thoughts on the Kindle

[CaptainDonovin]

The other day one of our local news anchors had a brief story on the Kindle.(http://wcco.com/goodtoknow/don.buys.kindle.2.1103606.html) I seem to remember something on this around here a while back but was wondering what our esteemed panel of Treklit experts thought of this thing. I personally don't have one, I happen to still love holding a book in my hands but can see the appeal of one of these.

 

[Ward Fowler]

Like you, I love real books. The smell, the weight of it in my hands, etc. However, I was curious about ebook readers, so I went out and bought the Sony Reader and I now use it all the time. It's lightweight, I can read with one hand (I would never bend the spine of a book) and I can carry literally hundreds of books with me wherever I go. I think it's fantastic and it's now my preferred way of reading.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

Like you, I love real books. The smell, the weight of it in my hands, etc. However, I was curious about ebook readers, so I went out and bought the Sony Reader and I now use it all the time. It's lightweight, I can read with one hand (I would never bend the spine of a book) and I can carry literally hundreds of books with me wherever I go. I think it's fantastic and it's now my preferred way of reading.

One question I just thought of is are most new titles avail. for download on these? That would make it more appealing to me if I wanted to download The Romulan War when it comes out.

Semi related to this I will admit that I am now more inclined to download music instead of going to get a CD with a few exceptions. I will still get the latest Chicago album/CD if one came out instead of downloading.

 

[Dale]

I love my Kindle and find the Trek library available to be quite extensive. It feels a bit like I imagine reading from a PADD would be. At 44 years of age my eyes have started to go a bit and it's nice being able to simply increase the type size instead of wearing my annoying reading glasses.

 

[Ward Fowler]

One question I just thought of is are most new titles avail. for download on these? That would make it more appealing to me if I wanted to download The Romulan War when it comes out.

Semi related to this I will admit that I am now more inclined to download music instead of going to get a CD with a few exceptions. I will still get the latest Chicago album/CD if one came out instead of downloading.

In my experience, yes, most new titles are available, especially in the case of trek lit. The sony store carries the new releases and I know that amazon does as well with regards to the Kindle.
Buying a book without having to go anywhere is certainly one the advantages of having an ebook reader, but I still enjoy going to the bookstore, even it is just for a coffee and listening to a local guy play a guitar.

 

[ronny]

I was kind of, sort of, thinking about it when they dropped the price but I can't get over the ebook price being the same price as the book thing. Look up Losing the Peace on Amazon and you'll see the book and the ebook are the same price. I know the actual printing is a small fraction of the price of the book but I just feel I should get some sort if discount since I'm shelling out $300 for the reader.

Then there's the whole "We changed our minds about selling a book to you so we're going to delete it from your device after you've paid for it" thing.

 

[Ward Fowler]

Then there's the whole "We changed our minds about selling a book to you so we're going to delete it from your device after you've paid for it" thing.

Yes, that's inexcusable and rather frightening. Fortunately I don't have to worry about with the sony.

 

[William Leisner]

Then there's the whole "We changed our minds about selling a book to you so we're going to delete it from your device after you've paid for it" thing.

Yes, that's inexcusable and rather frightening.

That was also a situation where the e-publisher did not in fact have the rights to release an electronic version. A real piece of stupidity on everyone's part, but that's not going to be an issue with Star Trek books, nor should it be with any books published after 2000.

 

[ronny]

...but that's not going to be an issue with Star Trek books

That's not all that I read so it's still an issue.

nor should it be with any books published after 2000.

Why not? What's magical about the year 2000? And again, I read a lot of books written before 2000, I'm currently reading Georges Simenon, Patricia Highsmith and Leonardi Sciascia, all of whom died before 2000, so telling me books published after 2000 are safe doesn't help me.

I looked up Jeff Bezos' statement and he doesn't say they aren't going to do it again, he says they are hoping to "make better decisions going forward". That don't mean shit to me.

As a technical device the Kindle might be nice but the business model behind it seems to have issues.

 

[seigezunt]

Yes, I'm staying away for just that reason.

 

[adamczar]

Then there's the whole "We changed our minds about selling a book to you so we're going to delete it from your device after you've paid for it" thing.

Yes, that's inexcusable and rather frightening.

That was also a situation where the e-publisher did not in fact have the rights to release an electronic version. A real piece of stupidity on everyone's part, but that's not going to be an issue with Star Trek books, nor should it be with any books published after 2000.

