What is the Point of Kindle/eBooks?

Yeah, at this point my main impetus for getting an ereader is AW ebooks.

I think with most readily available books, I'd still get the paper version. But then I'm saying this having never used an ereader...

Although... Take my music collection for an example of the way my mind works. I want to have a big collection of CDs. I also want to have an mp3 player so I can listen to vast quantities of music on the go. But I don't use iTunes, because I want the physical CD and because I see no point in buying a single song when pretty much whenever I've bought a CD by a band whom I've only heard the one song from - every time it seems I've fallen in love with some of the other songs, moreso than the one that prompted me to buy the CD.

Can we extrapolate this to ebooks vs. print books? Not sure... But I do love to ramble!

Cliff Face said:

Although... Take my music collection for an example of the way my mind works. I want to have a big collection of CDs. I also want to have an mp3 player so I can listen to vast quantities of music on the go. But I don't use iTunes, because I want the physical CD and because I see no point in buying a single song when pretty much whenever I've bought a CD by a band whom I've only heard the one song from - every time it seems I've fallen in love with some of the other songs, moreso than the one that prompted me to buy the CD.

Can we extrapolate this to ebooks vs. print books? Not sure... But I do love to ramble!

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See, I buy CDs, and then immediately rip them to iTunes - best of both worlds. If there were a way to do that with a book, I'd have an eReader in a flash.

Well, I immediately rip my CDs too - only I do it to my computer, in a certain file archive place thing, not iTunes.

I have to rip my music, or else I can't get the songs onto my mp3 player.

I'm assuming an iPod of some development would be linked to your iTunes account, but I can't justify spending $150-200 for an iPod when I only spent about $20 on my mp3 player, which has served me well for the past 3 or 4 years.

Agree with those others who've said that reading an e-Ink screen is nothing like reading off a computer. E-reader screens don't play havoc with the eyes, they allow easy page turns and book marking, and they can be read in direct sunlight. I have read my e-reader lying by the pool on holiday. Can't do that with my NetBook.

I want to add one point to the Kindle vs Sony/Nook debate though. A lot of people I know with Kindles have had problems with the screen stopping working after a short period of time. I know someone who's been through three in a year.

We've had our Kindle a year and never had problems, but it does have a hard cover which protects the screen. I have a feeling that the screen damage problem comes in if you carry your Kindle around in your bag unprotected. The screens are delicate and can't take pressure or knocks of any kind.

Unlike Sony, Amazon do not provide an e-reader cover free of charge, but if you buy a Kindle, it's worth investing in one to protect your Kindle's screen. At least until Amazon create a more robust Kindle screen.

As for the Nook - I hear rumour this will be available in the UK next year through, I think, Waterstone's. The Kobo is Canadian (the 'Chapters' e-reader, I believe?) and that's now available in the UK through WH smiths.

Shara said:

Unlike Sony, Amazon do not provide an e-reader cover free of charge...

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Sony didn't either.

As for the Nook being available in the UK, Waterstone's are making their own version like the Nook, but as they're not B&N, it'll be called something else.

ScarletPeaches - my Sony came with a free cover, but maybe it was just the model I got. It was a pocket Sony, from an independent retailer via Amazon.

The Nook thing I heard was a rumour. Clearly not accurate!

Shara

I spoke to someone in Waterstone's last week when I went to pick up my (still-broken) ereader. They said they'd had so many complaints about the Sony ereaders they'd decided to stop selling them as it wasn't a quality product and not something they wanted to be associated with. As it happens, Sony are halting production of their ereaders anyway and concentrating on their equivalent of the iPad.

I can't remember what the woman said the Waterstone's reader would be called, but she compared it to the Nook and said "We'll be selling it like B&N do the Nook in the States."

I am really looking into buying an ereader, but I am not sure what to get. Opinions?

Stay the hell away from Sony.

I'll be ordering a Kindle this week so I'll let you know how it goes. (Trying to time it so it arrives at the weekend.)

My dad has a kindle. The only thing I am leery of is the proprietary formatting. The Nook uses the more standard format and therefore has a few more options.

But I do like some of the features of the kindle, including the 3G.

I've been having this internal debate for weeks now.

Shara said:

We've had our Kindle a year and never had problems, but it does have a hard cover which protects the screen. I have a feeling that the screen damage problem comes in if you carry your Kindle around in your bag unprotected. The screens are delicate and can't take pressure or knocks of any kind.

Unlike Sony, Amazon do not provide an e-reader cover free of charge, but if you buy a Kindle, it's worth investing in one to protect your Kindle's screen. At least until Amazon create a more robust Kindle screen.

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I know I still managed to end up with some apparent damage to mine, even though it had a sturdy cover and I'm ridiculously careful. Amazon replaced it anyway. It freaks me out when I see people using them naked. (The Kindle naked, not the people.) Or at least shoving them in a bag unprotected. It's like seeing someone riding a motorbike without wearing a helmet.

I definitely say get a cover or case. There's a huge range available. There are even waterproof ones so you can read it in the bath. (I would never ever dare do that. )

scarletpeaches said:

Stay the hell away from Sony.

I'll be ordering a Kindle this week so I'll let you know how it goes. (Trying to time it so it arrives at the weekend.)

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My Sony has been working fine for a couple of years now. I'm only thinking of replacing it because the newer models are more lightweight.

