The Kindles are coming! The Kindles are coming!

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The Kindles are coming! The Kindles are coming!

Tämä viestiketju on "uinuva" —viimeisin viesti on vanhempi kuin 90 päivää. Ryhmä "virkoaa", kun lähetät vastauksen.

1justjim
lokakuu 7, 2009, 8:39 pm

According to The Age anyway.

It's only an 'internationalized' old Kindle at the moment, not the newer DX.

I'm confused as to why AT&T are negotiating anything with anybody though.

2anxovert
lokakuu 7, 2009, 9:48 pm

scary news indeed. while they weren't available in Australia I could more easily avoid purchasing one...

3shawjonathan
lokakuu 8, 2009, 12:03 am

Charles Stross, British science fiction writer, has an interesting post on the coming of Kindle to the UK, which echoes many of the concerns of Australian writers over teh Productivity Commission's recommendations about importing books here. Charlie's post is at http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/10/news_from_the_ebook_dimensio...

4wookiebender
lokakuu 8, 2009, 12:23 am

I love the title: "Jeff Bezos Eats Kittens". I think I know which side of the fence Mr Stross is on. :)

I love the *idea* of a Kindle (so many books on one little device! Backlight for nighttime reading! No trees cut down to support my book habit!^). But I don't love the price tag, or the lack of "book feel" - a supremely vague idea, I know.

I guess we'll wait and see how it pans out here before I commit one way or the other. In the meantime, I'll just keep on buying my dead tree editions.

^ Yes, I am quite aware that manufacturing a Kindle is quite possibly even more environmentally harmful than paper production. But I rather like trees.

5omaca
lokakuu 8, 2009, 11:52 am

The idea that I would give up my books (my books!) for this plastic and metal monstrosity fills me with a heady mix of rage, incomprehension and disgust.

When visitors come to my home and browse my bookshelves, am I to offer them this bastard son of a mobile-phone and remote control and ask them to "scroll through my list" instead?

When I want to run my fingers over the spines of my books - some rough, some well-worn, some firm and still gingerly unopened, some splintered, some (oh tempestuous child!) broken - am I to fondle the plastic edges of this... this "Kindle" instead?

When I want to soak up the riotous shapes and colours my books add to the aesthetic of my living room, am I to point to this sad little grey box and say "Behold my Bauhaus beauty" instead?

I spit in your eye Kindle! I kick your shins, pull your hair, stamp on your toes. I pour sand in your ice-cream, and leave crumbs in your bed and sit uncomfortably close to you on a bus. I gleefully give you Chinese-Burns, twist your nipples and stuff ripe dandelions into your open mouth!! You are no friend of mine and I renounce you and all your works!

Fie! Fie! Fie!

6shawjonathan
lokakuu 8, 2009, 3:33 pm

Let me guess, omaca – you're not rushing out to buy a kindle?

7wookiebender
lokakuu 8, 2009, 8:33 pm

Well, I do have to say that omaca rather nicely (if dramatically) summed up my vague concept of "book feel". :)

8TedWitham
lokakuu 8, 2009, 10:40 pm

The Kindle is for burning??

9tangerinealert
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 12, 2009, 12:38 am

I'm with omca on this front.

A book is a tangible thing, I want it to stay that way.
I don't want Amazon going 1984 on me and deleting a book from my Kindle.

eBooks are all well and good, but they do need power to make them run and just occasionally I do like to go places where a power point isn't immediately available.

What I don't get is why this is such a big thing, there are other suppliers of eBooks, Dymocks has the iLiad, Sony's releasing an eBook reader.
In the US the Kindle syncs up with the Amazon US store...so what happens out here, we don't have an Amazon equivalent.

What I really don't want to see happening is people buying the US versions of books that have been edited for an American market. 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' is a title that immediately springs to mind, but I recall reading other books usually get the American style guide run over them for US sale hood instead of bonnet, sidewalk for footpath, elevator for lift etc.

