comment to this, because I am so ANTI electronic reading. I think the whole move of my work to electronic has become a clusterfuck of massive proportions. I can’t imagine finding pleasure in reading a book online. The whole concept makes me kind of sick. More presence in front of a glowing screen that is so noxious.
Question is, better to sit in front of a glowing screen, burning electricity, absorbing EMF or just printing the damn thing and wasting paper?
Dunno what’s worse.
I like books. I like on line.
But I like the physical book better. The book can be used as insulation. Its there when the lights go out. I for one, will never buy a Kindle.
Is Google Making Us Stupid is something to read.
On line reading does not take a person into deep concentration that physical book reading does. Too much distraction.
Save your pdf’s on a flash drive instead. They will be there if you ever want them to read.
Otherwise, I would counsel that the more you stay away from the glowing screen, the better.
@travis
There is full marginalia support. You can also export and print it, which you can’t do with a normal book.
@Eileen
I’m extremely skeptical of these things.
This is what I wrote in 2007:
You had to pay to convert pdf files back then. HAHA.
Then in 2009:
So… This is just like a gun or a chainsaw. It’s a tool. I didn’t see the use before, but now, I see how it could help me. But if you use it, use it with caution.
I’m definitely not suggesting that this is a replacement for regular books. I wouldn’t be buying any DRM ebooks. None. Zilch.
The point, for me, is to be able to read pdf files on something better than a regular computer display without having to print them out. Also, this is wifi only, so it’s a simple matter to be sure that it’s not communicating with Amazon. Documents can be loaded/removed by USB. (I’d have to make sure that it’s just a standard drive and doesn’t require some iTunes-like bullshit.) I would never email personal documents to the device, which is insane, as those pass through Amazon’s infrastructure.
This doesn’t have a “glowing screen.” It’s a display technology that was developed to be easy on the eyes.
Anyway, I have yet to hear from anyone who actually has a Kindle. Very, very few Cryptogon readers, who support the site via Amazon purchases, are into the Kindle thing. I mean, it’s probably less than five people. Yet Amazon considers Cryptogon to be one of the top sites for regular book sales.
I don’t own a e-book, but a workmate has one and yes the e-ink screen really as good as it’s hyped up to be. The white is a bit kind of gray, but what is great is that it’s like reading paper or any writings you can find anywhere in your house. The text is like painted on it, that is what make it so great. You can truely read outside on a sunny day
I personaly found it a bit small but I am use to my big computer screen. Also, they is a laoding time when you switch page (the guy had the previous generation of kindle, not this new one, so I don’t know if the loading times got better)
I have no information about the battery lifetime or if there is any i-store kind of crap with it.
I just found the manual and looked up the part about USB transfers. It’s a standard removable mass storage device, like a thumb drive, etc.
http://kindle.s3.amazonaws.com/Kindle_User%27s_Guide_English.pdf
When your Kindle is plugged into your computer, your Kindle will appear as a removable mass storage device.
—
Good news.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that “books constitute capital” because they last for hundreds of years and thus are not articles of “mere consumption.” I agree. I collect antique books and modern ones, mostly history, classical liberal philosophy, and literature, with the pleasing assumption that they will long outlast me and provide educational capital to future generations who may not have access to e-books or even, gasp, electricity. The ultimate doomer case for “real” books …
Pookie.
Thanks for the Jefferson quote.
About killed me to recycle a ton of books
that were in the basement since 1968 when
my sister died in a car crash. Wish I had the time to make them into paper bricks, a thingee I have from Lehman’s long ago that has not been used yet.
I think Mom and Dad didn’t know what to do
with all of books (English Literature, German, Journalism, actually some awesome books on revolution). Five children and their books. Maybe kept them as a reminder of their investment in our education. Dunno. But oh, did these books start to stink of mold and mildew.
Am building a wall of books in the attic.
Dry.
Many booksI kept,priceless magazines.
Yep.
@Pookie- I also think about electrity being out alot.
