My new Nook

[Sancho]

So then, the other day I was hanging out with one of my co-workers, and she had one these new-fangled e-reader contraptions. Holy-Moly-Me-O-My!*What a gas. I never thought I’d go for one of those things because I like books too much; I like the feel of them, the looks of them, writing in their margins, decorating my shelves with them, shading my eyes with them while napping in my hammock on a summer afternoon, swatting flies with them…you know. But then she showed me all the cool stuff she’d downloaded (mostly for free) and I immediately became ugly-envious. “I gots to have one,” says I.

So we went over to Barns & Noble and I bought one. I haven’t been the same since. There’s instant access to thousands of great texts. I’ve been downloading like a crazed dope fiend ever since.

My Nook came preloaded with a few books, so my first Nook book was Dracula by Bram Stoker. I haven’t read that book since High School and I’d forgotten what a fine book it is. I loved Stoker’s phonetic rendering of the different speech patterns from around London during that time. At one point in the novel the children of south London seem to be wandering off during the night, evidently attracted to a bloofer lady. I guess Miss Lucy, as a vampire, was a beautiful lady.

But I digress. How about you guys? Do you like e-readers? Hate them? Don’t care?

*I ripped off that line from Home, by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I nearly bought the Amazon reader, but then the cooker started to break down and our flights to Northern Ireland cost about double the expected so I didn't get one. Also I've heard a few people moan about the Amazon readers because some of the ebooks actually cost more than the real things. Another factor against is that some of the features are quite experimental. However, I would consider one in the near future, maybe the next model. I have not looked at the nook.

[papayahed]

So then, the other day I was hanging out with one of my co-workers, and she had one these new-fangled e-reader contraptions. Holy-Moly-Me-O-My!*What a gas. I never thought I’d go for one of those things because I like books too much; I like the feel of them, the looks of them, writing in their margins, decorating my shelves with them, shading my eyes with them while napping in my hammock on a summer afternoon, swatting flies with them…you know. But then she showed me all the cool stuff she’d downloaded (mostly for free) and I immediately became ugly-envious. “I gots to have one,” says I.

So we went over to Barns & Noble and I bought one. I haven’t been the same since. There’s instant access to thousands of great texts. I’ve been downloading like a crazed dope fiend ever since.

My Nook came preloaded with a few books, so my first Nook book was Dracula by Bram Stoker. I haven’t read that book since High School and I’d forgotten what a fine book it is. I loved Stoker’s phonetic rendering of the different speech patterns from around London during that time. At one point in the novel the children of south London seem to be wandering off during the night, evidently attracted to a bloofer lady. I guess Miss Lucy, as a vampire, was a beautiful lady.

But I digress. How about you guys? Do you like e-readers? Hate them? Don’t care?

*I ripped off that line from Home, by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

I have a kindle and like it very much, not to tout other sites but this (http://www.mobileread.com/) one has some great info for ereaders.

[Seasider]

I bought my Kindle in February. I have been a collector and reader of books since my teens and have amassed more than 3000. So I have considered myself a book lover for years, and still do. But I love my Kindle, I have downloaded more than 170 books since February. So many books, especially classics are in the public domain and cost nothing to download. How much I could have saved myself as an undergraduate in the English Honours School so long ago!!

[Sancho]

Well, another driving factor in my decision to buy an e-reader was my interest in marital bliss. My wife thinks my books are reproducing on their own and multiplying while we sleep. I’ve got them on shelves, on the night stand, in boxes in the basement and the attic, stacked up in the loo, stuffed between the cushions of the sofa, hidden behind liquor bottles, etc.

[MystyrMystyry]

We brainiacs have become more brainiacial than ever before. Remember the arrival of the first electronic calculator (It'll never replace the slide-rule) and Quartz watch (nothing wrong with the old one, apart from needing to be taken into a jeweller's every three months - with reliability like that, who needs accuracy?)?*

Lewis Carrol wrote his best work trying to warn of the dangers of the 'new' maths, Ray Bradbury the dangers of the idiot box (even though he seemed later to succumb and hosted his own show - this was his attempt at inspiring reading)

So what's the fuss over an electronic gadget for students, bibliophiles, the future of literacy and mankind?

My only problem is that I've got too many already - the ipad seemed to solve the problem of notepad/pocket pc, phone, everything in one, but no sooner than its release, someone developed games for it. Oh well...

The other thing is dongles. How many dongles do I now possess? One for each phone, one for each notebook, one for each drum machine, one for each printer, one for each external hard drive etc etc A big tangle of spaghetti more confusing than its worth on most days

But otherwise I'm all for it, I just hope they arive at a standardised ebook format before my birthday.


*slop-py Mystyry

[Sancho]

Ain’t that the truth.

I was thinking I’d buy the next generation i-pad primarily to help me cut down on the magazine build-up around the house. The New Yorker, being a weekly, is the main culprit. They've already come up with an e-magazine version, and I'm afraid the Nook -while great for novels- probably won't support all the fancy graphics of a magazine.

[prendrelemick]

I shall be trawling ebay for unwanted Chrismas present kindles next week.

[dfloyd]

there will be no electronic books in my future .... whatever future I have left. There is a place for them: for travel, for students, for compactness. But they take all the fun out of book collecting ... of finding that special book with just the right binding, the right illustration, the typographic plan that merges text with illustrations.

Electronic books are for the uninitiated. They are for those who haven't done without to be able to buy that special book. Books are an art form, and there will always be those that appreciate this. Those that love leathers bindings and book design which brings the book story closer to the reader.

