electronic book reader

Pep

It will be a good present for my wife.

Which to buy? Kindle? ANy other...?

Ben6899

I happened upon a lovely edition of George Orwell's "1984" the other week. In it's current guise, it is absolutely useless so I am going to tear out every page and scan them into .PDF format. THEN I will be able to read the masterpiece on my tiny phone screen.

But seriously, I hear many folk affirm that the Kindle is easily the best offering out there.

clarkey cat

I have a sony e-reader. I would not recommend.
The kit itself is fine but you have to buy books from wh smiths or waterstones and their websites are dreadful.

If i was to buy again I'd get a kindle.

Pep

What's the cost of electronic books?
Do these reader support asian characters? (my wife is Japanese).

clarkey cat

I read Midnight's Children on mine and all the characters were fine. Vivid, believable, flawed.

Pep

clarkey cat wrote:

I read Midnight's Children on mine and all the characters were fine.

In what language?

Pep

I checked their website: no japanese supported. Will not buy it then.

NickintheLakes

Pep wrote:

I checked their website: no japanese supported. Will not buy it then.

Definitely one that got away there, something you absolutely would have thought came from Japan turns out to be American!

My life loves hers BTW. I got it for her last Chrissie and she has read 83 books so far this year.

Mind you the house is filthy, I have to do the shopping and cook the tea......

McBain_v1

Am dead against Kindle etc. - I have over 800 books at home. At least with a 'real' book you can appreciate the subtle combination of effort that goes into its production: cover art, typography, typesetting and page layout etc. With a kindle all you get is poorly rendered pixellated characters on a matt surface. Great if all you want to do is read some soft-porn crap on the beach - not good for anything else.

Kindle?? Bah Humbug

nevman

I have one of each,but the Kindle is definitely harder to colour in.

NickintheLakes

nevman wrote:

I have one of each,but the Kindle is definitely harder to colour in.

Just get a piece of plain white paper, cut it down to the same size as the Kindle screen and then just paste it on.

Works a treat.

LeicesterLad

McBain_v1 wrote:

Am dead against Kindle etc. - I have over 800 books at home. At least with a 'real' book you can appreciate the subtle combination of effort that goes into its production: cover art, typography, typesetting and page layout etc. With a kindle all you get is poorly rendered pixellated characters on a matt surface. Great if all you want to do is read some soft-porn crap on the beach - not good for anything else.

Kindle?? Bah Humbug

Don't think i have ever agreed with a post more. A good book is far more than just words.

Smokin Joe

At least with a dirty book the pages just stick together...

MattC59

I bought my Mrs a Kindle last Christmas, she loves it. It's really good, and the customer support / warranty / service from Amazon is second to none........... even when she dropped it in the bath :roll:

It does what it says on the tin, extremely well.

balthazar

A nice review of the current picks here:

http://www.marco.org/2011/12/02/kindle- ... h-kindle-4

Marco likes the cheapest kindle best. I've been reading books happily on an iPad lately, but that's extravagant as a book reader.

McBain- you know, I think I've only got about 750 books at home. Maybe when I hit 800 I'll really understand them.

MattC59

LeicesterLad wrote:

McBain_v1 wrote:

Am dead against Kindle etc. - I have over 800 books at home. At least with a 'real' book you can appreciate the subtle combination of effort that goes into its production: cover art, typography, typesetting and page layout etc. With a kindle all you get is poorly rendered pixellated characters on a matt surface. Great if all you want to do is read some soft-porn crap on the beach - not good for anything else.

Kindle?? Bah Humbug

Don't think i have ever agreed with a post more. A good book is far more than just words.

True, but they're also a pain in the a*se when the Mrs wants to take 6 of the bu66ers on holiday. A kindle is far more convenient.

APIII

McBain_v1 wrote:

I have over 800 books at home

What's your name - Ron Burgundy?

RonB

You forgot to mention the leather and mahogany 8)

Ouija

Think the Kindles main strength is in replacing paperbacks. The screen size is just about right for most paperbacks and the E-Ink screen and resolution is crisper than the actual print on the usual off-white pulp paper used in paperbacks. Probably not so good for magazines or newspapers or other large sized documents though (though i do store very large maps on mine and simply scroll around them).

ChrisSA

+1 for the Kindle. Got one in Jan and it goes everywhere with me. Amazon plug a 99p book a day on facebook, though they have a huge variety of cheap or free books.

Amazon are the new drug dealers. Get you hooked on free samples.

Ouija

While you can download your books from Amazon, it's much cheaper to download the same books from other sources (like Bittorent.... ahem) and simply convert them into MOBI format via the Calibre book management software (which can do just about anything you could imagine with a E-Book). I've got thousands and thousands of Ebooks for my Kindle and they haven't cost a penny.

cougie

I've just got the kindle app on my iphone. OK so the display isnt as big as a kindle - but its free. And small and always with me. If it wasnt on the iphone then I'd definitely get a kindle.

No idea how many books I have at home, but I'm trying to declutter - and I haven't the time to re-read old books anyway - so Ebooks are great. And cheap.

verylonglegs

Ouija wrote:

While you can download your books from Amazon, it's much cheaper to download the same books from other sources (like Bittorent.... ahem) and simply convert them into MOBI format via the Calibre book management software (which can do just about anything you could imagine with a E-Book). I've got thousands and thousands of Ebooks for my Kindle and they haven't cost a penny.

