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Amazon Kindle |OT| of eInk superiority

S

Socreges

Banned
Amazon could drop the price. That might be reason enough to wait a few weeks.

For my part I just got a Kindle a week ago and ordered it knowing that there could be a new version in a few/several months. Doesn't really matter to me since I really want one for the summer and am not particularly worried about new technologies (eg, colour) yet.

outunderthestars said:
That is exactly the reason. My ex works for a major library system and was told by Overdrive rep's that epub support is coming via a firmware update.

I would imagine that it will be rolled out when the amazon tablet is unveiled this summer.
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Good to hear.
 
P

PjotrStroganov

Member
I bet there won't be a colour e-ink reader for a while.

And I'm happy as can be with my current kindle. I just want to read books on it and it suits me fine.
 
K

kaskade

Member
I wish pubs would get on the ball with pricing. Selling the digital copy for basically the same as the physical isn't cool. My grandfather wants me to read unbroken, I don't wanna spend 13 bones on it. I guess a lot of people bitched at Amazon since some books say that the price is set by the publisher.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
kaskade said:
I wish pubs would get on the ball with pricing. Selling the digital copy for basically the same as the physical isn't cool. My grandfather wants me to read unbroken, I don't wanna spend 13 bones on it. I guess a lot of people bitched at Amazon since some books say that the price is set by the publisher.
Click to expand...

IIRC they added that after the agreements changed when the iPad came out.
 
N

ngower

Member
I received a Kindle for Christmas and to be honest, I rarely use it. I have yet to pay for anything on it, though I've loaded it with free books and games.

I'd love to be able to use it for documents at school made available online, but it's just not the most functional when I've tried it.

I'm just curious if you guys can help me start taking advantage of this nifty device. I know I can make use of it, I'm just not sure how. If that question is too vague, guide me to cool free things to do or help me out with easing the school PDF's process (getting it on the Kindle, making it work well, basically hassle-free).

I understand this is a pretty general question, but I hope you guys understand what I'm trying to say. HOORAY SUPER FAST POORLY THOUGHT OUT POSTS!
 
P

PotatoeMasher

Member
kaskade said:
I wish pubs would get on the ball with pricing. Selling the digital copy for basically the same as the physical isn't cool. My grandfather wants me to read unbroken, I don't wanna spend 13 bones on it. I guess a lot of people bitched at Amazon since some books say that the price is set by the publisher.
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I've noticed many of the new releases I'd like to buy are more expensive than a hardcover copy. Fucking ridiculous.
 
S

Sent

Member
kaskade said:
I wish pubs would get on the ball with pricing. Selling the digital copy for basically the same as the physical isn't cool. My grandfather wants me to read unbroken, I don't wanna spend 13 bones on it. I guess a lot of people bitched at Amazon since some books say that the price is set by the publisher.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure they don't want to lower the prices at all, no matter what we scream at them :( I have a hard time paying Kindle price when it's 3x the paperbook price.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
ngower said:
I received a Kindle for Christmas and to be honest, I rarely use it. I have yet to pay for anything on it, though I've loaded it with free books and games.

I'd love to be able to use it for documents at school made available online, but it's just not the most functional when I've tried it.

I'm just curious if you guys can help me start taking advantage of this nifty device. I know I can make use of it, I'm just not sure how. If that question is too vague, guide me to cool free things to do or help me out with easing the school PDF's process (getting it on the Kindle, making it work well, basically hassle-free).

I understand this is a pretty general question, but I hope you guys understand what I'm trying to say. HOORAY SUPER FAST POORLY THOUGHT OUT POSTS!
Click to expand...

Not really? You just put the pdfs on the kindle... Is the formating wonky or what about the pdfs on it is bad? And I'm not sure about "cool things". It's an ereader, it's used to read books.
 
M

Manics

Banned
HiroProtagonist said:
I hate to mention this because of recent adopters, but I just got this on my email alerts:

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2011/05/18/bn-nook-to-counter-amazon-kindle-next-week/



Amazon seems to respond to the competition quickly, so I'd probably wait to see how they react before placing an order. *cringe*
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This isn't an issue for people who purchased a Kindle wanting an e-Ink reader. All signs point to Amazon releasing a new tablet which will be LCD based technology. This in no way competes with a dedicated eReader like the Kindle currently is. I would never switch to LCD after reading on an e-Ink device.
 
