I think a major problem is incompatible formats and then reader and download costs.
Amazon Kindle
- Thread starter Deadpool
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Could be even though it does look like Spocks' tricorder. Bad enough I see people reading the paper while driving around me, now someone with this toy will be typing into it or reading a map on it (if that feature ever becomes avail. on the next generation of it) and hit a Bud Light truck. If I had $400 to burn it would be on something else.
In case anyone cares I DID notice quite a few Trek books in the Kindle format on Amazon. Saw some of the Time To...series, some Mission Gamma books, New Frontier, the new Shatnerverse book.
All cheaper than the print versions.
A little more content and a $100-$150 dollar price drop and I'm all over this thing.
All cheaper than the print versions.
A little more content and a $100-$150 dollar price drop and I'm all over this thing.
me and E-books laregly don't work because I'm on a shitty dial-up connection and whilst it's downloading it's running up my phone-bill and wasting my time.
plus, i don't write novel-length fan-fic.
plus, i don't write novel-length fan-fic.
Neither do any of the professional Trek writers.
And we love it. 
Well, it would be nice if it was available in the UK, and knowing what usually happens when tech from the US is given a UK price, we'll end up paying £399 for it ourselves, which is a rip-off. I'll have to think about the iLiad or one of the others in the meantime.
If your phone company is charging you per minute for internet connection, that's beyond shitty.
That said, it generally takes longer to go through the ordering process than it does to do the actual download, even on dial-up, and then you can read off-line. You surely spend far more time connected to TrekBBS reading this board than you would connected to any ebook server.
I do find it interesting but like many people I think it is too costly.
I for one an somewhat of a e-book junkie. I do not read that many books in a year (3-4) so when I do I usually was a hard copy and an e-book version. I have a Dell Axim that I use Microsoft Reader on and it is very small and easy to carry around.
As crazy as it may sound, I usually switch back ang forth between the e-book and the hard copy during the duration of the read. If I had to nail down the seperation the I would say I use the e-book at work for lunch and breaks and then the hard copy at home.
I for one an somewhat of a e-book junkie. I do not read that many books in a year (3-4) so when I do I usually was a hard copy and an e-book version. I have a Dell Axim that I use Microsoft Reader on and it is very small and easy to carry around.
As crazy as it may sound, I usually switch back ang forth between the e-book and the hard copy during the duration of the read. If I had to nail down the seperation the I would say I use the e-book at work for lunch and breaks and then the hard copy at home.
The Kindle has a wi-fi connection which you use to purchase and download books. So you wouldn't be using your dial-up connection for downloading.
I'm exceptionally ignorant about wi-fi and cell-phone technology, so I'm hoping some of you smart people can help me find the answer to this question: I have cell-phone access where I am (a rural part of Vermont, with a nearby mountain), but it's not a very good connection and calls are often dropped. Does this mean I wouldn't be able to get a good wi-fi connection with the Kindle? Here's what Amazon says on its website about how Kindle connects:
So, would I be stuck? Or would this kind of connection be good anywhere in the U.S.?
Amazon does say on its site that you can download books over a broadband connection if you can't do it wirelessly. But I'm loath to pay that much money for a device when I suspect much of the cost is for the wireless capabality, if I won't be able to use that capability.
I'm not a gadget-oriented person, but I've always been interested in dedicated e-book readers (although I've never owned one), and I must admit I'm feeling some serious gadget lust for the Kindle. I understand peoples' objections to it because it won't accept other formats, but that doesn't bother me too much because I don't have a lot of e-books now, just a few Microsft Reader novels and that's it. I don't even travel much, I work at home and spend most of my time house-bound. I just think it's really neat to save trees and reduce bookshelf space. Also it's a lot easier to hold the device, I think, than reading some really large books like "Jonathan Strange and Dr. Norrell" or "War and Peace", which are so large they're unwieldy. (I do see that neither "Jonathan Strange" nor the new translation of "War and Peace" is availabe for the Kindle yet, but Jeff Bezos says their goal is to have every book in print available for the Kindle eventually.)
^^What I think it means is that you aren't limited to wi-fi hotspots -- Kindle uses a cell-phone network rather than a wi-fi network. So anyplace you can use a Sprint cell phone, you can use Kindle to download stuff. I think.
My problem with ebooks is not cost or connection, or reading on the computer screen, which I don't mind. I just have no credit card to pay for them with. 
Something I can loan to a friend. Something I can be sure won't be surreptitiously edited and updated. Something that doesn't depend on Amazon.com's good graces to remain usable.
If I go downstairs and walk to my local bookstore, I can pick out a volume that, with proper care, will likely last longer than I will. If this Kindle thing doesn't take off and Amazon stops making compatible readers, whatever I buy will be lost inside a decade. Two, tops.
Now, if Kindle gave you the books for free, as part of some reasonably-priced subscription service, like a digital public library, that might work. But that would never happen.
Simply enough, I don't trust the Kindle. Not in the "I don't want Amazon to know what I read, when I read it, nor do I want MiniTruth updating all old newspapers" way, but in the "I don't get to do what I want with my book, nor do I have the assurance granted by physical media" way.
There are lots of people who refuse to loan out their physical books to friends. At least an e-book can't have its pages dog-eared or smudged or its spine broken. Every format has pluses and minuses.
And didn't the mod already ask us to avoid rehashing the same old e-book vs. paper book argument yet again? It's all been said a thousand times by now.
These are just the growing pains of the new technology. I'm sure there was just as much resistance to paperback books when they came out -- or to the printing press, for that matter. These are just the first readers of this type to come onto the market; five years from now, or ten, they'll probably be ubiquitous and much more trouble-free. As Spock said, "It is illogical to assume that all conditions remain constant."
It's always easy to find excuses not to try new things. But new things catch on all the time. How many people here even owned a cell phone ten years ago? How many were on the Internet fifteen years ago?
It's always easy to find excuses not to try new things. But new things catch on all the time. How many people here even owned a cell phone ten years ago? How many were on the Internet fifteen years ago?
The Kindle is intriguing, but at this point the price seems ridiculous, at least for me. I'd spend maybe $50 for something like this, but the initial price is out of the question.
And for the record, I'm a fan of eBooks - I've purchased quite a few, which I read quite comfortably on my Dell Axim PDA using Mobipocket.
And for the record, I'm a fan of eBooks - I've purchased quite a few, which I read quite comfortably on my Dell Axim PDA using Mobipocket.
I'd want this except for two things - the $400 price tag, and the inability to share books. Typically my Grandpa will read a book, give it to my Mom, who'll give it to me once she's done. It doesn't appear like it's possible to transfer a volume from one of these to another (unless I'm mistaken).
So come a few years I imagine these things will come down in price and be compatible with more things and maybe then I'll get one.
So come a few years I imagine these things will come down in price and be compatible with more things and maybe then I'll get one.
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