The idea of reading eBooks appeals to me because I am out of library space in my home. I could get yet another bookshelf but there is really no place to put it. Earlier this month my older brother received a Kindle for his birthday. I haven't seen it (or any other) yet, but he described its utility to me a some length on a phone call. My wife had already asked whether I might want one for Christmas -- she's tired of finding books I am reading laying around; I might have a different book for most rooms in the house. I have no problem following three or four books at one time so I just leave one in the den, another in the living room, one in my home office and one in the ... well, you know.
So eBooking has a certain attraction. I can have many different books on the electronic reader with the Kindle keeping track of which page I am on in each. But would the Kindle be right for me? I scoped the reviews of the three main readers and pretty quickly rejected the Sony eReader. Reviews said it wasn't near up to the Kindle's snuff.
But Barnes & Noble has a new e-reader called the Nook that reviewers said was kicking the Kindle's pedestal and maybe knocking it over. I'm not getting a Nook, either, but I think its feature set is superior to the Kindle's. And B&N has a million ebook titles while Amazon has "only" 360,000 for the Kindle. Obviously I'll never exhaust either catalog but it comes down to the breadth of choices.
Kindle and Nook both have a free reader for both PCs and Macs. I installed both vendors' downloads and they are very good. Although a notebook computer's screen is not the e-ink used by the two e-readers, the typeface and clarity of the PC readers' display was superior to that of most web pages.
Both Amazon and B&N also offer a free e-reader download for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I downloaded B&N's reader onto my son's Touch (with permission), downloaded a free book and was very impressed again with the clarity of the display the readability. Obviously, not as much text per screen, but a flick of the finger from right to left turns the page with the silky smoothness Apple has perfected for its handhelds.
But wait, there's more! B&N also has a free e-reader for Blackberry. (Amazon's is "coming soon.") So I installed it onto my Tour. I was surprised again at how well the text displayed. A press of the trackball turns the page instantly. Because the Tour's screen is so small (but thankfully hi-res) I pressed the trackball a lot to get through the first chapter of Dracula -- it was 96 screens long!
Once a book is added to your accounts library at either vendor, you can download it to any device registered on the account with no additional charge. So I have my small library available to read on either my computer or my Blackberry. The Kindle even lets you sync between the Kindle and your computer so that if you stop reading a book on page 75 on the Kindle, you can pick it up right there on the computer. I didn't see this feature on B&N's site for the Nook.
However, neither a Nook nor a Kindle will be under the tree for me this month. Their drawback is that they are single-purpose devices. Reading books or mags is all you can do with either of them. (They also will play sound files of various sorts.) Frankly, at $259 and $249 respectively, they are just too limited in capability for the price.
For $15 more than the Nook I can get a 32gb iPod Touch from Amazon, download both the Kindle and Nook's readers to it free, and read away with great ease. I can buy books from both vendors rather than be limited to the vertical-only vending for either device. And the Touch will do a lot more than serve as an e-reader. (I'd get an iPhone but am slaved to Verizon, besides, AT&T's 3G coverage ends 40 miles from my home.) The Touch's wi-fi works for full web browsing. The Kindle does not have wi-fi. The Nook does, but only for downloading eBooks, not for browsing. (Both the Kindle and the Nook download materials over a built-in cell phone connection no extra charge.)
The Touch will store and play music, of course, as do the e-readers but also movies and there is a ginormous library of apps, including Documents to Go for word processing and office software functions. And I can watch TV on it with my Slingbox. In short, the Touch is not as good a reader than either the Kindle or the Nook, mainly because of screen size, but has so much more total capability for basically the same money that I can't make sense of getting either the Kindle or the Nook.
What do you think? Comments on, please read comments policy.
Update: Here's a hands-on review of the Nook that generally agrees with my impressions, although I have never touched one. One thing the review points out is that despite the overall size of both Kindle and Nook, the reading area of their screens is only about the size of a 3 by 5 index card, which is not much larger than the screen of a Touch or iPhone.
Update: Glen Reynolds emailed this morning, "I actually like my iPod Touch better" than the Kindle.
A commenter gently reproves me for my observation that the Kindle and Nook are single-purpose devices. What do you think a printed book is, he asks. Except there is no book on my shelf that I paid $249 for. I don't dispute that the Kindle and Nook are e-reader hedgehogs ("the hedgehog knows how to do only one thing, but it does it extremely well"). For me that is simply too much money to buy in to read eBooks when there is a free and almost as good alternative.
