Kindle

[Duncan]

What do you guys think of the Kindle?

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Reading- ... B0015T963C

If i were a student still i might consider getting it... but i just don't have enough time these days to sit down and read anyways...

[geForce]

I think it's a gimmick and a waste of money.
Why not just d/l an e-book onto your notebook?

[tyson]

eye strain/portability/battery life

not sure if you've had a chance to see e-ink in action but it's remarkable how much like paper it looks like. i can't read a book on a lcd for very long.
it's also smaller than a notebook/netbook but bigger screen than on a phone
plus it doesn't consume any battery once the page has been drawn on the screen.

kindle is not bad. somebody in the office has one and it's pretty cool.
i'm picking up a nook in january though.

[tyson]

the other reason is that an ebook reader disappears in your hand. it "feels" like reading a book.

[Duncan]

i haven't read too much into it yet, but does it actually cost less to say d/l a book than to buy an actual hard copy? i assume it has to...

[tyson]

yeah a little bit less.
it's only a little bit less because you have a copy of that book which is accessible from kindle, any computer, and your phone.
amazon kindle store is kinda like itunes in that way.

[Duncan]

ahh.. i see.. that might be a pretty cool thing to get then... maybe when the technology matures a little more and the popularity of these e-readers grow, i'll get one... i just can't justify paying that much for the kindle at the moment...

[tyson]

the tech is actually pretty mature. ebook readers based on eink have been around for about 3 years already. even the kindle is on 2nd generation...
but yes, $300 for a ebook reader is a little steep if you don't read a lot of books.

i'm getting one to carry around reference/textbooks and a few novels...

[Duncan]

[nature boy]

man, these things are everywhere now. i see them in all the flyers and online ads. however, i've yet to see a person use it (or even see one in rl).
i guess it's nice that you're saving paper, but how many books do you need to read for it to be worth it? (i read average of 1 book per 5 years)
and i'm sure your iphone has an app for ebooks.

[bryface]

the actual paper text is good to read but i still don't like how slow the refresh rate is on most of them, it's like an ugly 80's calculator when the whole thing blacks out in order to show the next page.

[bryface]

also

i don't read books.




i'm too cool for them

[nature boy]

BOOKS READ YOU


oh wait, you already had a second line...

[tyson]

hmm...work MAY pay for one, but they didn't pay for the other 2 in the office.
The other cool thing about the kindle is that it saves your location across platforms. So lets say on your kindle you were reading a book and you left it on page 128 chapter 3, then you went to the can and brought your iphone. fire up the kindle app and you are on page 128 chapter 3.

the refresh rate has more to do with the way the text gets "burned" into the screen. a page turn takes about 1-2 seconds. i suppose future generations of this tech will bring that number down, but having read 3 or 4 pages of a novel on a reader it is actually not that bad all things considered. i really cannot rave enough about how good the text looks on the non-touchscreen models.

[geForce]

Okay, I take it back.. the Kindle does look pretty cool. I thought it was just a regular LCD screen.