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The Amazon Kindle!?!

raquorraquor
edited November 2007 in Everything Else
Amazon Kindle Product Page

Sony's eReader didn't impress me much...too expensive for a simple reading device. For some reason this thing impresses the hell out of me to the point that I'm inches from clicking the buy button for the $400 device. This seems like the very first eReader device designed for the future of reading.

I think it's the potential that has me absolutely captivated. I just get the feeling that this is eReading done right, that this is the direction our newspapers and blog reading and everything is actually heading. I never put any thought into it before but seeing this device...$400 just doesn't seem too bad for what the device would allow me to do.

Comments

  • SailSail
    Yeah. The device is awesome, but just too expensive.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Yeah, the fact that you can buy books anywhere you can get a cell signal is pretty stellar.
  • AprecheApreche
    Everything about it seems ok except the device itself seems pretty shitty, the price is high, and DRM.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    I have the Sony Reader and I LOVE it.

    The Kindle does nothing for me. It's battery life is much worse. It is too big with all of those keys. The DRM on the Kindle is much worse than on the Sony Reader. As a web browser, e-ink sucks.

    It's got potential, but it's trying to do too much. The one thing that it appears to do much better than the Sony Reader are newspaper subscriptions. If you are really into the newspaper, then I suppose it might be worth it.
  • ......
    edited November 2007
    *pulls his right hand from the mouse* That is really, really awesome. The only bad point is that it uses its own document format. Or at least, they charge you to convert a .doc file into whatever kindle uses. If it supports pdf's... I have a lot of those.

    "It's so simple you can be a moron and it works." XD
    Post edited by ... on
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Yeah, the NewsPaper subscription thing is teh awesome.

    I hear the new Zunes allow you to download podcasts without a computer.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    Just a word of warning... PDFs on a 6 inch screen are pretty useless. There are some conversion programs for PDF books to make them readable on the Sony Reader, but anything with graphics is going to be too small to read on a 6 inch screen.
  • ......
    Just a word of warning... PDFs on a 6 inch screen are pretty useless. There are some conversion programs for PDF books to make them readable on the Sony Reader, but anything with graphics is going to be too small to read on a 6 inch screen.
    Who wants to watch images on a monotone screen?
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited November 2007
    Who wants to watch images on a monotone screen?
    The grayscale really isn't that bad. And since many books contain images, there are many people who want to see images on an e-reader.

    Here is a review of the Kindle. Looks like they will be nickle and diming you to death - and it only supports .txt and Amazon's proprietary format.

    I'll give Sony credit with their Reader. It supports several formats that aren't DRMed to death.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • ......
    edited November 2007
    And since many books contain images
    No they don't! A graphic novel, a comic book or a children's book has images (EDIT: Oh, and manga). A normal book is just text and more text. Not counting the cover and picture of the author. And it's grayscale? Looks like either black, or not.

    Hmmmmm, it can do some nice things. Free internet, jpeg/gif compatible for Manga. Shuffle music on the device, blablabla.
    Post edited by ... on
  • KilarneyKilarney
    edited November 2007
    No they don't! A graphic novel, a comic book or a children's book has images. A normal book is just text and more text. Not counting the cover and picture of the author. And it's grayscale? Looks like either black, or not.
    Uhh... dude... many people get these devices to read textbooks. Many textbooks have images. (Textbooks are very popular as pirated e-books since they are so expensive to purchase legally.) Many people also read graphic novels on their e-ink readers.

    I said "many books" contain images. That includes children's books, comic books, manga and textbooks. You must be pretty desperate if you want to pick a fight over this. I like how you countered my argument by agreeing with it. You listed many books that have images. Too funny.

    And a simple google search would have told you that e-ink, including on the Kindle, supports at least 4 levels of grayscale. The newer Viziplex screens support 16 levels.

    I like how you said that it looks like it's "either black, or not" and then you went on to say that it supported manga. Did you think that one through at all?

