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My Amazon Kindle review....finally!

A pal of mine once told me that modern society is running into a technical problem with wireless devices. There are so many of them running around these days transmitting all sorts of data that modern society is running out of wireless channels to use at any given point in time. While the kindle's wireless function is nice it runs into the possible problem of overlaping with another wireless transmission (freqently called cross talk) resulting in a Kindle customer going to download his/her new download to the Kindle and winding up with a news broadcast. This sort of thing is happening more and more frequently these days. I do not know if the kindle has a USB port to surmount this sort of problem but I do not think that it does.

I have examined Project Gutenberg and it suffers from various problems. While the books may be free if you like reading modern novels Gutenberg will be unable to help since it concentrates on the classics and older novels. Second, gutenberg is nice but the web page designers should be shot since the navigation is extreemly dificult. While gutenerberg will show you all of the human read novels it does not have the capability to show just the mystery novels leaving the customer to sift through thousands of novels of all tyoes to find one that is to his/her liking.

Third, Kindle suffers from the fact that it is semi-proprietary. Let me elaborate - the books are available from two sources and the modern novels from one only. A customer does not have the ability to go where ever to get the novels and compare prices, the prices are strictly centraly controled. While one could argue that paperback novels are the same thing, and to some extent you are right I can show how to get a minimum of 20% off the centraly controled price. Freqently I can get 25% and around the holidays I may be able to get as much as 75% off that. There is no discounting ever in Kindle.
 
jbcohen said:
I would like to see how forum members respond to this analysis of the Kindle. I have been rather put off by the Kindle becuase I have analyzed it on a cost/benefits ratio. in other words the benefits of using the Kindle need to outway the costs of using it. The only benefit that I can see to reading via a Kindle is that it save a tree or several trees. While this is a worthwhile notion it still does not out way the negitives, first among them is the fact that it is much more expensive to read via the Kindle. A typical paperback starts at $8 while msot Kindle editions start at $10, making Kindle editions cost $2 more per novel you read assuming that one, like I do, reads only mass market paperbacks and never premium novels. Second, Kindle while small in size is huge when compared to my Sana Fuze and would take up a whole lot of space that I can ill afford to devote to it. So I do not see where the benefits can match up to the down sides of the Kindle.

Benefits - Save a Tree
Costs - Cost more per novel, Size.
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The Kindle version of a book is always cheaper than the paperback version--it may only be by a dollar or two, but Amazon always lists what you're saving by buying the Kindle version of a title.

I got my Kindle as a gift, so I didn't have to pony up the cost for that. As for the books I buy for my Kindle, I rarely pay over $5 for a Kindle book--there are enough titles that are cheap that I do want to read, that it is usually not necessary for me to pay more than $5.
 
jbcohen said:
I would like to see how forum members respond to this analysis of the Kindle. I have been rather put off by the Kindle becuase I have analyzed it on a cost/benefits ratio. in other words the benefits of using the Kindle need to outway the costs of using it. The only benefit that I can see to reading via a Kindle is that it save a tree or several trees. While this is a worthwhile notion it still does not out way the negitives, first among them is the fact that it is much more expensive to read via the Kindle. A typical paperback starts at $8 while msot Kindle editions start at $10, making Kindle editions cost $2 more per novel you read assuming that one, like I do, reads only mass market paperbacks and never premium novels. Second, Kindle while small in size is huge when compared to my Sana Fuze and would take up a whole lot of space that I can ill afford to devote to it. So I do not see where the benefits can match up to the down sides of the Kindle.

Benefits - Save a Tree
Costs - Cost more per novel, Size.
Click to expand...

Convenience and a greatly enhanced reading experience. Those are the benefits that make the cost worth it to me.
 
jbcohen said:
I have examined Project Gutenberg and it suffers from various problems. While the books may be free if you like reading modern novels Gutenberg will be unable to help since it concentrates on the classics and older novels.
Click to expand...
That's because they have to have been printed a certain number of years ago (50, from recollection?) before you can legally distribute them for free. Gutenberg is not the only website that provides free books. Fictionwise.com has both free ebooks and more modern ones that you can purchase.

