|
|||||||
BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? |
Share Thread
|
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: number 6 Date: 02 Jul 09 - 06:10 PM Reading from a book ... or an electronic device No difference in either .... your reading. Same as listening to music from a hi-fi system ... or an iPod no difference ... your listening to music biLL |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Will Fly Date: 02 Jul 09 - 06:03 PM Electronic book readers, like the Kindle, have a lot going for them - a has been pointed out above. What hasn't been mentioned is the comforting feeling I have when I walk into my lounge, into the spare bedroom and into my music room. Because they are full of old friends - my books. Their bindings and covers, their sizes and smells, their arrangement - some tidily in rows, some heaped up on their side on top of rows, some on the bedside table - are old, familiar, long-loved friends. And some are new friends. To me a house without books is an empty and desolate affair. It's great to be able to download an e-text from servers all over the world on to my laptop. But it's also wonderful to have my books all around me. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Rapparee Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:55 PM Sounds like a song to me: Mulhouse must be heaven 'cuz my granny came from there. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: robomatic Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:35 PM Zhenya: What's it like to do the NYT Sunday Crossword on a Kindle? just askin'..... |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: PoppaGator Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:16 PM Mulhouse, huh? My grandma came from there. (It's in Alsace.) |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 02 Jul 09 - 04:49 PM I think it will be a long long time before they have electronic books that come within a light year of the real thing for reliability and convenience. I've books on my shelves that are well over a hundred years old, and they work just as well as they did when they were first printed, without anything ever being done to keep them that way. Somehow I can't envisage electronic books measuring up to that. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Amos Date: 02 Jul 09 - 02:30 PM No, my eyesight is just average, but the iPhone is backlit and the reading is just as easy as it is on a regular page--they format the page content to about 1/3 a full book page. But to make up for it all you have to do is tap to turn the page either way. A |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Rapparee Date: 02 Jul 09 - 02:22 PM There is definitely a place for e-books and e-ink. There is also a place for regular books. My wife has perhaps 50 books and god alone knows how much music on her audio player. They're fantastic when she's traveling, as she is now (she'll be in Mulhouse, France tomorrow). The optical e-books are good for what has been mentioned. I have no quarrel with them at all. It's just another way of getting information to people, another format for information circulation. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: PoppaGator Date: 02 Jul 09 - 02:17 PM Whatever "carbon footprint" these devices may have, they do save trees, don't they? I love to read but hate to buy books. I'd rather save the money, and I have no interest in accumulating stacks of paper and binding that I am unlikely ever to re-read. I'm not a collector ~ of anything. My strategy has been to patronize the library regularly. As an old dog with some degree of resistance to new tricks, I may not ever switch over to electric books, but then again I just might. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Zhenya Date: 02 Jul 09 - 02:07 PM Looks like a popular topic! - as I was writing, I cross-posted with several people. Sorry for any repetition. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Zhenya Date: 02 Jul 09 - 02:04 PM I have a Kindle, which I enjoy using, and still read regular paper books as well. Some advantages to the Kindle are: - You can have several books with you at once - helpful if, like me, you like to have several things going at once and like to switch back and forth as the mood strikes. This is particularly good when you're traveling. - You can change (in my case that means ENLARGE) the font size! Good for those of us with aging eyes. _ Built in dictionary. If you want to check a word definition, you move the cursor in front of the word, and a basic definition appears in fine print at the bottom of the page. If you want more, you can click enter and get the full dictionary entry. Once done, you hit the back button, and it takes you right back to the page you were reading. - May be cost effective for those who replace paper subscriptions or frequent book buying with cheaper Kindle versions. Until a few weeks ago, I was buying the New York Times on the newsstand each day. (Subscriptions and home delivery don't work out well in my apt. building.) When the price increased in June to $17 a WEEK, I decided to get the Kindle subscription instead, for $14 a MONTH. I figured even if I were to still buy the paper Sunday Times and one paper weekday edition, I'll still save enough in a year to have completely recouped the cost of the Kindle itself. I don't mind reading the paper on the Kindle, and it's still portable this way. For people who like to buy hardcover versions of books as soon as they're released, these are usually available right away on the Kindle for a much lower price. - There are thousands of completely free legal books, mainly older classics, available through Project Gutenberg and other sites. These have been online for some time, but now you can read them portably in a book like device. - Instant free wireless delivery. Good to use if you want a book right away, and don't have time to get to a store or order it. - I've read comments from people who previously had to give up reading due to some physical impairments, but are now able to read again using the Kindle. The battery life on the Kindle is very good, by the way. I usually charge mine about once a week, at which point the battery's usually a bit below the halfway point. If you don't turn on the wireless function, it will last even longer. The first day or two I had mine, it felt a bit odd to read it, but now it feels like reading a regular book. That is, I'm focused on the reading itself, and not noticing at all that I'm reading it on an