    I'm just trying to save you money here. If your priority is not EVDO and RSS/newspapers, then the Sony Reader will do what you want for much less money and supports many more formats. (some formats, such as .LIT, via simple conversion tools) There are also a ton of hacks and conversion tools for the Sony Reader that really open the device up.

    The one thing the Sony Reader is very poor at is RSS feeds. It can be done, but the synching is a total pain in the neck. You also have to be in front of a computer to load content onto the Sony Reader.

    It's your money... just trying to help.

    I am a frequent visitor to the e-ink boards. The people on those boards are rabid e-ink fans, and buy anything that comes out. The overall consensus on those boards is that the Kindle pretty much sucks. This from the ultimate e-ink fanboys. Interpret that however you want.

    If you can handle just having wi-fi (and not EVDO), then the Irex Iliad will do everything you want much better (and cheaper) than the Kindle. The Iliad is more expensive up front, but doesn't have any subscription fees. $2/month for a blog and $15/month for a newspaper really adds up.
    Post edited by Kilarney on
  • ......
    Uhh... dude... many people get these devices to read textbooks.
    Never heard of that group of people, but I get your point now.

    I see an e-reader as a device to read words, novels, books.
    and then you went on to say that it supported manga.
    Manga is black and white. Sure there is some grayscale, but it works just as well with only black and whitenon-black.
    You listed many books that have images.
    When, where and how and lets compare definitions of 'book'.

    And how does that make me desperate? Desperate for what? And I never said I was going to buy it.
  • AprecheApreche

    I hear the new Zunes allow you to download podcasts without a computer.
    Can this be confirmed? I checked the official Zune site, and all indicators point to needing to sync the Zune with a PC to get podcasts.
  • ......
    edited November 2007
    I hear the new Zunes allow you to download podcasts without a computer.
    Can this be confirmed? I checked the official Zune site, and all indicators point to needing to sync the Zune with a PC to get podcasts.

    WIRELESS
    Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible
    Range: Up to 30 feet

    WIRELESS SYNC
    Yes
    Connectivity: 802.11b/g compatible
    Authentication modes: Open, WEP, WPA, and WPA2
    Encryption modes: WEP 64- and 128-bit, TKIP, and AES
    Judging from that, I would say yes, it's possible, but don't get your hopes up and wait till proper confirmation.
    Post edited by ... on
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    edited November 2007
    I think I read it on enGadget or a similar tech blog, might have been mentioned on a tech podcast. If the PSP can do it why not allow the Zune to do it too? Or are they scared you might create an RSS feed for songs in mp3 format and use that to share them?

    When the first gen Zunes were announced to have wi-fi sharing I thought it would be the end of iPod dominance. I figured all indie acts would go out and buy one and let it run in share mode when they do a live show. Then I found out about the DRM-off-3 that wraps ALL shared content in DRM even if you want to give it away for free.
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • KilarneyKilarney
    Manga is black and white. Sure there is some grayscale, but it works just as well with only black andwhitenon-black.
    Are you saying that non-shaded manga looks just as good as shaded? I'll stick to a device that can show shading, thank you very much.

    Compare:
    image
    image
    lets compare definitions of 'book'.
    Are you saying that these are not books?:
    image
    image

    If you don't believe that these are books, then there is not point in debating with you. You were talking about a subset of books. I was talking about all books. No big deal.
  • ......
    Compare:
    Where is the black background? Where are his black sunglasses? His coat? The first image is line art, not a 2 bit rendition of the second. And you can recreate a lot of your second image using only white and black. Look at the coat, dots, you can create the illusion of gray with black and white, same for those glasses, just scatter white dots in the lighter parts. And I did not say 'it looks just as good' I said 'it works just as well'. Don't you be turning my words into something completely different.
    Are you saying that these are not books?:
    And I'm not saying those aren't books, I am saying I don't think of those when I hear the word 'Book'. Book = text, blocks of text wrapped in a cover. Those two are a schoolbook/studybook and children's picture book respectively. And we are talking about an e-reader. The main goal of such hardware is reading text. Pure text. If you want to look at pictures why the hell do you get an e-reader? It has 16 colours!
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