10LamontCranston
lokakuu 19, 2009, 6:00 pm

There may not be any trees cut down (this can be reduced through recycled material and forest management) but there will be conflict over mines producing Coltan, Cassiterite, and Wolframite.

11amandameale
lokakuu 27, 2009, 8:43 am

There are NO Kindles coming to this house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12shawjonathan
lokakuu 28, 2009, 2:47 am

Not to this one neither. But ... We packed a dozen books for a recent month overseas; they were a significant burden and we were still left trawling secondhand bookshops in provincial French cities. If we had an electronic reader, or even two of them, life would have been easier in many ways. But then, desperation wouldn't have introduced us to the A Year in the Merde books. My vote, on balance is, Never in the house, and Maybe in the luggage. But not teh Kindle - it would have to be a reader that isn't tied to one sole supplier.

13digifish_books
lokakuu 30, 2009, 1:44 am

I'll probably wait til later next year before getting some sort of e-reader. I doubt it will be the Kindle - hate the white look and that ugly keyboard taking up valuable screen space. Apparently Amazon will sell ebooks to Australia in US dollars only, which is fine while the AUD is strong, but happens if/when the dollar bottoms out in the future? I prefer the look of the BeBook or the Sony Reader. At the moment I read Classic novels in epub or pdf format on a mini-laptop using Adobe Digital Editions.

p.s. I refuse to pay Dymocks $1600 for an Irex Iliad! :p

14bluetyson
lokakuu 30, 2009, 1:57 am

Sometime next century Australian publishers might get around to a shop or you know, actually publishing. Wouldn't be holding my breath though.

15snail
marraskuu 2, 2009, 6:28 pm

I quite like the look of the Sony ereaders and had a play with one last time I was in the UK. They're supposed to be released here soon too. I think the Sony ones will be priced similarly to the Kindle. I think they're around the 150-200 GBP mark. Plus ASUS are bringing out a double screen version in March. That will probably be cheaper again but looks a little bulky.

I'm hanging out for one myself but even at AU$300, I'd like the price to drop substantially.

16digifish_books
Muokkaaja: kesäkuu 24, 2010, 6:48 am

Confession time. I bought a Kindle 2 a few months ago and am very happy with it. I got tired of waiting for Sony to launch an ereader for the Aus market and decided to go with the Kindle. The recent K2 software upgrade is nice (free web browsing!) and Amazon have dropped the price to $189 USD although the price of ebooks hasn't dropped.

17pinkozcat
kesäkuu 24, 2010, 8:02 am

Borders are about to launch a cheaper e-reader called the Kobo which, I gather, can read a variety of formats.

I am waiting to see what sort of reviews it gets before I decide whether or not to get one.

18digifish_books
kesäkuu 24, 2010, 7:39 pm

Even if I never buy an Amazon Kindle ebook I like that the Kindle has free wi-fi which I use often to check on something I'm reading in Google or Wikipedia, etc.

I haven't seen the Kobo in the flesh but I did try an ereader at Harvey Norman which was more expensive than the Kindle and had lower contrast levels and no wi-fi capabilities.

If the screen on the Kindle was slightly larger (7 or 7.5") and the unit was black instead of white it'd be close to perfect.

19Murmurs
syyskuu 22, 2010, 6:39 pm

When talk came around to ebooks I always laughed and firmly stated that I could never live without the feel, smell etc of DTBs.

A few months ago a friend insisted I borrow her Kindle and read at least one book on it. I bought a Kindle the same week and have never looked back. And since then I've bought close to 250 ebooks.

Apart from already mentioned benefits of e-readers, one of the best for me has been the huge range of books that are now accessible to me. So many books weren't available before because they weren't published in Australia and postal charges from places like Amazon are excessive.

It's just so nice lying in bed and a few clicks and moments later I have a new book on my Kindle.

And what's interesting is that I find I don't enjoy DTBs anymore. When I can't get an ebook edition and am forced to buy the paper version I find myself longing to get back to my Kindle.

20jmyers24
syyskuu 26, 2010, 3:40 pm

There's the poor man's e-reader: The Libre e-reader pro by Aluratek. I've been happy with mine.

