Star Trek and the Kindle

[terpette]

Anyone here got a Kindle? If so, how do you like it? And how's the selection of Trek books?

I keep kicking around the idea of buying a Kindle once I have the money scraped together that isn't needed for a brake job on the car or a new major appliance or whatever other suckhole my money's been going down lately.

I've been reading eBooks on my PDA (and am HAPPY to see that the prices on the Trek eBooks at eReader.com have gone back down to reasonable levels!) but I keep hearing from people how great the Kindle is. Course, those folks don't read Trek books.

Karen

 

[Thrawn]

The selection is absolutely outstanding, with a few weird exceptions.

There are no Voyager books published before 2001, there are 3 Invasion! books but not the fourth, the first 3 Shatnerverse books are missing, Dark Mirror is missing, New Frontier #5 is missing even though all the rest are available...

But I've been doing some fairly extensive plumbing of the back-catalogues these days, and that's about it. Actually, part of the reason I bought mine was to get at out-of-print Trek books without paying absurd prices; A Stitch In Time, Mission: Gamma, Rihannsu, etc.

And the Kindle is awesome

 

[alicelouise]

The Kindle is great for trek! The Trade paperbacks can be 9.99 or less. I have read losing the peace" an "Under the Wings of the Raptor"

 

[Smitty]

So does it have images that the book would have? For instance the diagram of Vanguard Station or the Titan starship that appeared in I think the fourth book?

 

[Thrawn]

So does it have images that the book would have? For instance the diagram of Vanguard Station or the Titan starship that appeared in I think the fourth book?

No. In all fairness though, the screen couldn't really do them justice anyway.

 

[ronny]

So does it have images that the book would have? For instance the diagram of Vanguard Station or the Titan starship that appeared in I think the fourth book?

No. In all fairness though, the screen couldn't really do them justice anyway.

What I'm confused about is that New Worlds, New Civilizations is available in on Kindle. I think I'm going to get the sample to see what's going on.

And yeah, I got a Kindle a couple weeks ago. I figured out I was letting perfect be the enemy of the good, "It doesn't do everything I want so it must be crap" kind of thinking, and started looking at what it did instead of focusing on what it couldn't do and figured it was good enough.

 

[Thrawn]

I agree. The concept of the thing is better than the execution, but it's such a great concept that it's already an extremely worthwhile product. I look forward to seeing how eBook readers progress over the next few iterations, though, I'll admit.

 

[EmperorKalan]

Anyone here got a Kindle? If so, how do you like it? And how's the selection of Trek books?

I bought a DX a few months ago, for a variety of reasons. For Trek novels and ebooks it's been fine. A search on "Star Trek" in Amazon's Kindle store gives 746 results: mostly novels, but also some books like "The Philosophy of Star Trek". Even art-heavy books like "The Art of Star Trek", but I don't really see the point of getting a book like that in a format that can't do it justice. For novels and e-books, it may not have everything, but it seems pretty close to it.

Prices range from under $3 (for individual e-books and some less-popular old novels) to about $12.50 for something like "Voyages of the Imagination", with the vast majority between $6 and $10. Upcoming books can be pre-ordered, and will be downloaded via Whispernet as soon as they're released.

I wouldn't get one JUST to read Trek material, but I use mine for a lot of material I would otherwise have to print out to read at my convenience. So while it's saving me a bundle on paper and toner with other things, it handles most of my Treklit needs just fine.

 

[EmperorKalan]

So does it have images that the book would have? For instance the diagram of Vanguard Station or the Titan starship that appeared in I think the fourth book?

No. In all fairness though, the screen couldn't really do them justice anyway.

It turns out you're only half right about that, at least for Vanguard. The schematics are there, way at the end. But too small and too low resolution.

 

[Thrawn]

^ I stand corrected. But yeah, I can't imagine they'd look very good.

 

[JWolf]

Anyone here got a Kindle? If so, how do you like it? And how's the selection of Trek books?

I keep kicking around the idea of buying a Kindle once I have the money scraped together that isn't needed for a brake job on the car or a new major appliance or whatever other suckhole my money's been going down lately.

I've been reading eBooks on my PDA (and am HAPPY to see that the prices on the Trek eBooks at eReader.com have gone back down to reasonable levels!) but I keep hearing from people how great the Kindle is. Course, those folks don't read Trek books.

Karen

Actually, Sony is better then the Kindle for Star Trek books. S&S have switched to ePub and the Sony PRS-600 and PRS-300 do handle ePub. The Kindle does not. I have a Sony Reader PRS-505 and rather enjoy using it to read Star Trek books. So any Star Trek books S&S sell, you can read them on a Sony.

 

[tmclough]

Actually, Sony is better then the Kindle for Star Trek books. S&S have switched to ePub and the Sony PRS-600 and PRS-300 do handle ePub. The Kindle does not. I have a Sony Reader PRS-505 and rather enjoy using it to read Star Trek books. So any Star Trek books S&S sell, you can read them on a Sony.

