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2007-11-21
, 08:36
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Posts: 5,795 |
Thanked: 3,151 times |
Joined on Feb 2007
@ Agoura Hills Calif
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#22
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Paying $400 for the privilege of paying for books and even paying for things one can get for free on the Net is not particularly thrilling to me.
I like the idea of the print technology, and I understand that a number of other companies are working on it too. Maybe this sort of thing will be available at a reasonable price some time. As it stands now, you could almost buy two N800s for the price of one Kindle.
BTW: A lot of wrox books are available as pdf's. I guess it's worth $400+ to read stuff in nifty black and white.
Last edited by geneven; 2007-11-21 at 08:43.
I like the idea of the print technology, and I understand that a number of other companies are working on it too. Maybe this sort of thing will be available at a reasonable price some time. As it stands now, you could almost buy two N800s for the price of one Kindle.
BTW: A lot of wrox books are available as pdf's. I guess it's worth $400+ to read stuff in nifty black and white.
Last edited by geneven; 2007-11-21 at 08:43.
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2007-11-21
, 09:24
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Posts: 255 |
Thanked: 15 times |
Joined on Oct 2007
@ United Kingdom
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#23
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Brothers, I'll be really interested to hear how you get on with the Kindle. Can you post here once you get it?
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2007-11-21
, 11:57
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Posts: 211 |
Thanked: 3 times |
Joined on Oct 2005
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#24
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Originally Posted by rs-px
Nitpick I know but my screen has rather more than 800 by 480 pixels and a 4+ inch screen. Browsing may be better on a 770/800/810 than many other handheld devices but it is still not desktop quality by any means.
When I say "desktop-quality browsing", I'm referring to two things: The size of the display, in pixels, and the applications.
The Nokia tablets offer desktop-quality browsing, whereas mobile phones offer a cut-down rendition of browsing because of small screens and incomplete browser software (no Flash or AJAX).
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2007-11-21
, 12:29
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Posts: 36 |
Thanked: 2 times |
Joined on Oct 2007
@ Grand Rapids, MI
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#25
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Originally Posted by brothers
You are running on the assumption that the books you want will
What did it for me is that they have a bunch of Wrox "Professional" and "Programmer-to-Programmer" books available (and more coming). I carry about twenty pounds of Wrox books around in my car, so I have them available at work and at home. (When "the check" from the VCs comes in, we'll buy copies for the office, but I'm not holding my breath). The idea of being able to carry my technical library around in my briefcase (or in my pocket, even) is compelling. Add in the ability to text-search and to bookmark, and it's a no-brainer. The ability to grab a technical book in a minute, anytime anywhere, is priceless for someone like me - jack of all trades and master of whatever the client is paying me for this week
1) be available for the Kindle
2) be readable on the Kindle
Those assumptions are unproven.
I have an iLiad - a more high-res eBook reader based on better display technology than the Kindle - and I have yet to be able to do what you want to do with the Kindle.
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2007-11-27
, 06:25
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Posts: 17 |
Thanked: 0 times |
Joined on Dec 2005
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#26
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Originally Posted by rlauzon
As to (1), there are enough of what I need already available to significantly lighten my load, and the trend appears to be positive.
You are running on the assumption that the books you want will
1) be available for the Kindle
2) be readable on the Kindle
Those assumptions are unproven.
I have an iLiad - a more high-res eBook reader based on better display technology than the Kindle - and I have yet to be able to do what you want to do with the Kindle.
I don't understand (2), in light of (1).
As far as your closing comment is concerned, I'm not familiar with the Iliad, but I'd guess the problem is that it wasn't developed and supported by the most successful bookseller on the planet
(just joshing - not trying to rile you).- Dennis
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2007-11-27
, 12:20
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Posts: 36 |
Thanked: 2 times |
Joined on Oct 2007
@ Grand Rapids, MI
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#27
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Originally Posted by brothers
It has to do with how eBooks are formatted.
