Pick your e-reader

[Vonny]

I like my kindle, especially that I can get a new book instantly, since I don't have a bookstore nearby. But I still value real books more. I also love how books smell, even some old ones. And nothing is better than to go into one of the bookstores that smells of books and coffee. Being surrounded by books makes me feel peaceful. I feel such a loss for our Borders Bookstore that went out of business, probably due in part to the kindle. I heard that Barnes and Nobles is surviving but they got into the e-book niche early with the Nook, but we don't have B & N here.

I also think that as in everything instant, quality will suffer. I was reading about The Sagas of the Icelanders, and the review said that in the kindle version the graphs and charts in the back are left out. If something doesn't fit on that 6" screen, it's just thrown away. The review said it's a shame after the care and attention the publishers lavished on the book version to have it carelessly transfered to kindle that way.

[Emil Miller]

I like my kindle, especially that I can get a new book instantly, since I don't have a bookstore nearby. But I still value real books more. I also love how books smell, even some old ones. And nothing is better than to go into one of the bookstores that smells of books and coffee. Being surrounded by books makes me feel peaceful. I feel such a loss for our Borders Bookstore that went out of business, probably due in part to the kindle. I heard that Barnes and Nobles is surviving but they got into the e-book niche early with the Nook, but we don't have B & N here.

I also think that as in everything instant, quality will suffer. I was reading about The Sagas of the Icelanders, and the review said that in the kindle version the graphs and charts in the back are left out. If something doesn't fit on that 6" screen, it's just thrown away. The review said it's a shame after the care and attention the publishers lavished on the book version to have it carelessly transfered to kindle that way.

Can you get Pro Bono Publico on it?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Can you get Pro Bono Publico on it?

Yes it can be. You just need to submit it to Amazon as an ebook. I'm not sure of the full process but it should be fairly straight forward.

Edit: After reading paper books for years and years and the kindle for a few weeks, I prefer the kindle. I still read in the outdated format of course - but the kindle is much nicer!

[Vonny]

No Emil you cannot. Many books will never be made available on kindle. Many of the best books are not profitable, and older books will only be transferred if there is sufficient profit in transferring them.

And many people will become so devoted to their kindle that they will only want a kindle book and won't even buy a real book that is deemed to heavy or awkward, so all those great old books will end up discarded. And if you carry around a paperback book instead of a Kindle Fire, people will think you're inadequate, like if you don't have a smartphone.

The other thing is that even those free classics will be free only for a limited time. The corporations will learn how to make us pay for downloads - they will find an excuse for charging. And this "Cloud" storage will only be free for a while also. Once the physical bookstores are out of business and people have discarded their books, such as in moving, because they have all their books so conveniently on kindle, then the kindle will not be a great deal anymore. It will be as expensive or more so than real books. But we will have lost touch with something else that is real, and people will no longer remember or care about books once they are gone. And like fast food people, and all the other "virtual" crap, they will Love this inferior product.

The digital format will also make it easier for deficient authors to get published, since no valuable paper is used in it, absolutely flooding the world with garbage and chick lit, so that if there is a decent book published it will get buried in all of that.

Edit: if the author is still alive he can get his book put on Kindle, even if it's a good book!

I also don't want to completely knock Kindle; as I said, I like mine, and if there are no real books - it's like crappy food - I'll take what I can get and be thankful for it.

Hey, wait a minute... That's kind of funny that Emil's book isn't on kindle. Wonder why that would be?

[Mr.lucifer]

There is serious fiction available for the ebooks like the works of Thomas Mann, Phillip roth, etc.

[KCurtis]

The digital format will also make it easier for deficient authors to get published, since no valuable paper is used in it, absolutely flooding the world with garbage and chick lit, so that if there is a decent book published it will get buried in all of that.

This is another reason I haven't bought a kindle yet, good point. Chick lit- my co-workers read chick-lit. I feel so alone.
I also wondered about being able to get any book on kindle. Many I want to read are not bestsellers and are not popular reads. I also like to have the physical book in my hands. But I also want a kindle.

[Drkshadow03]

I have a Kindle. I like the notes feature. I like the idea of being able to download free books too as everyone already said. So far I've only read The Prelude by William Wordsworth on my kindle.