electronic gadget. Having said all this, I feel the Kindle is still at a fairly primitive stage. - There's no built in file management system. (I need to use a 3rd party program called Calibre to handle things.) - Many books are not available yet, so if you're seeking a specific book, you may not find it. (No novels by William Faulkner, for example and only a few of John Updike's novels.) I've had no trouble finding plenty to read that I like, but it depends what types of things people want to read. This is one of the main reasons I'm still buying paper books. - It's still too expensive for many people to consider buying, and would not be cost effective for many people. - Kindle books from Amazon have DRM restrictions. (But all those free books don't!) Well, that's (more than) a few thoughts off the top of my head! For anyone who wants more information about the Kindle's pros and cons, check out the forums here: Kindle Boards |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Charmion Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:59 PM I can hardly wait until the Kindle or something just like it is available in Canada. Why? Because I am a volume consumer of detective stories, fantasy, space opry and thrillers, and the paperbacks pile up in corners of the house at alarming speed. I would like to be able to buy my fix of literary junk in a moment of impulse without having to trail downtown to Chapters. I would be delighted to have bundles of bad reading packed into a machine that fits neatly into my office bag so I can haul it around with me all the time, and thus have something new to read handy whenever I find myself in need of it. I would be thrilled to have all that without the inevitable accumulation of blocks of paper with luridly coloured covers. Okay, so the publishing industry is in deep trouble if the Kindle goes truly viral. I think it would be great to stop hurling down the softwood trees of sub-Arctic Canada to support the junk reading habits of people like me, not to speak of the romance fan I saw on the bus the other day with the cover of her book turned back as if it were a magazine. That's another thing I consume in large quantities: magazines. Just think: no more heaps of old New Yorkers on the coffee table! |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Micca Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:57 PM Well, I would notbe without mine!! on a standard SD or Memory stick you can hold a complete library! as well as the built in memory,I Too love real books and have a large and extensive collection but having said that. The principle advantage to me of the eBook ( I have a Sony)is that in something the size of a DVD case I have currently (downloaded free from Project Gutenberg) 6 complete Rudyard Kipling books The complete Para Handy stories 3 Books The complete Richard Hannay adventures John Buchan an assortmrnt of novels and newly published works bought off line for about 1/2 the price of the "paper" edition total 43 books The Manufacturers complete handbook for both my still cameras the complete handbook for my video camera all in PDF format so are complete with black and white diagrams The text can be enlatged (within certain limits) at the touch of a button!! It has a built in bookmarker that marks you page Is well indexed by Title or Author and is perfect for travel, ahich, is on London transport at the moment, so it is easy to carry, read and a library with a choice of what I want available when I want it!! Yeah I love it and would reccommend it Oh By the way it has my complete book of Words of the songs I sing or would like to sing also |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: VirginiaTam Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:50 PM Kindle pros
not as heavy as book (for people with hand and wrist pain) doesn't take up space on shelves as a load of books does less to dust too can read in the dark good carbon footprint re trees Kindle cons
running cost (batteries) bad carbon footprint re plastic and batteries can't take it into bath (well I wouldn't) All being said, I would rather have the book than the fancy piece of tech. Just feels so right to curl up on sofa on cold grey day and read, read, read. The weight of the book, the turning of the pages, and when you are really engrossed and don't want it to end the dread as the unread side of the book gets smaller and smaller. Can't experience that with a Kindle. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Wesley S Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:38 PM Amos - That phone screen must be tiny compaired to a real book. Can I assume your eyesight is pretty good? |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: David C. Carter Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:33 PM Two of these books for reading in the "bathtub or jacuzzi" would be: "Royal Flash" "Flashman and the Mountain of Light" By George MacDonald Frazier. |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Amos Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:32 PM I have read over twenty classics in the last few months on my iPhone. They are a delight--readable, highly p[ortable, bookmarkable. I can read in bedin the dark. The whole libray fits in my pocket. I can grab threeminutes and come back later. It's a lot lighter and easier to handle than a book. A |
Subject: RE: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Rapparee Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:18 PM Well, like any electronic product they're only as good as the length of the power cord or the lifetime of the batteries. And I wouldn't want to read one in the bathtub or jacuzzi. |
Subject: BS: Why read an electronic book/Kindle? From: Wesley S Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:13 PM I understand that sales are brisk on Kindles – electronic books. And as old fashioned as I am I just don't see the point. To me it's like playing air guitar. Sure it has all of the words – but little of the satisfaction of reading. There is a woman here at work that's able to read at her desk when it's slow and it's pretty easy to cover up the "book" when management walks into the room. But that's the only advantage I can see. Maybe if I were on the space shuttle or on a boat or a desert island where space was limited I could understand owning one. And they cost hundreds of dollars. I'm sure there are other folks who love them. If so – feel free to express yourself. Myself – I'll be over in the corner with a good book. |