I am well aware that the book text is the most important thing. So you can down load thousands of books. but there is only one Don Quixote, and I would rather have one copy of the Don which is a beautiful book I have saved for than 10,000 downloads.

No, among book connoseuirs, the electronic book will never replace the book with the near perfect amalgam of binding, text, illustration, and design. And that is why hand-crafted books such as those produced by the Arion Press command several thousand dollars for a near perfect Don Quixote. That is why one critic wrote: 'To produce a beautiful book is the combination of the best in human endeavors, a producing of the ark which no black waters can engulf.'

[Scheherazade]

I love my Sony ereader especially after discovering that my library offers ebooks to be downloaded (2 weeks' borrowing period)... Not only the classics that are in public domain but also more recent publications.

So, three cheers for ereaders, I say!

*edit*

Dfloyd> It is not about replacing paper books with an eloctronic copy but convenience (for me). One can still buy the books that place an important place for them.

Mick> Go to a Sony store and check their ereaders out as well. After trying both, I feel Sony is the better one.

[MystyrMystyry]

I agree with the book as artform, and I think most people appreciate that, but - and it's as important as the difference between an original Caravaggio and a reduced pale reproduction - would you prefer to have a pale imitation or none at all?

As bibliophiles we develop particular sensitivities to our passion and favorites, but we also tend to lose sight of the big picture in our quest for the next object of our obsession.

In my salad days I would frequently purchase three or four different copies of a favorite, hardbacks and paperbacks and texts that had long lost their covers (from secondhand stores and if the price was right) but one day I had to come to terms with the dead weight I'd accumulated over years of collecting - tough heartbreaking decisions had to be made.

It took months to whittle it all down to the essentials and then even deciding what was probably always going to be in print and available from a library.

And then out of the blue (historically) these newfangled devices arrive which will enable me to have copies of the texts always at hand with minimum hassle, and no unnecessary tonnage

And if I feel like holding an actual book, they'll always be there

[Sancho]

Absolutely, there’s a visual art to literature. I’d go so far as to say the way the words lay out on the page, the paragraph breaks, the line spacing, the texture of the paper, and font, to name a few, are all rolled into the art form. I’ll never give up my two leather-bound copies of Don Quixote (one in English and one in Spanish.) In fact, John Paul Sartre once said he could no longer write after he went blind because he needed to see the words on the page. My Nook comes pretty danged close, though.

Here’s another one for you, Dfloyd. E-readers, while great for travel, have one major drawback: the Stew’s still make me turn it off while on final approach. Fascists!

[prendrelemick]

I love my Sony ereader especially after discovering that my library offers ebooks to be downloaded (2 weeks' borrowing period)... Not only the classics that are in public domain but also more recent publications.

So, three cheers for ereaders, I say!

*edit*

Dfloyd> It is not about replacing paper books with an eloctronic copy but convenience (for me). One can still buy the books that place an important place for them.

Mick> Go to a Sony store and check their ereaders out as well. After trying both, I feel Sony is the better one.

I've been researching different readers, on the net and word of mouth, and sort of decided on a Kindle. But I haven't actually seen a real one of any sort yet. That will be phase two. Weakening eyes and no shelf space are the driving factors in my case.

[hanzklein]

I'm personally against e-readers. I just like the feeling of actual books, it enhances the experience. As well, I really doubt the text is at all equal to a real book on an e-reader. It is also not completely safe to buy digital documents, because what if your e-reader becomes corrupted or something in a freak accident? Yes, e-readers allow for a much more compact reading experience, but if it gets stolen, someone just stole all the books on it as well as a $100+ item. To top it off, the books themselves are sometimes with broken lines of text (I've seen a lot of reviews on Amazon for this issue), cost slightly less (and in some cases, more) than the physical book, can not be lent or sold without giving the whole thing to someone, and just do not have the beauty of actual bound books themselves.


Absolutely, there’s a visual art to literature. I’d go so far as to say the way the words lay out on the page, the paragraph breaks, the line spacing, the texture of the paper, and font, to name a few, are all rolled into the art form. I’ll never give up my two leather-bound copies of Don Quixote (one in English and one in Spanish.) In fact, John Paul Sartre once said he could no longer write after he went blind because he needed to see the words on the page.

This is too true. You may be reading Hamlet, but if it's in a 100pp. mass market paperback book with extremely small font, it's going to be diminished. That's why I buy editions of books I'm comfortable reading with and have had experience with.

[MystyrMystyry]

Good point, sir. The technology is not yet 100 percent certified reliable.

But they still make cars and motorcyles unsafe at any speed, bicycles unsafe even at no speed (how many cyclists do you know wear full leathers and crashtest quality helmets?)

As for the question of theftery - well the technology may have changed these past thousand years, but you'd have to blame aspects on human nature and social conditioning and the absurdity of arresting and castrating everyone from a lower socio-economic suburb (even though, I must admit, sometimes, after reading the latest chipswrapper, but then the suburb and social position matters not...)

Why would you take it outdoors with you really? When I'm out and about I don't take a phone (don't have an iphone, nor any 'smartphone' - guaranteed thief magnets these, even if left in your house - read on)

In life we may encounter many sorts not of our ilk. I've had the misfortune to come upon 'junkies' some of whom have spoken candidly of their daring (desperate) carjacking and housebreaking exploits - but the intriguing thing is that they generally know the pricerange of household goods and what can be an expected return from a pawnshop of fence.

Certain (self-valued) articles don't even get a look in - but their goal is more on immediacy than any hassle. Leave thirty-fifty dollars lying around in open view and everything else will still be there when you get back.

