Kindle

[Pete C]

Thanks! I downloaded the app but it still seems I have to add things manually... nearly there...

From the menu, try Tools==>Sync & Check for New Items

[Justin V]

I received a Kindle for Christmas, but I'm still more likely to get a book from the library or buy a used copy at a library sale or Half Priced Books. There are a ton of Jim Thompson books available for the Kindle, but it is much less expensive to buy a used copy, which can be sold down the road. The Kindle is fun to have, though. Without it, I probably never would have read Great Expectations.

[crisp]

Sometimes, I like to flip back through a book to find where a character was mentioned before. Very hard to do with a Kindle.

That's weird. I would have thought it would be easy for a search function to be incorporated, and very useful. Dickens for one has a habit of reintroducing on page 654 a character he's briefly mentioned on page 28. Used to drive me nuts when writing undergraduate essays.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Sometimes, I like to flip back through a book to find where a character was mentioned before. Very hard to do with a Kindle.

That's weird. I would have thought it would be easy for a search function to be incorporated, and very useful. Dickens for one has a habit of reintroducing on page 654 a character he's briefly mentioned on page 28. Used to drive me nuts when writing undergraduate essays.

There is a search function but it's not very useful when searching for recurring characters and you want to re-read what happened the last time they were on the scene.

[David Ayers]

Thanks! I downloaded the app but it still seems I have to add things manually... nearly there...

From the menu, try Tools==>Sync & Check for New Items

okey dokey - thank you

[mjzee]

Britain's Hotel Indigo Newcastle may see an increase in thefts for the remainder of the year, and not because people are pilfering robes.

The hotel is testing a two-week pilot program ending on July 16 that replaces traditional paper Bibles with Amazon Kindles.

When a guest opens a nightstand drawer in search of some late-night reading, they will find an e-reader loaded with the Good Book, instead of the iconic Gideon's Bible, a hotel press release said.

More here:

pcmag.com

[Pete C]

Rocky Raccoon checked into his room only to find Gideon's Kindle.

[A Lark Ascending]

Britain's Hotel Indigo Newcastle may see an increase in thefts for the remainder of the year, and not because people are pilfering robes.

The hotel is testing a two-week pilot program ending on July 16 that replaces traditional paper Bibles with Amazon Kindles.

When a guest opens a nightstand drawer in search of some late-night reading, they will find an e-reader loaded with the Good Book, instead of the iconic Gideon's Bible, a hotel press release said.

More here:

pcmag.com

So exactly how many begats are there?

[Pete C]

So exactly how many begats are there?

Isn't that a Spencer Tracy line from Inherit the Wind?

[Matthew]

I wonder what the long run effect of Kindle will be, I just brought the complete works of Henry James for $2.99. These very books I was buying at a steady rate from the Library of America, and now, I have everything for just $2.99, after I'd spent about $200, with more to go. It can't be a good development.

[Pete C]

I wonder what the long run effect of Kindle will be, I just brought the complete works of Henry James for $2.99. These very books I was buying at a steady rate from the Library of America, and now, I have everything for just $2.99, after I'd spent about $200, with more to go. It can't be a good development.

Well, it's not a good development for publishers who are reprinting out of copyright works in bound editions. But otherwise, what's the problem?

[mjzee]

I wonder what the long run effect of Kindle will be, I just brought the complete works of Henry James for $2.99. These very books I was buying at a steady rate from the Library of America, and now, I have everything for just $2.99, after I'd spent about $200, with more to go. It can't be a good development.

Actually, you overpaid by $2.99: Project Gutenberg (search for Henry James).

[Pete C]

But he saved the steps of downloading and transferring. For a busy jazz lover that's got to be worth $2.99.

[Matthew]

I wonder what the long run effect of Kindle will be, I just brought the complete works of Henry James for $2.99. These very books I was buying at a steady rate from the Library of America, and now, I have everything for just $2.99, after I'd spent about $200, with more to go. It can't be a good development.

Well, it's not a good development for publishers who are reprinting out of copyright works in bound editions. But otherwise, what's the problem?

I very much support the Library of America editions (though I know there is a whole variety of issues around the idea of "canonical writers" it fosters), and I would be sorry to see them go dark. Plus, and granted, this is a irrational feeling on my part, but it seems to diminish James' accomplishment on a purely emotional level. I old enough (man yelling at empty chair age) where I like the heft of a physical book, and it adds to the sense that "I'm holding something important." I don't get the feel off of electronic gizmos, I even feel that way about music, despite the fact I can hear most of the music I'm interested in for free, I still buy the cds; it's like I do not take the item seriously if I am not holding something physical. Sorry, old geezer talk.

[Pete C]

I still feel that way about women.

[ejp626]

Britain's Hotel Indigo Newcastle may see an increase in thefts for the remainder of the year, and not because people are pilfering robes.

The hotel is testing a two-week pilot program ending on July 16 that replaces traditional paper Bibles with Amazon Kindles.

