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On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:31:14 +0100, Stephen wrote:
> On 25/08/2010 5:20 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, that's the reason I didn't get a Kindle, honestly - with the
>> whole fiasco Amazon had over 1984, I prefer something where I can back
>> up my books manually (which I can do with the Nook).
>>
>>
> The same with the Sony.
Yeah, I had considered a Sony as well, but I really like that Nook is
android-based. :-)
Jim
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:39:43 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, that's the reason I didn't get a Kindle, honestly - with the
>> whole fiasco Amazon had over 1984, I prefer something where I can back
>> up my books manually (which I can do with the Nook).
>
> You can back up your Kindle books. I think most of the new ones have
> DRM, but the classics (that Amazon gives you for free) have bunches of
> readable words in them (like, Arabian Nights has Knight and Dog and Sand
> and stuff like that amongst the gibberish) so I'm assuming that one
> isn't encrypted.
>
> But you can trivially copy everything off the kindle, reset it back to
> factory defaults, and copy the files back on and everything works fine.
>
> Altho I admit I haven't bought a DRMed book yet, so I couldn't guarantee
> anything there until I do.
That's interesting, I had been led to believe that with Kindle, you were
more or less at the mercy of Amazon (probably because of the whole 1984
thing). The idea of the retailer being able to 'unsell' something to me
really turned me off of buying one of their devices - in fact, if I had
won one in a drawing, I'd have sold it because of that...
Not that I think Bezos didn't ultimately do the right thing, but really,
something like that should've never happened in the first place.
Jim
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:37:17 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> I might have bought a Nook if it had the bigger screen; the fact that
> it's android (and hence likely going to have a jailbreak at some point)
Already does. nook-devs.com IIRC. I'm running it with the Android
development kit for access to the system filesystem.
> and the "loan a book" thing were cool. I thought the UI on the Nook was
> very confusing for the half hour I played with one.
I found it easy to get used to fairly quickly myself. Another *huge*
advantage is that many e-books can be viewed in their entirety if you go
to a B&N physical store - for up to an hour a day. And free wireless at
places with AT&T wifi (if you don't have the 3G version, which I don't)
is pretty cool. Like Kindle, with the 3G option, you don't have to pay
anything extra for access (the device just costs $50 more, and I have
wifi pretty much everywhere I go these days).
I do wish the USB cable was longer - I'm using an extension with mine.
The 'standard' cable is about 5' long, which isn't long enough to reach
the nearest outlet to the bed if I want to read in bed while charging. I
also wish the USB port wasn't on the bottom of the device.
Jim
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:33:04 +0200, scott wrote:
>> I bought an Amazon Kindle. It's very nice. Feel free to ask me about it
>> if you care. :-)
>
> I find two things most important with these kind of gagdets:
>
> 1) How responsive is the UI? There's no excuse nowadays for the GUI not
> to change instantly when you press buttons.
With Nook, very responsive.
> 2) How comfortable is the screen to read from? What's the resolution
> and does it work under all lighting conditions (direct sunlight, office,
> dark room etc).
I find the eInk screen extremely comfortable; the page size is about that
of a standard small paperback. Works great in almost all lighting
conditions, but you do need light (it's not backlit, so it's a no-go in
the dark, just like with a real book). Battery life is really good.
I'll have to look up the screen resolution for the two screens on the
Nook; there's the eInk screen and the little touchscreen.
Jim
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:44:30 +0100, Stephen wrote:
> There is a reason. The Electronic papers used have a very low refresh
> rate and ghosting can occur. My Sony flashes black then white to
> overcome this, slowing page turning down even further. Having said that
> I find it acceptable.
Yes, that's true, Nook does the same thing. I find it pretty good,
though, and it doesn't interfere with reading anywhere near as much as I
thought it might.
Jim
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:55:31 +0200, scott wrote:
>> Mine has a resolution of 600 x 800 pixels on a 6” screen, 8-levels gray
>> scale, fits in a jacket pocket and although a bit reflective can easily
>> be read under artificial light or bright sunlight.
>
> What about low light conditions? Is it comfortable to read in the dark
> with just a bed-side lamp or similar?
I find it so, though I do generally increase the font size when I'm in
low light conditions.
> I'm guessing it doesn't have any
> lighting of its own to keep battery usage down?
Correct.
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andrel wrote:
> On 24-8-2010 19:47, Darren New wrote:
>> Kevin Wampler wrote:
>>> Thanks! Both this and Jim's replies have been very useful.