And then you get security panels installed beore their next visit.

Sorry, just a lot of crime around here lately

[hanzklein]

I just tossed in the crime stuff as an aside, as many people with e-readers like to take them on vacations, etc to read. The real issues for me are the unconvincing cost and the experience of reading on an e-reader diminishes the books (for me).

[prendrelemick]

I'm personally against e-readers. I just like the feeling of actual books, it enhances the experience. As well, I really doubt the text is at all equal to a real book on an e-reader. It is also not completely safe to buy digital documents, because what if your e-reader becomes corrupted or something in a freak accident? Yes, e-readers allow for a much more compact reading experience, but if it gets stolen, someone just stole all the books on it as well as a $100+ item. To top it off, the books themselves are sometimes with broken lines of text (I've seen a lot of reviews on Amazon for this issue), cost slightly less (and in some cases, more) than the physical book, can not be lent or sold without giving the whole thing to someone, and just do not have the beauty of actual bound books themselves.



This is too true. You may be reading Hamlet, but if it's in a 100pp. mass market paperback book with extremely small font, it's going to be diminished. That's why I buy editions of books I'm comfortable reading with and have had experience with.

What you say is true, my beautiful Collins classic edition of Vanity Fair, printed in 1947 with gold tooling and a lovely tactile cover is now unreadable to these old eyes because of the small text.

[MystyrMystyry]

That is a thing about change - when cds first appeared in the early eighties, they looked sort of neat to me, like shrunken versions of their vinyl predecessors. Plus the promise that they didn't scratch and that weird holographic rainbow reflection.

But soon the reduction in 12 inch album art started to bother me. I wished I could have both worlds, but it was pointless.


As a side note, record companies also promised superior sound quality, but the first cd palayers were actually ony eight bit (256 dynamic levels) and sounded much worse than vinyl even with its scratches and pops. Fortunately private enterprise and the ever decreasing price of computer components came to the rescue, but not before the public were sold a lie.

[Seasider]

Why are some people treating this as an either/or issue? I have a Kindle and I also buy books, new and old and borrow from my library. My eyesight is not what it was either so I can adjust the font size to my comfort. At the moment I am reading War and Peace, mainly in bed and there's no problem with aching arms etc..
I like the idea of being able to get a book I want, when I want it and not just when the shop is open. I am also pleased that not only do I not have to wait for an on-line order to be delivered, but I don't have to pay postage either.

As far as losing your books if you are unfortunate enough to lose the reader, or have it stolen or whatever, Amazon keeps a list of everything you have bought and paid for and you can download them again for no extra charge.

As for the beauty of books in materials, illustrations, binding, fonts et al, all of which I appreciate I need not give them up or stop buying them.
Eating convenience food does not prevent one from fine dining when the need or occasion arises.

[Sancho]

Good point, mon frère.

We’re not losing anything with e-readers, we’re gaining something. What I think I’m primarily gaining is access to a lot of stuff that I otherwise wouldn’t have access to. Hard to find and out-of-print books are a click away. I don’t have to be satisfied with the selection at my local book store, which is in a rural area south of Atlanta, so their selection comprises primarily field guides to animal husbandry and tractor repair manuals.

When we feel the desire, we can still have an authentic reading experience and remain true to the original art form. I’ve got a HUGE, gorgeously illustrated edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that I love to flip through from time to time and there’s something undeniably fun about reading a detective story on cheap pulp. I haven’t tried it, but I’ll bet it’d be neat to read the Bible on a scroll. Also I’ve meaning to go to a cave and read some hieroglyphs.

[JBI]

Load of crap, they are terrible for flipping through, absolutely terrible - if I want something unindexed, it makes finding anything a pain in the behind., and oh my god is that background boring, it's as if I am looking at the same greyness for ever. Try reading a novel - most people just buy the toy and don't read the book - read the book and tell me it is interesting - it is not about how many books you have, but how enjoyable reading one is.

[andy13]

For me, I'm experimenting with Kindle software. At first, I hated the idea of an e-reader. I believed that there was less of a physical relationship with a book when it's on an e-reader. But, because of my voracious appetite for classics, I tried to figure out how to not pay for all the books and how to not go to the library. Thus, I discovered the Kindle. To tell the truth, I don't have a Kindle per se, but I did download Kindle for Mac. It is a great middle ground in between books and an e-reader, because it's free to download (albeit you have to have a computer), and it's easier to download books. If ever you're not satisfied with the book however on the Kindle, you can go to a library then and get the actual book

[Sancho]

Load of crap, they are terrible... absolutely terrible...

Hmmmm. Okay, I’m going to JBI down in the “Maybe” column.

Also, I have a hunch most people who buy the book don’t get around to reading it either – especially after the movie comes out.

[Seasider]

Load of crap, they are terrible for flipping through, absolutely terrible - if I want something unindexed, it makes finding anything a pain in the behind., and oh my god is that background boring, it's as if I am looking at the same greyness for ever. Try reading a novel - most people just buy the toy and don't read the book - read the book and tell me it is interesting - it is not about how many books you have, but how enjoyable reading one is.

I agree there is a problem with going back to refer, There is a Go To facility which will get you to the chapter headings or beginning or end. But since digitalisation cannot produce page numbers indexing is not possible.I don't have to flip through to find my page, as it opens where i finished previously.

I don't understand your whinge about background. Personally, I do not find it an issue and moreover I understand that the latest models show an improvement over the earlier ones. Since February I have read more than 80 novels, maybe not all of them classics, but if I failed to finish one ,I gave up because I wasn't enjoying the book, not because of the process. I just read The Postman Always Rings Twice for the first time on my Kindle and enjoyed it enormously.