As for the optical advantages of e-ink, I'll not dispute it but OTOH, reading several chapters on my Blackberry didn't bother my eyes. Haven't tried it on the PC reader. Maybe the Blackberry's display, though backlit, is closer to e-ink than to my notebook PC's display, I dunno.
However, the many comments are generally very informative and insightful. Anyone considering buying an electronic reader would do well to consider them.
Posts
58 comments:
THE problem with e-books is that you cannot read them on Shabbat. No way around that fact, either; I've checked--no loop holes.
Perhaps we should get you some bookshelves from IKEA; then, you could put them away into their own nook. You'd have Shalom Beit, and that's the best gift for ANY Holy Day.
Wait - can you read bound books on Shabbat? I would guess the Tanak would be okay, but does that mean all other bound books are permitted, too?
I've read 30+ books on my iPhone so far. It takes a couple of books to get used to, but it really does work. Go for it...
Just to throw a spanner in the works, would you consider a netbook, yes it is bigger and heavier, now, then the touch, but would be even more readable, and web friendly.
I've been having the same debate with myself for the last few months, and keep reminding myself of my first camcorder, $1300 and only slightly smaller then a professional unit, weighted as much too.
So I'm holding out for now.
I have a netbook already, but as small as it is I can't put it in my pocket!
If you'd consider iPhone except for the carrier, how about a Droid, which has a larger (and higher res) screen and stays with Verizon?
I don't know if they have reader apps out for that platform yet, but I suspect they're either there or soon will be.
Looked at a live Droid yesterday. Seemed clunky in both hardware and UI, but has nice features. Compared to the Blackberry Storm 2, also on Verizon, I'd choose the Storm, not least because all my present BBerry Tour's data will transfer over in a flash.
But there is no e-reader for it and with such a low market share, there's no particular incentive for B&N or Amazon to develop one.
And neither the Droid nor any Blackberry (not any other Verizon phone) is supported by Slingbox like the Touch is. (So is the iPhone, but again, there is no AT&T 3G in my city.)
The Storm is actually an attractive alternative to my Tour even without worrying about e-reading. The Tour's screen is very clear but really too small for web browsing except for short times. The Storm's screen is full size on the form factor, although the OEM browser is not very good. Fortunately, there is Opera and a couple of others that work well.
And with that larger screen e-reading would be even more congenial.
Despite the overall size of the Kindle and the Nook, the readable section of the screens is only about the size of a 3 by 5 card, which is not a lot larger than the screen of the Touch, iPhone or Storm.
I would jump right on a Kindle if I could rent the books. I very rarely read a book twice. If I could download a book for a couple of bucks and keep it for a month or so and then have it deleted that would be perfect for me. I don't want a device that holds 1500 books that I am no longer interesred in reading.
I just finished going through all of this agony. An ad in the Target circular changed my mind and I got a netbook for $199 with the Kindle PC app on it. So far I have only read free books on it, but since I have my netbook out and with me most of the time anyway, getting a Kindle at this point would mean lugging yet another electronic gadget with me. What I really want is a Kindle-sized apparatus that does what Kindle does plus what a netbook does. Until then, my netbook is a good compromise, is easy to read on the bus (and great if I need to work, I can still be using the bus WiFi), lightweight, and highly portable, though obviously not quite as handy as a phone or Kindle. Until they make a Kindle-sized full-functioning computer, I think I've found my compromise!
What I don't like about any of these readers is:
You're only purchasing a license to use the software and read the book. Amazon or B&N can take the book back or delete or what have you, as well as disable your device if they decide that you have done something they don't like. Just like Apple can and does.
When I buy a book, I own the book. Not so with these readers. Amazon proved it by deleting books from people's Kindles. Just the fact that the company can do that with a device you paid for sucks balls. It's the principle, and I won't have it. I bought it, I own it, that's how it should be.
I also imagine that the companies are compiling profiles on me against my knowledge. Another huge negative.
Plus, I read in bed and often fall asleep while reading. An e-reader simply will not work for me in that case.
If I drop my book, I lose my place. If I drop my e-Reader, I lose an expensive device and my whole library.
When I finish a book, I can donate it to the poor.
No thanks. I'm a Luddite on this and always will be. You gadget-loving, fad-driven rubes will see the error of their ways the hard way.
I have both a Kindle and an ipod touch. Some basic notes. For a long trip the Kindle wins hands down, just due to battery life. I can read probably 5 or 6 complete books on it between charges, I would be lucky to finish a single one on the touch.
The touch's Kindle reader application works well, but it does not support books or magazines on it, which is annoying. Being able to stay synchronized between the Kindle and the Touch is a nice feature.
