Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

so far my rule is that I won't pay for anything over $10. I've only had my kindle for about 3 months though.

Last time I checked (some NYT article maybe 8 months ago) I thought it was the vendors who wanted a general 10$ price cap and the publishers who were all 'are you insane we'll go out of business at such prices'.

yes. amazon had the prices capped at $10 originally, then the publishers threatened to pull their books unless they controlled the pricing and amazon had to give in.

i totally get that a great deal of publishing costs (just like music) aren't related to physical production, but i still don't feel great about paying more than $10 for a digital edition. $10 is cool though.

totally cool

ebooks of old SFF and lit classics are running pretty cheap (largely around $6), which is nice as that's at least half my reading.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2011/03/why-some-e-books-cost-more-than.html

Basically, the publishers were getting concerned about Amazon's dominance in the ebook market, so they adopted a different pricing model for ebooks compared to print copies. This results in the price of printed copies and ebooks being basically unrelated to one another, but also keeps Amazon from owning the digital market.

The comments on that blog post are almost more interesting than the post itself.

(FWIW I have a Nook so for me Amazon owns none of the ebook market...)

lots of free wodehouse on amazon

link?

Think there were some Psmith books,Mike maybe, and one early Jeeves novel.

The Code of the Woosters and Joy and the Morning you will have to pay for.

My Man Jeeves, Right Ho, Jeeves, Piccadilly Jim, A Damsel in Distress are free.

Maybe we should start free PGW book club thread.

all those also on gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/w#a783

But I don't want to read free books! I want to read the books I WANT to read!

Like, I didn't go around buying cheap Jeeves paperbacks when Kindles didn't exist.

The regional price differences are inexcusable too, e.g. a hardback that costs US$25 is usually AU$45–60 here (and our $ is worth more ffs). ebooks are exploding here and that's got loads to do with it.

Search "5000 ebooks" on the Pirate Bay then.

still a bit grumpy that a non-touch, non-keyboard, non-3G Kindle costs more in the UK than the US price for the Kindle Touch, which isn't coming out in Europe because fuck Europe, or something

but those Australian prices are ridiculous

tbf the kindle touch is inferior to the latest gen non-keyboard kindle from what I've heard from friends. No real need for touch controls imo.

but but angry birds

Um that's only on Kindle Fire and not Kindle Touch isn't it?

Kindle touch has e-ink display which is why I got it over the Fire. Also it doesn't have a keyboard (which is fine).

I guess highlighting text is better with the touch, but absent that, I'd rather have the hardware page-turning buttons and a screen I don't smudge up

I'm talking about preferring this one: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-eReader-eBook-Reader-e-Reader-Special-Offers/dp/B0051QVESA/ref=amb_link_359613542_5?ie=UTF8&nav_sdd=aps&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=15K4F97XYKMRZTNGZQ9Y&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1343338782&pf_rd_i=507846

I think that the Instapaper developer actually recommends it over the Touch one?

oic. Yeah looks good. I like the 3G on mine but I don't have a smartphone or any other portable thing I can access internet with so it's a novelty!

touch doesn't smudge, but then i have nice hands

Does it have hardware buttons for page flippy? That is the one thing I'd want in a kindle (other than e-ink) to make me supplement my iPad

The nook touch does the kindle & kobo do not

That kindle I linked does!

xxxp: Publishers should have done the smart thing and put together their own DRM'ed e-book store, with prices 30% lower than they offered the product for on Amazon (reflecting Amz's cut). Possibly a bit late in the game, now that that Kindle's proprietary format seems to be dominating the market.

no hardware, it's pure simple screen, as far as the eye can see

xp no content industry has ever done that. You'd think they'd learn by the mistakes of others but no.

You real book lovers may find this interesting. http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/24/students-demonstrate-innovative-ipad-book-page-flip/

Kindle not really suiting tired late journeys home on the train. You don't mind nodding your head and letting a paperback slip through you fingers but it's more of a worry when it's a slightly expensive electronic gizmo.

The page flipping interface is an example of skeuomorphism that I can get behind. Flipping is the big advantage of paper books for me.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph)

So I finally upgraded from the cheap but hearty Skytex Primer (backlit screen, not E-ink) to the Nook Simple Touch about a week ago.

I have to say that E-ink is taking some getting used to. There are often slight differences in text darkness from the upper region of the page to the bottom region, with the top few lines a bit light and the bottom few lines quite dark. Is this kind of slight variation normal with E-ink or should be complaining to the vendor? I find that it makes me hyper-aware of the letters' existence in a distracting way...

my nook simple touch does not do that. I would get a replacement.

Flipping is the big advantage of paper books for me.

Except when adjacent pages stick together and you have to painstakingly locate an edge by which you may seperate them, which is a pita.

That trouble is what makes books a sublime and ideal form for reading.

should be complaining to the vendor?

immediately

Alrighty then. The difference is very slight, but they're frickin' letters-- their physicality must not call attention to itself.

What ereader is it?

Nook Simple Touch.

Ah good. B&N should sort it for you.

I bought it in person at the BN Union Square store last week-- I was actually gonna go to their Nook counter after work today on the faint chance that I can avoid telephone consumer service...

If they're anything like Amazon they'll do whatever it takes to keep you buying ebooks.

That trouble is what makes books a sublime and ideal form for reading.

For me, the book is the ideal form only for certain types of material--the kind I flip back and forth through and jot down marginalia in. Poetry and reference books, and more difficult academic non-fiction or experimental fiction. But anything that is meant to be absorptive--standard novels, breezy non-fiction, magazines--is ideal for e-readers.

^^^this.