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Joined:
7/3/2005
Total Posts:
51
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/7/2010 5:00:06 PM
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Unfortunately the worst happened and my kindle met with a fatal accident  I guess that's a plus for paper books (though I lost the entire wheel of time series during a moving accident).
The rumor is that a new Kindle (Kindle 3 maybe) with a new screen (something like the new Pearl on the DX) is coming out in August. If I don't hear something more concrete by the end of July I'll spring for the new Kindle DX. I do wish the books were more easily transferable. I have a large enough collection on Amazon that I am never going to switch to the Nook or Kobo or Sony Reader.
There have already been horror stories of purchases being wiped and not replaced due to author/publisher/vendor disputes.
As far as I know its only been one major infraction from Amazon (1984) and they updated their policy right afterwards. It sucked but it really isn't the end of the world and unlikely to be a problem.
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Bush League Critic
Joined:
3/15/2007
Total Posts:
4,169
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/7/2010 5:17:37 PM
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I do wish the books were more easily transferable. I have a large enough collection on Amazon that I am never going to switch to the Nook or Kobo or Sony Reader.
My ebook library will never be tied to a single device. God bless Calibre, Python and The Dark Reverser. 
Bummer about your Kindle. Did it get dropped? 
- Doug
"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."
The Bush League Critic - Speculative Fiction News and Reviews
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la la la la la la
Joined:
6/18/2003
Total Posts:
7,529
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/7/2010 6:36:38 PM
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So I am considering getting one of these at some point in the fall, going to save up a bit.
How do formats on thsi thing work? Outside of amazon downloads, can I upload any text onto this device? I'm thinking of pdfs and other formats that I might find on project gutenberg which are primarily in plain text files?
"Cats and monkeys, monkeys and cats, all human life is there!" - Henry James
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Bush League Critic
Joined:
3/15/2007
Total Posts:
4,169
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/7/2010 6:58:34 PM
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How do formats on thsi thing work? Outside of amazon downloads, can I upload any text onto this device? I'm thinking of pdfs and other formats that I might find on project gutenberg which are primarily in plain text files?
Pdf's are a bit iffy. You can't load them directly, but you can send them to your Kindle email address and the docs will be formatted and delivered to your device in a readable format.
The Kindle's standard format is mobi. Amazon gives their ebooks an .azw extention, but it's still the mobi standard. You can load any unencrypted mobi ebook directly on your Kindle. Project Gutenberg provides mobi's for most of their ebooks. I read a lot of Gutenberg books on my Kindle. It can also read plain text files.
Amazon also has a Topaz format that is proprietary, but it's not used abundantly.
There are also a lot of free tools available that will allow you to convert most formats (epub, html, etc.) to mobi, provided they're not DRM protected, of course.
- Doug
"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."
The Bush League Critic - Speculative Fiction News and Reviews
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la la la la la la
Joined:
6/18/2003
Total Posts:
7,529
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/8/2010 4:40:25 AM
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Ok, that's exactly what I was wanting to know. Thanks DD.
"Cats and monkeys, monkeys and cats, all human life is there!" - Henry James
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Joined:
7/3/2005
Total Posts:
51
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/11/2010 1:43:05 AM
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Calibre is a good way to transfer books in other formats to the kindle but its a lot harder to decrypt/reformat encrypted mobi from the kindle to other formats.
I do have a fairly large library on calibre also but its mostly free books. I do think Amazon does a good job with kindle books though so I am not really into switching.
And yeah I dropped my kindle (screen first ). The stupidest accident one can have with an electronic device. The device works but the screen is destroyed. So for the first time in over a year I am actually reading paper books. And let me tell you, it just isn't that much fun.
I'll get a new kindle when Evolutionary Void (by Peter Hamilton) comes out on the kindle since it will be painful to read such a large book in hardcover.
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/28/2010 7:45:19 PM
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Now I'm tempted to get a Kindle.