As far as the number of books available - that's kind of a silly thing because BN includes tons of works that Google digitized that are older than 1923. They're also all available for the Kindle, but Amazon doesn't list them.
In general if books are available for both the Nook and the Kindle they will either be the same price, or more expensive on the Nook. In my experience if they're only available on one of the two devices they will be available on the Kindle, but the number of those works is slow.
One final note - if you are going to use your touch as a reader, download Stanza for it. It's a great reader, and will work for many different file formats.
How many weeks does the Touch's battery last?
I'm happy reading books on my iPhone (currently about 40% of the way through the free download of Les Miserables, according to the Stanza app). One of the things that is nice is that with a backlit screen, I can read in bed without having the bedside light bothering my wife. But that's the flip side of the thing that I find appealing about what I've heard about the Kindle - the battery life.
The Kindle does have a web browser. It's limited by the capabilities of the e-Ink screen, but for text-heavy sites it'll do in a pinch. And it plays MP3s, but then, what doesn't these days?
I like being able to look up a book I've just heard about at the Kindle store and download a sample to read. In literally 60 seconds. But the main advantage is the screen. I just can't read a whole novel on something that's shining light into my eyes. But I've read dozens of novels on my Kindle.
The BB Storm was a bust; the Storm 2 is getting better reviews but lots of people think the screen-only text entry is super slow . . . . it's very easy for fat fingers, but it is slow.
I'm waiting for the SnapDragon powered HTC device to come to Verizon - sometimes called the "Passion", sometimes called other names and occasionally denied to exist, even.
I'm desperate for quick, useful browsing on my phone (my household currently has an old BB on AT&T and a basic phone on Verizon). Even with Opera, I think BB's basically stink at browsing and the horror stories about AT&T's traffic-clogged network are true - I was in Manhattan last week and couldn't get any data for 5 minutes on AT&T.
Browsing Chrome on Android on Verizon ought to rock, since that's the whole reason for developing Chrome for speed. Not enough Android units out there for great auxilliary services (like Slingbox) yet, but I think it's coming.
What I'd really like is a highly compact netbook running Android, or Chrome or whatever AND functioning as my cell phone with headset. I'd go that route in a NY minute.
I got a the smaller Sony one, it's great. Metal body, one-handed operation is easier than my Kindle (I gave it away as a gift). Plus it was $159 at Fry's.
No idea on the catalog, because I'm so far behind on the classics that I will be reading out-of-copyright works on it forever. Moby Dick, a little Bastiat, I am happy.
Problem with the LCD screens is the same problem with laptops: eye strain. The e-ink displays really are great.
Everything you write is perfectly correct. But... I sprang for a Kindle about 4 months ago and have loved it. My library is also completely full and the Kindle does not permit sharing etc and doesn't have music etc but it is a great machine and I am sold. iPhone too small for me, though plenty love it.
I have had my Kindle 2 for several months now. I have been quite pleased with it, so far. I find that the objection that some have regarding there being "only" 360,000 titles available for it on Amazon to be rather misleading. There are well over a million titles available for it when one ventures away from the Amazon store. They are, for the most part, available via wireless if you know how to do it.
Regarding it being a "single purpose device". I am aware of that, and I happen to prefer it that way. I would rather not loose all of my portable digital services when that 1 "do all" device happens to roll over dead. And, I'd rather not have the use of 1 digital service rob the battery life of another digital service. For instance, I'd rather not have the use of my cellular phone take away from the battery life of my e-book, or from my mp3 player. And, for that matter, it means that I can listen to my mp3 player and read my e-book simultaneously, no problem.
Another valid issue that some have had with the Kindle 2 was that it didn't natively support industry standard PDF files. The latest software upgrade has changed this, it now does.
Honestly, there is only 1 issue I have with the Kindle 2, and that is that it only supports its own proprietary flavor of DRM. Thankfully, it supports a few non-DRM formats, but it would be nice to not be tied down to Amazon's format if what you do want is DRM content. One nice thing about it, however, is that since all of that is implemented in software, it is possible that Amazon will release a software update that would allow the use of other formats, as they did with the recently released PDF support.
It would be nice if Amazon were to implement the "loaning" feature that the Nook has, but on the other hand it just hasn't been an issue for me. Since the only one I'd be interested in doing that would be with my wife, and since she has her own Kindle 2, and since we have them both attached to the same account (you are allowed 7 such simultaneous attachments), then any Amazon format book that either of us has read that we would desire to hand off to the other is in our "archived items" folder already. There's nothing special to do, just turn on wireless and retrieve it from the archived items folder.
