Kindle

[vikingcyclist]

For exactly the same reasons you were, since darth vadar hasn't tried one yet?

I could understand them then. My reasons were purely ideological (I love books, and still think there's something special about the printed word). vadar's seem to be more anti-Kindle than pro-book.

 

[ColinJ]

I still quite fancy getting one when I can afford to, but I am slightly concerned about the reliability of them and Amazon's handling of any problems. That concern comes from reading some negative reviews on the Amazon websites. Still, 91% of the customer reviews give a 4* or 5* rating.

Other concerns are 'clunky navigation' and simplistic handling of PDFs.

For reading one book at a time, the Kindle sounds great (as long as you don't get a duff one)!

 

[goo_mason]

This is an odd thing. No-one seems to throw books away, even though magazines at a similar cost go straight in the bin at the end of the week. I just can't bring myself to do that with a book, so every few months I gather them up and take them to the hospice shop. Even so, I have several hundred books that have moved house with me....

In answer to Darth, the reasons given by Viking and ASC1951 are the same as mine. I used to use the library a LOT, but the choices became limited and new books that I wanted to read were hard to get hold of. Then the prices of books started coming down so I just started buying them (plus I'm forever haunting charity shops & picking up books, or getting out-of-print books from the Amazon Marketplace). I just can't bear to throw a good book away hence my growing 'library'. Comes in useful though, as friends & family visiting often have a browse and ask if they can borrow some of my books...

Surely, Vadar, if you're such a lover of books you'll have amassed your own collection of books that you loved / enjoyed that you want to own forever (and read again when the mood takes you)?

 

[goo_mason]

I still quite fancy getting one when I can afford to, but I am slightly concerned about the reliability of them and Amazon's handling of any problems. That concern comes from reading some negative reviews on the Amazon websites. Still, 91% of the customer reviews give a 4* or 5* rating.

Other concerns are 'clunky navigation' and simplistic handling of PDFs.

For reading one book at a time, the Kindle sounds great (as long as you don't get a duff one)!

Never had a moment's bother with mine, and some of the negative comments on the Amazon site are for the daftest of reasons ("I can't read it in the dark!" - yes, well the same is true of a paper book! "The web browser is rubbish!" - well, that's because it's an eBook for reading books, and the browser is an 'experimental' extra that's outwith the core functionality of the device). For the navigating that you're doing when reading or choosing a different book, I can't see what's clunky about it tbh. I'd get one if I was you - it's a fab device and you really do forget that you're reading on a piece of Star Trek-like tech!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Other concerns are 'clunky navigation' and simplistic handling of PDFs.

The user-interface is clunky for things like creating collections, but for actually reading books, it couldn't be simpler. Select book, read page, press Next page, repeat.

 

[marinyork]

I still quite fancy getting one when I can afford to, but I am slightly concerned about the reliability of them and Amazon's handling of any problems. That concern comes from reading some negative reviews on the Amazon websites. Still, 91% of the customer reviews give a 4* or 5* rating.

Other concerns are 'clunky navigation' and simplistic handling of PDFs.

For reading one book at a time, the Kindle sounds great (as long as you don't get a duff one)!

I agree on paper the extended warranty is a cheek. Should really be more robust than that (whether it is or not).

I don't think it's clunky navigation at all, the joypad could be an awful lot better though. Clunky springs to mind there. Unlike Goo Mason I was quite impressed with the browser.

Don't see any of the PDF stuff, tested it with hard to render CS and Maths PDF, handled it fine. Main problem with PDFs is there isn't a 125% zoom setting. There's kind of a bit of compensation to this by able to rotate the screen round though.

 

[ColinJ]

The navigation problems were things like this...

You are halfway through reading a text book and go to read a footnote which is located at the end of the Kindle book since there is no concept of pages. Switch the device off. Next time you switch on, you are at the end of the book. How do you quickly get back to where you were?

You are currently reading 4 or 5 books. Kindle remembers where you are in the most recent one you opened. How do you easily keep track of where you were in the other books?

You have a large collection of books. How do you organise your collection sensibly, and find things easily?

I think the PDF problem was that you have to zoom and pan a lot. It would be nice if the content could somehow reformat for the small screen, automatically adjusting to the orientation of it. It would fit the width, and you'd just have to scroll vertically.

 

[CopperBrompton]

You are halfway through reading a text book and go to read a footnote which is located at the end of the Kindle book since there is no concept of pages. Switch the device off. Next time you switch on, you are at the end of the book. How do you quickly get back to where you were?

Press the Back key.

You are currently reading 4 or 5 books. Kindle remembers where you are in the most recent one you opened. How do you easily keep track of where you were in the other books?

The Kindle remembers where you are in all of them, not just the most recent one.

You have a large collection of books. How do you organise your collection sensibly, and find things easily?

I currently have 350 books on mine. I have them organised into Collections by author. The process for doing this is clunky, but it's easy to navigate once done.

I think the PDF problem was that you have to zoom and pan a lot.

I'd recommend getting the larger Kindle if A4 PDFs is a key requirement.

 

[marinyork]

I think the PDF problem was that you have to zoom and pan a lot. It would be nice if the content could somehow reformat for the small screen, automatically adjusting to the orientation of it. It would fit the width, and you'd just have to scroll vertically.

I'd recommend getting the larger Kindle if A4 PDFs is a key requirement.

I disagree with the complaints. The PDFs I've tested out have all been demanding A4 CS and Maths PDFs. I would describe the handling in landscape mode of these as adequate. It has the added advantage you can scroll down the page by pressing page turn. I don't think even pan is as bad as people make out. Obviously the 9" version would handle things a lot better in portrait mode. I think some people's eyesight of some of the people complaining must be worse than mine.

 

[marinyork]

ColinJ, you're supposed to be able to view them in Staples. Ring up your local one in Halifax, check whether this is the case and go on have a look maybe?

 

[ColinJ]

ColinJ, you're supposed to be able to view them in Staples. Ring up your local one in Halifax, check whether this is the case and go on have a look maybe?

But then I'd have to go to Halifax!   

Actually,  I'm going down to Coventry later in the month and there is a Staples store not far from my sister's house so I might nip over and take a look in there.

It would have to be a Christmas present and it would be competing with a small camcorder for priority.

The main reason that I want a Kindle at the moment is that I'd like to write a cycling book for the Kindle but I could always use the PC Kindle emulator software to keep an eye on what it looks like while I'm writing it.

 

[CopperBrompton]

The main reason that I want a Kindle at the moment is that I'd like to write a cycling book for the Kindle but I could always use the PC Kindle emulator software to keep an eye on what it looks like while I'm writing it.

Have a look at it on the printed page; that's pretty much what it'll look like on the Kindle.

 

[Keith Oates]

I've now got my G3 model and although I don't know all of the functions yet it appears to be exactly as I anticipated. A big thanks to all on here who have given me good advice and information regarding the Kindle and I can confirm the 3G function works well, even here in China.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Indeed, I downloaded a book onto mine while in Shanghai. I haven't yet found a country where it doesn't work.

 

[Keith Oates]

When I registered with Amazon I put my country of residence as China (which is where I'm currently working) and could not download any books and a notice came up on the screen telling me this. However, I then changed this info to my home address in the Philiippines and I could download here in China OK.