Kindle

[David Ayers]

Just started to use kindle. I find it fantastic for general reading. Love to get a sample, start reading, then if you want more you pay, otherwise just move on. I find organising and storing books a major pain and kindle solves that too. Interested to hear other views and opinions on uses of kindle.

[Pete C]

Just started to use kindle. I find it fantastic for general reading. Love to get a sample, start reading, then if you want more you pay, otherwise just move on. I find organising and storing books a major pain and kindle solves that too. Interested to hear other views and opinions on uses of kindle.

I left my original kindle on a plane and got a kindle fire. Loving it, once I put an anti-glare screen cover on. I now have a Rhapsody subscription for it, get the tablet edition of NY Review of Books which is considerably cheaper than the cheapest print subscription, have bought a number of kindle daily deals, and can check Organissimo in coffee shops. I thought a tablet would be tougher on the eyes than the original kindle, but with proper contrast/brightness controls and the glare guard it's not that much different, plus it's easier to read in low light situations.

[GA Russell]

You guys might be interested in this thread.

[Jim Alfredson]

I got one around Oct of last year; it just made sense for all the traveling I do. I would bring three or four books with me (taking up space in my luggage) and read them within the first two weeks of being out on the road. Then I'd have nothing else to read for the rest of the trip. The Kindle makes it so easy to read multiple books at a time, preview books, and purchase new ones. I love it.

[johnlitweiler]

A friend loaned me his Kindle Fire while I was in hospital last winter. A great thing, the reading and the music preserved sanity.

But I wish Amazon had some real competition and I wish there were standardized readers so we could read and listen to Amazon's and the competitors' e-books, etc. on all readers. Amazon's almost-monopoly is scary, as is their attempt to monopolize the book publishing-selling biz at all levels.

[jeffcrom]

Very little of the content on my Kindle (not a Fire) was purchased from Amazon. I've downloaded many books from the Gutenberg Project and other sources. And whenever I find a jazz article or discography in PDF form, I put it on my Kindle.

I still love my "real" books, but the Kindle is pretty cool.

[rostasi]

Don't have a Kindle because the things I read usually aren't available for it.

The last 5 books I've read:

• Peter Cusack: Sounds from Dangerous Places

• Han Bennink: Cover Art

• Carl Schuster & Edmund Carpenter: Patterns That Connect: Social Symbolism in Ancient & Tribal Art

• Imagination At Play. The PRIX ITALIA and Radiophonic Experimentation

• Brian O'Doherty: Vertical Thoughts: Morton Feldman and the Visual Arts

I've looked at my sweetheart's iBooks, which she enjoys, but I don't own an iPad either.

[Chuck Nessa]

My iPad has a Kindle app. Never used it. Anyone with experience?

[GA Russell]

Guys, you might want to visit mobileread.com, which is specifically devoted to eBook readers and tablets. Lots of knowledgeable opinions!

[medjuck]

My iPad has a Kindle app. Never used it. Anyone with experience?

I use it. Mainly because books are often cheaper from Amazon than from Apple.

[mjzee]

Don't know how many of you have seen this article, but there's definitely a creepy, Orwellian aspect to eBook readers:

For centuries, reading has largely been a solitary and private act, an intimate exchange between the reader and the words on the page. But the rise of digital books has prompted a profound shift in the way we read, transforming the activity into something measurable and quasi-public.

The major new players in e-book publishing—Amazon, Apple and Google—can easily track how far readers are getting in books, how long they spend reading them and which search terms they use to find books. Book apps for tablets like the iPad, Kindle Fire and Nook record how many times readers open the app and how much time they spend reading. Retailers and some publishers are beginning to sift through the data, gaining unprecedented insight into how people engage with books.

More here:

Your E-Book is reading you - from WSJ

[BruceH]

That IS creepy!

My mother has had a Kindle since they first came out, mainly because it allowed her to buy new books so much more cheaply. She says they've gone up somewhat recently, which doesn't surprise me.

[Jim Alfredson]

Don't have a Kindle because the things I read usually aren't available for it.

