The Kindle

Odjn · 03-19-2009, 11:56 AM

Thought it mostly applied here.

I got one as an early birthday present and so far I'm loving it. I linked up my account earlier and bought Nation by the inestimable Mr. Pratchett.

I didn't exactly watch the time on the book download but it was fast and loaded quite nicely. It works quickly and plugs into normal electric sockets, not like an iPod which is USB ports on a computer. It's pretty lightweight and the optional cover accessory adds a bit of protection and a decent bit of snazz. The layout is essentially on each side there are two bigger buttons, on the left is prev/next page, on the right is next page/home. I thought the next page on the right was a nice thing to add to prevent confusion from flipping a page with your right hand. If you hit home or go idle, the book will remember the page you were on for you, another nice feature. Additionally, the prices are cut down if you buy from kindle.

The book selection is touted as 250,000, but I was unable to find a few mildly popular stuff, like Hunter S. Thompson. Camus had a few selections, as did Zola, but still pretty sparse. I didn't even try typing Kierkegaard in.

If you guys want me to test stuff or look for titles or what have you, let me know, I'm totally up for it.

Fifthfiend · 03-19-2009, 04:25 PM

Ideally this would go in what's currently named "computer help" as I always kind of more meant for it to be like a general "computers and technology" forum such as would be fitting for this kind of conversation but considering as said forum isn't actually named "computers and technology" or anything like that and is in fact named as a tech-support forum I can't really justify moving this there. So here works as well as anywhere.

I would ask what kind of file formats this thing supports; like, how easy is it to slap like your own PDFs and text files and things on there vs. having to download from the Kindle store.

...Also for small gadgety things I actually prefer a usb-plugin deal cause you can always pick up a usb charging adapter pretty cheap and then you can charge your thing in a wall socket or off your computer which is nice.

Eltargrim · 03-19-2009, 05:21 PM

Without doing any research, Fifth, I believe .pdfs have to be converted. Apparently it isn't too difficult to do.

MasterOfMagic · 03-19-2009, 05:46 PM

How's that electronic paper screen work out? Is it just as easy to read from as a piece of paper like they were going for?

Can you get textbooks on that thing? What about Discworld or the Wheel of Time books?

Mike McC · 03-19-2009, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eltargrim

Without doing any research, Fifth, I believe .pdfs have to be converted. Apparently it isn't too difficult to do.

The Kindle one did not support PDFs, the Kindle 2 may not support all PDFs. But it has a fuckton of supported formats. So says THE WIKI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wikipedia

Kindle 2 supports the Kindle (AZW), TXT, Audible (formats 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC, PDF, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP (through conversion) formats.

I do want one of these, but a thought popped up in my mind recently. This would be the perfect platform for digital comic books. However, it doesn't have a color screen. So, I'll have to reweigh my decision, decide if it's worth getting in the near future, or waiting until a color Kindle comes out (God knows how long into the future).

The completely free anywhere access to certain blogs and wikipedia (so long as you're in an area that supports Sprint's 3G or whatever network) is an extremely nice feature.

Odjn · 03-19-2009, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterOfMagic

How's that electronic paper screen work out? Is it just as easy to read from as a piece of paper like they were going for?

Can you get textbooks on that thing? What about Discworld or the Wheel of Time books?

There's a few Disc books available, mostly the Moist and Tiffany Aching stuff. Color of Magic is up. Wheel of Time is not yet up but I've seen something mentioning it would be somewhat soon. I'll look for the link.

The screen is very easy to read from, but as far as I'm aware there's no built in backlight for it, only the clip on accessory light.

As of now, textbooks are a no unless you convert them. You can definitely put them on if they're of the above files.

The selection is really limited at this point, I have to say. I don't know how they're updating them but...Twilight's already up T.T

Fifth, why don't we get a Cool Gadget forum where we can totally obsess over geeky stuff? And I've always preferred products that don't require USB since while adapters are cheap, I tend not to buy accessories, AND pretty much everywhere has a wall socket.

