Amazon Kindle (ebook thingy)

clicking on a word to get the definition is wonderful - u can do it on nytimes.com

how is this better than reading a book and using a dictionary?

Metro driver used the bus dictionary as a wheel chock, R - Z and part of the pronouncing gazetteer now missing ;_;

It's a useful tool.

I believe you, Jaq. I suppose that, if it performs useful actions that cannot be duplicated by another tool, or at least not at the same level of efficiency, then, for any person who requires that greater level of efficiency, it has proved worth its salt.

I personally do not require any increase in the efficiency with which I read. A Kindle won't let me read more easily, or more quickly, or with greater pleasure or comprehension. There are no texts for Kindle I cannot access in other ways with sufficient ease.

Its most attractive and unique features are not features that I am likely to either need or use, but might well be a boon for someone else. I somehow acquired a sufficiently large vocabulary that I almost never look up a word in a dictionary, and when i do it was not prompted by my running across the word in a text, but as a form of mentally flossing out a word that has become stuck in my brain. I do not do most of my reading on the web. I still subscribe to a newspaper, for heavens sake!

I don't plan on buying one. If given one it would probably retain the status of a toy and a novelty. I would be too cheap to buy downloads for it.

But maybe, possibly, if the Kindle or its kin could claim to allow me to use hugely less of the earth's resources than I do at present, then such a claim, if well-founded, might convince me to switch over.

r u hi

nope that's just me

do u really know all the words

He presents a Wodehouse stiff upper lip front, but really he's seething Jim Thompson-style underneath.

Other pluses (for me obv, ymmv) - can increase the font size of any text so I can read w/o my glasses and my mom (who is going blind from glaucoma) doesn't have to rely on gigantic multi-volume large print books, I can upload a knitting pattern to it and keep track of where I am simply, I can read ILX or other mostly text sites on it (wait, not an advantage), I can carry two newspapers and a big selection of books in the space and weight of a single trade paperback (important for my daily 2 hours on bus + 2 hours walking commute)

what about porn can u download and read porn with it

Kumdle

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Jaq, i feel you on your points. The problem is that most people who will buy a Kindle in the future, if it catches on as it seems to be catching on, will not keep buying books. But good for you.

What happens when "Mom's Night Out" turns into group sex?

Mom's Night Eating Out

Table, I doubt it, but time will tell.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51wo2ycvbAL._SL500_AA246_PIkin2,BottomRight,-15,34_AA280_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Fuhrer's Panties

Mom's Kristallnacht

do u really know all the words

Words enough for a' that and a' that. I can leap from stentorian to sterorous in the blink of an eye, quicker nor a lamb's tail's shaking, that I can. Watch me sometime.

what the fuck is going on on this thread

unenlightenment

devolution

arsing around

overindulgence in blatherskite

my sincere apologies

this is random but, have you ever played in an orchestra?

no?

Microsoft Songsmith (e-orchestra thingy)

sterorous

excuse me, stertorous was what I instructed my fingers to type

orchestra? if that was directed at me, then: no, never. I am mediocre in musical talent.

Mediocre in humility also.

eh.

If you ever see me claiming that knowing a lot of words makes me a better person, you might have a fair beef. Until then, all I have claimed is that I know a lot of words. Which is true. I can assure you that 99.9% of the time it is a singularly useless attribute for anything but esoteric self-amusement, similar to a baby sucking on its toes.

oy, let's keep it on an unsponsored thread folx

fair dinkum

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.flagrantfoul.com/images/amazon_kindle_logo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flagrantfoul.com/stories.html&usg=__Hs2fk3u2_jRJ2CNFD-N8YW12fNA=&h=39&w=160&sz=2&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=9oHZEB0yaClbiM:&tbnh=24&tbnw=98&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkindle%2Blogo%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

is dinkum like jenkum but smellier

I bought a Sony Reader PR505 a few months ago for $250, mainly because it doesn't have Kindle's DRM issues and I really don't need to pay for the internet on 3 separate devices. After a long dry spell in being able to finish a book, I've read two in the past month or so. I figure as long as there are text/pdf files, I'll be able to use it.

Sony's software and support for the book are laughable. There's an open source replacement, Calibre, that works. I wish it was easier to rip RSS feeds into an ebook format, because it would be a more legit option than paying $14/month for a Kindle NYT subscription.

If you're looking for good newer books to read for free (with suggested donation), check out:
http://www.truly-free.org/

Just so you know - internet is free on Kindle (no monthly fee), and you can read all sorts-of DRM formats (other than PDF) on it too. The Sony device is nice too, though.

all sorts of NON-DRM formats (Freudian typo?)...

i would hope that monochromatic internet browsing would be free

And it is, troll.

; )

wow what can't the kindle do

it reminds me of

http://www.retro-trader.com/images/jan2/DVC00871.JPG

i just downloaded the (FREE!) Kindle iPhone application so I can bring longer books with me on the go...

So I thought I'd go to the Kindle site and get a book, and everything I type comes back with no results. There's no Faulkner, no Pynchon, no Nabokov. Is this shit just for reading Twilight and Harry Potter and shit?

A big textbook version is meant to come out tomorrow. If it can do annotations I will be tempted.

@WGW: No Harry Potter on Kindle ;) Right now, it seems like AMZN is focusing on new releases. Public-domain stuff is also available, but stuff in-between those two extremes is harder-to-find. Getting e-publishing rights is a monumental task.

@Ed - the current products already do annotations.

i got Animal Farm for 99 cents, so i'll see how that treats me

New Orleans Sketches is the only Faulkner available from Amazon at this point. That truly-free site linked above had a couple, but I can't get to the site right now to verify. I do hope some Pynchon gets released, because I don't want to haul Against the Day around.