The last 5 books I've read:

• Peter Cusack: Sounds from Dangerous Places

• Han Bennink: Cover Art

• Carl Schuster & Edmund Carpenter: Patterns That Connect: Social Symbolism in Ancient & Tribal Art

• Imagination At Play. The PRIX ITALIA and Radiophonic Experimentation

• Brian O'Doherty: Vertical Thoughts: Morton Feldman and the Visual Arts

I've looked at my sweetheart's iBooks, which she enjoys, but I don't own an iPad either.

Reading art history books via the Kindle isn't fun; all the reprints are small and in black and white. I'm currently making my way through The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present and it's a bummer not to see the art in full color. But I just get on my laptop or iPhone while reading and look at them there.

[rostasi]

Reading art history books via the Kindle isn't fun; all the reprints are small and in black and white. I'm currently making my way through The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present and it's a bummer not to see the art in full color. But I just get on my laptop or iPhone while reading and look at them there.

Thanks for the link. It looks wonderful enough to order,

so I'm going for it.

®ø∂

[A Lark Ascending]

I like the look of that 'The Age of Insight'.

You might enjoy this - I read it over 30 years ago and it made a huge impression on me. I was obsessed with Mahler at the time, just exploring Schoenberg and Berg and had recently been to Vienna and seen some of the Secession and Jugendstil places and galleries.

Focuses on one year and all the political/cultural/social waves that were sweeping through the city and empire at the time.

I notice he also has a volume centred round 1913/14.

[ghost of miles]

I finally succumbed and downloaded Amazon's Kindle reader, but only so that I could read Peter Pullman's Bud Powell biography.

[Guy Berger]

I like my Kindle. I'm on my second one. (Somewhat stupidly, I lost my 1st one at a restaurant, though the new Kindle Touch is a more updated version). They aren't great for illustrations like maps. But otherwise, I love the portability. I do get frustrated when a book I want is only available in print.

[David Ayers]

I get frustrated when the transfer to digital is bad, as when older books are scanned in without being proofed (by supposedly respectable publishers, I mean, not freebies), or when even recent books contain errors (missing accented letters, for example).

The convenience is a massive bonus. Since I d/l things basically at the point of reading them it is also economical (no hunting, hoarding, storing involved). Plus if you want physical copy instead no-one is stopping you.

[Jim Alfredson]

Yeah, I've stayed away from older books that have been transferred to the Kindle because in general the reviews for those transfers are bad. For instance, I want to re-read Orwell (Animal Farm, 1984) and there's a volume for the Kindle with both, but the reviews for that edition on the Kindle are very negative due to misspelled words, bad formatting, etc.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I have a Kindle (2nd gen), a Nook & a Kindle Fire. All three are going with me to Paris next week. I love the convenience, love the free books (sign up for the daily E-mail here: http://ereadernewstoday.com/) & I love that I can "buy" a book from the comfort of my hotel room when I'm traveling. About the only thing I don't like is that it is just about impossible to flip back in any book you're reading. I read a lot of fantasy novels and some of them introduce/kill off characters left & right. Sometimes, I like to flip back through a book to find where a character was mentioned before. Very hard to do with a Kindle.

[David Ayers]

I don't know how to syncronise or back-up the kindle on the pc. Does anyone know how to do that?

[Matthew]

I don't know how to syncronise or back-up the kindle on the pc. Does anyone know how to do that?

You need to go to Amazon.com, and download the Kindle program to your computer (it has both pc & Mac programs), then you can download all you books to your computer. At least that's how I did it.

[Pete C]

Yes, once your PC or Mac app is linked to your account all your books will be available and will be synced with your Kindle.

[Noj]

I have a Kindle and like many others here I love it. With music taking up so much shelf space, I decided books without images may as well be all digital.

I'm on the first generation one. Bought my Mom the Kindle Fire and she's super jazzed about it. She's got books, her music, some pictures, and she can check her email on it. That's about all she uses any computer-type device for anyway.

[David Ayers]

Thanks! I downloaded the app but it still seems I have to add things manually... nearly there...