What the title says. I'm considering buying one, tough the price is still quite high (about 300 euros) and things like Amazon erasing books from its Kindle readers without warning aren't exactly encouraging.
Anyway, I'm interested in your experiences. Have you used any e-book reader, and which one? Is electronic ink so superior to a conventional screen? Etc, etc...
I read somewhere that Amazon says it will no longer erase; that really doesn't mean anything, I suppose, but at least they reimburse you if they do.
Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing what people have to say about these things, too. I'd like to get one so I can get more English language books than are available here. International e-book readers preferred.
These things seem really expensive for a device to display text
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on November 06, 2009, 04:39:51 AM
These things seem really expensive for a device to display text
That's my thinking at this point.
No.
Ebooks will fail.
I believe Joan has the Kindle. I posted before that my mother loves hers but I can't really get into it. I like realy books.
Quote from: Alatriste on November 06, 2009, 03:09:41 AM
Have you used any e-book reader, and which one? Is electronic ink so superior to a conventional screen? Etc, etc...
I have converted to the iPod Kindle application for all of my book needs (or at least all that Amazon offers). The Kindle application (and also the Barnes and Noble equivalent, and Stanza, useful for Baen works) are all free to download, and the iPod (or iPhone) have other useful features.
I like it a lot. 2 killer features:
1) Instant gratification. From "I might like X" to "I can read X" can be a 5-minute process.
2) Storage. No need to find a free spot on the bookcase anymore (which is good, because I don't have any free spots).
Amazon is releasing a free program for the PC to read Kindle books soon. You could get a netbook for the price of a Kindle and use that.
Quote from: ulmont on November 06, 2009, 09:44:40 AM
2) Storage. No need to find a free spot on the bookcase anymore (which is good, because I don't have any free spots).
I'm down to culling books and dumping them in a storage unit. :Embarrass:
I really like the look of them but I've no intention of being a early adopter and paying big money for a inferior product, I'm gonna wait a few years.
I'm reading a few Mobipocket titles every year in my Nokia phone. Works great for me, but the screen is not optimal. The library lends the e-books for free, though, so it's very convenient.
Actually I have. We tested out a few e-books and tablet PCs to see which one to recommend to the bosses. Ultimately we went with the tablet PCs. Touch screen FTW.
Quote from: Tyr on November 06, 2009, 10:33:39 AM
I really like the look of them but I've no intention of being a early adopter and paying big money for a inferior product, I'm gonna wait a few years.
I think at this point you don't have to worry about being an early adopter. They've been out for several years.
Quote from: garbon on November 06, 2009, 01:50:06 PM
Quote from: Tyr on November 06, 2009, 10:33:39 AM
I really like the look of them but I've no intention of being a early adopter and paying big money for a inferior product, I'm gonna wait a few years.
I think at this point you don't have to worry about being an early adopter. They've been out for several years.
Meh - we're still in the early stages. It's like the early days of the portable MP3 player, before the iPod.
Which means that Alatriste should be waiting for the apple e-book reader. :P
Quote from: Barrister on November 06, 2009, 01:52:05 PM
Meh - we're still in the early stages. It's like the early days of the portable MP3 player, before the iPod.
Which means that Alatriste should be waiting for the apple e-book reader. :P
The Kindle isn't the first e-book reader. There were earlier readers (my mother wanted to give one to me as a gift) that were bulkier and I believe you had to download books to your computer to transfer over or something like that.
Quote from: Barrister on November 06, 2009, 01:52:05 PM
Which means that Alatriste should be waiting for the apple e-book reader. :P
It's the iPhone.
Quote from: ulmont on November 06, 2009, 01:56:58 PM
Quote from: Barrister on November 06, 2009, 01:52:05 PM
Which means that Alatriste should be waiting for the apple e-book reader. :P
It's the iPhone.
Apparently they're coming out with a larger form-factor though, where it's expected that text (and movies) will be the "killer app".
Quote from: garbon on November 06, 2009, 01:50:06 PM
Quote from: Tyr on November 06, 2009, 10:33:39 AM
I really like the look of them but I've no intention of being a early adopter and paying big money for a inferior product, I'm gonna wait a few years.
I think at this point you don't have to worry about being an early adopter. They've been out for several years.
The early adopter stage of innovation diffusion is typically very strung out.
There's a guy in my department doing a study on the potential of these e-book things and he doesn't think we've gotten anywhere with them yet
That's nice. According to wikipedia they've been out since 1998.
Quote from: garbon on November 06, 2009, 09:34:56 PM
That's nice. According to wikipedia they've been out since 1998.
And digital cameras have been around since 1990.
It still wasn't until this decade that they became anything like widespread.
Lets not even mention mobile phones.
By the time I got a digital camera at the end of the 90s, everyone I knew already had one...
And yeah, we shouldn't start on mobile phones because they aren't at all comparable. The e-books around have been quite affordable for a while...whereas mobile phones didn't become affordable until late 80s/early 90s and and by 97/98 were quite commonplace.