Why do you think authors should work and not get paid for it?

daviesee

verylonglegs wrote:

Ouija wrote:

While you can download your books from Amazon, it's much cheaper to download the same books from other sources (like Bittorent.... ahem) and simply convert them into MOBI format via the Calibre book management software (which can do just about anything you could imagine with a E-Book). I've got thousands and thousands of Ebooks for my Kindle and they haven't cost a penny.

Why do you think authors should work and not get paid for it?

Next you'll be suggesting that musicians & film producers deserve payment too!



Just playing devil's advocate

Ouija

Most of the books i already had and simply wasn't going to buy them a second time. So the author hasn't lost out on anything. The rest are books i wouldn't of bought anyways. So again, the author didn't lose out on any money, since i had no intention of ever buying those books.

If anything, i've bought a few books i wouldn't of after reading works by various authors i wouldn't of touched otherwise.

verylonglegs

Ouija wrote:

Most of the books i already had and simply wasn't going to buy them a second time. So the author hasn't lost out on anything. The rest are books i wouldn't of bought anyways. So again, the author didn't lose out on any money, since i had no intention of ever buying those books.

If anything, i've bought a few books i wouldn't of after reading works by various authors i wouldn't of touched otherwise.

Hang on, this logic baffles me entirely...you have stolen it and read it but because you'd have never have paid for it anyway they haven't lost out? You had no intention of buying them so it made it ok to download them for free? Have I got that right?

nevman

If anything, i've bought a few books i wouldn't of after reading works by various authors i wouldn't of touched otherwise.[/quote]

You have`nt got one by Lynn Truss by any chance have you?

Ouija

verylonglegs wrote:

Ouija wrote:

Most of the books i already had and simply wasn't going to buy them a second time. So the author hasn't lost out on anything. The rest are books i wouldn't of bought anyways. So again, the author didn't lose out on any money, since i had no intention of ever buying those books.

If anything, i've bought a few books i wouldn't of after reading works by various authors i wouldn't of touched otherwise.

Hang on, this logic baffles me entirely...you have stolen it and read it but because you'd have never have paid for it anyway they haven't lost out? You had no intention of buying them so it made it ok to download them for free? Have I got that right?

Then your easily baffled. Authors only lose out if someone doesn't pay for one of their books that they otherwise might of. In that case, they've lost a potential sale. Since i've gone out and spent a shit load of money over the last few months on books i wouldn't of dreamed of touching or buying i'd say the Kindle (and bittorent) have increased book sales (at least in my case).

And you know what? I even sometimes download free films to see if they are any good. And if they are, i end up buying the DVD's. So again, money leaves my pocket where it wouldn't of previously.

Stop being such a prig.

verylonglegs

Ouija wrote:

verylonglegs wrote:

Ouija wrote:

Most of the books i already had and simply wasn't going to buy them a second time. So the author hasn't lost out on anything. The rest are books i wouldn't of bought anyways. So again, the author didn't lose out on any money, since i had no intention of ever buying those books.

If anything, i've bought a few books i wouldn't of after reading works by various authors i wouldn't of touched otherwise.

Hang on, this logic baffles me entirely...you have stolen it and read it but because you'd have never have paid for it anyway they haven't lost out? You had no intention of buying them so it made it ok to download them for free? Have I got that right?

Then your easily baffled. Authors only lose out if someone doesn't pay for one of their books that they otherwise might of. In that case, they've lost a potential sale. Since i've gone out and spent a shoot load of money over the last few months on books i wouldn't of dreamed of touching or buying i'd say the Kindle (and bittorent) have increased book sales (at least in my case).

And you know what? I even sometimes download free films to see if they are any good. And if they are, i end up buying the DVD's. So again, money leaves my pocket where it wouldn't of previously.

Stop being such a prig.

Ah right, sorry. I was a bit cranky yesterday, forget it.

jimmcdonnell

Don't think i have ever agreed with a post more. A good book is far more than just words.

I don' think I have ever disagreed with a post more. A GREAT book is EXACTLY its words, nothing more or less. 'The medium is not the message', to mis-quote Marshall McCluhan.

jim453

Ouija wrote:

verylonglegs wrote:

Ouija wrote:

Most of the books i already had and simply wasn't going to buy them a second time. So the author hasn't lost out on anything. The rest are books i wouldn't of bought anyways. So again, the author didn't lose out on any money, since i had no intention of ever buying those books.

If anything, i've bought a few books i wouldn't of after reading works by various authors i wouldn't of touched otherwise.

Hang on, this logic baffles me entirely...you have stolen it and read it but because you'd have never have paid for it anyway they haven't lost out? You had no intention of buying them so it made it ok to download them for free? Have I got that right?

Then your easily baffled. Authors only lose out if someone doesn't pay for one of their books that they otherwise might of. In that case, they've lost a potential sale. Since i've gone out and spent a shoot load of money over the last few months on books i wouldn't of dreamed of touching or buying i'd say the Kindle (and bittorent) have increased book sales (at least in my case).

And you know what? I even sometimes download free films to see if they are any good. And if they are, i end up buying the DVD's. So again, money leaves my pocket where it wouldn't of previously.

Stop being such a prig.

He wasn't being a 'prig', he was merely pointing out that your justification for what is essentially theft is laughable. Also, for an individual who has read 'thousands and thousands' of books, your use of English is awful. 'Have' and 'of' do not mean the same thing and are not interchangeable.