$139 for a wifi only, 6" version. (Or of course you can see the announcement on amazon.com
No monthly fee was a nice idea, and putting all the cost up front. But no 3G is even better. I can't imagine many scenarios that I would need to get an emergency book that I couldn't plan ahead to get on a wifi network.
The only thing I still want is color, just so I can see all the beautiful cover art in the book I buy. But this is very tempting now.
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Joined:
7/3/2005
Total Posts:
51
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/29/2010 2:36:00 PM
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There was never a monthly fee with the 3G version. 3G is nice but you have to wonder if its worth the extra $50, though there have been times when I have gotten a new book while waiting for a plane to take off so its not totally useless.
Also you can check wikipedia on it for free leading to http://www.xkcd.com/548/
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/29/2010 4:37:24 PM
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What I meant was that even though I felt the Kindle was still too pricey for me the past couple years, I understood that a lot of that cost was for lifetime 3G and not having to pay a monthly fee. (As opposed to the 3G on the iPad, which you can pay month to month if you want 3G enabled or not. $30 I believe.)
But now I think I just changed my mind and I think 3G is likely the way to go. With this new edition, they changed from their old browser technology to base it off of the webkit technology (which is the same core browser software in the iPhone, Palm Pre, and in a few other smartphones as well.) And their description makes it sound like there is essentially a Wikipedia app built in.
I think access to Wikipedia by itself it worth it for those $50, but with the switch to the webkit browser technolgy, the 3G+wifi version is probably the better way to go for myself.
If I want a larger screen and color, I still do expect to have a tablet of some kind eventually. So this new 6" and it's portability is the way to go without being redundant.
And with The Way of Kings, Towers of Midnight, and Bearers of the Black Staff on the horizon, and the whole Erikson series for me to get my hands on (...and all the other books that I'm forgetting to mention. I don't pay attention much to release dates, I tend to just stumble upon the news in here...), there is plenty of use I can get out of the Kindle now, without rebuying books I've already own.
So I'll just be waiting for some early reviews from the tech blogs, and if there's nothing glaringly wrong with it, looks like I'll be owning my first ereader.
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What does that do? Does that blow your mind?
Joined:
8/16/2007
Total Posts:
4,680
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/30/2010 12:45:15 PM
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For $139 I am now starting to get interested. I am sick of my books getting all torn to bits when camping or traveling so I think the Kindle would come in handy.
I just wish they had demo's at retail stores. I would like to play with one before dropping $140 sight unseen.
I'm the best there is, plain and simple. I mean, I wake up in the morning and I piss excellence. You know, nobody can hang with my stuff. I'm just a...just a big, hairy, American winning machine.
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/30/2010 8:41:11 PM
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Hey redviper, I have a question about calibre. I just checked out their website and say the demo video, but they did it with a Sony Reader. As I understand it, the Sony Reader connects to the computer to download books normally, so I get that it calibre is nice and simple when adding different format books to it.
But since the earlier Kindles connected to Amazon only through 3G... how did you transfer books with the calibre software? Is it just as simple as his demo with the Sony Reader?
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/30/2010 10:43:50 PM
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I found the answer to my own question. It does have a USB connection, plus the new one can also sync files through wifi. I didn't want to double post, but for some reason I can't seem to find the Edit button.
(But it looks like I can edit this post... is there a time limit to when you can edit posts that I just never noticed?)
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Joined:
7/3/2005
Total Posts:
51
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/31/2010 4:48:24 PM
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I don't know if Calibre will support syncing through Wifi. But you can set up an email address and mail the books to your kindle also (for a small fee). I like to sync through USB though since who wants to pay extra to maintain a library?
I got my kindle DX 2 yesterday and I have been playing around with it (had some trouble transferring my subscription for Asimov's over though .. stupid drm).
