What do you think of the Kindle or electronic readers?

[wilde]

I'm kind of bringing up an old topic, but now it seems that Nintendo is breaking into the "electronic reader" business.

They have the DS, and the DSi, and now they have a "game" called "100 Classic Books." I'm probably getting it to read in the car, because reading a book in the car makes me nauseous. It has some pretty good titles, but it has a TON of Shakespeare and Dickens and Austen. No Steinbeck though. -sigh-


I'll post when I get it, but apparently you can adjust the font, and it'll recommend books to you based on a quiz or something. I don't know if it has any other features.

[rainbells]

I thought an EReader might be a good thing to have for trips, inasmuch as I was once stuck in an airport for many hours with a lousy book. But recently, I was on a flight from New York to Dallas, and as the plane prepared for takeoff, the flight attendant said, "Please turn off all electronic devices, including EReaders" I never thought about that when I was considering buying one. I don't have a whole lot of luck with air travel, (Once I was stuck on the tarmac for three hours, just taxiing around the airport, waiting for takeoff ), so if such a situation happened to me again, and I had an EReader, I would be without any book at all for a long time. Even a lousy book is better than none, so I guess I won't be getting one of these things.

[Suzanne]

I've thought about this question, and I have always wanted to give a better answer than, "I just like real books better". I do actually. But, when I read a tend to write in the margins, and underline passages of interest for future refference. Can you do this with one of these electronic devises?

Even a lousy book is better than none, so I guess I won't be getting one of these things.

Hours without a book? I'd go nuts.

[MrBananagrabber]

But, when I read a tend to write in the margins, and underline passages of interest for future refference. Can you do this with one of these electronic devises?

Yes, but the experience is a little different. On the e-book reader I own (a Sony Reader Touch Edition) there are no margins to write in. Instead, to add a note to a passage you highlight the passage with a stylus and select "Add note". Once added, the note can be viewed by tapping on the highlighted passage with the stylus. It's a bit cumbersome. Simply highlighting passages for future reference is very straightforward, though.

[Veneer]

I've thought about this question, and I have always wanted to give a better answer than, "I just like real books better". I do actually. But, when I read a tend to write in the margins, and underline passages of interest for future refference. Can you do this with one of these electronic devises?

Even a lousy book is better than none, so I guess I won't be getting one of these things.

Hours without a book? I'd go nuts.

With the Kindle you can add notes, underline passages, and add bookmarks. The notes are treated like footnotes. As superscript number will appear at the note's location. When you click on the superscript, it takes you to the note. Underlined passages, called highlighting, leaves a faint underline for the text that is underlined. Being a monochrome device, the Kindle only has one shade of highlighting. Bookmarking is the equivalent of turning the corner of a page down. A nice feature with the notes, highlighting, and bookmarks, you can look at them listed all together with links to the book passage. You don't have to page through the book looking for a note, bookmark, or highlighted passage, you just look at the list of your notes and marks and pick the one you want to look at.

Pre-Kindle era, I never would mark up my paper books for several reasons. One, I always lent my books to other people and I did not want to share my pathetic observations, and two, I am quite sloppy and the book would end up looking like hell. Handwriting is very difficult for me so notes in a book was just something I avoided. With my Kindle, the notes are neat, legible, and easily accessed. Using the tiny keyboard on the Kindle is rather painful for writing notes other than a word or two. However the latest version of Kindle for PC (free download for anyone from Amazon) allows you to type the notes in the book on your PC and then you can download them (through the wireless cellular to Amazon) into your Kindle. I really like the feature and am now happily writing notes in my books.

[Veneer]

I edited the post above. I was a bit out of sorts when I wrote it last night and had forgotten to mention book marks. Also it occurred to me, how are publisher's footnotes differentiated from the reader's notes?

The publisher's footnote appears in the text in a normal superscript font that is underlined. Reader's notes are in reverse superscript, that is the superscript is a white numeral printed inside a black box. To view your note while reading the text, simply move the cursor over the superscript, the note will appear at the bottom of the page in a separate window. The note can be edited or deleted at any time.

When you view the list of your notes, highlights, and bookmarks each item is displayed in the order that it appears within the book with the location and two lines of text. You can view the note without going to the actual location by moving the cursor over the notes reference. It is very handy.

Your notes and book marks are kept in a separate file called My Clippings, which I admittedly do not know much about. It can be transferred to your PC and edited. The notes & marks file is backed up on Amazon's cloud, so if you lose or damage your Kindle, your annotations are preserved.

I don't know, if you can add notes and marks to non-Amazon content.

[Veneer]

For those considering a Kindle, Amazon knocked off $70. They are now going for $189.00.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015T ... d_asin_lnk

[Chris OConnor]

I'm wondering if the Apple iPad will have a major impact on the Kindle.

[Veneer]

Excellent question! Much debated, and one that I really don't give a damn about, providing that the Kindle survives. I have no interest in who is number 1 and what the greatest device is. The iPad is, without a doubt, the more sophisticated handy device that does all the stuff that the connected generation wants to do. I want read books on my device and that is all. I have no interest in looking at art, photos, twittering, emailing, posting, facebook, listening to music, looking at my picture collection, or navigating to the best restaurant in Manhatten. I want it for reading books and for that it does a remarkably good job, to the point that if I have to now read a printed book I feel abused. (You know that feeling you get when you have forgotten your cell phone, and you are digging in your pocket for change to use a payphone that has some undefined smotch smeared all over it, and has the wiff of something between a locker room and a bordello about it.)

I can access Google and Wikipedia for free with the Kindle which is nice when I am away from home (at home it is simply easier and quicker to use the PC). That is all the connectivity that I need.

My big fear is that Amazon will cease to offer the basic Kindle, and go to some iPad look alike, which would probably not be a smart thing for Amazon because taking on Apple on their home turf may prove difficult. The Kindle and iPad are profoundly different devices. One of the things you can do with an iPad is read books. If all you are going to do is to read books, I think the iPad is a poor choice. My own feeling on it is that the iPad will far out sell Kindles, but far more books will be read on Kindles than iPads.

Steve Jobs said not long ago, that nobody reads in America any longer. That gives you a feel for where the man's literary heart is. But, God (oh dear forgive me) bless him, the man does have a keen nose for making a buck, but then again so does Jeff Bezos. I just hope that when all the smoke clears that there is still a simple inexpensive electronic reader that uses e-ink technology.

[stahrwe]

GREAT question!... I have never owned or read a 'paper' book in my life, nor would I!!!

All the books i own and have read r 'e-books'. I have a zune player and m a long time loyal member of Audible. This is the ONLY way I would and/or can read a book. I work 2 jobs and workout, where I m luck that i have the ablity 2 read my books throughout the day. IT IS WONDERFUL!!!

Are you an anarchist? No paper books. That’s disturbing. What about slipping a paperback into your pocket? Feeling the comforting bulge as you walk along? Caressing the pages? Smelling the fresh ink? Tearing a little corner off the page and eating it? Oops, got carried away. Still, taking a $6 paperback to the beach is not the same as risking a $200 reader. Am I stuck in another millennium? Am I the guy complaining about moving from scrolls to folios? What about 100 years from now? I have books from the 1800’s, is Amazon going to be here 100, 200, 300 years from now? What happens to the books that are only electronic then?

And, by the way, I love buying used books that someone else has marked in. I feel a connection to another life.

I was all for the change from slide rule to calculator but from printed to electronic books? Isn’t there going to be a shortage of electrons? What happens to the universe when we run out of them?