forgeforsaken
Member
hsukardi said:
You can do this pretty easily. I would recommend grabbing Calibre as well, you don't need it for this but it makes it much better.
http://calibre-ebook.com/
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So I want to buy a Kindle
- Thread starter xBigDanx
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You can do this pretty easily. I would recommend grabbing Calibre as well, you don't need it for this but it makes it much better.
http://calibre-ebook.com/
Kano On The Phone said:
What? That's not even remotely close to what I said. First, I'm not asking to buy the cheapest version possible and get the more expensive version for free.
As far as price: Hardback > Paperback > Ebook
2nd, it's fairly common practice with movies now - you buy a DVD or blu ray and you get the digital copy for free. To ask for that in books is not an insane request.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
It's not Amazon's call.
ShallNoiseUpon
Member
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Correct. And if recent history is an example, publishers aren't going to embrace ebooks. They are going to go kicking and screaming.
Kano on the Phone
Member
It's more ridiculous than insane, so you're right.xBigDanx said:
This.Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Gary Whitta
Member
Which is weird because according to everything I've read recently book sales are in the toilet these days. You'd think publishers would be willing to try anything new to re-invigorate sales, rather than adopt a myopic and protectionist attitude toward their failing industry, especially after everyone has already seen what Apple did for the music industry when it was in similar doldrums.ShallNoiseUpon said:
Rowling won't let any of her Potter books on digital right? Lame!
At least it makes sense from Rowling's perspective. They're still charging $15-20 for hardback editions of the HP books, and I'm sure they still sell pretty well. Maybe in 5 years or so, once the market has matured and it would get HP back in the news, they'll make a grand announcement and people will rush out to buy the books again in digital format.Gary Whitta said:
They might make more money by releasing e-editions of HP, but I tend to only buy e-books that I don't want to own in hard copy. I'll still probably buy every Song of Ice and Fire book in hard copy, even if it's more pleasant to read on the Kindle.
PhoncipleBone
Banned
I dont think it will be long before publishers start putting codes for the ebook download into copies of their physical books. Just make it print up on the receipt when you purchase the book, that way some asshole cant come into the store and copy the code off of each copy of the book. (As I have seen people do to the medical books in my store. Schmucks).
PhoncipleBone
Banned
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
True. It took some arm twisting to get publishers to even allow digital lending on the nook. And all they budged on was ONE lending in the life of the book. One is better than nothing, but it seems a little assholish to only allow lending the book once. Three times? A little more understandable.
ShallNoiseUpon
Member
Gary Whitta said:
I'm not sure, but I'm going to say that book piracy is nowhere near where music piracy was pre-iTunes store. It's not like you can rip a book to your computer and share it. Digital books are still a new market.
This may or may not have an influence on their decision to stay in the physical market rather than embrace digital distribution.
gregor7777
Banned
xBigDanx said:
Happens in gaming too now, right? If you buy Half Life 2 or Modern Warfare 2 off the shelf you get discs in the box, plus you are able to d/l the game off Steam.
Gary Whitta
Member
I don't think piracy has anything to do with it, at least not in the US (book piracy is actually big business in some countries, I heard an NPR report on it when I accidentally switched over from the Howard Stern show one time). It's just that people aren't buying books these days. If there's a way to make them (a) more convenient to keep and read and (b) cheaper, it can only help.ShallNoiseUpon said:
I support the digital copy idea, BTW. Best of both worlds, I can cozy up at home with the physical copy because the feel of a real book is still desirable, then when I travel take the digital copy on my tablet/e-reader without having to lug another heavy item around.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
My wife got a Nook for her birthday two months ago and she loves it. You should consider it over a Kindle, weighing the following observations:
1) The "next," "previous" page buttons on the Nook have a bit more resistance and are recessed beneath the unit's top layer of poly-whatever. This means they are harder to hit accidentally, and will never get clogged with hair or finger grease or whatever. See, if the "next page" button goes out on any eReader, its instantly useless. I love the Nook's design on these.
2) Similarly, the touch screen below gives you better options for reconfigurable nav of the store, and won't clog with crap. The big keyboard on the Kindle just seems cruddy to me. A color LCD touchscreen is cooler, and let's you see color book cover art.
3) Not sure on this, but Barnes & Noble might be a better negotiator of eReader book rights and prices with individual publishers. Amazon is having spats with certain publishers more and more.
4) Nook lets you lend a title to another Nook user for two weeks.
5) Dave Barry wrote the included quick star user guide. I laughed.
Hate to sound like a sales guy. The thing is sitting four feet from me right now, and it's pretty damn cool, I gotta say. You can upload your own PDFs to the thing too.
1) The "next," "previous" page buttons on the Nook have a bit more resistance and are recessed beneath the unit's top layer of poly-whatever. This means they are harder to hit accidentally, and will never get clogged with hair or finger grease or whatever. See, if the "next page" button goes out on any eReader, its instantly useless. I love the Nook's design on these.
2) Similarly, the touch screen below gives you better options for reconfigurable nav of the store, and won't clog with crap. The big keyboard on the Kindle just seems cruddy to me. A color LCD touchscreen is cooler, and let's you see color book cover art.
3) Not sure on this, but Barnes & Noble might be a better negotiator of eReader book rights and prices with individual publishers. Amazon is having spats with certain publishers more and more.
4) Nook lets you lend a title to another Nook user for two weeks.
5) Dave Barry wrote the included quick star user guide. I laughed.
Hate to sound like a sales guy. The thing is sitting four feet from me right now, and it's pretty damn cool, I gotta say. You can upload your own PDFs to the thing too.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Well I see now the question is moot, with the OP going with the kindle.
