BS: Amazon Kindle

Subject: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Richie Black (misused acct, bad email)
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 07:16 PM

A friend just bought me a Kindle DX Graphite (3rd Gen), still going through user guide. Any views on them ?

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: GUEST,Doc John
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 03:40 AM

Yes, I bought my wife on for her birthday a few weeks ago; she finds it very good indeed. She can use it for reading in bed with the inbuilt light so no need to disturb me with the bedside lights. The text is very clear, adjustable in size and can be read in bright sunlight, unlike some other readers. Downloads are rapid and there's a wide range of material available.
I take your point on the user guide. The screen in b&w and colour isn't planned for a long time; so don't wait. I wish I could get the complete Pevsner series for travelling but that's not available (yet?).

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 03:55 AM

Is there an in-built light in Kindle? I thought there wasn't...? I saw a new one a few weeks ago and it had good, realistic-looking page resolution but no back-lighting. Are there different models?

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Stu
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 04:00 AM

Can you read it on the bog and in the bath?

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 05:12 AM

Here is an excellent review of it

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kindle-Wireless-Reader-3G-Wifi-Graphite/dp/B002LVUWFE

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 05:15 AM

I think the Kindle is excellent and very elegant technology. Whether I'd buy one is another matter as I love the conventional book. I suppose that day will come when I can take a Kindle into a second-hand bookshop and download a used book for 50p... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Zen
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 05:57 AM

I have a Kindle 3 and find it very useful, especially when travelling. It can apparently store up to 3000 books. A feature I like is that you can upload your own documents which I find useful for meetings. The screen is very clear and readable but only in greyscale. I have the 3G one and it also doubles up nicely for reading web-based emails. You can surf on the web with that version but the screen size and lack of colour means that it works best for text-based pages (e.g. Mudcat and other forums).

While it's a very nice, well-designed and handy gizmo it still doesn't really replace having a book in your hands.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Zen
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 05:58 AM

P.S. I didn't bother reading the user guide... the Kindle is quite intuitive to use.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Arnie
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 07:31 AM

I was given a Kindle 3G as a birthday present and haven't handled a book since. I've just finished reading a trilogy on the Kindle - once you finish a book it takes just minutes to download the next instalment. I've now downloaded a detective novel, which comes highly recommended, for £2.86 from the Kindle bookstore. Our house is full of paperbacks that need taking to the secondhand book shop so anything that helps with the de-cluttering gets my vote. I'm in hospital for a couple of days next week and my Kindle will be coming with me.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: GUEST,Doc John
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 08:43 AM

Bonnie, sorry to have misled you: no there isn't a built in light but if you buy the case it has an extendable light to shine very effectively on the screen. Some of the downloads for the Kindl are £00.00; can do better than that!

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 08:48 AM

Santa is bringing me one...

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Leadfingers
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 09:15 AM

Any views on the use of an E Reader as a replacemnet for all the Loose Leaf notebooks I keep my Lyrics in ?

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 09:17 AM

I've ordered one for JudyB.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 10:04 AM

My wife and I have bought each other a Kindle for Christmas (not the 3G one, just the normal wi-fi). I'm disappointed to hear that there's no back-light - seems a pretty basic, obvious requirement to me, and quite a 'whoopsie' by Amazon in not putting a back-light in there.

And the cases with a reading light are £49-50, that's almost half as much as the price of the Kindle itself! WTF??

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 10:58 AM

Most folks I know who have one or another of book readers really like them. My brother used to take 3 or 5 books on vacation...now he takes scores of them on a reader.

I tried one. I didn't like it. It is off-putting to see only a single page at a time. I read mostly non-fiction, and often concurrently read a couple of books on the same subject, often going between them. Also I like to flip through the book while holding my current page Perhaps this is possible with readers, but it seems cumbersome to me.

Most of the pages I've seen are smaller than the normal hardcover (or even trade paper) page, causing the print either to be too small for these old eyes, or the page, itself, incomplete owing to larger font. Many books I want are larger size, 14"X9" or so, up to coffee table size, which a reader could not handle well.

As to free materials available, most are in the public domain, I would guess. While this is wonderful for classic fiction in the language of one's choice, works in translation are mostly early 20th century or earlier. Such works from Greek or Latin would not offer as accurate or up-to-date translations as, say, Fagle's Homers. Works available for free in my area of interest, ancient Near Eastern history, would be interesting relics for the most part. Even works I studied from in university in the '60s are out-of date...I know; I still have them.

I think that the I-Pad might be a better reader for me--if indeed it can be so used--but the the cost is way too much for a reader, and the value much less than for a laptop.

Please feel free to disabuse me of my observations. They are made from little hands-on experience, but lots of anecdotal comments from others, and descriptive information online and adverts.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:05 AM

I met someone recently who was putting her lyrics notebooks into an iPad, she had a 2 or 3 different applications she was trying out to do so. That kind of function, plus the CallersCompanion dance database software, make me believe I'll get one someday (when that lottery check comes in). If a Kindle or other reader can upload documents, it makes sense for that use, too.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Zen
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:21 AM

The Kindle doen't have a backlight as it uses an "electronic ink" display rather than an LCD screen. This gives better resolution and readability as long as there is sufficient natural or artificial light and also much better battery life between charges (I leave the 3G on mine on all the time). The downside of that is lack of readability in dimly-lit situations and, yes, the case with a reading light is rather expensive unfortunately.

I hadn't thought of uploading tunes/songs to it (probably as .pdf files which I can do directly from my computer) but that sounds like a good idea as I could easily slip the Kindle in an instrument case.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Zen
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:22 AM

Lyrics and dots I meant!

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 12:34 PM

I have a beady eye on the iPad, which will take Google e-book downloads when they come available, as well as those from the Apple Store, plus it does other computery things that I want, one of which is to easily read saved web pages on it without having to go through a conversion process or squint at too small/monochrome a screen. The iPad is back-lit, which for my personal preferences suits me better; but it's also bigger, heavier, more costly etc. The attraction of it for me is to be able to do ordinary computer & online stuff as well as reading e-books.

I'm not sure whether the Kindle has a USB port, but bear in mind that the current iPad doesn't, whereas the imminent new one (out in February?) will - or it's supposed to - so you can just save web pages & PDF's onto a memory stick and then port them across.

Other thing to think of (and I don't know the latest state of play) is that some of the big publishers won't supply Amazon with their titles - or are threatening not to - because they don't like their pricing policy. There is/was some dispute going on between Amazon and the major houses, and I think the largest of the Big Six (Random House) does not supply Amazon at this time. You'll need to google the book trade news to get the latest, but it's something to consider. Publishers and the mega sales outlets are at daggers drawn over this & other issues.

Also bear in mind that neither the Kindle or the iPad will take an ethernet cable so you'll need to have either wireless or 3G.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: Greg F.
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 12:38 PM

Another solution in search of a problem, in order to further enrich millionaires.

Go to the library. Get a book. And you don't have to worry about your batteries going dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazon Kindle
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 01:11 PM

Lyrics is basically what I want a tablet for. Tired of lugging and flipping through lever arch file breaking at spine with my songs.

It needs to have decent battery life and preferably back lit as it is typically dark in pubs. Easy to navigate through files and read MS WORD documents because that is what all my lyrics are in.

playing sound files and internet browsing would be a plus but not critical.

Any advice gratefully accepted.