That whole fiasco cemented my position that I'll never get into eReading, at least not with Amazon. The idea that they even built in the technology to be able to do it in the first place is what bothers me more than the actual act itself. It's akin to Borders accidentally putting a book out on the shelf that it's not supposed to, selling it to you, and then later that evening entering your home and taking it without your knowledge or permission and leaving behind $6.99 (or whatever) in it's place.

 

[William Leisner]

nor should it be with any books published after 2000.

Why not? What's magical about the year 2000?

Because by 2000, most if not all publishers were including language about electronic rights in their contracts, whereas apparently, the contract between Orwell/his estate and New American Library written in 19-whatever never conceived of reading books on portable telescreens.

And, needless to say, my previous post was never intended to address each and every one of your personal concerns, nor was I trying to suggest you shouldn't read old non-Trek books.

 

[Thrawn]

I love my Kindle. All new Trek books are available on release day, and the back catalogue is about 90% available as well. It's absolutely phenomenal for getting out of print trek books without having to go hunting for used copies.

The business model is in its initial awkward phases though, that's true. The removal of 1984 is bizarre, though I would bet money that it arose from a legal loophole they have since corrected. More strange is the total randomness of books that are and aren't available (for instance, an author I love a lot in case you hadn't guessed from my username is Timothy Zahn, and he has a six book series of which the first, fourth, and sixth books are available on Kindle, but not the other three) and the fact that pricing is all OVER the place. Some out of print Trek books are $8, some are like $3.50, and which ones fall into which category seems unrelated to any obvious form of logic.

But similar complaints could've been - and were - made about electronic music when the iTunes store opened, and (though people here are likely less familiar with this) the purchase-and-download computer games program Steam. And after a couple years, they all worked themselves out.

If you're getting an eBook reader right now, make no mistake, you're an early adopter. And the technology does not work perfectly. But even given all those huge caveats, I'm really happy with my purchase, and I look forward to watching the industry slowly make more sense over the next few years.

 

[adamczar]

But similar complaints could've been - and were - made about electronic music when the iTunes store opened, and (though people here are likely less familiar with this) the purchase-and-download computer games program Steam. And after a couple years, they all worked themselves out.

If you're getting an eBook reader right now, make no mistake, you're an early adopter. And the technology does not work perfectly. But even given all those huge caveats, I'm really happy with my purchase, and I look forward to watching the industry slowly make more sense over the next few years.

I suppose you are right. When did iTunes first gain mainstream acceptance? 2003, 2004? And we're just now getting to DRM-free music. I shouldn't have sworn off the technology just yet, I need to wait and see how the wrinkles work out.

It's just ironic though, that of all the books to delete through some back door Amazon programmed in, it had to be 1984 and Animal Farm!

 

[Dale]

The Kindle store lists KRAD as the author of the first two of David R. George III's Crucible novels. Weird.

 

[Braxton]

I held a new Kindle a couple months ago and it was heavier than I thought it would be. In fact, I feel that most of the books I've read have actually been the same weight or lighter than the Kindle. Yes, it's electronic but for some reason I just thought it would be light. As long as books are being printed and I can hold it in my hand, I'll keep reading that way.

 

[Ward Fowler]

I appreciate adamczar's concerns, but having book's deleted from my reader is something I literally NEVER worry about. My ebook reader isn't networked. It's my business what I read and where I get the material.

 

[T'Bonz]

I held a new Kindle a couple months ago and it was heavier than I thought it would be.

Not from where I'm sitting. I can actually hold it with one hand (my arthritic hand, in fact,) and turn pages with that same hand. This is great when it comes to eating lunch, I'll have the sandwich in one hand and the kindle in another, something I can't do with a regular book.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Yeah, I love that too. I eat while reading all the time now, and I never used to before.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Why not? What's magical about the year 2000?

Because by 2000, most if not all publishers were including language about electronic rights in their contracts, whereas apparently, the contract between Orwell/his estate and New American Library written in 19-whatever never conceived of reading books on portable telescreens.

One other thing to remember, at least in this case, is that Orwell's work is public domain in a number of territories. I'm not exactly sure how or why 1984 is public domain in Australia or Canada, for instance; maybe the copyright renewal wasn't done, or maybe it was a technical issue similar to Donald Wollheim's assertion that Lord of the Rings was public domain in the United States. The way I understand the chain of events, the outfit that made 1984 available for the Kindle took one of the freely available text files for 1984 available online (check Project Gutenberg's Australian website, for instance), and then made it available through Amazon, not realizing that the book was not, in fact, in the public domain in the United States and Europe. Technically, what was done wasn't a violation of the rights of the Orwell estate in various territories, because the Orwell estate has no rights to 1984 in, say, Australia or Canada.