There's a whiff of a Luddite mentality in some of these posts. But as I said before it's question of choice.

[papayahed]

There's a whiff of a Luddite mentality in some of these posts.

Is that what I've been smelling??

[MystyrMystyry]

You're all right. The tech's still in its infancy. I'l hold out for an ipad with retina display.

What I said earlier about watches? I just remembered the early batteries had dreadful power drain and you had to go to a jewellers as (or even more) frequently for a cell replacement.

But last night? The spine of my 32 year old Penguin Pickwick Papers finally cracked - in two places - and the cover fell off, revealing the glue had hardened amd was crumbling. What to do?


Also I recall some electronics lab was working on something called epaper a few years back, the idea being you could have an ebook and physically turn the pages. Probably became too much of a joke for further develpoment

[Sancho]

I just read Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini. What a hoot, what a gas, what a ride. Probably never would've read it without my Nook.

I downloaded a collection of "50 Classic Books" for $2.99, almost 13,000 pages of literature, everthing from Dostoevsky to Jules Verne.

[Seasider]

I forgot to mention the Stephen King novella Ur that he wrote specifically for the Kindle platform. I'm not a big King, nor sci-fi fan, but I found this amusing and very engaging for someone with literary interests. It has to do with the discovery of unpublished texts from famous authors, Hemingway being a case in point, that have been written in a parallel world. I recommend it as a suitable diversion for the upcoming holiday.

[stlukesguild]

Absolutely, there’s a visual art to literature. I’d go so far as to say the way the words lay out on the page, the paragraph breaks, the line spacing, the texture of the paper, and font, to name a few, are all rolled into the art form. I’ll never give up my two leather-bound copies of Don Quixote (one in English and one in Spanish.) In fact, John Paul Sartre once said he could no longer write after he went blind because he needed to see the words on the page.

As a visual artist... and a lover of "artist's books" and the book as a visual art object, I cannot help but agree. I remember being ticked off when reading an essay by Mallarme in which he spoke of how there was an essential element to the way a poem looked on the page... and yet the very edition in which I was reading this essay had not only crammed multiple poems on the same page, but went so far as to start short poems/sonnets on one page and have them carry over onto the next... no doubt in the effort to cut costs.:mad5:

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I nearly bought the Amazon reader, but then the cooker started to break down and our flights to Northern Ireland cost about double the expected so I didn't get one. Also I've heard a few people moan about the Amazon readers because some of the ebooks actually cost more than the real things. Another factor against is that some of the features are quite experimental. However, I would consider one in the near future, maybe the next model. I have not looked at the nook.

Ebooks costing more in electronic form is not the fault of the supplier (in this case, Sony or Amazon or Barnes & Noble), but the fault of the publisher. I read some long explanation on why, but can't remember, so you'll just have to trust me on this assertion.

Plus, I've owned a Sony reader and Amazon, and both contain ebooks that cost more than their paper brethren. Some do cost more, some cost less. As yet, I've not been able to find a pattern as to why some cost more than others. Probably a publisher-by-publisher thing.


there will be no electronic books in my future .... whatever future I have left. There is a place for them: for travel, for students, for compactness. But they take all the fun out of book collecting ... of finding that special book with just the right binding, the right illustration, the typographic plan that merges text with illustrations.

Electronic books are for the uninitiated. They are for those who haven't done without to be able to buy that special book. Books are an art form, and there will always be those that appreciate this. Those that love leathers bindings and book design which brings the book story closer to the reader.

I am well aware that the book text is the most important thing. So you can down load thousands of books. but there is only one Don Quixote, and I would rather have one copy of the Don which is a beautiful book I have saved for than 10,000 downloads.

No, among book connoseuirs, the electronic book will never replace the book with the near perfect amalgam of binding, text, illustration, and design. And that is why hand-crafted books such as those produced by the Arion Press command several thousand dollars for a near perfect Don Quixote. That is why one critic wrote: 'To produce a beautiful book is the combination of the best in human endeavors, a producing of the ark which no black waters can engulf.'

You can have both, you know. Just because you get an ereader doesn't mean every book you get is going to be an ebook. It's not the case with me. But, I was never a fancy leather-bound book collector in the first place. I agree that the physical aspects of a book contribute to its artistic merit, but I'd say maybe only about 5% or so. To me, 95% of the art still comes from the words themselves.


Load of crap, they are terrible for flipping through, absolutely terrible - if I want something unindexed, it makes finding anything a pain in the behind., and oh my god is that background boring, it's as if I am looking at the same greyness for ever. Try reading a novel - most people just buy the toy and don't read the book - read the book and tell me it is interesting - it is not about how many books you have, but how enjoyable reading one is.

What? Is this just a rant, or what?


Anyways, to any prospective buyer of an ebook, I've had Sony and Amazon, and I highly recommend an Amazon Kindle. Their selection is insanely better than Sony's, the screen contrast on the newest model is excellent, and they're a lot cheaper. I haven't had experience with any other reader, Nook included, but I would never get an ebook reader with an LCD screen. The e-ink is where it's at. Plus, if you're going to drop 300 bucks on the new Nook, I don't see why you wouldn't just throw in a little more to get an iPad which can do a lot more, and can download the Kindle software for free.

And, let me throw in another reason e-readers are a good thing. As someone with a physical handicap, I often have trouble using traditional books, especially the ultra-big, ultra-heavy hardbacks with stiff bindings. E-readers have made reading a much easier experience for me in many cases.

