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Amazon "Kindle" - anyone buy/try one yet?

post #1 of 60
10/27/08 at 4:43am
Thread Starter 
Interesting idea. It's being compared to the iPod, only for reading (books, newspapers, magazines, etc.) rather than listening to music. Lightweight (10.3 ounces) and completely wireless, easy to use, but expensive. I did say it's being compared to the iPod, didn't I?

See here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846 and here: http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=topnav_s...node=133141011

A friend of mine in Cayman has one and has recommended it to me. I've not yet seen it myself, but will probably get one. I eventually donate most of my paperbacks anyway, so what the heck.
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post #2 of 60
10/27/08 at 5:00am
That looks really interesting, but I won't buy it at that price. Would need to be quite a bit cheaper, but these kind of things always get there sooner or later.

I'm curious to see how extensive they will be in getting older books available.
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post #3 of 60
10/27/08 at 5:12am
That there would be what you call an ebook reader. The Amazon Kindle brings a bad taste to my mouth though as it only allows you to read ebooks you've bought from Amazon themselves while other ebook readers like the Sony Reader lets you put ebooks "obtained elsewhere" on it to read. For my money, I'd go with something like an eee pc rather than a device that only lets you read ebooks.

Something very interesting about these though is that they use e-paper screens so your eyes won't fatigue when reading for long periods, unlike what happens when you read off a computer screen for too long.
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post #4 of 60
10/27/08 at 5:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxvla View Post
That looks really interesting, but I won't buy it at that price. Would need to be quite a bit cheaper, but these kind of things always get there sooner or later.

I'm curious to see how extensive they will be in getting older books available.
Seems like (but don't quote me on this) it will be pretty much everything that they sell on Amazon to begin with. Of course, they will need to work out the rights issues with various publishing companies, but I'd imagine most publishers (and authors) would be happy to comply.
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post #5 of 60
10/27/08 at 5:40am
Personally I prefer the feel of real books and also sometimes screens can be hard to read. For USD359, you can buy and own an awful lot of books!
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post #6 of 60
10/27/08 at 6:06am
Only thing I don't like about real books is when I'm forced to read a paperback my fingers get sore from forcing the book open constantly. I prefer hardbacks so I can lay them on a desk or table to read, but paperbacks will shut themselves instantly, so no go there.
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post #7 of 60
10/27/08 at 6:08am

have seen it and futzed around with it

And friend of mine has one and is on his 4th unit. The screen is quite fragile as I understand and he's broken 3 of them already. Warranty doesn't cover it, he just has lots of disposable income.

Other than the fragile screen, he says he loves it.

Rumors of a version 2 due out next year which is expected to be more durable.
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post #8 of 60
10/27/08 at 6:12am
Well that's certainly not good news. For something that is touted as being portable, it needs to be durable also. Maybe the new one will do the trick, but odds are against it.
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post #9 of 60
10/27/08 at 6:19am
Planned obsolescence?
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post #10 of 60
10/27/08 at 9:56am
I'm waiting for at least the second generation Kindle and hoping for both increased functionality and better battery life.
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post #11 of 60
10/27/08 at 10:15am
The technology behind these screens looks interesting.

Also, I might get one of these things. My school's library has been doing a good job of putting lots of their books in a electronic format (PDF I believe).
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post #12 of 60
10/27/08 at 10:18am
My friend has one and I used it a lot while we were on vacation in Germany. I have three complaints, time it takes to turn the page, the position of the turn page button, and the contrast. It takes a few seconds to turn the page and it just feels maddening having to wait on that. The location of the button to turn the page is a bit ackward for me. The big thing is that the contrast was a bit low. The screen is special, meant to mimic how text on paper really looks like. The fonts they have are good and the crispness is fine. The background is not perfectly white but a little off-white like real paper. However, unlike real paper it does not reflect as much light. So in a lot of situations, I wanted the contrast to be brighter. It isn't self illuminating like if it was backlit, but throwing more light onto the screen does not increase the contrast beyond a certain point like with a real book.

The ability to store a large number of books, the compactness of the unit, and the long battery life make it really desirable. I'm going to wait until I get a look at a second or third generation version before thinking about buying one. Having just moved out of the country and only being able to bring what could fit in two suitcases I am really liking the idea of being able carry around my entire library in my bag.
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post #13 of 60
10/27/08 at 10:54am
I've had one for a few months now. Love it. I read way too fast to be held down by paper.
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post #14 of 60
10/27/08 at 11:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xnothingpoetic View Post
Also, I might get one of these things. My school's library has been doing a good job of putting lots of their books in a electronic format (PDF I believe).
It's a shame you can't actually read PDFs on the Kindle, which defeats the purpose for a lot of people. (You can however "convert" PDFs to Kindle format but it destroys the formatting and is unreliable for two column documents.)

Until e-ink/e-paper gets high enough resolution to be able to read PDFs, I think this is going to stay niche technology. The iLiad book reader is getting almost there but is very expensive.

I would be strongly interested in something like the Wacom Cintiq 12WX but in e-ink/e-paper for document review. Wouldn't even have to be portable.
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post #15 of 60
10/28/08 at 3:08am
this device has been out for a while. i heard/read a lot of mixed things about it, from reviews and people i know.

not much interest in it myself.
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