Another thing going for the Kindle 2 and Amazon in general is that we have found from first hand experience that their warranty service is exemplary. My wife managed to drop a heavy object on her Kindle 2 and cracked the screen. Broken. A call to Amazon resulted in a replacement Kindle 2 being Fed-Ex'ed to her. Fast and relatively painless service.
You said "Their drawback is that they are single-purpose devices." When you thnk about it, so is a conventional book. With the Kindle (which I have) or the Nook you can not only carry literally hundreds of books with you, but you can quickly and easily change the font, font size, page orientation and impulsively buy the book just recommended by a friend. And don't forget the magazine and newspaper subscriptions available.
I like having the option to read on my iTouch and take advantage of that often, but the eink displays are MUCH easier on the eyes for serious reading.
I wouldn't be without my Kindle.
I have been reading my books on my smart phone since the Treo 300, my palm pilots before that. It is better than the Nook or the Kindle because I always have my phone with me. So I can read at those little moments at work when nothing is happening. in the rest room. in a darkened server room waiting on a rebuild. Ebooks on a smart phone are just better for me than a dedicated device.
You said "Their drawback is that they are single-purpose devices." When you thnk about it, so is a conventional book. With the Kindle (which I have) or the Nook you can not only carry literally hundreds of books with you, but you can quickly and easily change the font, font size, page orientation and impulsively buy the book just recommended by a friend. And don't forget the magazine and newspaper subscriptions available.
I like having the option to read on my iTouch and take advantage of that often, but the eink displays are MUCH easier on the eyes for serious reading.
I wouldn't be without my Kindle.
Wait a month and you'll hear news from Apple on their new tablet device...
I bought my wife a Kindle a few months ago. She's an avid reader (as am I) and she loves it. I think it's amazingly cool.
I've used Gutenberg to download free books and read them from a PC with a high res monitor; there's no comparison. The Kindle screen is excellent.
And just by the way -- it seems a bit odd to criticize the Kindle as a single-use device. What about all those shelves of books you've crowded your house with? Each one is an ultimate single-use device.
I bought my wife a Kindle a few months ago. She's an avid reader (as am I) and she loves it. I think it's amazingly cool.
I've used Gutenberg to download free books and read them from a PC with a high res monitor; there's no comparison. The Kindle screen is excellent.
And just by the way -- it seems a bit odd to criticize the Kindle as a single-use device. What about all those shelves of books you've crowded your house with? Each one is an ultimate single-use device.
I started using a Dell XT Tablet. The resolution is fine. Reading in portrait instead of landscape works great.
What is needed is a tablet Netbook with Bluetooth. Use it as a phone as well as a Netbook. Able to turn the screen to use in portrait mode for reading. Gives you everything.
Phone, Netbook, E-Reader "all-in-one" with a useful size screen.
Why don't they do it? They want you to buy a Netbook, a Phone, and an E-Reader.
You can do it (Skype, aircard, etc) but it is complex an costs instead of being integrated and simple.
I've had my iPod Touch for about two months now, and being able to use it as an e-book reader with either Kindle or B&N e-books is one of the unanticipated bonuses I've found. So mostly I agree with you, but there is one area where the dedicated readers with their eInk screens might be an advantage. That's if you wanted to read outdoors - I haven't actually tried it with the iPod yet, but my past experience with LCD screens is that they get washed out pretty easily in sunlight. I understand that the eInk screens are supposed to work just fine in bright sunlight.
I got a Kindle a couple of years ago. I also have an iPhone with both Amazon's and BN's ereaders on it. The Kindle's battery died from lack of use. I love reading on my iPhone. The pages turn much faster, I always have several books with me, and it's very nice to read in bed, without a light disturing my wife. And the books are much cheaper than real books. I do not usually notice the process of page turning.
I've a friend or two now that read on their iTouch with no complaints; seems to work just fine. I've also read on a number of forums that people that started out on the touch eventually decided to get a Kindle (or other ereader) because they really liked the portability.
One thing about your article: It's my impression that the million ebooks that B&N claims...are the public domain books. Their actual ebook offering outside of public domain is about the same as Amazon. The public domain books can be downloaded from many places for free.
Good luck with the decision and hope there's lots of fun reading ahead for you and yours!
The "1 million books" available for Nook include about 950,000 automatically OCR'd public domain titles from the google books project that are essentially unreadable.
Guy at Ireader Review did a count, showing the B&N only had around 60k (modern) titles in their store, compared to 350k for Amazon.
Google kindle DRM.