I don't understand (2), in light of (1).
PDF files, for example, are electronic versions of print works. They are formatted for a specific paper size. If you are trying to read a PDF on something smaller, the PDF often ends up being unreadable - either because the font is too small or because you end up endlessly scrolling (which is painful on slow eInk screens) to read everything.
Just because a book is available in electronic format doesn't mean it will be as readable as the paper version.
Getting back to the Kindle in particular, the screen is significantly smaller than a normal tech book. So imagine your tech books shrunk down to that screen size. The text will probably come out OK, but will the code examples fit on the screen? Will the images be clear now that they are smaller?
Grabbing a reference book from my bookshelf at random - the Perl Cookbook - If the book were shrunk to the size of a Kindle screen, the code examples would become very hard to read, as would any table of output. So the value of having such a book on my eBook reader would be very low.
As for the iLiad, imagine what the Kindle would be like if the screen were significantly larger and it used WiFi instead of EVDO and, unlike the Kindle, supported open file formats.
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2007-11-27
, 14:10
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Posts: 122 |
Thanked: 4 times |
Joined on Apr 2007
@ here and there
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#28
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Didn't Sony make a "reader" like this one? what ever happened with that? I would consider something like this if it could read and SEARCH a pdf out of the d*mn box.
And what is so friggin hard about a search function!??!
Some useful links here such as reading feeds for free and what not.
http://kindlehacks.blogspot.com/
Unfortunately PDFs have to be be converted. I don't know about other people but for me that isn't an option. I need the table of contents and most of the PDF features. They never convert correctly and even if they did I wouldn't want to convert hundreds of PDF files one at a time to make sure they convert correctly.
Last edited by RioT; 2007-11-27 at 14:45.
And what is so friggin hard about a search function!??!
Some useful links here such as reading feeds for free and what not.
http://kindlehacks.blogspot.com/
Unfortunately PDFs have to be be converted. I don't know about other people but for me that isn't an option. I need the table of contents and most of the PDF features. They never convert correctly and even if they did I wouldn't want to convert hundreds of PDF files one at a time to make sure they convert correctly.
Last edited by RioT; 2007-11-27 at 14:45.
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2008-07-30
, 14:49
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Posts: 5,795 |
Thanked: 3,151 times |
Joined on Feb 2007
@ Agoura Hills Calif
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#29
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Revisiting this thread, I think it's fair to say that the Kindle has not flopped, as some predicted, and its price unfortunately hasn't dropped a bit. People I know are still buying them.
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2008-07-30
, 15:30
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Posts: 37 |
Thanked: 2 times |
Joined on Mar 2007
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#30
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Originally Posted by RioT
Sony did make a reader and it is still available here. It can read PDF files directly according to the specs - not sure about searching them.
Didn't Sony make a "reader" like this one? what ever happened with that? I would consider something like this if it could read and SEARCH a pdf out of the d*mn box.
I've started using my n800 for reading PDF files and it works okay although when scrolling using the d-pad I find that it sometimes keeps scrolling once I let go until I press one of the buttons again.
What did it for me is that they have a bunch of Wrox "Professional" and "Programmer-to-Programmer" books available (and more coming). I carry about twenty pounds of Wrox books around in my car, so I have them available at work and at home. (When "the check" from the VCs comes in, we'll buy copies for the office, but I'm not holding my breath). The idea of being able to carry my technical library around in my briefcase (or in my pocket, even) is compelling. Add in the ability to text-search and to bookmark, and it's a no-brainer. The ability to grab a technical book in a minute, anytime anywhere, is priceless for someone like me - jack of all trades and master of whatever the client is paying me for this week
And yeah, I'll probably subscribe to a magazine or three, and maybe buy the occasional book that I'd like to read but not own a physical manifestation of.
Isn't this the same "It's shiny!" early-adopter syndrome that led bunches of us to buy 770s, 800s, and (soon) 810s?
- Dennis Brothers