>>
>> As I say, send me a complex PDF and I'll take a photo of the screen so
>> you can see how it looks.
>
> what about 3D pdf? The only one I have here ATM is too big to post
WTF is a 3D pdf?
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Quoth the raven:
Need S'Mores!
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Jim Henderson wrote:
> That's interesting, I had been led to believe that with Kindle, you were
> more or less at the mercy of Amazon (probably because of the whole 1984
> thing).
Technologically, yes, you are. But it's not something they're going to do,
or at least so they say. In the case of 1984, it was because they weren't
authorized to actually sell that copy. I.e., they were violating copyrights
by selling you the book that way.
> The idea of the retailer being able to 'unsell' something to me
> really turned me off of buying one of their devices - in fact, if I had
> won one in a drawing, I'd have sold it because of that...
Ehn. You have to balance it out. I have lots of worries in my life. Amazon
pulling a book off my kindle and giving me the money back so I can go buy it
on paper is low on my list of worries.
I was reluctant for a long time to buy DRMed books, until I realized I'll
likely always have the non-DRMed version available if I really want it. I
can pick which books I'll buy cheaper with less access and which books I'll
spend more on to be able to keep for 20+ years.
That book on C# 4.0? The likelihood of me having to refer to that in 3
years is really, really low. :-)
> Not that I think Bezos didn't ultimately do the right thing, but really,
> something like that should've never happened in the first place.
True, and he acknowledged that *and* gave people back the book as well. Not
sure what more you could ask for.
Amazon's licensing at least isn't obnoxious. You can put it on up to five or
six devices simultaneously, and if you delete it off your kindle, it frees
up a license for use somewhere else. (Assuming you eventually turn on the
radio, of course.) And there's readers for pretty much every popular
electronic device except the direct competition.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Quoth the raven:
Need S'Mores!
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Jim Henderson wrote:
> Already does.
Unsurprising! :-)
> I found it easy to get used to fairly quickly myself.
Yep, could be. But the touch-screen where you weren't actually touching the
thing you were interested in threw me.
Or, as my brother said, "I got an iPad, because it has a touch screen." "My
Kindle doesn't have a touch-screen, which is why my wife's fingerprints
are all over the screen."
> Another *huge*
> advantage is that many e-books can be viewed in their entirety if you go
> to a B&N physical store - for up to an hour a day.
That's a pretty slick marketing move.
> And free wireless at
> places with AT&T wifi (if you don't have the 3G version, which I don't)
> is pretty cool. Like Kindle, with the 3G option, you don't have to pay
> anything extra for access (the device just costs $50 more, and I have
> wifi pretty much everywhere I go these days).
It was helpful on my trip to germany. The hotel wanted like $100/week for
wifi, but I found out the Kindle will do 3G web browsing for free, so for
the couple of "arrived safely" sorts of emails I wanted to send, it worked
out with webmail just fine. (My phone isn't GSM, ya see.)
> I do wish the USB cable was longer - I'm using an extension with mine.
I bought a second cable to leave plugged into my computer all the time,
running under the desk and all that. Happily, it's at least a standard USB
cable.
> also wish the USB port wasn't on the bottom of the device.
I haven't been bothered by that, but then I don't really read with it
plugged in.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Quoth the raven:
Need S'Mores!
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Darren New <dne### [at] san rrcom> writes:
> Neeum Zawan wrote:
>> Why?
>
> For one, it's easy to travel.
True, if you travel often.
> That bothered me for a while also. Then I realized I have large stacks
> of books that I've read once and will likely never read again. As well
That's why I switched to libraries (if they have the book) ;-)
> as other stacks of technical books that will be obsolete long before I
> run out of space on the kindle. As well as bunches of free books in
I think for me, a physical book is still more convenient when it comes
to technical books. For everything else, electronic is probably fine.
> electronic form that would be quite annoying to read on a computer
> screen.
Free books are definitely worth the Kindle, I guess. Years ago, I read
half a book on my PDA (Palm OS). As you can guess, the screen was small,
but it wasn't an issue for text-only. It had the extra benefit over the
Kindle in that I could fit it in my pocket.
Unfortunately, it would lose everything in memory every time you ran out
of power.
I have quite a few non-technical books lying around unread. So a year
ago I told myself that I'm not going to buy any more until I either read
the ones sitting around, or get rid of them. And after /that/, I'll buy
only if the library can't get it. So an ebook reader is a no-no for now.
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