Kindle

[Megan]

Do any members use Kindle?
What are pluses and minuses, are there anoying adverts?
Is it not expensive if you pay by card of with credit card, say £2.99 for each book you download?

[Peter]

I don't have one - I suppose the plus is carrying your library with you, but I don't like even wearing a watch! Personally I like the look of books on mass all over the place in my house and I also like the touch and musty smell of old books so you can't beat wasting time around a good old fashioned second hand book shop!

Still I've sort of succumbed to mp3 players, but fortunately only on rare occasions when I only want a specific track rather than the whole cd - an example of which was Chesnokov's Gabriel appeared - cost me 50p instead of £24 for the whole album.

[Sorrano]

I like the Kindle (and the Kindle Fire). For me, the Kindle is a big plus because I now have access to thousands and thousands of free books. The Gutenberg project is a good repository and contains many classics, most of which are downloadable for the Kindle. You can turn off the wireless mode at any time, which is what I do to help conserve battery life (but then the battery will last many, many hours).

[Enrique]

I agree with Peter about "the touch and musty smell of old books". In addition, I don't see how electronic books will ergonomically compete with the physical book in the foreseeable future. In these, the background of a page is white. This is also the case in the computer or hand held device screen, but the white page in a book will never offend the eye, unlike the electronic device. You are likely to spend an hour a day watching at a computer screen. This is equivalent to look at a 25W electric bulb at a distance of 25 cm (10 inch). True, you can change the background color and brightness, but by default they are white in home computers, and few people know how to change it or are even aware of the problem. However only black fonts on a white background give maximal contrast, as is the case with books. Book pages do NOT shine (except some kind of special papers). I've seen people reading on kindle devices with a gray background. Again, poor contrast. So, yes, electronic books are a great thing, in that they put culture and information at the tip of your fingers. But you had rather have a printer together with the computer, and lots of paper.

[Sorrano]

Ergonomically, the Kindle is easier to handle than a large book. And having a Kindle doesn't necessarily mean that I get rid of my books (although the space that would create would be nice to have). The Kindle uses an electronic print which is very similar the print of a page on a book. Appropriate lighting is required for both and is not hard on the eyes. Many times I've caught myself trying to turn the page on the Kindle because it was so similar to reading a book. It's fairly lightweight and does not have any issues with trying to hold a thick book and keep place in it without pages slipping between the fingers. ;-) Another convenience is that you can carry it with you on a trip without having to add encumbrance of many books. The battery lasts about two week. With a Kindle I have the best of both worlds; I can still read the "musty old books" and carry a massive library without the extra weight.

[Megan]

Sorrano,
I am thinking of getting a short novel onto Kindle, can Amazon do that for me and translate the type written script into digital format they need ?
Or do I have to self publish?

[Sorrano]

Sorrano,
I am thinking of getting a short novel onto Kindle, can Amazon do that for me and translate the type written script into digital format they need ?
Or do I have to self publish?

There are programs available, I believe, that format your text to Kindle format. For example, http://document.online-convert.com/ covers a number of formats, so I think it should be pretty easy to find a program to cover. This also explains what Amazon can and cannot convert: http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/201...version-guide/. This option is not free, but there are other options out there.

[Sorrano]

Also, here is another link that might be useful: http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_...TxBW7RS03A4R4T

Here is calibre's site: http://calibre-ebook.com/

[Sorrano]

Enrique, I do not mean to put you down at all with the points that you've made. From my own perspective, I am an avid reader and have been since before I attended school as a little kid. Books were and have always been my best friends. When I was a kid I used to get in trouble for taking books to bed with me and reading (at least trying to) in the fading light of the evening. The Kindle is a tool for those who enjoy reading. It facilitates the storage of many books, of which many can be obtained freely via the electronic means. The interface of the Kindle is such that it distracts little from the reading experiences. Several years ago I bought one and have not regretted that. When it wears out I will buy another one. And I still have all of my "real" books!

[Enrique]

At the same time I can say I have lots of books on the hard disk of my machine. I acknowledge what I said is more applicable to the CRT and LCD computer displays. [EDIT: I acknowledge not. The kindle must have the same power per unit area.] Now to have real legibility you must set the kindle to black and white. Either white background or black background. But when graphical user interphases were introduced in desktop computers, the manufactures chose to imitate books, and as a result all texts were presented on a white background, contrary to the way wisely used in motion pictures, where the credits are presented on a black background. But back to Amazon's Kindle. So, to have good contrast, you are reading with black characters (foreground) on a white background, that is, the page is white. But where comes the light from? It comes from the page itself. Ay, there's the rub. For, in a book, the page merely reflects the source light. And, in my opinion, in this consists the superiority of the physical book.