Fifthfiend · 03-19-2009, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Odjn

Fifth, why don't we get a Cool Gadget forum where we can totally obsess over geeky stuff? And I've always preferred products that don't require USB since while adapters are cheap, I tend not to buy accessories, AND pretty much everywhere has a wall socket.

This is totally what I had in mind for what ended up being the Tech Support forum. I may make a new forum for that or just broaden the tech thing's mission statement and see what does.

PyrosNine · 03-19-2009, 11:57 PM

I personally never bother to buy some gadget to do something I already can do on something I already have.

In this case, I use a mixture of YBook (google it) and the fact my laptop is small enough to hold on it's side as a small book, along with Project Gutenburg and the Baen free library, which I suggest for you to browse if you want to get anything free to read for your Kindle.

Though I can see the use in it. I think my College Library's talking about adopting Kindles, so students can rent them and keep certain books on hand for class without having to carry around some odd volume of texts. Especially Project Gutenburg, as when I needed to read Frankenstein, Don Juan, and Jekyll and Hyde, I only need to flip open my laptop and start reading. My mp3 player has an ebook function, but it's not well implemented and I'm reading a paragraph at a time, using the screen vertically, not horizontally.

Odjn · 03-22-2009, 04:44 PM

Plus most laptops aren't exactly handheld! I've huge hands and have yet to one a handheld laptop.

Tested out wireless today. It's pretty much like a cell phone, wherever you go that has cell phone access can DL a book pretty much.

I do need some way to carry it, though. Perhaps a messenger bag.

03-19-2009, 04:25 PM	#2
Fifthfiend for all seasons Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 19,409	Ideally this would go in what's currently named "computer help" as I always kind of more meant for it to be like a general "computers and technology" forum such as would be fitting for this kind of conversation but considering as said forum isn't actually named "computers and technology" or anything like that and is in fact named as a tech-support forum I can't really justify moving this there. So here works as well as anywhere. I would ask what kind of file formats this thing supports; like, how easy is it to slap like your own PDFs and text files and things on there vs. having to download from the Kindle store. ...Also for small gadgety things I actually prefer a usb-plugin deal cause you can always pick up a usb charging adapter pretty cheap and then you can charge your thing in a wall socket or off your computer which is nice. __________________ check out my buttspresso

03-19-2009, 05:21 PM	#3
Eltargrim Fifty-Talents Haversham Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: FABULOUS Posts: 1,904	Without doing any research, Fifth, I believe .pdfs have to be converted. Apparently it isn't too difficult to do. __________________ <Insert witticism here; get credit; ???; profit!>

03-19-2009, 11:57 PM	#8
PyrosNine Zettai Hero Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: A figment of my own imagination Posts: 6,103	I personally never bother to buy some gadget to do something I already can do on something I already have. In this case, I use a mixture of YBook (google it) and the fact my laptop is small enough to hold on it's side as a small book, along with Project Gutenburg and the Baen free library, which I suggest for you to browse if you want to get anything free to read for your Kindle. Though I can see the use in it. I think my College Library's talking about adopting Kindles, so students can rent them and keep certain books on hand for class without having to carry around some odd volume of texts. Especially Project Gutenburg, as when I needed to read Frankenstein, Don Juan, and Jekyll and Hyde, I only need to flip open my laptop and start reading. My mp3 player has an ebook function, but it's not well implemented and I'm reading a paragraph at a time, using the screen vertically, not horizontally. __________________ Pyrosnine.blogspot.com: An experimental blog of writing. Updated possibly daily. Possibly. A fair chance. Current Works for reading: War Between them, Karma Police. PyrosNine: Weirdo Magnet Extraordinaire! Last edited by PyrosNine; 03-20-2009 at 12:12 AM.

03-19-2009, 05:46 PM	#4
MasterOfMagic ahahah Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,456	How's that electronic paper screen work out? Is it just as easy to read from as a piece of paper like they were going for? Can you get textbooks on that thing? What about Discworld or the Wheel of Time books?