Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

> well if I had one of my own I'd still probably alternate with actual book-books

this is valid. most of my e-reading is classics from gutenberg, most of my, er, p-reading is new, modern(ish) books (or re-reads of things i already had). it's a good balance.

i still don't think i'd buy a new book electronically. ebooks aren't even cheaper in most cases. (those 99p mcbains were tempting though)

the main reason I'm testing mr veg's kindle is because I am taking a flight to Aus in Feb, and I thought I might kindle on the plane

I bought a kindle for my trip and it rules super-hard. I've read idk 60-odd books I wouldn't have been able to carry around the world, and using "send to Kindle" on long articles on the web is also tear-bringingly wonderful

my dream of owning an e-reader is entirely about being able to tote round multi-volume old histories on pdf wherever

YES the plane is where the kindle really shines (and 11/22/63 is actually one of the few books I've managed to finish on it!)

mr veg got into a v amusing argument with the flight attendant when she asked him to turn it off and he said 'it is off' and she was like 'well you're still reading it' etc and he's enjoying himself immensely and she's getting kinda shirtly and I was low-whispering to him 'dude this is not the time to be pedantic fyi'

FAA due to raise all restrictions on use (including during take-off) imminently - the rest of the world are waiting for the USA to say it's OK then fall in line immediately. (Most allow it already but are in principle awaiting on the FAA saying it's fine.)

my trick with my kindle on flights is to put it away when the attendants are sweeping the aisles checking for seatbelts, etc; then when you hear "flight attendants please be seated for takeoff" bring it back out. my the time they get back up it will be all clear anyway.

alternative: i've never gotten hassled about keeping my kindle out when i fly first class.

As someone who knows about this stuff, the difference between "off" and reading on a Kindle is only that it puts up an all-white screen (and turns off the radios, if the device wasn't already in Airplane mode). Everything else is exactly the same.

I like my friend's e-ink Kindle b/c it's really easy on the eyes like paper. Are the non-e-ink Kindles as readable? I'm wondering whether I should just skip a Kindle and get an iPad for e-books.

i get headaches trying to read on ipad for any great length of time

Yeah no to ipad as an alternative to an ereader

I love reading on the iPad. But I don't read books. Mostly just twitter.

The retina iPads are pretty decent for reading as long as I turn the brightness way down. I still prefer e-ink because I don't need access to Google to run down a rabbit hole when a name or event pops up I want to look up.

Yeh I was wondering if the Kindle Fire would be no better than an iPad (maybe w/ Retina) b/c Fire isn't e-ink? (Unless I'm mistaken)

I went to Best Buy to check them out but the displays were either missing or broken. Fuckers.

yeah the Fire is really a budget tablet rather than an e-Reader

^same with the Nook HD. An Android tablet with a sharper screen basically. It is p readable when I turn the brightness down. TBH though if the straight e-ink devices could render PDFs reasonably I would ditch my Nook HD and go back to e-ink. It's much more pleasurable.

I am going to wait for a big jump in e-Ink screen quality before I pick up an e-Ink device at this point. e-Ink with the pixel density of an iPhone Retina Display could be pretty killer.

(of course I just forgot while typing that that I already have a nook I don't use)

I've read several books on the iPad, no problem (iPad 1, don't know if it would work with a retina display)

The resolution of the current Paperwhite is indistinguishable from a good trade paperback IMO.

ya how detailed do you really want your serifs to be, they're letters, either you can read them or not

Http://tech.woot.com has refurbished Kindle Touch for $55 (plus $5 shipping) today. Probably US only.

how detailed do you really want your serifs to be

For me the test would be whether the letter forms have a crisp, well-defined edge without blurring or jaggedness. This allows the eye to focus with less strain. Meet that test and further resolution would be superfluous -- until you start talking about pdfs and other images.

One issue with high-res e-ink is that the micro-capsule edges start to dominate at high resolutions, lowering the contrast. Another is that it gets harder to control edge-ghosting, since the electrical fields that move the ink around bleed over into neighboring microcapsules, and it's hard to clean those ghosts up without a full flash of the screen (which everyone seems to hate).

The 212ppi of the newer Kindles/e-readers is pretty sharp, though.

Actually, scratch that first item, I think that's not true. It's a ghosting issue.

</nerd>

Integration of e-ink for reading and a bright display for photos will be nice.

FAA due to raise all restrictions on use (including during take-off) imminently - the rest of the world are waiting for the USA to say it's OK then fall in line immediately. (Most allow it already but are in principle awaiting on the FAA saying it's fine.)

flew internationally on BA tonight, and they said at the start "ayo since like yesterday, stow yr laptops away but as long as you put your phone or tablet or e-reader in airplane mode, fuckin go for it duders"

FAA due to raise all restrictions on use (including during take-off) imminently

They've been doing this for at least the past month in the US

Integration of e-ink for reading and a bright display for photos will be nice.

there is an dual e-ink / lcd phone. mainly appears to exist for gizmodo to take the piss out of it:
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/12/dual-screen-e-ink-yotaphone-is-somehow-now-a-real-phone-that-you-can-buy/

readers of the future will have started their Berenstein Bears books on dad's iPad and won't see any disadvantage to their novels being delivered via pixels

not the near future -- i can tell you from direct experience that 2nd graders read books almost entirely on paper. my kid subscribes to print magazines, which is more than I can say for myself, and often requests that I buy a print newspaper (which we haven't gotten at home since before he was born)

that dual e-ink/lcd phone seems brilliant, would totally buy.

prob not the right thread but waiting for the day when someone invents an add-on keyboard for iphone/android phones as good as the blackberry one (with substantial chunky keys, not like the shitty unresponsive kindle one)

I'm reading this Beatles thing on the kindle atm, and I have this idea that it should have embedded mp3's the songs they talk about - not autoplay, but that you can trigger yourself...and then idk send you to itunes if you play it more than once or w/e. Like for music biographies and such I think it would be a cool enhancement. For me... idk it'd probably annoy the shit out of everyone else haha

and I don't mean just beatles songs, but like there's loads of old rock n roll 45's they talk about and old music hall songs etc

I had that problem while reading 'revolution in the head'... "what song is this again? better stop reading and check youtube"

yeah, you wanna go to the iPad-enhanced-always-on-Internet-high-storage-interactive-viewer thread

hmph

I decided to go with an iPad mini (prob w/ Retina) for my e-reading needs. I don't read in long enough stretches for e-ink to be necessary plus I can use iBooks if I want. Plus I want an iPad and don't want to carry two devices, and I can get a Kindle later if I want.

Sorry to keep you all in suspense for so long.

my eyes strain very quickly and I already spend so much time in front of backlit screens that regular reading on iPad is a no go. I got a Kindle two years ago but don't use much since I mostly read in the dark when wifey and baby are fast asleep - so, as much as I hate the idea of replacing a perfectly working two year old machine, I'm really tempted to get the Paperwhite model.

Will buy the first book somebody posts here that is $4.99 or less in the Barnes and Noble Nook store. Quick

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/most-excellent-love-charles-and-becky-mcquaig/1103573339?ean=2940000822951

or

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/already-home-vicki-lewis-thompson/1109483175?ean=9781426834172

Bought both. Thanks VG

:D

is it ever possible to see illustrations on a kindle?

yes

ok how do i shot kindle. ive had it for a year and i don't understand it at all.

every ebook ive ever read on kindle with illustrations just skips right over the illustration, showing only a caption

idk, books with illos or Sent To Kindle web articles with illos just show up for me.

roxy, try reducing the font size to the smallest. Although, is the caption actually a link? It might be the illustrations are being handled like a footnote.

like a goddamned footnote