Kindle

[Pretty Flaco]

Are these worth buying for reading? My library sucks ass and I might be able to get one of the new ones for half off.
http://wf360.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83452408569e20115720322d2970b-400wi

[Revy]

I wouldn't know because I have never used anything like it.

But I read that purchased copies of 1984 by George Orwell were removed from users' Kindles by Amazon in a literally Orwellian act.

It's probably a lot more comfortable than trying to read a book on a laptop or a desktop screen.

[Invincible Summer]

My friend has the Nook and likes it. I've only tried Sony's e-reader and it sucked hard. Bad resolution, laggy pages and menu.

[IllicitPopsicle]

I think it's a good resource. I don't know how much Marx or Lenin is available in the kindle store but they just announced a brand new model that comes with 3G cellular Internet for 189.00. The last kindles (the DX, and really even the kindle II) were in the 400's for pretty much the same thing. They are available for preorder now; I bought one, even though I'ma have to wait until they release it at the end of this month.

Also, this xkcd comic seems to hit the mark:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/kindle.png

Edit: upon further review of the Kindle store, it seems that there is a pretty damn good selection of communist and anarchist literature available. Bakunin, Kropotkin, Marx and Lenin, all available.

[MarxSchmarx]

I'm told these kinds of things are actually excellent for cookbooks and "how to" type books more generally. That I can believe. And maybe for trivial things like reading a weekly magazine. Or for downloading guidebooks while travelling. Still, they continue to strike me as a glorified blackberry, except no color.

[IllicitPopsicle]

I'd say that's a fair assessment.

[Blackscare]

I wonder, are there ebooks that can just display PDFs or other formats? Do you always have to buy from their store?

[The Fighting_Crusnik]

hmm... I've been thinking about getting a kindle. From what I understand, many of the books that are now in the public domain are available for free and you can go on wikipedia with them. However, if they are able to remove books that you've purchased, then that is a big turn off... the same big turn off that makes me not want to buy an ipod touch :p

[DecDoom]

I wonder, are there ebooks that can just display PDFs or other formats? Do you always have to buy from their store?

According to Amazon, the new Kindle has PDF support.

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Reading-Display-Graphite-Globally/dp/B002FQJT3Q

Scroll down a bit, to where it talks about features.

[ComradeOm]

I really should get a Kindle or similar device. It'd probably save me money and (a lot of) space. On the other hand I just love owning actual physical books. The future can wait


Still, they continue to strike me as a glorified blackberry, except no color.Do you really need colour when reading a book? Particularly when most screens that display colour are so hard on the eyes

[IllicitPopsicle]

hmm... I've been thinking about getting a kindle. From what I understand, many of the books that are now in the public domain are available for free and you can go on wikipedia with them. However, if they are able to remove books that you've purchased, then that is a big turn off... the same big turn off that makes me not want to buy an ipod touch :p

Well from what I've read, it seems that Amazon got an immense amount of shit for deleting 1984 for pretty much the reason you stated (and rightfully so). The CEO of Amazon even had to come out and say they had taken measures to ensure that shenanigans of that nature never happen again. Not that O believe him, but I haven't heard of another incident like that.

[MarxSchmarx]

Still, they continue to strike me as a glorified blackberry, except no color.

Do you really need colour when reading a book? Particularly when most screens that display colour are so hard on the eyes

For guidebooks and maagazines colort makes sense.

[ComradeOm]

For guidebooks and maagazines colort makes sense.Fair enough. Though given the price and weight of those (particularly magazines) would it be much of a saving to move to an electronic reader?

[Shokaract]

Reading on one for extended periods is indeed easier than on an LCD screen. A bit pricy, but piracy makes it more economical.

If you already have a ton of pdfs, it'd be a good idea to look into an e-reader with a larger screen.

[praxis1966]

This all presumes that one would want to give up reading actual books to begin with. I mean, yeah, there are environmental arguments that could be made in favor of buying a kindle, although I'm not so sure that if the world suddenly switched over to them en masse that there wouldn't be a similar if not worse environmental impact associated with the disposal of Kindle batteries.

Anyway, as someone else already said, the future can wait because as someone who's a bit of a bibliophile, I love my books (for reasons beyond just the words on the page even, as I've described in another thread). Besides, and I don't know if you care or not, but there's also the small matter of how you'll be perceived carrying one of those things around.

[Revy]

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/488173112_qKof7-L-2.jpg

[MarxSchmarx]

Fair enough. Though given the price and weight of those (particularly magazines) would it be much of a saving to move to an electronic reader?


You're right, not right now it will not make economic sense to buy one of those things.

Well for people doing say the grand tour of several countries for guide books (which are quite expensive anyway) I think it would be a very logical thing, especially if it can be combined with multimedia features like audio tours or interactive maps.

However, if magazines can figure out a way to market their product using the ereader platforms (some like Sports Illustrated in america are trying really hard) there could be quite a market for them - especially if they bundle for example you get a subscription to several news magazines for a small sum all delivered via your reader. If they can market it towards specicific niches like people who read car magazines, I can see the magazine companies tempted to give out discounted readers that people will subscribe to their magazine with and they can sell the ad space. It hasn't happened yet, but the point is I think that many of the disincentives at least from the magazine business are rather temporary.