Ebooks of interest

Hawking stolen goods? How very Libertarian of you.

UN-crossposted for your pleasure ..........

At least he's giving it away. I see no foul there. I really get amused/aggravated by those people who sell publicly available lists, such as seizure auctions, and public sales. I am amused by the number of suckers who will pay, and at the number of people who will take advantage. But in this case, passing along a link to free goods .................. what's YOUR problem?

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

There is a catch, however, and that is that the interface when reading PDF files is clumsy and slow. One page per screen (small screen) is way too small, so you have to enlarge it into four windows which don't scroll. It -works- (after a fashion) and is infinitely better than not-having-the-manual-at-all, but it is a frustrating interface if you're used to using a PC or an iPad.

As light as cardboard, too...

...and hats off, too, to Amazon's very sensisble approach to repairs under warranty. I dropped mine and broke the screen. My fault entirely. They replaced it, free of charge, *almost* no-questions-asked, within a week (to

*Australia*!) I'm now using the new one, and am just about to post the broken one back to them. (Note the order of operations.)

Obviously the sale of ebooks is more important to them than the hardware - and good thing too.

Another thing - the Kindle screen is drop-dead gorgeous. It really looks like printed paper. I have the small Kindle (for portability) and will definitely be getting a big one (for reading convenience). I love my iPad, too, but the Kindle wins hands-down for reading clarity and portability (not to mention $$$).

Oh - the user interface (including "go-to") is utter crap, but I spend most of the time reading and turning pages, not flicking and re-sizing and browsing.

-- Jeff R.

If only I could verify my ownership of many of my books and have them on a kindle after recycling them. That would be sweet. The one down side of drm is what happens to your library after you die?

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

My interest in the Amazon Kindle went up greatly when I read it will hold up to 3500 ebooks. Now I'm not sure yet how many it'll hold in PDF format, but dang, to have a few hundred technical reference books available in a heartbeat...

Saw one at Staples the other day, and it was so thin, I thought at first it was a cardboard facsimile until I noticed the power cord. Really a slick looking unit. I've put it at the top of my wish list for Christmas...

Jon

Smaller one fits in big pockets. Big one wouldn't.

Sensible choice. (Both of them)

You can create "folders" and move your books into them. Sadly you cannot (AFAIK) create a hierarchy of folders-within-folders, which is a shame for me. I like over-organising my directories.

Still, simple folders is better than 'nowt.

There is a very comprehensive search function, which will search: your stuff, kindle store, google, dictionary, wiki, or just take you to the web. Did I mention it goes on the web?

I almost never use the search function, though. Prefer to keep my stuff in logical folders.

You can sort your stuff by: title, author, collection (folder) or most recently accessed.

When I got my first one, I tried to peel off the printed instruction sheet from the screen. There wasn't one. :-|

-- Jeff R.

You can do that with ease on a Kindle. Of the 300-odd titles I have on my Kindle, only one is DRMed, and that was one that I downloaded as an experiment. All the rest is text, html, pdf or some other doc that has been converted to Kindle's .mobi format.

Only for current copyrighted books you buy through them.

Aye! Now *that* is a huge worry - not just for books, but for photos as well.

-- Jeff R.

Ah, good to get some feedback like this. Maybe I'll opt for the bigger one. And good to know they'll deal with folks down under, as I'm headed there in the not too distant future...

So, how hard is it to -find- the book you want? Is it straight alphabetical, or can you organize books into folders by topic?

Yeah, that screen really is lovely, part of why I thought I was looking at a fake for a few seconds.

Jon

Hmm, that brings up another question... I grabbed a number of the military books on machining, electronics, and machine repair. I just

-assumed- that I could load up any book I wanted in PDF format.

I've ripped some CD's to MP3 and loaded them onto my Ipod with no DRM verification, didn't see why the Kindle would be any different. Looks like I'm wrong?

And you bring up a really good point about digital libraries. Printed books can be handed down through several generations or more if cared for.

Jon

The Kindle may or may not be your best choice..particularly at the price and capability of file formats it will display and display properly......

You may wish to read this..... and compare...

So far..the BeBook appears to be one of the most versitile...but the manufactures are still scrambling around trying to find out what everyone wants most....

The Kindle 3 does look pretty good and its Wifi compatible...but it doesnt fully support EPUB format completely yet..which appears to be the most rapidly growing Ebook format

I rather suspect November will see a 3rd generation of ebook readers being announched just in time for Christmas.....

Id be quite happy to get a Astek, as it reads practially everything...

but..it doesnt have wireless. Shrug

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

So can Ebook formats, if you save them on DVDs/CDs and so forth..or preferably..a USB hard drive that you refresh every 4-5 yrs

And give your DRM code in your last will and testiment...

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

Who let you out of your cage, Guido!?

Thanks for the feedback on all points, much appreciated. I think I'll try to find someone local with one that will load a PDF of my choice and let me see how it looks. I'll pick a tech manual with pictures and/or diagrams. If I can live with the smaller one, I'll get that, much more convenient when flying down under (I have no trouble reading a paperback and a couple magazines during the 14 hour flight...)

Jon

Thanks, something to think about. Maybe my best bet for now is to hold off and see what comes out in the next 6-12 months. Yeah, the BeBook sure looks to have it on general compatibility and formats.

Jon

Since ebook readers are still largely in their infancy....that might be best. Now on the other hand..you can pick up one of the new and very cheap laptops for $150-300..the same price as an ebook reader..and it will give you color, all the computer functions and read ALL formats.

But then..they arent as small and thin as the ebook readers either..though they are getting much closer....

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

Read some of the angry comments in the kindle feedback files. If your kindle dies in-warranty, they give you a new one. Then you can individually download each and every one of your titles that you saved to the old one. 3,500? Should take you only a FEW WEEKS, if you have nothing else to do 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. It seems that they're not quite perfect.

-- I am an old man, but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life. -- Pablo Casals

So it seems curious Gummy hasn't killfiled you when he readily does so with anyone he can't deal with on an intellectual basis (pretty much everyone). Could it be that he thinks you are really a female and he is so desperate for female attention?

Gumbo is desperate for any attention, even abuse.

Gunner Asch on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:04:29 -0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

As long as the materials hold up, and the format is still supported. The advantage to the printed page is that the "technology" is proved, and the formats are still supported. (One could argue about the problem of books recorded in a format/language no longer readable - Linear B, Mayan, etc - but that doesn't meant he documents are no longer completely inaccessible.)

Go for it!