Anyone trying the eBook reader thing?

Discussion in 'Books' started by Ian Lozada, Apr 17, 2010.

  1. Ian Lozada

    Ian Lozada Member

    May 29, 2001
    The Pick Four Pool
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Kindle? Nook? IPad?

    I just got the iPad this past week, and I decided to download a book each from iBooks and Kindle for iPad to see if I have any preference. Will tell you what I think as I go on.

    The iBooks entry was The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose (available for both for $9.99), and the Kindle book was Betting Synthetic Surfaces by Bill Finley ($7.99 on Kindle). I've read a chapter of the Finley/Kindle book so far, and had one major disappointment-- there was an image file in the middle of the first chapter, a set of past performance lines taken out of the Daily Racing Form that the author was using to illustrate a point. Unfortunately, the image was unreadable at that size, and you could not enlarge it to enhance resolution-- it stayed out of focus.
     
  2. TheSlipperyOne

    TheSlipperyOne Member+

    Feb 29, 2000
    Denver
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I bought my copy of The Pacific at my LBS and had Hugh Ambrose sign it to me.
     
  3. Minnman

    Minnman Member+

    Feb 11, 2000
    Columbus, OH, USA
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The only way I'd ever have any interest in such a device would be for a specific purpose, such as travel, where lugging around a bunch of heavy books is something of a pain. I'll add that I'm not even close to that stage now.

    But as a replacement for actual books, never, never, never.
     
  4. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    My brother let me borrow his kindle when I had to take an overnight Amtrak ride. There are some advantages: I had access to nine or ten books -- it was fairly new to him at the time -- and it was reasonably readable. And it held the charge adequately.

    One disadvantage: when the bar car was closing for the night, I put it on my seat and started to walk a couple cars back to get a couple beers... then I realized this wasn't a Robert Parker paperback that I bought used for a buck. I basically put it in my backpack, then wound up taking my backpack with me, rather than just leaving it unattended on my seat.

    So, adequate for that purpose, but no more so than an actual book would've been. Certainly no replacement for most books.
     
  5. Dante

    Dante Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 19, 1998
    Upstate NY
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've got an iPad and have been using iBooks a lot. I've read more books in the past two weeks on it than the past four months. For me it's more convenient.
     
  6. promanz

    promanz New Member

    May 8, 2010
    Club:
    AC Mantova
  7. allegrabene

    allegrabene New Member

    Jul 11, 2009
    Alexandria, Va
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    i borrowed a friends kindle on a recent trip and it hurt my eyes. not a fan. i like having physical books and bookshelves
     
  8. Ian Lozada

    Ian Lozada Member

    May 29, 2001
    The Pick Four Pool
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Read an entire book in one sitting on the iPad last week. Definitely prefer iBooks, but it's so much easier to find what you're looking for in the Kindle Store, or for that matter, to suggest that a book be added to the Kindle Store.

    No use at all for the Barnes & Noble app, which is A) text only, apparently and B) iPhone based, not iPad.
     
  9. schrutebuck

    schrutebuck Member+

    Jul 26, 2007
    Agreed.
     
  10. Real Ray

    Real Ray Member

    May 1, 2000
    Cincinnati, OH
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I bought a Sony E Reader last week-at $139.00, hard to resist.

    I got it for two reasons: 1) In Ohio, we have a service affiliated with the public library system called the Ohio EBook Project, which allows people to download books for free. There is DRM on the titles and the Sony device is one of the allowable devices.

    2) I need a place for surplus articles-stuff I can't get to right away.

    So far I love the device-like the Roku, I can't believe I waited as long as I did. I'm reading, "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime" (oh-the dirt :eek:)

    I don't know about buying titles-I do still enjoy buying certain books. But as a device to get library titles, I'm in.
     
  11. Barbara

    Barbara BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 29, 2000
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm sort of waiting for the dust to settle because it will irritate me to commit to a format only to have it go betamax on me.

    Also, I do most of my at-home reading in the bathtub (because the cat won't bother me there) so I'd have to wrap an ebook reader in a couple of ziplock bags. I can't tell you how many books have curly pages because I dropped them in the tub.

    But mostly, I'll give up real books only when they pry them from my cold dead hands. I'm entirely unconvinced that reading a book electronically will be as satisfying as holding a book in my hand. But I have an open mind and am willing to try it - as soon as I'm comfortable with a particular format's staying power.
     
  12. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    Do these things come with a proper book smell? If they don't I'm not interested.
     
  13. Caesar

    Caesar Moderator
    Staff Member

    Mar 3, 2004
    Oztraya
    I'll probably give it a miss. I find staring at a computer screen to be extremely tiring; reading text on paper is a lot easier.
     
  14. Bloody Eleven

    Bloody Eleven New Member

    Jun 2, 2010
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    I've experience the same thing since buying my Sony Reader PRS-600 a few months ago.

    You should check out the Sony Reader or similar devices that use E-Ink technology. They are not backlit, thus no eye strain.
     