Third, Kindle suffers from the fact that it is semi-proprietary. Let me elaborate - the books are available from two sources and the modern novels from one only. A customer does not have the ability to go where ever to get the novels and compare prices, the prices are strictly centraly controled.
Click to expand...
You're right in this. This is what has attracted me to the BeBook - it supports numerous types of files, so I can shop almost anywhere for my ebooks. Plus it comes with an online library of 20,000 free titles that can be put on there via the BeBook website.
 
MonkeyCatcher said:
That's because they have to have been printed a certain number of years ago (50, from recollection?) before you can legally distribute them for free. Gutenberg is not the only website that provides free books. Fictionwise.com has both free ebooks and more modern ones that you can purchase.
Click to expand...

Project Gutenberg distributes works that are in the public domain - ie not copyrighted. Normally, copyright expires 70 years after the author's death - though with translated texts, you also have the translator's copyright to take into account, so most non-English works on there are older translations than the ones you'll find in shops.

As for saving trees, let's not forget that trees are a renewable resource; plastic isn't. That's not to say electronic books are necessarily less eco-friendly, but considering how often people replace their cell phones and mp3 players, how often are they going to be replacing their reading devices (if the format catches on big time, which I doubt)? Even if it weren't for the DRM crap and changing file formats, you'll be lucky to be able to read a book you buy for your Kindle today 10 years from now.
 
Amazon has introduced Kindle 2, which includes a crisper display, longer battery life, and more memory. They also said they have added 40,000 titles in the last three months.

Many here may not appreciate the technology, but it seems their customer response has exceeded their hopes.
 
I want a kindle! Though that BeBook is looking tempting... MC, a review please, if you do succumb and buy one?

The reason is that I never thought I'd ever be interested in reading a book from a piece of plastic, like I'm not interested in learning to cook using a Nintendo DS (i or lite or whatever they're called), and like I'm not really interested in the maps and whatever else my mobile phone has, or even listening to my MP3 player... but, I actually read a full book on my laptop via Scribd.com recently. A full book! It was in Spanish, and out of print, and it cost around £30 with a delivery time of 5-6 weeks in hard copy format, and I really really wanted to read it. And I did. So now I think that maybe if I had an ebook reader I could get access to much more out of print or hard to get texts and that would be super cool, and furthermore, I could stop lugging around huge dictionaries everywhere, yes? Of course - like my MP3 player which I've used once, for five minutes, since I got it for Christmas - I may not use it.

Great reviews everyone.
 
For the release of Kindle 2, Stephen King put out a book to be exclusively sold in a digital format for the device.

How do people feel about the idea of authors (especially those well read) releasing material exclusively in this way?

Someone mentioned that copyrights may have something to do with the Kindle being held back from countries outside of the U.S. Does anyone know the difference between copyrights for books vs. music?

The price control/cost of books confuses me, too. When Amazon lists a title and the money the consumer is saving ($1-2), what is that price compared to? I'm assuming trade paperbacks, not mass market. If a book is digital, it does not matter if the edition is trade or mass market. Why don't they sell books for $8, the typical mass market price?
 
bleumana said:
For the release of Kindle 2, Stephen King put out a book to be exclusively sold in a digital format for the device.

How do people feel about the idea of authors (especially those well read) releasing material exclusively in this way?
Click to expand...


I see. A novella titled UR for Kindle only. I wouldn't be happy with Stephen King if I was a Stephen King fan. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more of this.
 
If a kindle novel costs $2 less then the paper back version. Caution math ahead - at a cost of $360 per kindle 2/$2 less per novel that would mean that one would need to purchase 180 novels to make the unit pay off. Assuming that one is not a fast reader and reads one novel per month thats 15 months worth of reading to get the unit to pay off or just over a year.

Asumptions:

1 - one reads one novel a month
2 - one gets nothing from gutenberg
3 - one has the tech savy to store novels and download and port the books to the unit
4 - one is willing to wait for 15 months for the unit to pay off
5 - the unit is not lost or stolen

Perhaps its worth it based on the assumptions but I have found that assumptions 1 and 3 tend to be a little problematic.
 
jbcohen said:
If a kindle novel costs $2 less then the paper back version. Caution math ahead - at a cost of $360 per kindle 2/$2 less per novel that would mean that one would need to purchase 180 novels to make the unit pay off. Assuming that one is not a fast reader and reads one novel per month thats 15 months worth of reading to get the unit to pay off or just over a year.
Click to expand...