M

Manics

Banned
Sent said:
I'm pretty sure they don't want to lower the prices at all, no matter what we scream at them :( I have a hard time paying Kindle price when it's 3x the paperbook price.
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3x the paperbook price? Most new Kindle releases are $9.99 to $12.99, you're telling me you can get the same in paperback for $3?
 
K

kaskade

Member
Sent said:
I'm pretty sure they don't want to lower the prices at all, no matter what we scream at them :( I have a hard time paying Kindle price when it's 3x the paperbook price.
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Very true. They wanna make money. Now that the base is growing maybe they'll see that it's a real market. Amazon is awesome with their MP3 store, they get some pretty low prices on relatively new albums.

Also, for LA Noire fans. http://www.rockstargames.com/lanoire/features/stories/

They are releasing some noire stories that'll be .99 for the collection.
 
H

HiroProtagonist

Member
Manics said:
This isn't an issue for people who purchased a Kindle wanting an e-Ink reader. All signs point to Amazon releasing a new tablet which will be LCD based technology. This in no way competes with a dedicated eReader like the Kindle currently is. I would never switch to LCD after reading on an e-Ink device.
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It rumor is "the new B&N ereader may be a low priced, monochrome, compact Nook device that would compete with the Amazon Kindle."

I imagine it's probably just an eink nook with the touch LCD removed - with a smaller/sleeker form factor.
 
M

Manics

Banned
HiroProtagonist said:
It rumor is "the new B&N ereader may be a low priced, monochrome, compact Nook device that would compete with the Amazon Kindle."

I imagine it's probably just an eink nook with the touch LCD removed - with a smaller/sleeker form factor.
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Ah was reading the wrong info, thought you were talking about Amazon's new tablet offering that's rumored. Not worried about the Nook, it's not a Kindle ;-)
 
N

ngower

Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Not really? You just put the pdfs on the kindle... Is the formating wonky or what about the pdfs on it is bad? And I'm not sure about "cool things". It's an ereader, it's used to read books.
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Well sometimes the PDFs are a little awkward to read, like it requires me to zoom in and then pan left to right, it's not like reading an e-book where zooming on the text pushes text to other pages.

Jayayess1190 said:
Buy some books?
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I prefer the physical format any day of the week, but if the ebook were substantially cheaper (think Amazon mp3 cheap albums versus CD/vinyl version of the album) I'd bite. I still can grab plenty of philosophy and history texts for free so it's not that big of a deal, and I probably have about 150 books on the kindle I want to read here and there.
 
H

HiroProtagonist

Member
Manics said:
Ah was reading the wrong info, thought you were talking about Amazon's new tablet offering that's rumored. Not worried about the Nook, it's not a Kindle ;-)
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No doubt Kindle will remain king, but I'm interested to see how Amazon responds to B&N. They seem very good about responding to competition. (Unlike some companies - I'm lookin' at you Nintendo!)


Edit: I just realized that I posted essentially the same thing twice. I wasn't trying to be an ass - I'm just so focused on the Parks and Rec season finale that my brain would not form a new thought.

j3R2F.gif
 
O

outunderthestars

Banned
PotatoeMasher said:
I've noticed many of the new releases I'd like to buy are more expensive than a hardcover copy. Fucking ridiculous.
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Kindle versions are less than the paperback or hardcover price. Walk into a book store and you'll see a major difference. Amazon however, aggressively discounts those books, whereas the kindle version is not discounted by the publisher.

It just shows how much better it would be if Amazon still controlled pricing on kindle books.
 
bloodydrake

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
outunderthestars said:
Kindle versions are less than the LISTED paperback or hardcover price. Walk into a book store and you'll see a major difference. Amazon however, aggressively discounts those books, whereas the kindle version is not discounted by the publisher.
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I think thats a big problem for most that would buy a Kindle tho..they're use to the 30% off price that amazon has on every book and don't buy books at book stores at list price anymore.
to Us..the price difference between Amazons Paper books and Kindle books isn't enough.
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
ngower said:
I prefer the physical format any day of the week, but if the ebook were substantially cheaper (think Amazon mp3 cheap albums versus CD/vinyl version of the album) I'd bite.
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E-books, depending on the e-reader, have a lot of advantages over physical books. You can change font, font size, words per line, there's a built in dictionary, you can search much easier, and it can weigh less than a paperback. And it isn't easy to digitize a physical book you own, unlike a CD and to a lesser extent vinyl. I easily prefer reading on my Kindle over a physical book.

