Kindle or not?

Happy Birfday!

I have none of them (so I guess that makes me ... a fossil?)

But I was looking around - there are a lot of devices that perform these functions now so compare carefully.

Displays are universally excellent, batteries last forever, size varies - so largely level field.

Until you get to *what* will it do.

Some only allow use of *their* library, some have only tiny libraries, some actually allow you to upload your own documents in many formats!

Some allow RSS feeds, some allow newsfeeds, some break your arms and legs for the price of a news feed.

So after playing with the front end, look behind at what it does and what it costs. The Kindle is huge, the Sony maybe better, but don't overlook BeBook, and others and what else did you want it to do? Some are also hand-held computers, some allow you to swap books with others, some allow viewing of googlebooks.

Or did ya just want a Kindle and all this advice is me talking to myself?

Get a Kindle if ya want - they are great too.

I'm interested in the audio mode, since I do a lot of driving and love audio books. But they're expensive so my selection is limited to what I can find at used book stores. I also want a search function. RSS feeds would be OK, but I can do that on my PC.

Don't forget your local library as a source. Cheap to.

Books on Tape are kind of out, but Books on CD and Playaways (sort of mp3 with a book) are hot. I just finished a Playaway from the library, but I think you can rent them from Recorded Books.

The Kindle is also an MP3 player, and can play recorded books from www.audible.com .

Hum... another gadget consumer? Yeah, go for it!

Besides I have tryied some ebooks in my palm already and did not appreciate it. Maybe a specialized device can do better.

I haven't bought one yet.

I was going to fill it up with all the technical papers, standards and reference /text books I need to have when I'm on the road.

I'm not looking at it for pleasure reading, but as a technical teaching information management tool. I get better pricing on books from amazon than at bookstores so... it seems to make sense.

If you described how you intend to use it perhaps we could all better point out how it would or wouldnt work for you.

milo

Well, I like audio books, and it will take audio books and it can read books to you. I like to read in bed also. I can imagine loading up dozens of tedious technical specs.

I don't have a Kindle, but a friend of mine bought one for his wife.

According to him, she really loves it.

Back when I was younger and wiser, prior to making purchases of such things, I used to get a copy of Consumer Reports and read there for information.

I think Consurmer Reports is still around, and if they are, I suggest you look there for information about the product.

Otherwise word of mouth is that the Kindle is right nice to have. P.S. Best wishes on your birthday for continued health, prosperity, and fun.

Well one con is that Amazon can 'disappear' anything they sold you (and you paid for) on a whim:

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/amazon-sold-pirated-books-raided-some-kindles.ars

If they get rid of the stupid DRM I might consider one.

Not a "whim" exactly: "These books were added to our catalog using our self-service platform by a third-party who did not have the rights to the books." When the publisher informed Amazon of this, Amazon moved to rectify the situation. And they refunded the money. The lesson is to stay away from third-party vendors. And read fast.

bhankiii:

The real lesson is this: they have the ability to reach into your private property and violate it. And what constitutes a valid reason to do so is... their decision, not yours.

And the money doesn't excuse it. Not by a mile.

It's like someone broke into your house, stole your personal belongings, and left some money on your empty floor. Even if the money amounts to a fair price for your things, that doesn't change the central scurrilous fact:

They broke into your house and stole from you!

This invasion of privacy and violation of personal property by Amazon is utterly reprehensible. And the fact that they got away with it sets an extremely evil precedent; it begins driving the thin edge of a wedge that will one day separate people from their own knowledge and their own thoughts.

One day, the government will declare that some kinds of knowledge are "too dangerous" for people to know, and some kinds of thoughts are "too dangerous" for people to think, and they will issue instructions to companies like Amazon. And those companies will reach onto your Kindles and your BeBooks and your personal computers and what-have-you, and books containing that knowledge will disappear without a trace. And they will reach into your eDictionaries and redefine the words you think with, leaving no hint that these words once meant something important.

And there will be no point in criticizing those companies, because they will only shrug their figurative shoulders and say they were only following the law.

So excusing Amazon is the very last thing we should be doing, bhankiii. Minimizing the seriousness of this crime is a very bad idea. We need to halt this trend dead in its tracks, before it gathers any momentum.

If we allow crimes like this to go unpunished, we're all going to be very, very sorry one day.

And if we allow technologies like this to be deployed, we're going to be even sorrier.

Hang on a second: who committed the first crime here? If it came to a court of law Amazon would have been "done" if they had not removed the illegally sold books.

But I hate being tied to a vendor:- I'd make sure that whatever I purchased could be used for books from the Gutenberg project.

Randall:

It doesn't matter who committed the first crime.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

If you had been Amazon's legal adviser: what would you have advised them to do?

Kindle can use Gutenberg Project books.

Grrrrreat

I believe Amazon was also recently sued and lost (or settled out of court) because they froze someone's account for excessive returns. The customer had a Kindle and could no longer make any purchases for it because they had to be made through Amazon. The returns were for electronice unrelated to the Kindle. I think I read about it on this site. Right HERE.

I've returned several books without problems. Amazon is usually very flexible. I'm thinking you'd have to go pretty far to piss them off.

On the other hand, they may have marked him as a "poison" customer, and had decided to ban him from purchasing any Amazon products - that would include books along with everything else they sell.

Thanks Vermin! Very helpful answer (s)!

One question the stuff that you "buy"- is it backed up on your pc too, or on Amazons site, or solely on the kindle unit itself?

How did you move stuff from kindle 1 to kindle II or is it in an "account" in the "cloud?"

milo

What I understand from the website is that you can redownload your library anytime. That allows you to delete books to make room for new ones, but still have the old ones available.

That's right! However, with room for 1,500 books that need may be a long time coming!!!

My wife and I only have about 800 books in the house.

One of the reasons I married her was that she had many of the core books of the two libraries lost in my life of disarray and travels.

She lost one library in a hurricane event.

In fact the library was insured.

Did you know that insurance pays less for books that you have read?

When you purchase (some are even free) from Amazon, they send you the book, but they maintain an archive for you of all your purchases in case you lose something.

As a matter of fact, I have the Kindle software on my iPhone, as well. Once you log into Amazon with the iPhone, it shows you all of the books in your archive. From there, you just pick the books you want added to your iPhone, and they download to your phone - and are readable on the Kindle app on your iPhone.