If you need to purchase/read 180 novels and you read 1 novel per month, wouldn't it be 180/1=180 months (15 years)?

But nitpicking aside, I think this is one of the core problems of dedicated e-book readers; they make no sense at all for casual readers. Of course, some casual readers will want one anyway simply because it's a fun gadget, but there's really no rational reason for the people who read 3-4 books a year to spend that much on an e-book reader. So where are they going to end up...?

Continue to buy real books?
Read e-books on their eeePCs, Blackberries, mobile phones or computers?
Or stop reading altogether?
 
bleumana said:
How do people feel about the idea of authors (especially those well read) releasing material exclusively in this way?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't bother me in the least if an author wanted to walk away from his reading public. It's his choice how he wishes to publish or perish, and I have already been walking away from authors for a long time now. So fair is fair.

It's a shark eat shark world out there, especially when I'm paying.
:cool:
 
For those of you who own a Kindle, do you find that you read more now than before you had it? I gave my husband a Kindle for Christmas and he is reading a lot more now using his Kindle than before he had one.
 
Revised said:
For those of you who own a Kindle, do you find that you read more now than before you had it? I gave my husband a Kindle for Christmas and he is reading a lot more now using his Kindle than before he had one.
Click to expand...

I did the math on it awhile back and realized I read about three times as much with the Kindle as I did before. There are several reasons for this.

1. I now read while I eat lunch. In the past I always found it frustrating to keep the pages open while I used my hands to eat. I had tried several different page holders but found them frustrating. So when I did read at lunch it was usually a magazine. The Kindle sits flat on the table so I can easily read while I eat. I can crank up the font size to make it even easier to see from that distance. Added reading time a week: 5 hours.

2. I now read while I do my hour on the treadmill. Once again it is because the Kindle sits flat and the font size can be ramped up so I can still see it while running or walking. In the past I watched TV or listened to music. I also find that doing this helps motivate me to go exercise because it is an excuse to read for an hour uninterrupted. Added reading time a week: 6 hours.

3. I like to read for 1 – 2 hours before going to bed at night. My wife doesn’t mind the little book light I use but the sound of turning pages does annoy her. And she prefers that we go to bed at the same time so I don’t usually get the chance to read outside the room while she is sleeping. And I could rarely get the book light to sit just right on my paperback books anyway. It sits perfectly on my Kindle cover though. And turning the page is virtually soundless with the Kindle. So now I get my reading in while laying next to my wife and my wife sleeps soundly. Added reading time a week: 10 hours.

So yeah, I get a LOT more reading done now. There is also the fact that I tend to read two or three books at a time depending on my mood, and that mood changes throughout the day. It is cumbersome to carry more than one book around with me so in the past if I was out of the house and found some down time to read I would only read if I was in the mood for what was in my hand. Now, I always have my entire collection with me. So that is probably an extra hour or two right there.

Now, this will not be the case with everyone. If you like those book holders and use them all the time than the fact that the Kindle lays flat won’t mean much to you. If you like to do a significant portion of your reading in the bathtub or on the beach than you may feel uneasy about doing it with your $359 Kindle, though I have heard those big zip lock bags work great for such occasions. And if your spouse doesn’t mind the sound of pages turning, better yet if she stays up reading with you, then it may not make that much of a difference to you.

But for me it has made a HUGE difference in the time I spend reading.
 
And here comes the Kindle 3. Well, possibly. Along with a bunch of others trying for the same market.

So we appear to be in a device war before we have the depth and range of content and while issues such as DRM, pricing have been resolved. An abundance of readers can only be good for maintaining the noise level but if each is competing for the same spend they could keep the price up or trigger a device price war. Today they are like the early days of CDs too closely packed on price and we need someone to grab the initiative and go for volume based on price. If this doesn’t happen then the alternatives based on netbooks and smartphones will look increasingly more attractive.
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