kindle

it's not just darsy that doesn't want one.

http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading

otoh they all sold out. weird.

 

Damn. This is worse than I imagined.

You think most buyers bothered to chck what their rights are when using
these devices? They tell them it's an electronic book, they think it's a
book minus the paper.

Anyhow, no e-book readers will ever be worth their money until they improve
their fly-killing abilities.

Geo

 

i think there's a tide turning slowly though as people increasingly
associate

gadget + drm = brick

 

That's an excellent piece.

Neil Gaiman's take on it is interesting.

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/

 

dog secured a place in history by writing:

It's a gadget. A new, overpriced gadget. Sheep the world over will buy it
in order to demonstrate a) their technical eptitude b) their forward-
looking approach to technology and c) their wealth. cf. the iPhone

 

Lady Nina secured a place in history by writing:

Ditto today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/nov/22/news.gadgets

 

Bear secured a place in history by writing:

I'm with the Guardian: Give me a device that does everything reasonably
well - I really can't see me every carrying a device just for reading
eBooks. My PDA / Phone does a half reasonable job.

 

Oh FFS, no-one in their right mind would read a fucking book off a
PDA/phone.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't mind listening to one. Say "Lake Wobegon Days".

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Bear secured a place in history by writing:

Indeed - but I have used one for eBooks in the past. Something small,
tablety and with general internet / office capability would suit me fine.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Bear

Oh FFS, no-one in their right mind would read a fucking book off a
PDA/phone.

Sorry, I'll rephrase that; no-one *who isn't a clueless nerd* would read
a book off a PDA/Phone. I'm staggered the Guardian were dim enough to
think such a device could present reading pleasure.[/QUOTE]

I have a reasonable library on mine.

Just right for reading in the shitter at work.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Fallen apart) Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single"
Norton 850 Commando Kawasaki GTR1400

 

I need a book cull - mostly old paperbacks that are getting damp &
musty in the garage at the moment.

Charity shop or dump?

 

Bear secured a place in history by writing:

Not so many years ago I would have considered that an unknowing compliment
from a luddite ignoramus...

 

Charity shop. Otherwise, the ink will come off on your arse.

 

I'm not sure it's as simple as that; the *concept* strikes me as an
excellent one, it's just that the limitations & constrictions of it are[/QUOTE]

The only concept that is good about it is the digital paper idea (ie
persistent images that only require power to change and not to
maintain).

The rest is just a device to empty wallets and lock in consumers. And I
*still* don't see why an ebook costs the same (or only very slightly
less) than the equivalent real book when the cost of production is
basically zero.

Phil.

 

*Ding*

I read ebooks on my nokia n770 - it has a decent-sized screen so I can
use it for other stuff too (VoIP, web browsing etc). I wouldn't use my
current phone because the display isn't large enough and my reading
speed is high enough that I find myself being constantly interrupted by
having to get the next page of text.

But single-use devices are (largely) a waste of time *unless* they do
that thing very well - or are cheap.

Phil

 

*Ding*

My Clie lasted me 3 years. My current ebook reader (n770) is about a
year old and still going strong. But neither is particularly big and
they are both well made.

The ergonomics *have* to be right. Sure - holding a book makes my hand
ache eventually (but then holding them in any one position for any
length of time does too) but at least a book is soft. Holding a
hard-edged device against (even healthy) hand-joints is going to hurt
quite quickly.

And that's the biggest flaw. I'd be happy to put up with an ugly bit of
hardware (as long as it decent battery life!) as long as I could recoup
the cost of buying it by having cheaper ebooks. But the ebooks cost the
same as the real thing. And you can't lend them to people. And you
can't (legitimately) copy them [1]. Or convert them to another format
[2] for a different reader (my nokia n770 uses fbreader which supports
all sorts of formats - pretty much everything *except* .lit).

Phil.

[1] Unless you remove the DRM. Which is easy enough generally.
[2] Which is easy enough - once you have removed the DRM.

 

About time really, some companies have lost almost any sense of decency in
the meantime, which of course leads to more publicity when something goes
tits-up (see iPhone or Sony's brilliant attempt at drm-ing your music a
couple of years ago) which makes more people realise what you said. Still, I
think we're still a while away from the point where the majority of
consumers will *actively* avoid drm.


I pretty much stopped buying CDs when I accidentally bought my first (and
last) "copy protected" one. Paid around 25 Euros and my CD player and 2 of
my 3 optical drives couldn't read it correctly.


Geo

 

I have a reasonable library on mine.

Just right for reading in the shitter at work.[/QUOTE]

I hope I never see the device on eBay.


Geo

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Bear

One rests one's case.[/QUOTE]

Well quite.

HEY WAIDDAMINIT!

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Fallen apart) Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single"
Norton 850 Commando Kawasaki GTR1400

 

A full-house on the nerd vote. Priceless.[/QUOTE]

Pah. You're just jealous because your nerd genes got lost in the post.

Phil.