When a guest opens a nightstand drawer in search of some late-night reading, they will find an e-reader loaded with the Good Book, instead of the iconic Gideon's Bible, a hotel press release said.

More here:

pcmag.com

This just doesn't strike me as a good idea. Obviously quite a number will walk away and then the hotel has to decide whether they charge the last customer's card, and then said customer decides to contest the charges and claim in a counter-lawsuit that it was the maid that done it.

I truly would resent being put in such a spot if I turned up at a hotel and there was a Kindle in the night stand.

Now if they had a program where you could check out a Kindle at the front desk and then return it in the morning, that would be much better received (by me at any rate).

[BeBop]

I'd written a long diatribe about my Kindle Fire, but lost it in posting. Fortunately for you, a shorter version:

I'd pre-ordered my Kindle Fire long ago. I'd thought it was the perfect solution for me. I travel constantly with a work laptop that is limited for personal use; I don't want to carry a second laptop for my limited personal needs.

I hate the Kindle. Problems:

- Applications limited to those that work on the Kindle Fire (a tiny subset of the Android world). You can "root" the thing if you're technically adept, and that'll get you a somewhat larger subset, but it's still quite limited.

- Reading off it is sometimes okay (New Yorker), but usually too unpleasant for me.

- The "keyboard" absolutely sucks. I can't type a darn thing, no matter how hard I concentrate. I do much better on the relatively small virtual keyboard of my phone.

- Every webpage you visit gets saved to your "webpages" screen, as if you'd designated it as a favorite.

- Similarly, every application you use gets added to the homepage "Carousel". Sure, you can delete them, but it's a hassle, largely because...

- The touchscreen responds poorly/unreliably. I can poke at something ten times before it responds. My finger and the screen are clean, and the screen isn't scratched.

- It doesn't offer much flexibility in changing defaults. For instance, in my mail program, if I want to go to the next message when I delete one, I can't; it automatically takes me to the previous (read) message. And on another mail program, if I delete it on the Kindle, it doesn't delete on the "Web" version of the mail.

- Finally, I feel like the damn thing is constantly keeping tabs on me. I'd mentioned that it considers every webpage like a favorite and adds every application to your "carousel"; it's as if it's watching and hoarding information.

I've given up on it, other than for reading a few magazines. I've gone back to my mobile for e-mail and web searches.

[fasstrack]

Just started to use kindle. I find it fantastic for general reading. Love to get a sample, start reading, then if you want more you pay, otherwise just move on. I find organising and storing books a major pain and kindle solves that too. Interested to hear other views and opinions on uses of kindle.

I'm pretty well-known to be kind of anti-technology, but in this case I admit it's a good idea. To be able to have a large tome like Sondheim's Finishing the Hat or the OED made portable is a boon. I would miss the lived-in quality that, say, the highlighting in a used book has. What the hell, you can't have everything. Finally, it's nice when the zombies walking into you b/c they're distracted by playing w/gadgets are at least LITERATE zombies (;

[BeBop]

I agree. I spend too much time in planes, trains, boats... I'm delighted to see someone with a book, but I'll take a Kindle reader over a gut with a Gameboy anyday.

[crisp]

I like the idea of the e-reader, but having used an iPad regularly at work and sampled a colleague's Kindle, I'll reluctantly pass -- at least until either is improved. I find the iPad interface too slippery and distracting and the Kindle screen too grey and the buttons not responsive enough (I get the odd bout of RSI and don't want to encourage it).

In fact, formatting content for the iPad is now a part of my job, and I hate it, but even without that association that I wouldn't want to use one as it currently is.

I'm the same with music downloads: great idea, but the technology just isn't good enough yet.

[Pete C]

I find ... the Kindle screen too grey

http://www.zdnet.com/amazon-kindle-paperwhite-might-be-most-paper-like-e-reader-ever-7000003846/

[Matthew]

I find ... the Kindle screen too grey

http://www.zdnet.com...ver-7000003846/

I'm debating whether to buy that or not, have no need for the Fire, as I do not play computer games, do not subscribe to newspapers, etc. Might wait for more reviews to come in, though I really like the idea of being able to read a Kindle in the dark, it is a P.I.A. when you fly at night and they turn off the cabin lights, whenever I turn on the overhead light the person next to me always complains.

[Pete C]

it is a P.I.A. when you fly at night

Edited September 11, 2012 by Pete C

[crisp]

I find ... the Kindle screen too grey

http://www.zdnet.com/amazon-kindle-paperwhite-might-be-most-paper-like-e-reader-ever-7000003846/

Good. When it's just right, I'll happily buy one.

[Jazzmoose]

I finally tried one; I had an itch that needed scratching and downloaded a package of H.P. Lovecraft. On my computer it was...okay, so I borrowed one to try for a day. I'll pass. It has the feel of Pong when it came out in the seventies: someday this might be interesting, but I'm not holding my breath.