However, one problem I have is that I already own almost all the major classics. So I'm not really sure what to download since I own a lot of what I could download for free. So I guess I'm still trying to figure out what I really want to do with my Kindle; for now, it's more of a supplement to my already decent print book collection. For free books you're reliant on the available editions, which can be of varying quality, and probably is best for English language works since translation won't be an issue, just formatting and fonts.

I suspect in most cases I'm going to use it to pick up the odd work here and there. \

[Emil Miller]

No Emil you cannot. Many books will never be made available on kindle. Many of the best books are not profitable, and older books will only be transferred if there is sufficient profit in transferring them.

And many people will become so devoted to their kindle that they will only want a kindle book and won't even buy a real book that is deemed to heavy or awkward, so all those great old books will end up discarded. And if you carry around a paperback book instead of a Kindle Fire, people will think you're inadequate, like if you don't have a smartphone.

The other thing is that even those free classics will be free only for a limited time. The corporations will learn how to make us pay for downloads - they will find an excuse for charging. And this "Cloud" storage will only be free for a while also. Once the physical bookstores are out of business and people have discarded their books, such as in moving, because they have all their books so conveniently on kindle, then the kindle will not be a great deal anymore. It will be as expensive or more so than real books. But we will have lost touch with something else that is real, and people will no longer remember or care about books once they are gone. And like fast food people, and all the other "virtual" crap, they will Love this inferior product.

The digital format will also make it easier for deficient authors to get published, since no valuable paper is used in it, absolutely flooding the world with garbage and chick lit, so that if there is a decent book published it will get buried in all of that.

Edit: if the author is still alive he can get his book put on Kindle, even if it's a good book!

I also don't want to completely knock Kindle; as I said, I like mine, and if there are no real books - it's like crappy food - I'll take what I can get and be thankful for it.

Hey, wait a minute... That's kind of funny that Emil's book isn't on kindle. Wonder why that would be?

I think the answer as to why it isn't on Kindle is because it was published in 2007 before the Kindle had come into general usage.

[Helga]

I have been watching this discussion since it started and I am still wondering, I have been thinking about Kindle for a long time. not that I can afford to buy one at the moment I just can't make a decision about it. I love my books and I love holding books and flipping though the pages. I do like the fact that you can write down notes in the Kindle cause I NEVER write in my books (except maybe my name on the first page but I don't like that).

I think it is a good options for schoolbooks and I know my brother has talked about that a lot. I am still wondering about this though...

If I did get one I would get a star trek computer screensaver and probably look at that more than the books inside.

[Vonny]

I think the answer as to why it isn't on Kindle is because it was published in 2007 before the Kindle had come into general usage.

Oh, I see. I thought you might have been afraid they'd leave out a couple of chapters, or something.

Another potential problem with Kindle is that they could decide to edit the books at any time, unless you keep them backed up on your hard drive. If you have a physical book, no one can decide after 5 years that they don't like part of the political message or something in there and make slight alterations to it, but with Kindle, they can. Over the years small edits can happen to books until they gradually change and people wouldn't even notice that their book had been altered.

That said, I'm sure I will always have a kindle, though I do spend a lot of time just looking at the screen saver. But I'll not be parting with my real books that I have unless my house burns.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I think the answer as to why it isn't on Kindle is because it was published in 2007 before the Kindle had come into general usage.

You could easily summit it as an ebook if you wanted though.

[Emil Miller]

You could easily summit it as an ebook if you wanted though.

I don't know about that, it was the publisher and Amazon who had an arrangement to make it available there, I had no hand in it.

[jyossarian]

I guess it's handy if you're going on holidays and don't want to pack a ton of books in your suitcases, but it'll NEVER beat holding an actual book in my opinion

[BlackCat]

I guess it's handy if you're going on holidays and don't want to pack a ton of books in your suitcases, but it'll NEVER beat holding an actual book in my opinion

better than reading on ur smartphone ain;t it?

[jyossarian]

better than reading on ur smartphone ain;t it?

Lol yeah definitely! My friend read the entire Lord of the Rings saga on his iPhone and it said it was the most awkward thing he's ever done in his life :/ And he's done some pretty awkward things !