Two questions: are e-book readers (such as the Kindle or Sony Reader) actually worth getting or would it just be another gadget for me to lose?
Secondly, presumably you can't use them during take off or landing which is one of the main times I read so I would have to take a real book anyway?
I don't think it's a "fad". My experience with e-books started in 2001 and I've never looked back. 1st device I used was the Rocket eBook - a dedicated device. Gemstar TV Guide bought it and killed it after a couple of years. I still miss that device and am still boycotting TV Guide. Did I mention I can hold a grudge?
Moved on to a Dell pda and content from various online stores - including Barnes and Noble who started then stopped and now have started pushing e-books again. I was skeptical about the small screen and my baby boomer vision but it's never been an issue. Through a series of M&As, BN now owns what started out as a Palm-centric e-book retailer - my primary source. I've got around 450 books on my bookshelf on their site. The site/software supports my iPod touch.
I'll give a big 'thumbs up' to the iPod touch as an e-book reader after using it for almost two years. As noted, Kindle has an app and I have that on the device as well. My biggest gripe is content - not everything I want to read (mainly fiction - eclectic taste, everything but Westerns and Romances) is available in e-book form. It's getting better with the advent of the Kindle.
A magazine or two takes care of take off and landing.
It's SOOOOOO nice not dragging around ten pounds of books every time I travel. My idea of Hell (other than Chuck E. Cheese) is being stuck anywhere, except driving a car, for more than five minutes with nothing to read.
I'm a little late to this discussion, but I'm happy with my Bebook (open source ebook reader) and see it as a huge help to my travels. I like to read classics and older fiction, which means I have a vast, free library to choose from--all of Project Gutenberg, for example. Many of these books aren't available from my local library and have long been out of print.
Another source for free ebooks in many formats is the MobileRead forum.
You can also buy books and put them on the Bebook, since it reads many formats, but I have so much to read already that I haven't done that yet.
I used to read books on my iPhone. However, that messes with my vision for half an hour afterward. Reading a device like the Bebook is much easier on my eyes.
Hi, hoping someone can help, a friend who is visiting New York next week is considering buying the above Sony reader, can anyone advise the best place to buy one? Any special deals that you may have noticed would be welcome.
They will be staying in Manhattan around 34th Street.
The concept of the Kindle as a repository of many books has great appeal to me, especially for time sensitive material like guidebooks or disposable things like textbooks and papers.
The main problems for me are
1) Form factor of the kindle. It's too darn big. I want the original 6" screen in a casing not much bigger than the screen. thicker than currrent is ok - I want it to fit in a cargo or jacket pocket so I could carry around a guidebook.
2) The fiction available is less than appealing and the method for selection even less so.
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Originally Posted by sbm12
And while I don't think we ever got up to 20 on a single trip, I know that my wife and I have been into double digits.
That's the great thing about used book stores Bookstores are one of the great pleasures of traveling to me, a whole different range of used books.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cj001f
The concept of the Kindle as a repository of many books has great appeal to me, especially for time sensitive material like guidebooks or disposable things like textbooks and papers.
The main problems for me are
1) Form factor of the kindle. It's too darn big. I want the original 6" screen in a casing not much bigger than the screen. thicker than currrent is ok - I want it to fit in a cargo or jacket pocket so I could carry around a guidebook.
2) The fiction available is less than appealing and the method for selection even less so.
That is a first for me, hearing someone call the Kindle to big. However, if you are looking for something a little smaller, look at the nook, from Barnes & Noble. It measures 7.7" x 4.9" x 0.50" versus the Kindle 2 at 8" x 5.3" x 0.36". Still to large to fit in a pocket. Be warned, if you do get a nook, their book prices are higher when compared to both Amazon's library and Sony's for the same book.
As far as titles, what do you want that they are not offering? At the time of this posting, there are 122,083 available in Fiction alone. Finding a book is easy, at least to me. What do you find difficult about it?
I have a Kindle II. The two things that the Nook has which I'd love to see Amazon copy are:
1. Better PDF support. I get a number of trade journals each month in PDF format that I'd love to read on my Kindle. The conversion stinks. I've played with the idea of getting a DX for them, but not with 2009 cut backs.
2. The Ability to Loan/Borrow a Book for Fourteen Days from/to a Friend. My sister is a Kindle user and I would love to do this with her. I'd also buy my Father-in-Law a Kindle if I couuld do that.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chalkitdown
Hi, hoping someone can help, a friend who is visiting New York next week is considering buying the above Sony reader, can anyone advise the best place to buy one? Any special deals that you may have noticed would be welcome.
They will be staying in Manhattan around 34th Street.
I've seen them here and there; I think in Best Buy. If you really want to send your friend to geek heaven, the Sony Style store would be the place to go. It's on Madison Ave. around 55th St.
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Originally Posted by tonerman
Good Point I don't think Ive ever even seen one outside of an airport
I see them on the subway and Long Island Railroad occasionally.
2. The Ability to Loan/Borrow a Book for Fourteen Days from/to a Friend. My sister is a Kindle user and I would love to do this with her. I'd also buy my Father-in-Law a Kindle if I couuld do that.
Keep in mind that this "loan" ability is for books that the publisher decides to allow. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not widespread. Also you can only loan any given book one time. So it's not quite the same as having a book you can pass around from person to person for as long as you want.
As far as titles, what do you want that they are not offering? At the time of this posting, there are 122,083 available in Fiction alone. Finding a book is easy, at least to me. What do you find difficult about it?
Amazon.com lists 3 million plus books, so Kindle is <4% of the available titles. More pertinently of the last two dozen books I've read and enjoyed only half are available in Kindle format. Those that are available in Kindle format cost minimum twice what I paid for the used paperback, not counting the resale or trades I got for said paperbacks when finished. I've read ~100 books this year, the difference between $2/book and $10/book is substantial to me.
One thing to consider is that Google is releasing a large number of books that are no longer under copyright in an electronic format. I expect, given their history that they will attempt to widely disseminate the ability to read them on just about any platform (including the iPhone). That will be an interesting development. As will the long awaited large iPhone/small tablet Mac that is rumored to be getting closer to release. The latter will likely be about the same size as a Kindle but more "open" in terms of formats I suspect.
You aren't going far enough. I can't say what Google is up to, but you're only describing the tip of it.
about it. The following morning at the same checkpoint (cxld flight) no issues at all.
E-book readers
