the kindle - are you kidding me?- Page 3

[tazber]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 12:40pm

I must say as a student I don't see how a kindle will work for texts. The amount of flipping I do to previous chapters.

I guess you could bookmark the page on the kindle, but it would take some getting used to.

Also, the texts I use have a lot of graphs and color tables that would prove difficult to read on a brown and black screen.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 5:24pm

It doesn't equal having an actual book.



Hopefully, nothing will.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 5:54pm

A friend just posted this on another list in a thread about summer reads:

===

my partner and i both love books and have (no kidding) over a thousand in our house. BUT, we love the kindle (don't yet have the Kindle 2 yet). almost all our future books will be bought on it. it's too convenient and too easy....

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 5:54pm

I guess it's beneficial if you're the person that rushes out to buy all the latest best sellers and never reads them again, but I just get those from the library. The books I buy are books that I love and want to keep forever.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 9:53pm

I've had my K2 for about a month now. I simply adore it. It weighs less than 11 ounces. I have a mulitude of books with me at all times and can purchase more in less than a minute. You do not need wireless signal because it operates the same way our cell phones do.

The only time I've had a glare on the screen is if the light source is directly overhead. You can change the font size between 6 font sizes.

Amazon has MANY free books. Many ridiculously cheap books -- I got the enitre collection of Wm Shakespeare for .99!!!

There is a dicitonary built right in -- which if FAB. And additionally, you can right footnotes on hte text. You can even send documents to the kindle and work on it.

Yes, I would say if you get most of your books from the library the kindle DOESN'T make sense. But if you purchase many, I think it's wonderful.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/11/09 at 10:07pm

Can't you download ebooks through a shareware site and put them on your Kindle? Not that I would ever endorse that...

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 4:55pm

I got the enitre collection of Wm Shakespeare for .99!!!

You can download it to your iPhone or iPod Touch for free.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/12/09 at 7:26pm

But I don't have one of those, and besides my screen is about 4x as big.

I believe there are a few that MIGHT be compatable....but I'm not really sure.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/13/09 at 12:25pm

I don't read ebooks on my iphone, way too small a screen.....I'll take my Kindle 2 anytime!

[antonijan]

Posted: 6/17/09 at 4:53am

No thanks amazon! I hate you!!!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 6:59pm

That Twilight Zone episode makes me cry. I feel so bad for him!

I figure that I'll get one eventually, but I feel like I did before I had an ipod (why do I NEED to have every song I own at my disposal?), because I don't fathom a need to carry that many books with me. I think the most I ever carry is three (unless I'm traveling).

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 7:05pm

I want one, but don't need one - and still have an affection for hard copy books and magazines.

I also think on some level all of these electronic screens are killing my eyes.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 8:03pm

It is NOT the same as reading on a computer screen. It is not backlit. I hate reading on the puter...and my eyes get dry and tired. Not so on the kindle.

Orange Skittles -- I don't understand your comment about never reading a kindle book again...you have access to it forever. You can store approx 1500 books on the device itself...but just like itunes, if you have deleted it off the kindle, you can always get it back.

[kover22]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 4:57pm

I really want to get one for my dad, who goes to dialysis 3 times a week. They have to tie one arm down so he can't hold a book anymore and read that, so I was thinking he could easily handle a Kindle with one hand. Unfortunetly, I am on SSD, and buying one of them would take half my monthly check...so thats out of the question!!

[zoraksferal]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 6:08pm

I have never heard of a Kindle before... oh, the things one learns in the off-topic board.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 6:15pm

dramamama - skittles meant that she thinks for people who run out to purchase every book they want to read and thus accumulate books rapidly enough to necessitate a kindle for the sake of saving space, it makes sense. Her point had nothing to do with the ability to re-read on a kindle.

Personally, I get the convenience and everything, but... I could never do this. I just love books too much. Actual books.

Updated On: 7/27/09 at 06:15 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 7:03pm

Ah....thanks for the clarification.


Emcee...I really felt the same way...until I got my hands on one.

I think part of it is now that i'm older my eyes are easily strained. I absolutely HATE wearing reading glasses and need them to read any text on paper...but on the Kindle, I can just change the font size.

Of course, then I RATIONALIZE that I've managed to reduce my carbon footprint, too!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 7:25pm

I mean, I get that they have their up-sides. I don't think they're bad, and if they're an improvement for you, great. I'm just far too in love with my books to imagine ever going digital with that aspect of my life. There's something about the tangibility of an individual book that I would really miss. There are books all over my apartment, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 9:48pm

And additionally, you can right footnotes on hte text.

Thanx to tecknolgie, Amerkins are werking smarter, not harderer!

[humbugfoto]

Posted: 7/28/09 at 11:12am

I can see the appeal of a Kindle, but when I find a book I love, I want it in hard copy form. To keep. Forever. I have several bookcases filled with keeper books (I don't dare count how many there are, but certainly more than 1500), books that I occasionally pick up to re-read, and some that get re-read regularly. (I'm a voracious reader, I will probably read at least 20-25 books a month, and that's a lot less than I used to read).

The Kindle wasn't meant for storage, I think it was meant for the purpose Orangeskittles alluded to - books for a casual read. The latest popular chick-lit or vampire book. Books you will read once and never read again. As someone who has probably twenty-five or thirty books in the TBR (to be read) pile, books I know will be one-time reads, I can see where the Kindle would make that a lot easier. But I still want the feel of a book in my hands, the ability to turn pages, and if something on, say, page 87 reminds me of something earlier in the book, I can quickly flip back to where I remembered reading that in the book. That's a physical thing you don't get with the Kindle. (I know you can scroll back, but I mean the physical feel of where that paragraph you're looking for is in the book. Like, it was right near the beginning, on a left-hand page, a page with a lot of dialog and no expository paragraphs. It's a lot harder to do that kind of search with a Kindle).

I think you also lose a certain sense of the pace of a book with the Kindle. With a hardcopy book you can see that you are nearing the end of the story, and that the climactic scene you are reading will be THE climactic scene in the book, not just another twist. You don't get that with the Kindle and frankly I think you lose some of the reading experience that way.

So...it has it's uses, but I'll stick with hardcopy books for now.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/28/09 at 1:24pm

I still don't get the re read issue with a kindle. I can always do that.

Additionally, I DO know where I am in the book at all times: 1/2 way through, etc.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy one (although they did just lower the price by 50 bucks.) but just putting in my two cents to the "arguments".

I have been and always will be an avid reader....I haven't felt ANY sort of change with my kindle one bit. Still love to read, just love to do so on my kindle.

Oh....I still go to the bookstore to browse. Love to browse. Then I write down the titles I'm interested in and order them on my kindle, when I can. My kids still buy at the bookstore but I can see buying them a kindle as they get older.