21limerik
tammikuu 31, 2011, 7:32 pm

I have a problem. I love the feel of books but I also love good gadgets. I don't have an ereader yet because I follow their technology & there always seems to be better ones in the pipeline that will also be cheaper. Then there's the rival operating system - Apple's vs Android & the rival formats as well - Apple's vs the epub etc. There's resistive & capacitive screen technology & screen lighting technology. And of course screens come as 7" or 10''.
The solution for someone like me is to wait till prices come down, the ereaders can read all formats. Android looks as if it will become the 'Blue-ray' operating system.
In the meantime I will buy the books I want to own & hold & I'll read them.

22pinkozcat
tammikuu 31, 2011, 7:55 pm

I have a Kobo and I love it. It was very cheap and it doesn't have wireless but I don't find that a problem - I just plug it into my computer to download books.

23TedWitham
helmikuu 1, 2011, 8:06 pm

I resisted buying an e-reader until last November, when I bought a Kindle. I'm not going to stop reading paper books in a hurry, but I found the Kindle great for taking books on holiday. It also has reference books on it, and can automatically link to the dictionary.

There are thousands of free books available both from Amazon and more widely - so I've started reading Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities was great! If you're careful, you don't have to get caught up in buying lots of books.

I like its wifi connectivity, both for downloading books and for connecting to reference sites on the Web, but it's easy to download from the computer, where with a program like Calibre you can convert most ebooks into a format the Kindle will read.

24Murmurs
helmikuu 27, 2011, 3:52 am

See my message #19 above.

I'm still a confirmed Kindle addict and bought a second one (a DXG - the 9") to go with my Kindle 2.

The Kindle was the choice for me because of the huge range of ebooks at Amazon (and other places).

I think I would be a tad nervous buying from the other two major booksellers due to the current instability of them.

I have well over 5000 DTBs in my house which I used to love to both read and just look at. Sadly, and I know it's probably heresy on LT, but now there just dust collectors.

I find I'm reading a lot more and interestingly a lot faster. When I first got my Kindle I wondered if Kindle ebooks were condensed because I was getting through them so fast.

As I said above, so many more books are available to me now I have the Kindle and don't have to pay postal costs from Amazon (although I bought most of my DTBs from The Book Depository these last few years).

As for waiting for better ones, well, that's always the case with electronics. You have bite the bullet at some stage if you want an ereader.

25kateking
maaliskuu 6, 2011, 5:19 am

I lerv my iPad - so portable, readable for old eyes and light to carry. Great for travelling, so many books available that I can't get in any Australian bookstore and yes, Australian books are slowly coming on line at Amazon and Kobo. STill the stack of hard copy books stays on my bedside table, beside the bath and in my beach bag.........

26dajashby
maaliskuu 8, 2011, 1:17 am

I'm buying an iPad when the new model is released later this month. Worth spending the extra because it isn't a one trick poney like the Kindle (and it's the sexiest-looking object!) You can download KIndle books to it, and I had a nice man from Lexis/Nexis just the other day trying to interest me in using it (when I get it) for textbooks and loose-leaf subscriptions - filing subscription updates is a pain, I can tell you.

27KimB
syyskuu 5, 2013, 5:17 am

Resurrecting this thread- to say, I've had my Sony e-reader since Christmas and I don't think I can live without it.
Friends have been sharing their books with me and I'm using Calibre to organise my e-library.
I can borrow books from the local library at the touch of a few buttons without shifting from my chair.
I just use the epub format when downloading books.
I had an email today from The Book Club, ABC TV regarding next months books. Within minutes I was able to find the 2 books at my local library and download them for free. Really looking forward to David Stratton and Delia Falconer discussing the offerings on the September program with Jennifer Byrnes and cronies.
If I didn't have a Sony e-reader I think I would go for a Nexus but still this is pretty great for the price.

28pinkozcat
syyskuu 6, 2013, 10:40 am

I have the oldest offering from kobo and I love it - except that I am off reading for a while; the last few books i have downloaded are c**p.

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