Comments on: Kindlemania! Is It Sensible…or Silly?

By: Daniel Hollister

Daniel Hollister — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 07:47:21 +0000

I love the concept. I love the idea of subscribing to my newspapers on the device. I’ve also wanted a device for YEARS that would just let me shove my enormous library of PDF’s (books, articles, lessons, things I’ve written, whatever) onto one device.

The problem with the Kindle is that you have to email the PDF to yourself and pay for it. Oh, and the fact that the thing is HIDEOUS.

Ironically, I don’t care at all about the EV-DO. Wifi would be good enough, since when I’m downloading the morning newspapers, chances are I’m at home, or at least somewhere with wifi. I just want to be able to put tons of PDF’s on the thing without having to pay for it, and I don’t want it to be ugly as all hell.

By: Harry McCracken

Harry McCracken — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:19:48 +0000

Angela: I know -of- the Rocketbook, but only vaguely remember the display. It too was black and white, of course. Mobile devices circa 2008 are kinda spoiling me, since so many of them have such excellent high-resolution color displays. I’m aware that battery life is an issue, and that color isn’t mandatory for a book that’s primarily or entirely text. But my Kindle, clock radio, and car radio are about the last devices left in my life that are monochrome, and they all feel pretty retro at this point.

–Harry

By: Harry McCracken

Harry McCracken — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:17:20 +0000

Dennis: Thanks for the feedback. My quibbles with the Kindle may not be yours, but boy, they’re the opposite of contrived–they’re utterly sincere. Heartfelt, even. They’re the issues that bug me after nine months of using the darn thing, and I don’t demand that anyone else share them.

I mentioned the mistaken button pushes only in passing and didn’t bring up the MP3 controls because they haven’t bothered me.

I’m very familiar with Project Gutenberg and have enjoyed it more or less from its inception, and transferred its books to my Kindle. It’s cool–but doesn’t do anything to address the fact that new books bought from Amazon are wrapped up in DRM that may come back to haunt me eventually.

As for takeoffs and landings–a lotta my trips are cross-country, and I know that percentagewise, going up and coming down doesn’t take much time. But it’s the most boring part of the trip, and therefore the time I most want to read. And in case I wasn’t clear, I like my Kindle–which is why I’m frustrated that I can’t use it at those times.

Reasonable people may differ–I know that I seem to have a minority view on e-ink.

-Harry

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:40:01 +0000

I hate to be rude but your complaints sound a bit contrived. Having used ebook readers for years (PPC, PC Tablet, etc) most of them are in ‘black and white’. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the eInk whatsoever. For starters it is clear in lighted rooms and in sunlight. I can sit outside with polarized sunglasses on and see the book from any angle of rotation (try that with a regular LCD screen and it becomes black).

As for take-off and landings… is that REALLY a big issue? Unless most of your flights are puddle jumps those periods of flight are a small percentage.

And it appears your statement “It complicates book shopping” may be translated to really mean: “I have so many options, online or not, that I am too confused to make a choice”. Choice is good… if you can’t figure out what to do that sounds sad but I wouldn’t blame the Kindle for your inability to cope with too much freedom.

And fretting about DRM… you never heard of Project Gutenberg have you? You can download a majority of the classics from there for ‘free’ and easily put them into Kindle format for free (there are 2 ways to do it).

There are obvious problems with the Kindle but you named none of them. The mistaken buttons pushes and the interface could work a bit better and the MP3 player could have REAL controls.

But as an ebook reader I find very flexible and usable and am quite happy with it. The fact I can buy magazines and newspapers individually when I want to is a big plus.

By: AG

AG — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:47:30 +0000

I confess that the continued bad ink re e-ink (sorry, but you knew what sort of writer I was when you let me into beta) will scaqre me away for the foreseeable future. Question: Do you remember NuvoMedia's RocketBook, the one with the curve like a folded paperback? If you tested it and remember the testing, would you say the image quality is better or less good than the quality on that screen? (Ebook readers with superior backlighting, BTW, are wonderful for those of us with extremely low vision; one without one's glasses, and in the dark! Alas, I tested this theory on Titus Andronicus; talk about texts one should be sure to read in a brightly-lit space...)