They should be cheaper than the physical book and I think 9.99 is reasonable for a new release. The problem isn't really Amazon, they started the Kindle store with the 9.99 price but the publisher's didn't like it (with some good reason, by the way) and decided to put up some ridiculous prices. And those prices are going to stay for a while because it seems like most people don't have a problem with them.
 
L

Laekon

Member
The price increases have really kept me from using my Kindle as much as I thought I would. I live in a modest size town with a really good library and so I'd rather just go and borrow a book instead of paying $13 for it.

Just today I read some good stuff about http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1305829850&sr=1-1. Paperback is under $7 while the Kindle version is $12. Instead of buying either I'm just going to grab a copy at the library after work.
 
P

Phantast2k

Member
Echoes said:
I was browsing this page couple of hours ago at work and the book was 9.99$, and just when I was prepared to pay for it now -- guess what? It's free.

2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VP3KHK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

GET IT! I'm sure it's a fantastic read, and now totally free. Kindle rocks.
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They're doing it wrong..
Donate to the Japanese Red Cross Society
All revenue from the purchase of this book will be used to help the earthquake victims through the Japanese Red Cross Society. You can also donate to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund.
Click to expand...
 
N

Nymerio

Member
My kindle arrived on tuesday and I could not be more surprised at how awesome this thing actually is. I'm actually cancelling my Dance of Dragons preorder and switching to the Kindle version. Being able to type notes, highlight passages and search through books is just amazing. First thing I did was to install the wallpaper jailbreak to get these amazing backgrounds. I also tried viewing some manga I converted with mangle, which is also pretty great. The text is a bit small in places but still perfectly readable.

Overall I'm astonished at how quickly I warmed to the whole E-Book idea. I thought I'd actually miss having the paper in my hands but within minutes I fell in love with this thing.

Also, I'm really glad i picked the cover with the little light. Reading in bed with the light on and the rainymood mp3 as background music is simply the best reading experience I've ever had.

One of my favourite features is the built in dictionary. Not being a native english speaker there are quite a few words I actually have to look up when I'm reading english books, and being able to just move the cursor to a word an getting a definition blew my mind.

TL;DR: I love my Kindle!
 
S

Slappers Only

Junior Member
From an outsider's perspective, how long until we get a color eInk Kindle that also performs just as well in B&W mode as the current Kindle does? Is this even feasible?

I'm trying not to care about e-readers until I can get color without backlighting.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Slappers Only said:
From an outsider's perspective, how long until we get a color eInk Kindle that also performs just as well in B&W mode as the current Kindle does? Is this even feasible?

I'm trying not to care about e-readers until I can get color without backlighting.
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It's not clear that there's going to be a color eInk Kindle.
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
Stumpokapow said:
It's not clear that there's going to be a color eInk Kindle.
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I saw a British tech show and they showed the tech being worked on. The highlight was eInk being used for full video. Looked spectacular but I still think it is 2 years away at least.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
So a coworker was wondering whether you could have two kindles, for a husband and wife, and share an account between the two kindles?
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
HiroProtagonist said:
John C. Dvorak calls Amazon a bunch of wretched liars.
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Amazon: We sell 105 Kindle books to every 100 paper books, free downloads excluded

Dvorak: SHOW ME THE NUMBERS

... they just did. They can go out and say "We sell 205,000,000 million books this year. 105,000,000 of them were Kindle, 100,000,000 paper", but how does that really provide any more information than what they've already shown?

Dvorak said:
Of all the people I know, only two have Kindles. I never see them on airplanes, and I check every time I fly. The last time I saw an ebook reader on a plane it was a Sony reader.
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"I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don't know. They're outside my ken. But sometimes when I'm in a theater I can feel them." - Pauline Kael

Dvorak said:
I mean ebook just surpassed the hardcover numbers, so it's hard to believe they've now surpassed ALL printed books.
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By "just surpassed", he means almost a year ago, and Amazon is saying that they're selling 3 times as more Kindle books in 2011 than in 2010, so I'm not sure how this landmark is hard to believe.

Does he not believe they're selling three times as many books this year, or does he believe that number but not believe that that's high enough to exceed paper books?

Especially given that if he buys their "surpassed hardcover sales" press release from mid-2010, he's gotta buy their "surpassed softcover sales" press release from late-2010, and I'm not sure how you can't put two and two together and see that this was the next and obvious milestone

Dvorak said:
Is Amazon counting the "used" books it sells or not? Many of the so-called used titles are actually new remainders and not used at all. Are they not counted? Is a 10-page Kindle book counted as a book or not?
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1) No they're not counting used books. They don't sell used books. Other people sell used books on Amazon marketplace. Is Dvorak dumb?
2) Yes, short books are counted. Why wouldn't they be? A short paperback book is counted just like a short Kindle book is counted. Saying 25 page mini-essays don't count is ridiculous, like excluding poetry anthologies from bound books would be.