From my observations (and I don't own an ebook reader myself, yet), S&S may only sell ePub format ebooks directly themselves, but you can still buy other formats from other ebookstores, often for a lower price. This includes, but is not limited to, the Kindle's proprietary format.

 

[JWolf]

Actually, Sony is better then the Kindle for Star Trek books. S&S have switched to ePub and the Sony PRS-600 and PRS-300 do handle ePub. The Kindle does not. I have a Sony Reader PRS-505 and rather enjoy using it to read Star Trek books. So any Star Trek books S&S sell, you can read them on a Sony.

From my observations (and I don't own an ebook reader myself, yet), S&S may only sell ePub format ebooks directly themselves, but you can still buy other formats from other ebookstores, often for a lower price. This includes, but is not limited to, the Kindle's proprietary format.

I did do a comparison of some of the Star Trek books available in ePub when they first started coming out in ePub and found that overall, you did get a lower price at BooksOnBoard then Amazon. This was for ePub format eBooks. vs. Kindle eBooks.

 

[tmclough]

Actually, Sony is better then the Kindle for Star Trek books. S&S have switched to ePub and the Sony PRS-600 and PRS-300 do handle ePub. The Kindle does not. I have a Sony Reader PRS-505 and rather enjoy using it to read Star Trek books. So any Star Trek books S&S sell, you can read them on a Sony.

From my observations (and I don't own an ebook reader myself, yet), S&S may only sell ePub format ebooks directly themselves, but you can still buy other formats from other ebookstores, often for a lower price. This includes, but is not limited to, the Kindle's proprietary format.

I did do a comparison of some of the Star Trek books available in ePub when they first started coming out in ePub and found that overall, you did get a lower price at BooksOnBoard then Amazon. This was for ePub format eBooks. vs. Kindle eBooks.

I just did a comparison of BooksOnBoard with Amazon Re: ST ebooks. For most newer titles, you are correct--BooksOnBoard costs less than Amazon Kindle. However, I also compared several older books, both popular and not so popular titles, and in all cases Amazon cost less than BooksOnBoard. I didn't check whether Amazon was lower priced than other ebookstores for older ST ebooks, though.

Not that when I get an ebook reader that I plan on buying a Kindle (nor a Sony, nor a Nook), but it will have ePub and PDF for DRMed formats, just like the newer Sonys (or older Sonys with newer firmware). Just showing that it's not all black and white between which format is lower priced.

 

[Judith Sisko]

I got my nook yesterday and started dowloading SCE and COE within hours of getting it. I'm happy with the eReader choice I made. I wanted ePub and PDF. I also wanted Overdrive. Do I think everyone should buy a nook? No. Get what suits your purposes. There are many options (other than Kindle, Sony, & nook) from which to choose.

Snarky me: I also have a Pontiac Vibe. Should everyone go out and get a Vibe? Not hardly!

 

[tmclough]

Get what suits your purposes. There are many options (other than Kindle, Sony, & nook) from which to choose.

I agree 100%.

 

[JWolf]

From my observations (and I don't own an ebook reader myself, yet), S&S may only sell ePub format ebooks directly themselves, but you can still buy other formats from other ebookstores, often for a lower price. This includes, but is not limited to, the Kindle's proprietary format.

I did do a comparison of some of the Star Trek books available in ePub when they first started coming out in ePub and found that overall, you did get a lower price at BooksOnBoard then Amazon. This was for ePub format eBooks. vs. Kindle eBooks.

I just did a comparison of BooksOnBoard with Amazon Re: ST ebooks. For most newer titles, you are correct--BooksOnBoard costs less than Amazon Kindle. However, I also compared several older books, both popular and not so popular titles, and in all cases Amazon cost less than BooksOnBoard. I didn't check whether Amazon was lower priced than other ebookstores for older ST ebooks, though.

Not that when I get an ebook reader that I plan on buying a Kindle (nor a Sony, nor a Nook), but it will have ePub and PDF for DRMed formats, just like the newer Sonys (or older Sonys with newer firmware). Just showing that it's not all black and white between which format is lower priced.

The Kindle doesn't support ePub. It never has and it may never will. So really, if you want ePub support, the Kindle is the wrong choice. If I was saving to buy a reader, I'd be saving for the new Sony PRS-900.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

I've been hinting for months that I want one for Xmas, so I'll let you know on saturday (provided the hints were received and acted upon).

I've used them. I like them. I think they're awesome. So awesome I'm going to be putting up short stories for 99 cents in the Kindle format pretty soon.

It's really just top notch.

But I've never used the SONY eReader so I can't compare the two.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Let us know when you do that. I'll be buying!

 

[Geoff Thorne]

Check your PM box. I'm already shilling for my comic book here. I don't think I want to make a habit of it.