Can’t wait for a time when I can just park
my ass on the couch or hammock, hold a book in my hands and just go to the universe of tne not-electronic.
Another universe.
Viewing a PDF file is mostly fine. The only disadvantage, at least with the Kindle 2, is that you can’t adjust the font. Half of the time the font is too small, but changing it from portrait to landscape usually solves the problem. I have about 150 books loaded on my kindle. Twenty of those I actually purchased through Amazon, the rest were downloaded free off the internet as PDF files.
Another advantage to using the Kindle is the ability to highlight text and write notes about what I read. I would never do this with a physical book. Also when I go on a trip, I don’t have to worry about what book to bring. They all ride along. I can also read my book on multiple devices. I’m not tied to just the kindle. Not to mention the battery life is unbelievable. I go weeks between charges. If the power does go out, I can read the kindle without worry.
I love books and have hundreds of them on bookshelves throughout the house. However, there is a place for ebooks and I embrace the technology. I find myself more and more wanting to read on the Kindle rather than a physical book. I understand people’s reluctance to the Kindle experience as I understand the reluctance to people switching from film to digital cameras. Having used a digital camera for several years, I would never go back to film.
The switch to digital print won’t happen quickly. But as more and more people become exposed to ebooks and kindles, the advantages will soon become more and more apparent.
Have a great weekend and congrats on the new addition to the family.
@bobbyt
I was having a read through the Kindle manual pdf that Kevin posted and in Chapter 3 page 89 they disucss pdf files and they said you can zoom into pdf files (fit to screen, 150%, 200% etc).
Wouldn’t this help if you can’t adjust the type of font?
I have a Kindle 3 on order now. They in high demand so I’ll only be receiving mine in the first week of October. I can’t wait!!
My Kindle 3 arrived today. Its amazing!! Its ok as a PDF reader but what I have done is installed calibre and been converting my PDF books into the Kindle format. This seems to work quite well. There is some formatting issues but I can live with all those minor annoyances.
The e-ink screen is incredible. I really like the dictionary feature. You just place your cursor at the beginning of the word and it automatically looks it up in the dictionary with the meaning!
I won’t be buying any Kindle books from Amazon so I can’t comment on this. I purely bought it to convert PDFs so I wouldn’t have to be stuck reading on a laptop all day.
Very highly recommended!
@SW
Thanks for the info, SW. I have to admit, that thing is still calling to me…
No problem! I’ve only had it for a day so let me spend some more time with it and I’ll let you know how it goes!
So today I went onto my Kindle and downloaded a sample of a book I was interested in. Once I turned on wifi the sample chapters almost downloaded immediately.
Then I decided to order the book (only cost £2). Again, the full book downloaded instantly and was ready to be read.
Now I know you hate all that DRM crap Kevin (like me). The reason for the purchase with DRMs book was to experiment with REMOVING the DRM. It looks like it is possible so I will be giving it a try.
The Kindle and Amazon do work very well together. The thing that worries me though is if someone gets hold of your Kindle (or you lose it) someone could go on a shopping spree and its linked to your Amazon account which in turn is linked to your credit card…scary!
Otherwuse VERY impressed with Kindle 3, I cant wait to start using it on a regular basis. I have about 40 books on it now waiting to be read. I only have 2 “physical” books I want to buy now as the rest are sitting on the Kindle 😉
Bought 3 Kindle formatted books from Amazon so far.
I have managed to strip the DRM out of all 3 books and convert them into the mobi format. Why did I do this? Well for one I cant stand DRM but more importantly I did it for privacy. Once I had converted the DRM azw file to the mobi format I can now makes notes etc and not have all of it synced with Amazon. Another thing I do is leave the WiFi turned off all of the time unless I purchase a Kindle book.
Finished reading my first Kindle book and am on the second one now. All I can say is WOW. Am really enjoying it. Got a case for it now so its protected.
If you considering buying a Kindle 3…do it! You honestly cant go wrong.