  15. Bonnie Lass

    Bonnie Lass Moderator
    Staff Member

    Lyon
    Norway
    Oct 20, 2000
    Up top
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Well, I downloaded the iBooks and Kindle app to my iPod Touch. I also downloaded 'A Confederacy of Dunces' as my first book. (My coworkers keep acting as if I'd slapped them when I say I haven't read it yet.)

    Anyway, at first glance, it seems to be a pretty neat. I can change the text size, the color (sepia, black on white or white on black) add bookmarks fairly easy and then access my bookmarks fairly quick.

    I'm going to spend some time tonight reading it in bed, to see what it does to my eyes. But if I can get through an hour or two before my eyes water, it'll be a great alternative for me.

    See, I don't always want to keep my books. Especially not the novel of the week, or the funny book of the week. And with this, I can get these books instantly (took 6 seconds to d/l the Confederacy book) and I ever delete them, I can just re-download it for free.

    We shall see ...
     
  16. dark knight

    dark knight Super Moderator
    Staff Member

    Dec 15, 1999
    Club:
    Leicester City FC
    I've read about 6 books on my iphone with the B&N app. I don't think it's better than the others, but I was loyal to it because it came with 6 or so classics when you download it for free (it's 3 classics now I think) and I enjoyed Pride & Prejudice. I really like having a book with me wherever I go and it's great for reading in bed, especially since I'm too lazy to get a reading light. I also use it at the gym where you can set it to big text and slow scroll so that I can read while on bike or treadmill (while listening to Pandora).
     
  17. Barbara

    Barbara BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 29, 2000
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yankee Candle makes a thing to hang in one's car that supposedly makes it smell like a new car. Maybe they'll make one to attach to our ebook readers to make them smell like real books.

    One of the most over-rated books ever.
     
  18. Bonnie Lass

    Bonnie Lass Moderator
    Staff Member

    Lyon
    Norway
    Oct 20, 2000
    Up top
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    I'm three chapters into it, and I'm starting to wonder if it ever gets funny, or just continues to be cringe-worthy.
     
  19. Bonnie Lass

    Bonnie Lass Moderator
    Staff Member

    Lyon
    Norway
    Oct 20, 2000
    Up top
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    One very nice perk about eBooks: Instant gratification. No shipping time, no going to the library or bookstore, hoping they have it on the shelf. I was browsing some Laura Kipnis books and thought that it would be cool to read one in particular, especially since I'm in a feminist theory kind of mood, and ... It's now in my possession for instant reading.
     
  20. johan neeskens

    Jan 14, 2004
    But one of my favourite things in the world is to browse the bookstores!
     
  21. Barbara

    Barbara BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 29, 2000
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I see both sides of this, actually. While there are few things I like more than killing an afternoon in a bookstore and then going home with some bright, shiny new books, I would also like to be able to instantly gratify an interest that might be too fleeting to survive until I get to a bookstore or the computer to add it to my Amazon queue.
     
  22. TheSlipperyOne

    TheSlipperyOne Member+

    Feb 29, 2000
    Denver
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I'm sure I'll get an eBook of some sort at some point.

    I do like physical books (hardcover especially) in the same way I like/prefer vinyl over digital music.

    One thing that would push me to an eBook even faster would be if a free digital copy came with a physical book purchase.

    Almost every new record I buy comes with a free digital download of the album so I can still put it on my ipod.
     
  23. Bass0r

    Bass0r Member

    Jan 18, 2009
    Tokyo/N. Velidhoo
    Club:
    Urawa RD
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    I'm moving overseas soon and will be looking to sell/pass on my books (and other things like DVDs), so I've been looking at investing in an eBook reader lately.

    I know I have a computer and everything already, but the iPad doesn't seem too bad and I can also use it to type to my blog if I'm not at home - I'm a genius when I'm at my local pub in Tokyo, for example - as well as read the news, thus saving even more paper. The only thing I can't get over is that while the on-screen keyboard responds well (it'll generally pick up everything I type), it's still a bit slow and obviously doesn't feel like you're actually typing anything (the lack of any actual keys or a clicky-touch thing like some smartphones) that just doesn't feel right.
    That and the fact that those are the only three things I'd use on it - I don't want an oversized iPod and wouldn't want to play games on it - it's far too expensive for what I need.

    Perhaps I'll re-consider if the price ever goes down, but I have a funny feeling that it'll be a long wait.
     
  24. Ian Lozada

    Ian Lozada Member

    May 29, 2001
    The Pick Four Pool
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I always laugh when someone says something about an iPad being like an oversized iPod/iPhone. I've had mine since the 3rd week they were out, and I can honestly say that aside from my cameras, there is no single tool that does more for my business on a day to day basis than my iPad, including the Macbook I edit my images on. It has literally paid for itself 20 times over in the time I've had it.
     
  25. Bass0r

    Bass0r Member

    Jan 18, 2009
    Tokyo/N. Velidhoo
    Club:
    Urawa RD
    Nat'l Team:
    Australia
    No doubt because you have different needs for one than myself. Perhaps you can enlighten me as to what it has replaced and how it's doing such.
     

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