The new screen is really amazing. I can't do a side by side comparison with my old kindle but subjectively it looks a lot better. Page turns on the larger screen are about the same speed as on the smaller kindle 2 but orientation changes are really fast. The only thing I don't like is that the left side doesn't have a page rocker. Since I am left handed it makes for a slightly uncomfortable reading experience but not unbearable. Weight is still really good and I had no trouble reading with holding it in my right hand.
The biggest issue I am having is having to transfer all my old books over. I wish they would add collection support to calibre so I can build the collections on my pc instead of on the kindle. Amazon really needs to improve its own management interface, its way too barebones right now.
I am only keeping the kindle dx for another 2 weeks while I wait for my kindle 3 to ship so I'll update with a short review of the new one also.
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
7/31/2010 9:11:49 PM
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Another question about calibre if you can answer it. (I'm getting excited. I will be putting in my pre-order tomorrow. I figured if I don't like it, I can return it. Amazon has an easy to work with return policy.)
Do you happen to know if calibre be able to convert my books from ereader.com to the kindle format even though they're protected files? I would very much love to not have to buy those books a 2nd... or 4th time. (I see that it supports .pdb files, but I know there are some that are drm free, and there are the ones that are from ereader.com that requires my credit card number to unlock them.)
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Joined:
7/3/2005
Total Posts:
51
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/1/2010 12:37:43 AM
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Given the recent federal court decision you can now strip DRM for fair use.
So http://klungvik.com/index.php/2008/how-to-remove-drm-from-ebooks/
You need to remove the DRM before transferring and since its legal now you shouldn't have any issues.
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/1/2010 12:55:15 AM
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Ha! I've been hearing about that law in the various gadget/phone podcasts I listen to, but never considered it being applied to books.
And that'll work for me. Thanks a lot. It's nice seeing nice and simple straightforward help after going through various kindle forums (and the occational nook forum) the past few hours.
I see enough fanatical fanboyism when reading up on videogames and smartphones. Now it looks like I'll be in the vacinity of kindle vs nook debates that have been infected by horribly irrational "debate". Seems like half of them are repeating facts that they don't fully understand, or facts that aren't facts at all.
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Bush League Critic
Joined:
3/15/2007
Total Posts:
4,169
12
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/1/2010 5:03:19 AM
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Given the recent federal court decision you can now strip DRM for fair use.
Be careful stating this as fact. The wording of this ruling is about as clear as mud... and differing interpretations are everywhere. Right now, in internet land, the consensus is about 50/50 whether or not the new DMCA ruling even applies to DRM stripping.
- Doug
"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life."
The Bush League Critic - Speculative Fiction News and Reviews
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/1/2010 10:59:43 AM
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Good point. I didn't actually even read the articles that have been posted, and only heard what I heard on various podcasts. Here's one article from engadget.com written by Nilay Patel (Who is a lawyer as well as one of their main writers.)
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Joined:
7/3/2005
Total Posts:
51
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/1/2010 6:13:18 PM
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Lets be honest, its just an excuse. I wanted to give the link out and mentioning the court cases keeps the copyright trolls off my back 
I honestly considered switching to the nook when it came out but two things stopped me. The page turn on the display is ridiculously bad and the lcd screen at the bottom is painful to look at (if I wanted to read anything on an lcd I'd have just used my tablet).
It would be nice if some of those pearl scripts were integrated into calibre though.
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/1/2010 6:56:58 PM
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(Edit: Yes, besides cost, hearing talk about page turns is what prevented me from getting the Kindle 1 and 2. 20% increase on the kindle 3, from 1 second on the older versions, is a pretty big step.)
The obvious solution for my ereader.com dilemma would be to get the Nook, since apparently ereader.com is now owned by Barnes and Noble. But I don't like buying first gen devices, and the differences weren't compelling enough to make me switch. (If I actually new people in real life that also liked to read, the book lending feature of the Nook might have swayed me, but alas, I can't even give away books to my friends.) So I put in my order today, and since Bearers of the Black Staff comes out on the 24th, I think I'll make that my first book.