[Sancho]

I went with the Nook because it’s convenient to my situation, and also because it’s the machine that my co-worker (see this thread’s kick-off post)originally enlightened me with. So in the interest of maintaining a friendship that I hold dear, there really was only one choice.

I decided the bare-bones, black-and-white Nook gave the closest facsimile to a real book. I didn’t like the back-lighting of the Color Nook because I thought it would cause eye fatigue, like a computer screen. In price as well as utility, the basic Kindle and the basic Nook are basically interchangeable – about a hundred and fifty bucks and an Etch-a-Sketch display. (For anyone here under forty, the Etch-a-Sketch was the coolest toy ever. It was a simple drawing machine – a gray screen and a stylus. The stylus was controlled by two big-ole knobs at the bottom of the screen, and you could draw anything you wanted to – especially the curvaceous next-door-neighbor lady. Ah yes, but I digress…)

Aiy, aiy, aiy, lost my train of thought. Anyway, I like the black-n-white Nook/Kindle for novels, but I’m thinking of buying an i-pad for magazines. The Nook doesn’t do .pdf columns all that well and I can’t imagine reading the New Yorker in anything but three narrow columns with a bunch of corny cartoons thrown in.

As for the Sierra Club – my moral barometer – they tell me an e-reader is a green-reader if I read at least 30 e-books per year. Not even close, I’m at around 150.

[MystyrMystyry]

Aah, Sancho - this could be the problem here. I really wanted an Etch-a-Sketch until I got one and discovered for myself what a painful pain they were. Give me back my pencils, crayons and paints!

I had a repeat experience in 94 before the introduction of Windows 95. I'd been using an old Bluescreen DOS job for all my wordprocessing needs, and a chance visit to a friend's house introduced me to the glories of Windows 3.1 with a (seemingly) paper white background, a nifty little paint programme - it looked like so much fun - anyway I just had to get me one of these things

I didn't immediately, waiting for a Win95 instead - and as gobsmacking as it overall was, the paint programme soon lost its interest, perhaps thanks to third party developers who were forging amazing things with them. There was one called Painter that mimicked every known brush, pastel, pen, spraycan etc that was much more up most artists' alley, and seemed like a gift from Heaven

But the word processor was the thing, and something called the Guttenburg Project (all World Literature available to all in digital format), and my first encounter with a nifty little invention called simply WWW (an acronym longer than what it seeks to abbreviate)

So that's it for me - maximise the possiblities and I'll be happy


On the subject of books vs screens I'm yet to experience that same engrossing, absorbing feeling I've received from a book - but some books have failed to deliver on that as well

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I went with the Nook because it’s convenient to my situation, and also because it’s the machine that my co-worker (see this thread’s kick-off post)originally enlightened me with. So in the interest of maintaining a friendship that I hold dear, there really was only one choice.

I decided the bare-bones, black-and-white Nook gave the closest facsimile to a real book. I didn’t like the back-lighting of the Color Nook because I thought it would cause eye fatigue, like a computer screen. In price as well as utility, the basic Kindle and the basic Nook are basically interchangeable – about a hundred and fifty bucks and an Etch-a-Sketch display. (For anyone here under forty, the Etch-a-Sketch was the coolest toy ever. It was a simple drawing machine – a gray screen and a stylus. The stylus was controlled by two big-ole knobs at the bottom of the screen, and you could draw anything you wanted to – especially the curvaceous next-door-neighbor lady. Ah yes, but I digress…)

Aiy, aiy, aiy, lost my train of thought. Anyway, I like the black-n-white Nook/Kindle for novels, but I’m thinking of buying an i-pad for magazines. The Nook doesn’t do .pdf columns all that well and I can’t imagine reading the New Yorker in anything but three narrow columns with a bunch of corny cartoons thrown in.

As for the Sierra Club – my moral barometer – they tell me an e-reader is a green-reader if I read at least 30 e-books per year. Not even close, I’m at around 150.

Yeah, the LCD screen just isn't good for reading, in my opinion. People on here have been talking about the "feel" of a book. I agree, there is a different feel between an e-reader and an actual book, but, for me, the differences are negligible. But, the difference in feel between an e-ink (the technology in non-backlit e-readers) and a lit LCD screen is huge. I just don't like reading literature on a backlit screen.

The only difference between the Nook and Amazon's reader would be the selection of non-copyrighted books. As far as I know, Amazon still has the most selection, and how Nook's is in comparison, I'm not sure.

[Sancho]

Aah, Sancho - this could be the problem here. I really wanted an Etch-a-Sketch until I got one and discovered for myself what a painful pain they were. Give me back my pencils, crayons and paints!

I had a repeat experience in 94 before the introduction of Windows 95. I'd been using an old Bluescreen DOS job for all my wordprocessing needs, and a chance visit to a friend's house introduced me to the glories of Windows 3.1 with a (seemingly) paper white background, a nifty little paint programme - it looked like so much fun - anyway I just had to get me one of these things

I didn't immediately, waiting for a Win95 instead - and as gobsmacking as it overall was, the paint programme soon lost its interest, perhaps thanks to third party developers who were forging amazing things with them. There was one called Painter that mimicked every known brush, pastel, pen, spraycan etc that was much more up most artists' alley, and seemed like a gift from Heaven

But the word processor was the thing, and something called the Guttenburg Project (all World Literature available to all in digital format), and my first encounter with a nifty little invention called simply WWW (an acronym longer than what it seeks to abbreviate)

So that's it for me - maximise the possiblities and I'll be happy


On the subject of books vs screens I'm yet to experience that same engrossing, absorbing feeling I've received from a book - but some books have failed to deliver on that as well

Umm-hmm, I know. I think I’ll leave the visual art to St Luke. I can’t draw to save my life and the only drawings I ever made with my Etch-a-Sketch looked like stick figures of Tarzan and Jane – in which Tarzan usually has his hands on Jane’s copious coconuts. Reference the earlier post about my curvaceous next-door-neighbor lady.

