Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

Fwok. Would it be possible for me to purchase? I live in Belgium. Probably pointless. But DAMN I NEED/WANT.

Just check. WOOHOO! It ISSSSSS. :-)

haha yeah — people have been asking me what i think of the 'e-reader' phenomenon for months, and i have always said 'well, i don't really see the point', and as soon as i saw that i could get one i went: oh, how much are they? that's not that much, is it? i can afford that, can't i?

for realz! hehe. but then i'm a complete gadget freak anyway. i think i'm actually gonna ask my parents for one. i'm celebrating my birthday in a couple of weeks. it's that or the volvo XC60. so this'll be a bargain for'em. hah. i did check the list of books and it's great! they have the charlaine harris boxset for like 36 dollars! if only i had it earlier as i spent much more on the books.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/sony-announces-daily-edition-reader/

I'm waiting for that one to come out because of the library partnership.

Hey, they are currently giving away Perdido Street Station for free.

Okay I'm holding off on the Kindle. My reading has more or less stopped (mainly because I can't seem to finish Notes from the Underground, it's fine when I read trash hah). I wanna see some reviews first. Also what about that iTablet thingie Apple is gonna release? Will it be big? Doubt I'd want that: too expensive for what I "need" it for really. Hmm maybe I should get the Kindle after all. Sigh.

i'm holding out for the Apple 451 Degrees

What?

lol

baked apple

hahaha Woke up, read it and laughed. :-)

http://www.univirtual.info/451_files/fahrenheit451-3.jpg

Kindle for PC

www.amazon.com/KindleforPC

yawn

I don't see anything about a Mac version, but I'm sure they'll release one eventually. I've tried the Kindle app for the iPod Touch, but I found it really hard to read anything that way. I don't think I'll be buying many ebooks until the technology matures a lot more.

Amazon Yawndle

a future of nothing but glowing screens and handheld electronic devices is a depressing and impersonal one.

yeah i'm never reading an e-book

i refuse to let books die! over my dead body!

exactly

^^^

it's like some horrible '70s science fiction film where a man checks books out of libraries but instead of an actual book they're copied into his brain stem and he reads them in five seconds and dinner is a capsule, each capsule being marked w/words like "meat" or "vegetables" or "fruit".

i was talking last night about how so many people are protective of books but no one gives a shit about dvds getting replaced by downloads/streaming

people don't really seem to bond with dvds/microfilm/laser discs/lots of other dead media (says the guy with the cassette tape tattoo)

because watching a movie has never required you to be holding onto something?

i mean that's a totally different thing

also, the cheapness of recordable cds & dvds renders them kind of worthless and disposable in a way books never were/are

hey i didn't say it was like a deep thought or anything

and yet people are totally protective of vinyl

i think it's the whole flipping of the record thing + the relative care that is put into LPs maybe.

i think with videos, the leaps and massive improvements are all about convenience without really losing quality--it's just as good to watch a video on your laptop vs. a big tv, there's not much difference. but with books, the kindle and ebooks aren't really an improvement. i dunno.

maybe because you look at 12" vinyl cover while listening to music, but rarely scan the dvd box when watching the movie?

yeah dvds, etc. have very few characteristics that lend themselves to becoming fetish objects. books and records have a lot of them. xp yeah cover design is one example

this is to books as frozen dinners are to cooking

a good book with a good index (if we're talking non-fiction of course) is an amazing piece of "technology"

i think the only dvds that people really feel excited about are particularly elaborate releases that come complete with tons of interesting extras, booklets, etc. that's why criterion does so well.

yeah and criterion has really nice covers and the dvd boxes feel heavy because of all the stuff in them

I think, with vinyl, you're looking at a very tiny percentage of people. Same as with books, I think in the end we'll see the e-book (by and large) replace the paper format. I also bought an ekindle but have yetto start a book on it. I am still trying to finish The Informers (paperback). In the past I'd never have thought of not caring about books (or records or..), but now, fuck, who cares about paper format books? In the end I don't give a shit about my book collection, I care about the stories in'em. Also, the ekindle is portable and you don't need as much space to store your books. Same goes for MP3s: I prefer that over boxes of CDs. Although I have to admit I hold on to my vinyl. Also hold onto my CDs because my husband refuses me to toss'em out. Ah well.

I don't care about objects (DVDs, CDs,...) honestly. It's a mindset and I have changed. (Not saying it's better of course, just... different.)

Mainly bought the ekindle because that way I can easily knit and read. I can't do that as well with a paperback. I bought a few of those stands but not that great...

I think, with vinyl, you're looking at a very tiny percentage of people. Same as with books, I think in the end we'll see the e-book (by and large) replace the paper format.

i find that extremely depressing : /

i don't think the world is well-served by what may be the eventual total reliance on electronic devices.

My wife got a Kindle recently and it's been interesting to observe how it has affected her reading habits.

The library remains her first resort for most stuff (she's a librarian). Anything she wants to be able to loan to others still gets purchased as a hard copy. She's also decided that the Kindle is lousy for diet/health books, because it's not simple to flip through to relocate a particular recipe or chart or whatever.

The Kindle has become her primary means of consuming genre fiction, especially the urban fantasy she previously bought by the pound in rack-sized paperbacks. For the most part, these are not books she's likely to lend or re-read or want to show off on shelves.

The biggest selling point for her: if she needs something to read, she goes online and downloads it immediately, no trip to the store.

I have yet to read more than a few pages on the thing myself, but it's a very usable device, and being able to change the size of type is a plus. I can't see buying Kindle content myself, but I understand why she likes it.

Instant gratification for customers + the absence of shipping and inventory costs make these gadgets cash flow machines for Amazon.

i just don't trust ebooks not to become unreadable for some reason and require replacement. i'm glad you guys enjoy yours, but the idea that they'll replace paper books worries me, just because paper books are so durable.

i can see why people who read a lot of genre-fiction type stuff might like it, tbf

it's fun to predict the future, though. back when i worked at record stores like 10+ years ago, people would walk in and say: "WOW THEY STILL MAKE RECORDS," and we'd say yeah they do. but we kind of suspected that records were on the way out and would be gone forever pretty soon. now it seems like vinyl is as strong as ever--maybe even stronger? i mean, you can buy records at Borders now! and i think there are a *lot* more people who love books than records. i just don't see the kindle as destroying books, sorry.

Yeah, I think mainly I bought the Kindle for my trashy reading (Charlaine Harris and the like).

xxxpost Why? Why are electronic devices so bad? (Serious question)

Que, that's why so many recordshops have closed here: no sales. Just kidding.... sort of.

So what if they are durable, Maria? The kindle (or rather books on it) are also "durable" in a way: you can download'em ad nauseam

electronic devices aren't bad in and of themselves, just the idea that everything in the world should be replaced with an electronic device is kind of silly and childish.

there's just something rather beautiful about books and the notion that another glowing screen will replace one of the basic, cheap things that makes life wonderful is completely 100% awful.

not to get all "emo"

nathalie - for now, yes, but who knows what the reading technology/format/drm protection is going to be like in ten or twenty years? we don't really have any electronic format that's proven as durable as paper books. this is not really an issue for most of us, if it's stuff you're not worried about "owning" (i get most of my books out of the library anyway and don't own them)...but in a very hypothetical sense if ebooks replaced paper books to the point that paper became unavailable i think we'd end up losing a lot.

I'm buying as many physical books as I did before I got a kindle in April, but I'm reading twice as much. I rather not read a physical book on the bus/while I'm eating lunch at my desk/waiting for appointments.