BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Nov 09 - 08:13 PM

Nearly all George Orwell books can be bought from book dealers for $1.00 or so, and then one can give them away, toss them in the bin, etc. Easy and cheap.

The article linked by McGrath is not quite correct- Amazon did not properly check out Orwell book rights and thus had to delete them or face suit.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 02:44 AM

Jack

I use a little eeepc netbook for my lyrics. There are lots of different netbooks available now, with long batter life. They are not so dear anymore and can do much more than hold music. Just a thought.

Not very good for book reading though as they get hot and still have some weight to them.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 09:39 AM

I didn't mean lyrics, I meant musical notation. Small screens can only display simple tunes. Would you like to try sightreading from this on your eeepc screen?

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Becca72
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 11:23 AM

After reading this thread I can see the value of a Kindle but highly doubt I will ever own one. I like the "feel" of a real book too much. I own hundreds and love having them around. I always have a book with me because you never know when you're going to get stuck and need to occupy your time for a bit.
As for the "carbon footprint" of real books, I belong to paperbackswap.com and goodreads.com and can 'trade' books with people from all over.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 12:22 PM

The savings on current titles are small.
As a devourer of mysteries, this book, in paperback:
Donna Leon, "Death in a Strange Country"-
Kindle US$7.99
New from Amazon- $11.20
New from other dealers listed by Amazon- $7.89 or higher
Used- $7.00 from Amazon listed dealer
Used- $1.00 up, from Abebooks.com

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 12:58 PM

"The article linked by McGrath is not quite correct - Amazon did not properly check out Orwell book rights and thus had to delete them or face suit. "

How so? This is what the article said "The books – downloaded from Amazon.com by American Kindle users – were remotely deleted after what the US company now says was a rights issue regarding the publisher"

The point is, Kindle gives them the ability to do something that no ordinary bookseller could do. They are able to remove book from your shelves without your permission. Legalised burglary.

Think of the power this kind of ability would give to a government in some future where printed paper had been replaced by the likes of Kindle, probably for newspapers and magazines as well as books.

We talk about past tyrannies as "totalitarian", but they never had anything approaching the control over their citizens that is now within reaching grasp of governments a few years down the line.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 01:15 PM

Hi again Jack

Don't think the Kindle can accommodate graphics can it?

But a little net book can and you can increase the size on screen, though you would need someone to scroll down and side to side while you played, so still not very practical.

Hmmm! Looks like there may be a market for what you want though. A Kindle like machine only bigger say A4 size, that holds digital sheet music. Has a sensor to scroll to next page, maybe a foot pedal. If the music has a coda, then pedal needs a previous page function.

Whoa! Another brilliant idea that someone else will capitalise on.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 01:21 PM

A Kindle like machine only bigger say A4 size, that holds digital sheet music. Has a sensor to scroll to next page, maybe a foot pedal. Sounds like an augmented piano...

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 01:43 PM

I'm with Q (not on the eyeball, but the screen). I personally find reading even a good seventeen inch monitor to be a chore after awhile, very tiring.

I don't like the name 'Kindle'; it puts me in mind of books as kindling ala Nazi Germany, or "Fahrenheit 451"

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Charmion
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 01:48 PM

You might think of it as being more like "in kindle", which is the traditional expression for pregnancy in a rabbit.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 01:58 PM

I suggested the same thing as VirginiaTam on rec.arts.books a while ago, pedal and all. But it would have to be A3, at least - any substantial score opens that big when you're using it.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 03:22 PM

Another contender: Barnes & Noble's "Nook" -- here's their comparison chart between Nook and Kindle click. Can't do Word documents, so not so good for those song lyrics, unless they're converted to pdf...

Both B&N and Sony got their publicity out before they had much product available, so both have delays on Christmas orders.

Here's an NY Times video - amusing, but without much depth - comparing the Kindle, Sony e-reader and Cool-ER: click.

Here's a much more comprehensive comparison chart -- with way more models than I realized were out there: click.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 05:59 PM

If Kindle takes back material that they sold to me which had a copyright they missed, or if there was another legal matter involved, they are welcome to do so, as long as they refund.
I see nothing wrong. They are correcting an error.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 06:27 PM

As I see it, if you sell something you don't have a right to sell, that's your problem. It doesn't give you the right to just walk in and take it away from the person you sold it to.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 06:27 PM

I have a Sony Reader, and I love it. I am reading Gulliver's Travels at the moment, which I downloaded free. It's a book that bypassed me as a child, and it's fun catching up.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Gulliver
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 07:37 AM

I just noticed my name being mentioned in the preceding thread ;-)

I've been reading ebooks for over ten years. It started when I had to travel abroad on business, so I loaded lots of novels, short stories, documentaries, sound files, etc on my laptop for those trips. I got rid of about half my paper books (still have almost 2,000) and bought very few over the past few years. I've taken a small laptop on most of my travels (hence my moniker!) so whether in an Indonesian jungle, on a mountain-top in Japan, on an island off Italy, I've had lots of reading matter, including travelogues, dictionaries, photos, song lyrics, etc. I can also keep up my travel diaries and prepare emails. Luckily I have no problem reading from the screen, and particularly like it for reading in bed.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: C-flat
Date: 10 Nov 10 - 09:51 AM

As both me and the current "Mrs flat" are avid readers, I can see the Kindle as a solution to packing books when we are travelling.
Not only that, I'm due to undergo surgery fairly soon and anticipate being laid up for a couple of months so, again, I think this might be just the thing!!
I love books, even the smell of them, but sometimes they can be a bit on the bulky side to hold for any length of time and a dozen or so in the bottom of a suitcase can use up a fair bit of your luggage allowance.
I think a few subtle hints to my other half and we'll see what Santa brings!

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: gnomad
Date: 11 Nov 10 - 09:52 AM

Re removing stuff already sold: no-one can pass on a better right to goods than they themselves hold. If Amazon are in breach of copyright in making the sale then you have no right to continue to hold the electronic goods sold. No more than you can keep stolen goods such as a bike, even if innocently purchased.

Nemo dat quod non habet, as the legal eagles will say.

Of course if such a sale took place and Amazon refused to refund the money when deletion happened a case for action would arise.

I also quite agree there is something sinister about the ability to amend or erase the goods post-sale. It might tempt some to immediately back up any possibly controversial works on a separate device inaccessible to Amazon. I don't know if the devices are set up to allow such backups, but I'll bet some hacker can make it possible if it hasn't been done already.

Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle?
From: Green Man
Date: 11 Nov 10 - 11:26 AM

Lying in bed, finished my last Cussler novel, switched on 3g browsed to Kindle bookstore on Amazon bought another book started new story. Total time about 4 minutes. 50% CHEAPER than a paper book and I didnt have to pay for diesel or a bus fare to get to the shop. I can do the same from my caravan in the middle of a field and I dont have the storage problems that a lot of books would generate. I have a home with 8 book cases and several shelves full of professional books on I.T. and lots of music and photgraphic and art source files.

Kinlde is for reading and for that it is very good. The other books are visual aids to my job or the graphic arts and they are what they are.

Kindle is brilliant at what it does, it's a means to an end, it will never replace my big book of Tall ships or a Gutenberg Bible but it is convenient. Its especially nice with the leather cover with a built in light. So far battery life between charges is about three weeks.

Live long and prosper. :)