Anyway, speaking of the old neighborhood, I bought my Dad a Nook for Christmas. He’s seventy-eight and he’s been a voracious reader his whole life. If he can make the change, anybody can. We’ll see.

[MystyrMystyry]

Etch-a-Sketch

Worst

Dissapointment

Ever


With adult mind I suspect trick photography on the cover box art, expert drawings were superimposed on the picture of the actual toy.

And those impossible games that you place over the screen (memory fades -were they all games?)

Any ebook would have to better than that


Let us speak no more of this

[Sancho]

Let us speak no more of this

Bah-hahahahaha...Agreed

[Three Sparrows]

To Nook or not to Nook, that is the question. Actually, I have been pestering my mom about getting a Nook simply because the e-books are so much cheaper. Like $2 for something that would normally cost $8. Also some books are only available as e-books when they first come out. Since I buy books all the time, this device might actually pay for itself after a while. I'm just afraid that I'll go download crazy, and spend tons any way. Ah well.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

To Nook or not to Nook, that is the question. Actually, I have been pestering my mom about getting a Nook simply because the e-books are so much cheaper. Like $2 for something that would normally cost $8. Also some books are only available as e-books when they first come out. Since I buy books all the time, this device might actually pay for itself after a while. I'm just afraid that I'll go download crazy, and spend tons any way. Ah well.

Unless you're talking about books out of copyright, which can be gotten for free as an ebook, this just isn't true. Any book not out of copy-right is, at most, one dollar cheaper than its cheapest paperback version. At least, this has been my observation.

[Janine]

I bought an Ipod Touch recently and you can get apps for a lot of book sites. Now I thought I would hate reading on there; but actually I like it very much. I don't want to eliminate paper books, because I really cherish those and I love the look of a bookcase full of books, especially old ones; but it's kind of convenient to lay in bed with this lightweight device and read some of my books...many of which are free. The new Ipod Touch offers retina display and you can change backgrounds easily on most of the sites and I enjoy getting the comforable look of a book. Also, some of the programs scroll authomatically, at whatever speed you feel comforable with. I didn't think I would like this feature, but it's great. I like the parchment background in the Mary Shelley book I downloaded for free. I can change the color of the type - right now it's brown on parchment which fits the era. Also the book I got was an expensive one even from Amazon. Free is cool with me.

[MystyrMystyry]

Authomatic? Do you mean you can scroll by author?

[Night_Lamp]

I'm not in the 'NEVER!' camp, but I doubt I'll ever get totally sucked in: neat technology but not really for me. I have a few questions for members who are familiar with the devices though:

- How does it interact with the Gutenberg site? I have read many amazing lost classics through that site, and the one time I took the trouble to set the margins and make presentable the text for easy reading, it took me hours.

- Along with the last point: If I find something I really want, can I print it off and put it in a duo-tang folder? I'd bet the answer is no- even though these texts are in the free domain, I'd wager Kindle etc. don't want you using their devices as a platform for making hard copies.

- There was also a story not so long ago in the news that one of the services had a legal problem with the version of 1984 that was available for download, and Amazon (or whichever service) just erased it from everyone's device. Meaning, that even if you have paid for a text, the server withholds the right to take it back whenever they want. It's like someone breaking into your house and stealing a book off of your shelves.

[MystyrMystyry]

That is it - it seems one of the issues with the older designs is that there is limited interactivity between the text and user.

The poster who said that the ipad allowed a Kindle app to read those scripts - does it also allow copy/paste and save to different formats so that printing is possible? I suspect so

As for texts that you can't get like 1984 - I agree about stealing it back making you feel a touch irritable, but if there's a problem there's a problem and that's it. It'd probably be more frustrating if you're able to read until two pages before the end, and then - nothing...

Also they'd probably have a credit scheme wherein you can purchase another text of the same value because of the issue - and get the text by buying the book. You want some books on your shelves don't you? (I mean if ebooks hadn't arrived the overall price of books probably wouldn't have changed - just like they haven't changed other than popular/study works to get more expensive exponentially, and everything else by little or by much, or whatever the publisher deems to be the right price


My question is how to self-publish to kindle (and other) format and get a slice of the pie. And how to promote it? Get it reviewed? What's the overall sales figures of particular genres?

Too many questions

[Sancho]

I haven’t tried to download any of the free books from the Guttenberg Project. But I have had great success on the Google ebookstore site. They’ve got millions of free books, downloadable for any of the e-reader formats – millions and growing rapidly.

[Sancho]

I’ve been on the road for the past few weeks and it has been a flat-out joy to have an entire library ensconced in the cargo pocket of my khakis. My latest e-read from the public domain was, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It’s been a few years since I’ve read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, and let me tell ya, a few more miles on the ole Sancho adds a whole new perspective to these detective tales.

An example is needed. One of Sherlock’s adventures was set largely in an opium den in East London, around about the late 1880s. So, I’m sitting there, reading the story of The Man with the Twisted Lip, and I keep thinking: the more things change – the more they stay the same. I mean, we’ve got opium dens in Atlanta (south of Ponce) only they’re called crack houses. It’s the same thing only different.