Also, mine came with a free cover, but it was a cheap cloth one.

I'm opposed to Kindles because they are wedded to a single company's ecosystem and I don't want to have to jump through extra hoops to de-Amazon Kindle books. Stripping DRM from epubs sold by Kobo and independent publishers is annoying enough.

(That said, I've already bought into Apple's ecosystem, since iPods + iTunes + Audible.com is so damn convenient.)

Honestly, I wouldn't bother. Sony are doing away with their ereaders so it's not in their interests to help out customers when existing models go wrong.

Just about all other e-readers - at least in the UK - take epub formats, so there are plenty of alternatives to Sony. It's only the kindle that requires a different format.

I think we're going to see other devices hit the market in the next couple of years.

I'm interested in what you're saying about Sony readers being discontinued, SP. I've had mine a couple of years and never had to contact customer services - maybe I've been lucky.

I guess when it goes kaput I will be buying a Kobo, as I like the look of those and I will be able to read my epub books on it.

Shara

Personally, given I already use Calibre, I find the conversion from epub format to mobi format is completely painless. Whether a reader has Mobi or epub format is irrelevant to me.

You'll end up messing around when you change ereaders anyway, getting around the DRM (which calibre does very well too).

My Kindle came Saturday afternoon. I'm halfway through my second book on it as of this morning. I avoided buying one for the longest time, but I'm a total convert already.

None of my ebooks have DRM anyway; they're all smutty ones from places like Loose Id and Samhain.

LOL. Just had a thought...

I suppose an ereader full of smutty books is less conspicuous than carrying around a Playboy. (Not the same thing, I know.)

Cliff Face said:

LOL. Just had a thought...

I suppose an ereader full of smutty books is less conspicuous than carrying around a Playboy. (Not the same thing, I know.)

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It's no joke, this seems to be a very significant factor in ereader popularity - you can read something in public that you wouldn't be seen dead with if other people could see what it is.

Well. I are about to order my Kindle. I'm a bit nervous 'cause it's a lot of money, but it's still far cheaper than my Sony was.

scarletpeaches said:

Honestly, I wouldn't bother. Sony are doing away with their ereaders so it's not in their interests to help out customers when existing models go wrong.

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Are you sure? Rowling was supposed to be doing a special packaging deal with them to pre-load the HP books onto new ones starting next year. Until the store opens, it's the only legal way to get them as ebooks

http://www.pcworld.com/article/239221/hands_on_with_sonys_lightweight_lowcost_reader_wifi_prst1.html

They'll be selling a Sony-equivalent of the iPad, so I was told. So you can read ebooks on it, but it won't be a dedicated ereader.

I'm not of a mind to buy another Sony product anyway. As you'll have guessed!

Shara said:

My Sony will not 'annotate'. The Kindle will. You can put as many notes and marks as you like on Kindle versions.

Shara

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That's strange. My Sony Pocket allows me to annotate as much as I like. It's often how I do my novel editing.

What version of the Pocket do you have?

FranOnTheEdge said:

E-Books & Kindle seems to be taking over the world, now back when it first came out I heard that Amazon could take your books away from you if the publisher went bust.

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Could take away physical files on my physically owned electronic device? If a publisher folds do I also have to give back all the paperbacks I bought at B&N?

Not something that can happen with a paperback or hardback.
Not unless they jimmy the door and filtch them from your bookshelves.

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Maybe kindle does that but I have no idea. I have a sony reader.

I've seen their current advert - can't avoid it, unfortunately - and the very idea of reading on any kind of screen makes me cringe, I get enough headaches from the PC, thanks.

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e-ink just keeps getting better, with better non-reflective screens. My sony pocket is as easily readable as a page in a book, no eye-strain beyond the usual from reading. Easy peasy.

I hate not being able to flick through pages.

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touch screen, baby. *flicks page.

I'd hate something like that to hit me in the eye as I begin to drop off to sleep - and how the heck would you have two or three books open at once to refer back and forth?

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Well, that is a drawback but a somewhat trivial one to me.

And how can you put little coloured sticky notes on various pages?

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I can not only annotate highlighted sections which are saved as links in a folder, I can also use touchscreen to write directly on the page, circle crap, draw genitals, etc.

The screen may be big compared to other handheld devices, but compared to a book it's tiny. In order to get even a paperback's page content onto one screen, you'd need the text to be too small for me to read it.

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zoom in. You can make it so big and legible there's literally like a handful of words per page. Plus the increase resolution/contrast option.

....I have a really nasty feeling that this is going to be the inevitable future that I will go to my grave being the grumpy old woman grumbling about.

.... however I can also see a point in the future where my own work finally makes it to publication only to find that it's on Kindle only....

No, I haven't got one, so probably eveything I've said is just rubbish, but I've vented some angst, so that's good.

ggg

What do you think?

Is the future already here?

Are books doomed?

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One time a professor told me "Those (ereaders) are nice, but I prefer paper," in a somewhat condescending way seeing that I had one. I kind of wanted to say, stone tablets are kind of cool but no one publishes stone tablets. There's a reason ebooks are emerging, and it's a good thing for keeping people reading in an internet age. In the beginning stage of reader technology I could agree with you, but it's only getting better and the differences to paper more trivial. You sidestep entire steps in the book-making process, such as paper production, book binding, printing, and can offer information with a click.

I may have missed it as I read through this thread, but what the heck is a flipdesk?