I've been using the Kindle app on the iPhone for several weeks and I'm totally hooked. I don't have any trouble at all reading it and I always have several books IN MY POCKET. The amount of reading I'm getting done has skyrocketed.
I made the opposite decision, and DID get a Kindle 2 last January. It has been an excellent decision, though I too also have a netbook and an iTouch, both running the free Kindle app.
For one thing, the 2 week battery life of the Kindle with wireless off vastly exceeds either the netbook or the iTouch. The size is also perfect for my reading taste, as is the weight (10 oz.)
The surprise is that one Kindle will be enough for our 2 person family of avid readers, precisely because we do also have the other two devices able to read Kindle books.
Other important factors for me are the savings in time, money, space, and search time. I'm astounded at the number of good free books available for the Kindle, now including anything in PDF format, plus the free Calibre application can easily and quickly convert those millions of other books claimed by competitors into Kindle format. At the moment, I'm carrying about 150 books to read on my Kindle, and adding another every day or so, yet I've spent under $20 total on Kindle books in almost a year. That is vastly less than I used to spend on printed books. Getting a book a minute after I learn of it, rather than having to drive to the local bookstore 2 miles away is both convenient and ecological, as is avoiding the whole manufacturing process of creating and delivering a paper-based book. We are steadily clearing our bookshelves, planning to never again buy a printed book except to give away. And who needs an index when every book is instantly searchable for any desired word or phrase?
Underlining and notetaking are not yet as easy as on a printed book, but I'm sure that will be fixed within a year or two.
I've been reading e-books on various platforms for (checking account info) - sheesh, at least 8 years. My wife got me reading on Palms - the last two were a Tungsten E and my current Palm Centro (talk about a small screen) on which I have a 250+ book library.
The only things keeping me from reading more on my IPod are that (A) my library is already on my phone, which is (B) always with me, and (C) can communicate with both my work laptop (IR) and my personal machine (Bluetooth) without the ITunes software.
The IPod does have a much bigger screen, whilst still fitting in a pocket (which Kindles do not look to do). It also has more memory and utility by far than the Kindle seems to. Which is one of the reasons I never got a Kindle...
Reading on Kindle/iPhone/iPod Touch (iTouch?) is ok BUT after a certain age it becomes tiresome. Even boring. At least to me.
Then I discovered Mac OS X Automator which I use to convert text to audio. I purchased a voice from Cepstral and began converting books to audio.
It's amazing! The voice is very human like. Really. Each chapter may be 20 minutes long; but now I LISTEN to whatever I want during Non-Reading times (e.g. driving from points A to B; shopping, etc.).
Some books I may "Listen" to twice or more to get the details I missed in my initial listening. I always have the printed version to go back to should I need to "read" certain details.
Clunky? The Droid is to the iPhone as Linux is to MacOS. You're right.
I have the Droid, Sony eReader and the Amazon Kindle DX and love them all. I have made a point of converting all my ebooks to epub format and I can read them all on my Droid with an app called FBReader. And Droid is tied to Verizon. I've asked both Barnes & Noble and Amazon to create Droid clients (i'm sure they're staying late on a Friday to read my emails).
I figure the Droid plus Google's Goggle visual search engine could be a killer application after Google gets in bed with either Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Goggle photographs a book's cover, OCRs the image, then searches the web. (Google should tie this to books.google.com.) Pretty impressive. Moreso if you could then buy/download and read the book.
I have an original Kindle and the Kindle DX. Owning an e-reader is transformative. You will read books that you would have never otherwise read. You will read the classics that you've always meant to but never did. You will read things like the Dulfer/ISG Report. Etc.
I don't think one can compare reading on a mobile device like an iPhone or Blackberry to an e-reader with an eInk screen, especially when the screen is fairly large, e.g., the Kindle DX. Similarly, reading on an LCD screen is not as comfortable as on eInk (ruling out netbooks as primary reading devices, although having an e-reader application on a netbook is useful). The big appeal of the original Kindle was having hundreds of books with me at all times. The big appeal of the Kindle DX is that it is easier and more enjoyable to read than any physical book.
The downsides to e-readers have more to do with artificial constraints than technical constraints. You can't lend a book to anyone else, because Amazon won't let you rather than because it's not possible (yes, the Amazon AZW format supports lending or loaning or sharing for limited amounts of time). This to me is the largest downside; I hesitate to buy technical books that I might want to lend to colleagues, because they're not much if any cheaper in Kindle format, and I don't have the same capabilities with the electronic version that I do with a physical book. Someone is going to figure this out sooner or later, and when they do it will further accelerate the death of the printed book industry.
In short, the e-reader is the future.