Still the buttons, touch screen, and the beveled thickness make the nook a better piece of hardware, IMO.
I'm waiting for Amazon and B&N to start getting pissy with the exclusives as this war heats up.
Anybody know if the eInk technology is even possible in color? I'd love to see comics on an eInk reader...
Still the buttons, touch screen, and the beveled thickness make the nook a better piece of hardware, IMO.
I'm waiting for Amazon and B&N to start getting pissy with the exclusives as this war heats up.
Anybody know if the eInk technology is even possible in color? I'd love to see comics on an eInk reader...
Kano on the Phone
Member
I don't know why this isn't a bigger concern to people. It seems like a leap of faith to rely on Barnes and Nobles' distro in the long term, given that Amazon is already taking a huge bite out of their business and is on the verge of killing B&N's highest ranked brick and mortar competition (Borders) entirely.EviLore said:
Kano on the Phone
Member
I'm impressed that you managed to dig deep enough to catch my subtle meaning in that.Karma said:
PhoncipleBone
Banned
EviLore said:
The distro for the books from Amazon is better I think, but they also have more experience in the digital realm than Barnes and Noble does. I think once BN gets a little more used to the ereader side, things will really take off. They also seem to be listening to complaints, as the last firmware update on the nook fixed a lot of issues and made navigation with the touchscreen easier as well. There are some things from iBooks they should adopt from as well. I prefer how iBooks shows the available fonts and buttons for font sizing, as opposed to just the name of the font on a single line on nook. A small window with samples of each font, as well as samples of size of the font on nook would be very nice.
zero margin
Member
Kano On The Phone said:
That is the only reason that keeps me from going all in on the nook. Amazon isn't going away and I'm not implying B&N is but amazon they're not.
gregor7777
Banned
xBigDanx said:
No, totally serious. MW2 is a steamworks enabled game so you get it tied to your Steam account AFAIK. And I'm assuming if you buy it at retail you're not just getting an empty box with a code.
Half Life 2 is definitely that way. You get the HL2 DVD plus you can download it directly from Steam.
345triangle
Member
Imbarkus said:
my sony reader has a "next page" button in a pretty inconvenient place (below the screen on the left), which makes me hold it with my right hand and use my thumb on the touchscreen to "turn" the page. it's actually pretty great! i guess a button on the right hand side would be nice too, but at least this way i can avoid the potential disaster you describe.
i maintain that the sony readers are unbeatable as far as physical hardware design goes - they are beautifully made slabs of e-ink that will display whatever you throw at them as well as anything else. the only reason not to go for one is the lack of a wireless store, which might be a big deal for some.
rollingstart
Banned
LCfiner said:
This thread was ruined way before that. Imagine going on the gaming side and asking "should I get a DSi or wait for the 3DS?" only to have people flood the thread with "Buy an PS3". Or going to buy a bicycle and having a bunch of people yelling at you to buy a Toyota Prius instead. Usually this kind of shilling is frowned upon and someone calling it out, or at least targeting the biggest fish in the polluted pond, is certainly refreshing. Personally, if I had the money I'd buy an iPad and would already own an e-ink device (probably the small Sony ones released a while ago).
I've only skimmed the thread so I don't know if it is mentioned, but I know that back when Sony announced their two models, the touch screen one wasn't well received because the image quality was degraded. If you're getting an e-ink reader, the reason you'd want one is for that image clarity. If Amazon can figure out a touch solution that doesn't rely detract from the image, that's another story.
And the Nook is a bit weird. I think they got past the awkwardness of the usual e-ink interface, but at the same time it feels like a cheap solution to the problem. I know there was some tech shown at a recent tech convention that showed how a regular lcd screen could change into an e-ink screen and that sound like another solution.
gregor7777
Banned
Man, Whitta's made some enemies around here. :lol
I said my piece on why he should buy a Kindle. But any kind of serious information/discussion is either glossed over or ignored. Look at the response to name calling any compare it to the response to clearly explained comparison information between the kindle/nook and ereaders/ipad.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Linkzg said:
QFT.
ShallNoiseUpon
Member
BorkBork said:
Highlighting is fairly easy, just navigate to where you want to start, click your little joystick thingy, highlight to where you want to stop. You can look at them in another menu or go directly to highlighted section.
The notetaking stuff is kind of tough, just because the keyboard isn't the best, other than that, I'm not sure how full-featured it is, I'll get back to you on it if no one else does.
BorkBork said:
The notetaking (clipping) feature is probably my favorite feature behind the eink and battery. I've got this huge file with clippings from End of the Affair and Invisible Cities and Sun Also Rises. I like to go through it all the time
I don't take notes but it seems easy enough aside from the keyboard not being great.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
I like highlighting. Click the button where you want to start, click it again where you want it to end, and it syncs to kindle.amazon.com across all your devices and on the Internet. Way more useful and better than paper book highlighting.
I agree, the Sony's have the best hardware design AND the best user interface in terms of allowing you to sort your books into genre collections. Hard to believe that the Kindle and Nook STILL don't have this simple option, they dump all the books into one big list.345triangle said:
The shortcoming of Sony is the store, though they do have a wireless shop accessible on their newer models, it's a bit clunkier and the majority of their readers don't display their own books properly! They are desperately in need of a firmware update to support full justification for ePubs. I don't see how they could have switched their store format from Sony-native LRF format to ePub when ePub only displays with a ragged right margin on their devices.
Still, I don't mind because I don't buy many ebooks anyway. When I do, I actually use Amazon's Kindle store. You can strip the DRM and convert from mobi to lrf in a matter of minutes.
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