I had a guy on the street explain it to me once. He said, “Dem people dat in dat crack house, dey da best frens you got … ‘til you outta money. Din, you out ona street.” I’ve never been in a crack house or an opium den in my whole life, but this man’s statement rang true.

[Janine]

Authomatic? Do you mean you can scroll by author?

Not just by author...some have programs which scroll the pages automatically within the book or some turn like a real book when you swipe them. I love the ipod! It's phenomenal. The scrolling feature is one you can set or, if you prefer, just scroll by touch on your own. This is the tip of the iceberg on what the ipod can do. You can also change the page backgrounds to different papers - I love this, being an artist. I currently have a Mary Shelley book with a parchment background and dark brown lettering. Now if you plan on reading in bed at night in low lighting you can reverse lettering and read light blue on black or white on black - there are lots of choices. I don't intend to substitude books with my ipod but it's really nice to read somethings on it when it is convenient to do so. I also love the quote apps one can get - many are free. Most of the older classic books on any of the sites are free as well. I already have some of those and I am not yet connected at home on the internet - still need to install my router. Holidays set that back some. I will get to it eventually and then I will let you all know how it is to download directly from the net via the device. I would consider one though, if I didn't have one. I went to the Apple store to check it out even though I purchased it from Amazon a little cheaper but brandnew from Apple.

Only disadvantages I can see is the Kindle or the Nook may be a little larger viewing screen. I know the Kindle can hold a charge for a full month. This would be great for a traveler. I don't travel so I charge my ipod each night.

[Scheherazade]

Just a quick question to those who own Kindle:

Can you download books that are in Adobe PDF or EPUB document format? (These are the formats offered at the local libraries around here)

I made a friends with an elderly lady whom I see quite often at a coffee shop. After seeing my ereader, she got herself a Kindle as well but we were not sure if she could download books from the library. So far, she only downloaded books from Amazon.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

PDF, yes, though sometimes PDF files can be problematic on a ereader, as the fonts won't be large enough. I haven't tried a PDF on mine, so you'll just have to give it a shot.

But EPUB, I'm not sure. I don't think you can read EPUB on Kindle, but I'm pretty sure there's a simple process to convert the files from EPUB to Kindle's format (I've just copied and pasted text into a Word doc, emailed it to my Kindle, and it worked great--of course, there was no interactive contents). There are excellent forums that will answer any question. I've used them several times:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/

[Janine]

On the Ipod you can download books from Librivox site. I am not sure yet how to do so from my library sites program. I must look into that for the future. Librivox offers a lot of book texts in different formats so it might be advantageous to look into that. I found most of the classic books I wanted were free on many of the sites. I can get Nook or Barnes and Noble books and many of those I understand are free texts if the books are out of print. At least I think it works that way. Also can download Amazon's Kindle books for ipod.

[grechzoo]

something which has been mentioned rarely but for me is a big factor in why im looking forward to buying myself a kindle.

they give the first chapter (sometime multiple chapter if they are short) for free.....for EVERY book on the store.

now that is an upside if ever there was one. and ill lump in the travel, convenience, cheapness factor (the store is getting cheaper and cheaper, and there is always a good sale on)

modern classics are non-existent in ebook form though. so there's the big negative and why I will always be buying real books too.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

What do you mean by "modern classics"?

Personally, for me, the novelty of using an ereader has worn off (most likely temporarily). Even with the Kindle's advantages (dictionary, size, easier to use for me since I'm disabled) it just doesn't beat a real book. Until prices really start to drop, I'm buying actual books (one-to-two dollars is worth it).

[grechzoo]

roth, pynchon, morrison, even kavalier and clay (the book im reading now)

sure there are some, but it seems the book I usually want to read at one time or another isn't usually available.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Damn, I didn't know Pynchon wasn't on there. Would've been nice to read Gravity's Rainbow on there rather than the mammoth book. Kindle's great for fantasy, though :)

[Nicci]

I love my ereader! OH MY do I ever! I bought the BeBook simply for the amount of files it will read (something like 24 file extensions). I did so much printing of texts for school last semester that I feel responsible for depriving the world of oxygen. I love books, but this is so much easier and lighter to carry. I will still buy books for the home library (but no more paperbacks, now it will only be hardcovers), but I will buy e-books for the ease of traveling and reading in bed (wow, it is so much easier now).

[grechzoo]

Yeah the comfort of the kindle, especially instead of an 600+ page paperback or hard back cannot be underestimated either.

I especially get pins and needles in my hands after about 30-40 minutes, so I usually only read for short amounts at a time. Whereas on a book on my mum's kindle I can usually sit there for an hour without any discomfort.

[Haunted]

Not just by author [on the iPod Touch]...some have programs which scroll the pages automatically within the book or some turn like a real book when you swipe them. I love the ipod! It's phenomenal. The scrolling feature is one you can set or, if you prefer, just scroll by touch on your own. This is the tip of the iceberg on what the ipod can do. You can also change the page backgrounds to different papers - I love this, being an artist. I currently have a Mary Shelley book with a parchment background and dark brown lettering. Now if you plan on reading in bed at night in low lighting you can reverse lettering and read light blue on black or white on black - there are lots of choices. I don't intend to substitude books with my ipod but it's really nice to read somethings on it when it is convenient to do so. I also love the quote apps one can get - many are free. Most of the older classic books on any of the sites are free as well. I already have some of those and I am not yet connected at home on the internet - still need to install my router. Holidays set that back some. I will get to it eventually and then I will let you all know how it is to download directly from the net via the device. I would consider one though, if I didn't have one. I went to the Apple store to check it out even though I purchased it from Amazon a little cheaper but brandnew from Apple.