Amazon sure did suck me in. They caught me with their $139 price, then I convinced myself why the 3G+wifi was better, so I went for the $189 price. And then they showed me their ingeniously designed case with integrated pull out light, that receives power from the kindle (and through the hinges that connect the kindle to the case!) and doesn't require batteries, so I put down another $60. Over $110 extra dollars than what caught my eye!
But man oh man. If the oberon cases had a built in light, I most definitely would have waited for the Kindle 3 versions and gotten one of these designs:
 
But the built in light is too practical to pass up.
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Joined:
8/3/2010
Total Posts:
30
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/3/2010 7:49:18 AM
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I have a Nook and i love it. It is the first one I've owned so I have no comparisons to offer.
The Bass Guitar is an honorable instrument. It is understated and underappreciated, yet it plays the most important role. The bass is the link between harmony and rhythm. It is the foundation of a band. It is what all the other instruments stand upon
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Joined:
7/23/2010
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49
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/3/2010 12:16:43 PM
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After swearing about half a year ago that I'd never get an e-reader, I finally put in an order a few days ago for an Amazon Kindle (the new wifi-only one coming out soon). It's simply too convenient to pass up.
I went to Borders and checked out their Kobo but found it too stripped-down to be worth the price. It was nice, particularly since all I want to do is read (I don't want to surf the net, listen to music, whatever). However, I just couldn't justify buying the thing when I could get a Kindle for the same price, and have more features (such as notes, highlight, dictionary, and wifi).
I also checked out the Nook at Barnes and Noble and was really disappointed. It doesn't feel like an e-reader; it feels like an electronic that happens to read books. The glossy finish on the casing is prone to glare and the color LCD is super-distracting, a drain on battery life, and totally unnecessary for me. I can see how it'd be neat to see the book covers in color, but it's not enough for me to justify it.
The Kindle really appealed to me because it's cheap ($139 for wifi-only is a bargain), it has the built-in dictionary, and you can take notes & highlight (important for me with the work I'm doing at school). I'm told that the new model will have better contrast, too (something about a new e-ink screen design). It has a nice aesthetic design to it, too, and I've heard encouraging things that it's such a well-designed electronic, you forget that you're using it and you can just immerse yourself in the book. Looking forward to that.
The odd thing is, everywhere I go online, it seems like everyone is happy with whatever reader they've purchased. I see staunch supporters of the Nook, Kindle, and even the Kobo on numerous sites.
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Magically Delicious
Joined:
1/23/2003
Total Posts:
23,142
14
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/4/2010 10:24:08 AM
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I also checked out the Nook at Barnes and Noble and was really disappointed.
I've heard a lot of people complain about it randomly freezing up. Do you know if this problem has been fixed?
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Joined:
11/9/2006
Total Posts:
91
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/4/2010 10:21:09 PM
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Oh yes, some interesting news bits relating to ebooks.
First is sad news that Barnes and Noble is up for sale.
Second is that Apple and Amazon are being investigated about price fixing.
I haven't been inside a book store to buy books in years. And ebooks and audiobooks are the reason why. But that still makes me sad.
As for price fixing, well... Amazon was trying to keep prices down, but when Apple showed up, the publishers forced Amazon to agree to a new pricing model. (Which is why on many books on amazon in ebook format, it now says that the price is set by the publisher.) It seems to me that the publishers have more say in how much the books cost. But I don't quite fully understand the whole dynamic.
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Magically Delicious
Joined:
1/23/2003
Total Posts:
23,142
14
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RE: iPads, eReaders, and Audiobooks
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Posted:
8/5/2010 4:43:41 AM
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The publishers should have a say in what they sell the books to Amazon for...meaning that the publishers get exactly the amount of money that they want. Then, Amazon should be able to put their own markup on the book to sell to the consumer. If, after paying the publisher for the book, Amazon wants to sell it to the consumer at a loss, then that should be Amazon's choice and only Amazon's loss.
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