Plus, the electronic artifact is a plastic object. Books are not. Plastic objects distinguish themselves by a great tendency to slip. You are now probably using your machine keyboard. They used to have rubber feet. But today they have plastic feet. Have you notice how easily it slips over the surface supporting it (depends on the surface material). As every thing is plastic today, objects slip over objects. Not a good property at all. Add all the inconviniences of plastic objects.

I've been reading electronic books for quite a good time now, pdf, djvu, and never found a reader that could let me read and navegate the book with real easiness. Let alone the case of scores. If you make the page to fit the screen (large orchestra) then the notes will be too small. If you amplify the page to make them larger, you can't see the flutes and basses at the same time.

In less words: electronics is the plague of our time. It's the main factor in the globalization process and makes things cheaper and cheaper, in the bad sense. I could speak at lenght about this matter (electronics) but we were speaking about Kindle. And using your own words, Sorrano, I expect I am not putting you down or sound too agressive.

[Peter]

Ergonomically, the Kindle is easier to handle than a large book. And having a Kindle doesn't necessarily mean that I get rid of my books (although the space that would create would be nice to have). The Kindle uses an electronic print which is very similar the print of a page on a book. Appropriate lighting is required for both and is not hard on the eyes. Many times I've caught myself trying to turn the page on the Kindle because it was so similar to reading a book. It's fairly lightweight and does not have any issues with trying to hold a thick book and keep place in it without pages slipping between the fingers. ;-) Another convenience is that you can carry it with you on a trip without having to add encumbrance of many books. The battery lasts about two week. With a Kindle I have the best of both worlds; I can still read the "musty old books" and carry a massive library without the extra weight.

Yes I take your point and as a complimentary tool rather than a replacement (which sadly it will be for most people) probably useful. When travelling though, I'm generally content with one book and don't need the library!

[Sorrano]

Enrique, check the display here: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Special.../dp/B004HFS6Z0. It's not that hard on the eyes and requires proper external lighting just as a book does. It's certainly much easier on the eyes than a monitor or a tablet. It's easier to hold than a book, especially a thick, bulky, book. But it does not replace books, just gives me an extra reading tool.

[Enrique]

I am convinced of what I said, even without ever havin used one. These things must be tested in the laboratory, not by everyday experience, Sorrano, which is always subjective. There a device is tested by repeatable experiments and under a wide range of conditions. I'll put a third objection now.

To have the high definition of printing on a book, it would have to have tons of memory. I still believe electronics can't compete with the art of printing in the quality of its results, neither with photography. Of course, on commercial grounds, that is it can perhaps be done but the costs would be too high. As an example of the latter, why do you think pictures are still shot using conventional cameras? And then printed on celluloid for their projection. Watch this, from wikipedia article "Film": Despite advances in digital capture, film still offers unsurpassed ability to capture fine detail beyond what is possible with digital image sensors. From this, you can give some credit to what I say to definition in printed books. OK with the handling although don't quite agree and the external lighting.

[Sorrano]

Printing differs from one book to another. Some books have extremely glossy pages, which in certain lighting conditions, can be very hard on the eyes, not to mention annoying. Books can be awkward to handle, as well, being differing sizes and shapes. Some conform well to a person's reading style while others do not. The Kindle is not meant to replace books, nor is the text that appears meant to replicate the book, either. It is a matter of presenting the text of the book in as easy format as possible to enable people to read. In my own experiences I find the lighting requirements for reading from a Kindle (not speaking of the Kindle Fire, as this is a very different tablet) to be very similar to reading a pocket book (cheap paper). Reading lamps are available for the Kindle (and here you have the issue of reflecting light from the screen, but that can be solved by how the lamp is positioned).

Enrique, you may not like the idea of the Kindle and other reading devices and that is okay. Before acquiring the Kindle I read a lot from the computer directly and was delighted to get a hand held, eye-friendly, device from which I can read. A big bonus for me is the large supply of public domain literature (some out of print) that is free and readily available in the Kindle format.

[Sorrano]

One more note I want to add. The difference between reading from a Kindle Fire and a Kindle is such that I will choose the Kindle long term reading because it is easy on the eyes. The Kindle Fire fits in nicely with what Enrique has been talking about; it can be hard on the eyes, but having used the Kindle for years I cannot distinguish any real difference from reading from real pages other than the reflection issues from lighting.