Get the Kindle app on your iPod Touch and you can buy and download books right from Amazon. Download directly from the net via the device is just like downloading to your computer. Books go right into your library (the bookcase), apps go on the home screen. By the way, some popular books are also available as apps. I downloaded the book Iliad and I also got the Iliad app.


Only disadvantages I can see is the Kindle or the Nook may be a little larger viewing screen. I know the Kindle can hold a charge for a full month. This would be great for a traveler. I don't travel so I charge my ipod each night.

For large viewing screen go with the iPad. It's even bigger than the Kindle or Nook. Those two are not only low tech but it's also restricted usage in the sense that they do just one thing, and that's books. I think they have the Internet but then again, so does a 5 year old computer. So what happens when the book gets uninteresting? On the iPad you can start watching movies or sketch out your next novel :D; You can load up your iPad with jaw-dropping apps like our galaxy with a time machine, interactive stargazing... Or do down-to-earth stuff like banking, play music, draw with your fingers, play piano, the guitar, create your music... or find restaurants. You can also download different dictionaries: slangs, foreign language translations... ALL FREE. Sky's the limit with the iPad. It's multi-purpose and multitasks.

All the classics are free on the iPad / iPhone / iPod Touch. I love reading the native iBooks because of all the customizations possible on the iPad family and I just love how you swipe the pages. Color illustrations look awesome on their Retina Display. I'm sure the Kindle is good for it's price with its two colors (black and gray), but you get so much more out of an iPad.

[grechzoo]

I think you are failing to mention the main draw and most important feature in any dedicated book reading gadget (in my opinion) and thats the e-ink screen.

You are right the iPad can do much more, but for reading in particular, it also causes greater eyestrain (My opinion, I can NEVER read for long periods of time of a lit up screen without getting a migrain)

If you are looking for an overall device, iPad is great, but if you are looking for a great reading device, and don't like reading off backlit LCD screens, then that's what the Kindle/Nook/etc. was made for.

So to sum up, you cant really compare them, they are designed for different markets, they have similar features, but iPad is an entertainment Gadget, Kindle/Nook and others are truly book reading gadgets.

[Haunted]

On the iPad family you can adjust the brightness as you are reading. One tap on the page and a menu bar appears with a brightness slider.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

A brightness change may help, but an LCD screen will still cause eye-strain regardless. A dedicated e-reader won't, because it isn't lit at all. Plus, the iPad ways quite a bit, while a Kindle ways less than most hardback books (and thicker paperbacks). Annnnnd, the Kindle is much cheaper.

And the technology in e-ink ereaders isn't really "old." It's still being improved upon.

[Sancho]

Here’s something fun you can do with your e-reader: win debates (oh alright, arguments).

Let me explain. Due to the nature of job, my geographical location, and my demographic group, I work with a lot guys who watch Fox News, listen to Rush, and read The National Review. I think I’m the lone liberal in a vast sea of conservative Republicans – a rose on a huge pile of manure.

Anyway, conservatives in the United States seem to have a propensity for evoking the founding fathers to bolster their arguments, or agendas: George Washington would’ve been against gay marriage. James Madison based the US Constitution on the Bible. Thomas Jefferson would’ve kicked all the Mexicans out of the country. Sam Adams would’ve wanted me to drive a tricked-out Humvee with hood-mounted .50 cal machine gun.

Well, the other day, I downloaded to my Nook a copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers. Now in response to a conservative jab, I parry with, “So that’s what the Constitution say, eh? Because I don’t think that’s what it says. Oh-me oh-my, I forgot, I’ve got a copy of it right here in my pocket. Let’s check… You know, it doesn’t seem to say any of those things you said it said.”

Great fun! Even if I did find a dog turd in my lunch pail – ah my coworkers, they’re so clever.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

That does sound fun. Nothing better than pwning some conservatives.

[ScribbleScribe]

Well, another driving factor in my decision to buy an e-reader was my interest in marital bliss. My wife thinks my books are reproducing on their own and multiplying while we sleep. I’ve got them on shelves, on the night stand, in boxes in the basement and the attic, stacked up in the loo, stuffed between the cushions of the sofa, hidden behind liquor bottles, etc.

lol, geez. At least mine are all in bookcases.

[Seasider]

Poor Sancho...the trouble is as my mother use to say " The Truth Hurts".

I have been so great... an in -bed reader...torch under the covers when my mother ordered lights out...little lights designed not to disturb sleeping partners etc etc.
Tonight I thought of taking my copy of Cecil Beaton's 480 hardback pages of Unexpurgated Diaries The Sixties to read in bed and decided to continue with W.Somerset Maugham's short stories instead.

[Sancho]

Poor Sancho...the trouble is as my mother use to say " The Truth Hurts".

Your Momma’s right!

One of my favorite arguments goes something like this: “You know – the truth is just the truth, and you can’t really have an opinion about the truth.”

Another of my lines, when debating my conservative Republican friends, is: “You can believe me, because I never lie, and I’m always right.”

It’s quite possible that dog turds in the lunch pail are a result of me being an exasperatingly annoying debater and don’t really have anything to do with liberal Democrat versus conservative Republican arguments.

My Momma used to say, “Lil’ Sancho, you are sooo contrary!”



lol, geez. At least mine are all in bookcases.

My nook is the literary equivalent of a twelve-step program.