Kindle?

[Duke{CLR}]

My wife wants one for Xmas and I was wondering if there are any other options out there and if anyone here has ever used one. I personally think it would be awful to read a book on one of these things and I would hate to waste the money if she wouldn't use it. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[homosapien15]

I personally haven't heard one good thing about the things, Kindle or competitors. It's not that they're bad products, and there is a new one out that I'm unfamiliar with, but I think it's kind of like buying a portable DVD player and not a laptop. It's one device, that does something super specialized, and is too highly priced considering.

Furthermore, I believe it only accepts one format standard, and that there is a charge or some sort of processing or conversion to take other forms. You can't really blame Amazon on this one, I think it's just snotty old publishers (kind of like RIAA bastards). They use specialized formats to try and make their product impossible to redistribute and all it does it limit selection and customization.

Overall, I'd just read reviews for yourself. A lot of people like that it's portable, has decent functions, etc, but I'm in the boat that doesn't want to read on a screen, pay $250+, and lack the choices to customize and organize my electronic device.


****Competitors worth looking into
Samsung Papyrus: touchscreen ebook debuts - Pocket-lint have heard better things about this one.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ebook/---Also highly reviewed

[Duke{CLR}]

Homosapien I hear all of what you said and I share the same thoughts about it being overpriced for what it does. My wife buys a book a week and her thinking was that it's cheaper to get the digital version of a book instead. I guess I should find one somewhere and look at it to see if it will be used.

[homosapien15]

You know what I'd do. Find one, maybe the foxit, that takes PDFs and .txts, and then the protected one if necessary and then just download the damn books as needed. eBooks are just going to go the way of music if the industry doesn't let go of ridiculous publisher's rights. I don't even buy textbooks in college anymore (save math) because if the book is old enough, it's online somewhere.

Of course, the legality of this can be questioned, but so can buying a book for $250, keeping it on the shelf the whole year, and selling it back for $75.

[Rand{CLR}]

You know what I'd do. Find one, maybe the foxit, that takes PDFs and .txts, and then the protected one if necessary and then just download the damn books as needed. eBooks are just going to go the way of music if the industry doesn't let go of ridiculous publisher's rights. I don't even buy textbooks in college anymore (save math) because if the book is old enough, it's online somewhere.

Of course, the legality of this can be questioned, but so can buying a book for $250, keeping it on the shelf the whole year, and selling it back for $75.

Wait--you got $75 bucks back on a book? I was lucky if all my books in a semester made half that. All too often there would be a new release and they wouldn't buy the book back.

Textbooks--until the spread of online shopping, the greatest scam in history.

Duke, let us know how Kindle works out. I don't know much about it, and I greatly prefer paper in my hands rather than a screen, but we may be forced to adapt to electronic screens relatively soon anyway.

-Rand

[homosapien15]

It was a brand new Physics book. I also was a bit of an ass to get that seeing as the condition was basically perfect. The greatest thing was my brand new sociology book for 300 (came with stupid software) that they DISCONTINUED so no one got anything. Still trying to sell it online.....

Hey Duke, you want an intro to Sociology book? You can scan every page and put it on the kindle

[Duke{CLR}]

Hey Duke, you want an intro to Sociology book? You can scan every page and put it on the kindle

LOL No Thanks I am SO Gland my text book buying days are ove... Oh crap! my stepdaughter goes to college in two years.

[Cain]

Check this out:

Nook ship date slips to January 11th, supply chain managers weep -- Engadget

[Duke{CLR}]

Check this out:

Nook ship date slips to January 11th, supply chain managers weep -- Engadget

I heard this item discussed on the MaxPC podcast several weeks ago and one of the things they liked was that you could trade books with friends. It looks like I have some homework to do....

[homosapien15]

LOL No Thanks I am SO Gland my text book buying days are ove... Oh crap! my stepdaughter goes to college in two years.

LOOK ONLINE FIRST!!!!

Old enough editions sometimes even have the PDF's up, like on Google books.

[Apache Warrior]

Check this out:

Nook ship date slips to January 11th, supply chain managers weep -- Engadget

nook, eBook reader, eReader - BarnesNoble

I was going to suggest the Nook too.
You also can connect using AT&Ts 3G Wireless. And this is free.
Apache

[Duke{CLR}]

nook, eBook reader, eReader - BarnesNoble

I was going to suggest the Nook too.
You also can connect using AT&Ts 3G Wireless. And this is free.
Apache

The use of AT&T 3G network for this is free?

[mapes]

My mom has a kindle and she likes it for two reasons.

1. It''s backlit so she can read in bed without waking up my dad
2. She can buy books over the cellular network

[Apache Warrior]

Yes.
Read it here.
nook Features, eBook reader, eReader - BarnesNoble
Apache

[paceman]

Sorry so late in putting in my 2 cents.

I have the Sony eReader and love it! I read a LOT, and carrying this around is some much more convenient that carrying paperback books. When I travel I may read a book every day or 2. When I'm gone for 2 weeks that's a bunch of books to haul around.

Plus buying the ebooks are cheaper than buying paperbacks, and you can find a lot of free books online also. It supports multiple formats, including PDF. I would say my only complaint is that it could use a little better contrast ratio, but that is nit picking.

If you wife is a real reader, she will love to have one.