Both my wife and I have Kindils and I like the we can share the books freely in the library since you can have up to 4 Kindils on the account.
Yes they are single purpose items but the state of the technology for e ink kind of make have to be.
TO: Cannon-Cocker, et al.
RE: iPod-iPhone
Dropped on an iPod Touch 2G two months ago.
Highly impressed with it. Especially Eucalyptus, e.g., 20,000 titles available from Caesar's account of the wars in Gaul through EE Dickson's Triplanetary (start of the Lensman series) and beyond, in both directions.
Additionally, I'm much taken with the utilities, entertainments and the ability to play Monopoly and Scrabble with others over a local wifi net.
Dropped on a pair of iPhone 3GSs last week. Adding the voice communications aspect as well as the ability to tap the bluetooth headset and tell the phone who I want to call, the camera, the GPS capabilities, etc., etc., etc., makes the iPhone FAR and AWAY superior to carrying around multiple single-purpose devices.
Merry Christmas,
Chuck(le)
[So many books....so little time.....]
P.S. 'Blogger'??!??!?! Sheesh!!!!!!!
Why e-book readers rock.
1) Adjusting font size! Why yes, I am past 50 years age. Why do you ask? :)
2) e-ink screens are FAR superior to any backlit netbook/iPhone display in terms of eyestrain and battery life. You can just read them longer.
3) I can carry a lot of books when traveling without extra weight.
4) e-books are generally cheaper saving money if you buy a lot of books every year.
5) It is easy to use one to read in bed when lying on your side. With my Kindle, I can read and turn pages with one hand.
Drawbacks
1) Not multi-purpose devices. Great for reading books. Anything else like web browsing...not so good.
2) High initial cost of device. Only cost effective if you buy a lot of books.
3) Fragile. I wouldn't use one to read in a tub. :)
I have a Kindle, love it, and recommend it. I have purchased more books since getting it than I used to buying physical books. The best thing I can say is that, like a real book, it disappears when you read. It allows you to simply get lost in the story.
I got mine when the kindle 2 came out. I originally got it for vacations or long weekends as I ride a motorcycle and am limited to my packing. However, it is just so easy to download a book, or download a preview to decide if I want to buy it, that I use it pretty much every day now. Battery life is fantastic and with the optional cover I have dropped it a few times with no damage. AND I paid the full price before the $100 knocked off of it like now and still think it was well worth the price.
What good is a comparison between dedicated ereaders and smartphones/computer apps if you don't even address the merits of eink?
My wife argues that the smell and feel of books is why she likes them. The whole experience. I believe we neglect the analog at our peril.
I've used a Palm TX PDA that had the full length high res screen. Not quite as good as an iTouch for reading but very close. I've done otns of reading on it, though not so much lately.
I do ave a netbook -- I may give the Kindle pc app a try.
But my concern with Kindle et al is DRM.
Ugh.
For my ipod I've never bought a DRM'ed music file. I refuse -- htank you Amazon Mp3! I have bought a few videos, but am dreading the portability problem as I change hardware.
But what if you drop your Kindle/iTouch/iPhone in the bathwater? Sometimes only a paper book will do...
Can you listen to audiobooks on the Kindle (since it plays MP3s)?
I've had a Kindle (1) for about 16 months now and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I show off at my book club all the time, downloading the book we just decided to read next month while we're finishing our wine - but even better, pulling up zillions of reviews of books we're considering reading while we're trying to decide. I adjusted to page-turn-by-clicking-bar in about five minutes, I think; now when I pick up a paper book, it takes me a minute to remember that I have to use two hands on it. I've brought it into the bathtub and to the YMCA pool with me, in a gallon Ziploc bag; I've taken it on every vacation (the savings in space and weight in my luggage is tremendous!); I've emailed from it, surfed many websites on it, used it to determine my (approximate) location via Google Maps, I think it was - it's an amazing device.
I also wish I could rent books on it. And I wish I could "lend" books to others. I cracked its screen on the way to England this summer and was (horrors!) bookless until I hit a discount book store; that stank. But Amazon replaced it for $99 (it was obviously not a warranty repair, and the Kindle 1 isn't sold anymore, so it was a reconditioned one - but it'd cost me more to replace my phone or, frankly, my favorite sunglasses). It fits in my purse and enables me to keep all of Jane Austen, all of Conan Doyle, all of Burroughs, all of a bunch of obscure writers I never would've thought to read if they hadn't been available free - with me all the time. I can indulge my guilty pleasure (Twilight, Lord help) whenever I want. Awesome!
