Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

Okay, so I can convert unsecured content and have it display properly! That's neat and all. You're still referring to things that don't have a lot or anything to do with my biggest problems with the device! I want to read free ebooks from the library with minimal fuss and if I have to use some kind of weird workaround it would probably freak me out that Amazon could remove it from my device wirelessly any time they wanted. Someday the Kindle will possibly be for me! Right now that is not the decision that I made.

My aunt has one of these and swears by it. She showed it to me and I saw something I needed to have. The Kindle is goddamn awesome, and the library already available should have many things for any kind of reader.

I just don't see myself ever buying one of these things. Sure, I get the appeal: it's convenient and trendy. But I don't like the idea of paying money to lease books until my Kindle breaks and (a) oh shit, Amazon has gone out of business, or (b) oh shit, Amazon is still in business but hasn't supported the Kindle for over five years now.

I'm not saying the Kindle isn't a nifty piece of hardware-- a couple of my friends have one, and I'll admit that I was halfway tempted. But I thought about it, and at the end of the day, real books still rule in my world.

I think these things are really cool, my dad has a Kindle and its pretty awesome. That said though I still prefer reading from an actual book.

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Originally Posted by squall_vb

But I don't like the idea of paying money to lease books until my Kindle breaks

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You own the books. The only thing thats a rent is the Newspapers. Even then its a subscription. In fact its half the price of normal mag subs. And in fact you will get it earlier than normal mag subscribers.

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Originally Posted by squall_vb

(a) oh shit, Amazon has gone out of business

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Exactly when do you think that will happen? It hasn't gone out of business now. In fact its gotten stronger.

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Originally Posted by squall_vb

(b) oh shit, Amazon is still in business but hasn't supported the Kindle for over five years now.

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???

Here comes Grave.

I'd rather debate him than Squall. And I <3 Squall.

Amazon is not going out of business. That's the least of the reasons to not want to use this. Ebooks are here to stay, in one form or another. I'd say it's still in its infancy but they've made leaps and bounds in the quality of the experience. Anyway, I think what squall is getting at is the incident where 1984 disappeared from the Kindles of everyone who bought it because of some sort of error. The bottom line is that Amazon has the final say as to what happens to the books you've bought. They have remote access to your device at all times that it's connected to their network, and if for any reason they decided to close or lock you out of your account, you'd lose access to everything you bought. That's a little scary. There's also the text to speech issue that made a lot of authors and publishers lose their shit, that it could cut into audiobook sales. Amazon could have gone to bat for the customers on that one but no, they conceded and allow the publishers to prevent certain books from being read aloud by the device.

I think the real problem is, as mentioned above, getting people to accept the idea of not having a paper copy of the book. I'm still very attached to physical media and I love books. I like the idea of "borrowing" ebooks from the library but paying similar prices to the average-sized paperback for a digital copy that I can't lend to people and is lacking the feel of a real book and everything that comes with it... it's a tough sell for me right now.

At the same time, there are books I'd love to have in ebook form right now. I'm enjoying the hell out of the Complete Chronicles of Conan, but it's an enormous book. Having these stories in a pocket-sized device I could use anywhere would be awesome, and yeah, I'd certainly pay $10 for the ability to do so! I see the use of it for giant reference manuals, etc. But I still love small paperbacks and I always will.

This post probably doesn't make a lot of sense because I'm typing it in a quick reply box while having another conversation at the same time. I need to go now!

For the record I work for SOny Right now selling the Sony Reader and I like it so much more than the Kindle. The touch screen makes it easier and quicker to take notes and I'm addicted to turning the page using my actual fingers.

With the Nook selecting EPUB I think that it's going to be a standard now at this point. Though I suspect Amazon will fight it more. But if anyone has any questions let me know, I know this thing like the back of my hand. ANd I see that part a lot. In my pants.

With the sony one you can lend it to 4 other people, and get free books from the Library. I don't know what Amazon's lending deal is, Nook's lending deal is you lose the ability to use it but lend to someone for 14 days.

Though I heard New York times ripped the Nook a new asshole for things like taking too long to turn the page, but I haven't seen the article yet.

Also all of Squalls point's are ridiculous as usual.

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Originally Posted by Advocate

You own the books. The only thing thats a rent is the Newspapers. Even then its a subscription. In fact its half the price of normal mag subs. And in fact you will get it earlier than normal mag subscribers.

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Kinda sorta yes and no. Think of it this way:

If you buy a physical book, it's yours. If your house catches fire and you lose all your books, your renter's/homeowner's insurance has you covered, and you can get all your books back.

If you buy an ebook for Amazon's Kindle, you own the book for as long as the Kindle works and/or as long as Amazon continues to support the Kindle. If your Kindle shits the bed and Amazon isn't supporting the device anymore, all that money you spent on ebooks over the years just... well, it's gone.

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Exactly when do you think that will happen? It hasn't gone out of business now. In fact its gotten stronger.

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That was just one of many possible reasons for Amazon not supporting the Kindle at some point in the future. I could have used something more likely, but you get the idea.

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Originally Posted by Grave

Amazon is not going out of business. That's the least of the reasons to not want to use this. Ebooks are here to stay, in one form or another. I'd say it's still in its infancy but they've made leaps and bounds in the quality of the experience. Anyway, I think what squall is getting at is the incident where 1984 disappeared from the Kindles of everyone who bought it because of some sort of error. The bottom line is that Amazon has the final say as to what happens to the books you've bought. They have remote access to your device at all times that it's connected to their network, and if for any reason they decided to close or lock you out of your account, you'd lose access to everything you bought. That's a little scary.

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Yeah, that's a big problem I have with them. But I carry that same thought process over to downloadable games/music/movies. It seems like we're moving more towards a system where we don't truly "buy" these things anymore-- as in "this is mine, if I take care of it I can have it forever." We just have them in a sort of indefinite lease. And I don't like it.

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Originally Posted by Thief Silver

Also all of Squalls point's are ridiculous as usual.

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How do you feel about my punctuation?