Trojita said:
So a coworker was wondering whether you could have two kindles, for a husband and wife, and share an account between the two kindles?
Click to expand...

Two Kindles can have the same account, yes.
 
S

Smithy C

Member
HiroProtagonist said:
John C. Dvorak calls Amazon a bunch of wretched liars.
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Dvorak said:
People think you must be dumb if you have so few books on your device. So everyone with one of these things immediately buys a bunch of trendy books and puts them on the reader. Having 50-100 books is typical. At $10 a pop or less, this is a good investment in image-making. "Look at me, I'm smart!"
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No one does this.
Dvorak said:
By the way, clicking on the ebook reader on someone's iPad is the first thing many people do.
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I want to see the numbers of how many people do this before I believe what he says.
 
L

Lissar

Reluctant Member
Smithy C said:
No one does this.
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Of course I have 400 books on my Kindle only to make myself look smart! It's not like I buy them because I want to read them. Pfft. Who actually reads books? They're just shelf decoration these days.

Why would I even talk to others about how many books I have? I don't even notice how many books I have. I just think about what I'm going to read next. And what would be the point of spending a bunch of money on a dedicated device for reading e-books if you're only going to have a couple? People who buy this sort of thing are usually the kind of people who read a ton. This makes it easier for those people. That's the point.

Ugh... someone who thinks reading is just for those who show off and put on airs...
 
I

Ivan A Nguyen

Member
I read this article as well. This is a classic example of the 'This does not fit my world view so I must not accept it' that is so prevalent in online discourse. This shouldn't be a paid article, this should just be the Youtube reaction shot of him reading the announcement and saying "Nu'uh!"
 
S

Schlep

Member
Dvorak said:
Of all the people I know, only two have Kindles. I never see them on airplanes, and I check every time I fly. The last time I saw an ebook reader on a plane it was a Sony reader.
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Really? I only do about 10% travel, but I can't remember the last time I got on a plane where I didn't see someone with a Kindle or a Nook. I've seen maybe one Sony reader while traveling, but the sample size of 20 flights a year multiplied by the six or seven people I can see on each flight doesn't make me think that no one has a Sony reader either.
 
S

Socreges

Banned
2004 Award winner of the American Business Editors Association's national gold award for best online column of 2003. That was followed up by an unprecedented second national gold award from the ABEA in 2005, again for the best online column (for 2004). Won the Silver National Award for best magazine column in 2006.
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Shocking. Dvorak's writing, at least in this one article, is littered with logical fallacies.
 
J

Jintor

Member
G'day KindleGAF. Is there any downside to setting my Kindle region to one that I'm not actually in? I want to buy some books that aren't available in my region (Aus) so I'm thinking of setting it to US.
 
A

Angst

Member
Jintor said:
G'day KindleGAF. Is there any downside to setting my Kindle region to one that I'm not actually in? I want to buy some books that aren't available in my region (Aus) so I'm thinking of setting it to US.
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We've discussed this in the thread earlier. You might get an email from Amazon asking you to prove you actually live in us. Try and report back to us. ;)
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Jintor said:
G'day KindleGAF. Is there any downside to setting my Kindle region to one that I'm not actually in? I want to buy some books that aren't available in my region (Aus) so I'm thinking of setting it to US.
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I tried that, but unless you have a US credit card/billing address the email comes pretty quick. I got it almost instantly.
 
C

craker

Member
Echoes said:
I was browsing this page couple of hours ago at work and the book was 9.99$, and just when I was prepared to pay for it now -- guess what? It's free.

2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004VP3KHK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

GET IT! I'm sure it's a fantastic read, and now totally free. Kindle rocks.
Click to expand...

Huh, It's not free for people living in Japan. That kinda sucks. I guess I don't need it. My daily reminder of what happened is tons of stores still being closed, radiation and constant aftershocks......
 
O

overthehill99

Member
What's up with Kindle books not having chapter markers? I just bought 1984, and it doesn't have them. Shouldn't that be a requirement for all books?
 
B

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
I want a kindle that has a screen that is the size of a full A4 size sheet of paper for my research readings.

Too bad it will never happen.
 
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