And since it was my plan from the start to use my Kindle as a portable device, buying real books I decided I really liked once I'd previewed them, I'm not overly bothered by the licensing... as long as they don't abuse it.
FR: Old Weird Ken
Can you use an e-reader to read in the bath? :) That would be a serious drawback for me.
Walter Mossberg has a review of the Nook at wsj.com. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240504574586142630417418.html. I found he made some interesting points comparing it to the Kindle.
Interesting post. As a self professed gadget nut I admit to not being swayed towards the Kindle club for the longest of times. I just love that paper and new book/old book smell I guess.
Recently I was given an 8Gb iTouch as a gift. Being that I already have an mp3 player that I won't give up for anything (iriver H340) all the iTouch was good for was for apps and games.
When Stanza and Project Gutenberg were mentioned to me I gave it a shot. I was wow'd! As stubborn as I was I couldn't deny the simple fact that it was easy to read, it did not strain my eyes and it's about as portable as you get. I am now researching Kindle sized readers but will probably hold off for a while as the iTouch is fine for me and I'll want more bang for my buck.
Point being. E-readers are great, easier to read in bed and cheaper.
The only downside is you can't just pick it up and give it to your friend to read.
Let me start by saying that I'm sixty plus, and my reading style is similar to yours: a book in every room, and each book in the process of being read.
I began my ebook experience while traveling. I was stuck in a hotel, with my usual several books with me, none of which were holding my attention. I started surfing around on the net, ran across Stanza for iPhone, downloaded a cheap book, and was off to the races. My iPhone readers include Stanza, Kindle App, Eucalyptus, Colossal, and...Instapaper. (Go to Instapaper.com and easily turn web page articles into readable articles on your iPhone.)
About that time, the Kindle 2 came out. And there's a Borders, which sells Sonys, two blocks from my home. So I ordered a K2 and bought a Sony 505. I liked the Sony better, because it was somewhat smaller and just felt better in my hand. So I gave the K2 to my son, who loves it.
A couple of months ago, I saw the new Sony 300 - 5 inch screen! - in Borders (yeah, I still buy regular books, new & used. You will, too.) I took one home to try out & it turns out to be my favorite reader, but not my exclusive reader. That 5 inch screen is not at all too small for reading fiction, but I like a larger screen for other things. Go figure.
So here's where I am right now:
I read my 505 at home, and when I travel. The 6 inch screen and general size and configuration of the 505 lends itself to leaning back in my LazyBoy and comfortably reading. I tend to keep non-fiction on this device.
I take my 300 to work. I can keep it in a jacket pocket, or my bag, and haul it out on the subway or bus to read - it's a bit easier to hold than the 505, or the Kindle 2, for that matter. I acquired a practical case from Tuff-Luv which in addition to protecting the 300, has a strut which allows me to prop it on the table when I am eating lunch. This is for novels.
And my iPhone fills in the gaps. I always have it, to read if I'm in line, or waiting for someone.
Meanwhile, I still have books I'm reading in every room. For some reason, Infinite Jest only works on paper, at least for me. Usually, big fat books are better in ebook form!
I anticipate that in the next year, I might acquire an ebook device with an even larger screen. I'm sure it will find its niche in my reading ecology. Newspapers & magazines, perhaps.
As it happens, Instapaper recently extended its reach to ebook devices.
I much prefer reading web based articles on my 505, or even my iPhone, as compared to reading on the computer screen. (BUT when I do read on the computer, I use Readability. "Try it, you'll like it.")
Which ebook device you get depends to a great extent on what appeals to your senses, and to some extent on what use you have for peripheral items like being able to take notes (Sony 600), using a touch screen (Sony 600 &, I believe, 900), purchasing books without using a computer (Kindle, and Nook, I think), flash card storage (Nook, Sony 600 & 900), local lending library access (Sony) (yeah, you can check out ebooks from the library for your Sony) and so forth.
So here's the point. Ebook devices do not replace books. They add books. They ARE books. They make it easier to read in many locations, and give you easier & greater access to lots of free books.
Once upon a time, phones were tied down. Now, they aren't. Once upon a time, your library was fairly immobile. Now, a large part of it is not.
I have an ipod touch and love it, but haven't ever used it for printed ebooks. I have an account with audible.com and download an audio book once a month (great while driving).
Since you and Glenn both have recommended the ipod Kindle and B&N apps, I will give them a try and see if I can handle the small screen. However, old eyes and the tiny format may defeat me - but I should give it a chance.
As others have mentioned, I too love the feel and smell of a real book, even a paperback. But like you I have so many many books and I need to stop buying or stop reading before there's no room for me in the house. Heh.
Got a Kindle for Fathers Day, and love it to death. I sometimes mark my life by the techno-toys that have changed how I enjoy my leisure: There's my 1982 betamax, my 2002 Tivo, and now my 2009 Kindle. I've got 800 books on it, and am reading 3-4 at a time where ever I go. I'm sure some other e-book reader will someday have more bells and whistles, and that's fine. But the bottom line is DTBs have lost their war the same way the vinyl record lost its war. All that's left is to count up the dead and wounded.
Olympia said...
The "1 million books" available for Nook include about 950,000 automatically OCR'd public domain titles from the google books project that are essentially unreadable.
And let me add that when I do a search, I find many duplicate titles, especially among those OCR'd public domain titles. Five listings for "Three score years and ten : life-long memories of Fort Snelling, Minnesota and other parts of the West". Four listings for "Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky mountains : performed in the years 1819 and 1820 ; by order of the Hon. J.C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, under the command of Maj. S.H. Long, of the U.S. Top. Engineers".
I searched for a favorite but little-known SF author, Barry B. Longyear. Kindle has 1 title, Nook none. I searched for C# (the programming language): Nook has 55 titles, only 2 of which are about the language (many of the rest are on music -- no surprise -- but 3 of the top 5 are "A bicycle tour in England and Wales : made in 1879 by the president, Alfred D. Chandler, and captain John C. Sharp, jr. of the Suffolk bicycle club of Boston, Mass"); Kindle has 218 -- 217 programming books and magazines, and 1 experimental poem written in the form of a fully functional C# program (I have to buy that one just out of curiosity). Nook doesn't even have a section for Computers, much less programming.
I'm not saying Kindle is better than Nook; but I'm saying the "million books" falls somewhere between exaggeration and deliberately misleading. Before you choose a device, search the catalog for those books you really want, and choose the device that has the better catalog for your needs.
Bathtime readers have been putting their Kindles into ziplock bags. You can press the buttons just fine through the clear plastic, and it doesn't get wet if you drop it.
When I read, I take copious amounts of notes, usually via copy and past into another document. In a pinch, I will highlight, although I know that spoils the book in a sense (I hate reading a book that someone else has highlighted).
Do any of these devices allow for copy and paste into another document? Do any of these devices provide highlighting?
Kindle allows highlighting, annotations, notes, bookmarks.
I shared some "how to publish on Kindle" instructions from books I bought, with a friend who is doing this as a contractor, by connecting my Kindle to the computer and copying my highlights to a file and sending it to her by e-mail. Worked perfectly.
Since then, there's a website where your book collection, ratings, clips, annotations, highlights, etc. are stored--backed up on the web. The first book I went to town on was 1984--yes, the one that Amazon repo'd. They never repo'd mine and my notes/highlights remain intact. Amazon ended up restoring people's 1984's and gave the repoees $30 credit, with which they could spend a couple bucks on 1984 (legal) and many other books too.
I would like to see the ability to form book club sites where people could discuss a book they're reading, and the notes and highlights connect in automatically too. This would be a critical step for university use esp. for English majors like I was. :-)
I use text-to-speech a lot while driving...I get through a ton of "reading" that way.
I was skeptical about Kindle but I tried one, thinking I could return it within 30 days for a full refund if I didn't care for it. I love it. I'm reading a lot more. And I'm a compulsive reader so that's saying something.
I also have a laptop, netbook, iPod touch, etc. but the Kindle is unique.
Something it does that other devices don't: web access when no wi-fi is available, but cell signal is. Basic browser, google, wikipedia all work when the bars are grey on my iGrope.
I downloaded the free app, 'stanza', on my iTouch and ebooks from various sources. On a month trip abroad I found it very handy, a few minor freezes with non-ebook formats but overall it worked out well.
BTW, if you want to get up to speed about ALL the ebook readers, not just the Big Three, check out the Mobileread Wiki at http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix
newscraper,
Yes, DRM is a pain and a problem at times, but there are more and more sites that are publishing with open formats (www.smashwords.com -- full disclosure, my books are there; feedbooks.com, manybooks.com)
Also, Sony has recently mentioned switching all their formats to EPUB. Sooner or later (let's hope sooner) the formats will merge into one or two industry standards.
Hopefully most people are willing to keep paying something for the books they love to read.
:>)
Right now I use Kindle for the PC. But that e-ink...and my age...the kindle is more tempting every day, drm or no.
Maria
That should be manybooks.NET -- I don't think I can edit the comment to fix that. Sorry!
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