Topic: The Que

[Pugnate]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/08/ces.ereader/index.html

[Cobra951]

¿Que que?

[idolminds]

You know, I can buy a LOT of dead tree books for just the cost of these readers. So why would I buy one and then have to buy ebooks on top of that price?

[K-man]

You know, I can buy a LOT of dead tree books for just the cost of these readers. So why would I buy one and then have to buy ebooks on top of that price?

Mainly because e-books are tons cheaper than the printed version.  If you read a lot it makes sense.  Basically pays for itself in 25-30 books.  Plus the convenience and ease of use is awesome.  I received a Kindle as a Christmas gift and I LOVE it.

[iPPi]

QQ.

In all seriousness, I don`t care about these ereaders.  They're interesting tech, but way to expensive to justify the cost.

[scottws]

I got Jennie a Kindle 2 for Christmas because the company I work for had a deal with Amazon where they were 40% off.  It was still like $165, but that's a pretty good deal for one of these things.  Jennie really likes it, so that's all that matters to me.

[ren]

I want one. Not that one in particular but one of these e-readers. I don't see it as much different than moving from cd players to mp3 players. It costs more but it's convenient to carry lots of books at a time and saves a lot of space.

My back is excited for the day when I can have all of my textbooks on an e-reader. I definitely won't miss carrying around 50lbs of books over 15 km of walking every day.

[Quemaqua]

i hate these things.  I prefer my books to be books.  Especially for studying.  An actual book is about fifteen times more practical for anything but reading fiction.  Of course, what do I know? I'm posting this from a cell phone, thus you shouldn't listen to anything I fucking say.

[PyroMenace]

Mainly because e-books are tons cheaper than the printed version.  If you read a lot it makes sense.  Basically pays for itself in 25-30 books.  Plus the convenience and ease of use is awesome.  I received a Kindle as a Christmas gift and I LOVE it.

Really? Ive looked into getting some books for the kindle app for my ipod but they were all the same price as paper backs so I just said screw it.

[Ghandi]

i hate these things.  I prefer my books to be books.  Especially for studying.  An actual book is about fifteen times more practical for anything but reading fiction.  Of course, what do I know? I'm posting this from a cell phone, thus you shouldn't listen to anything I fucking say.

I prefer books as well. There's something pleasant and relaxing about turning pages that doesn't exist with electronics. Plus I like having a little library. It's nice.

[Cobra951]

One more gadget to buy batteries for, have to recharge constantly, with ever decreasing efficiency, and to let you down during a very prolonged power outage.  A real book will never have any of those problems.  It will never malfunction either, unless you burn it.

[scottws]

One thing that I find to be really neat about the Kindle is that it comes with a free cellular wireless connection with AT&T (this is one of the reasons for the device's high-cost).  I don't think you can just browse the Internet with it, but it does allow you to buy books on-the-go.  Books you buy either via Amazon.com or the Kindle store on the Kindle arrive on the device within 30 seconds.  When I bought Jennie her first book, it was closer to 10 seconds... so little time that when we checked the Kindle after the purchase, the book was already there.  The Kindle was on the desk next to the keyboard.

One can literally be reading a book on the beach, finish it, go to the Kindle store on the Kindle, buy a book, and begin reading it without getting up from one's beach chair.  If you know what book you want, you could be reading your next book within a minute of finishing the last one.  That's actually pretty damn cool. 

Edit:  Correction about the wireless.  It's Sprint in the U.S.  AT&T abroad or for the International Edition in the U.S.

[Pugnate]

Mainly because e-books are tons cheaper than the printed version.  If you read a lot it makes sense.  Basically pays for itself in 25-30 books.  Plus the convenience and ease of use is awesome.  I received a Kindle as a Christmas gift and I LOVE it.

I don't understand... aren't the books the same price?

[scottws]

I don't understand... aren't the books the same price?

No, not always.  Here is The Lost Symbol as an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Symbol-Dan-Brown/dp/0385504225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263098312&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Symbol-ebook/dp/B002KQ6BT6/ref=kinw_dp_ke?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1263098312&sr=8-1

The price difference is small now, but it was more pronounced a couple of weeks ago.

[gpw11]

i hate these things.  I prefer my books to be books.  Especially for studying.  An actual book is about fifteen times more practical for anything but reading fiction. 

I was going to go the opposite way and say that if they had text books on these motherfuckers I'd get one for sure.  The only thing worse than having to carry around 5 or 6 big ass books in your car because you don't know when you need them is having to pay $100-$200 each for them.

[Quemaqua]

I never understood the big deal about carrying books around.  Are you guys a bunch of pussies or something?

That was just a jab, but in all seriousness, I meant what I said.  Digital devices are absolutely impractical as references.  Real books are much, much better.  I would never want my textbooks on a digital device.

[gpw11]

Most textbooks aren't small.  It's not so much carrying the book; it's carrying texts, a laptop, and your notebooks around.  It adds up.  It's not so much a big deal for me, because I often don't buy the books and if I do I just keep them in my truck, but for people catching the bus it can be very inconvenient. As for it being impractical as a reference, I'm not entirely following.

The main reason I'd like digitial text books is cost. 

[Pugnate]

Carrying text books is a real bitch. They aren't just heavy, but are just awkward to carry with all the other modern day school stuff.

[Cobra951]

No, not always.  Here is The Lost Symbol as an example:

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Symbol-Dan-Brown/dp/0385504225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263098312&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Symbol-ebook/dp/B002KQ6BT6/ref=kinw_dp_ke?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1263098312&sr=8-1

The price difference is small now, but it was more pronounced a couple of weeks ago.

Apparently, it's easy to get much cheaper still.  One undeniable advantage of real books is that they're not nearly as prone to piracy.

[K-man]

Apparently, it's easy to get much cheaper still.  One undeniable advantage of real books is that they're not nearly as prone to piracy.

Yeah, there's torrents out there with literally hundreds of kindle-formatted books in them.

[Pugnate]

Apparently, it's easy to get much cheaper still.  One undeniable advantage of real books is that they're not nearly as prone to piracy.

Funny thing is that I read that article the other day myself.

Yea... the advantage, especially when compared to DVDs and games is that while those two formats can only be sold in the digital medium, book publishers can always go back to the paper if ebook piracy becomes too huge a problem.

Publishers of books will always have the choice of not releasing an ebook version. Sure those can be done by fans as well, but it will be pretty hard to do such unpaid work in a time period where it affects early sales.

But as that article pointed out, the real quandary is that ebooks seem to sell a lot faster initially. I guess you have to look at it in the long run. While enthusiasts may buy enough ebooks during the first few release days to outsell paper copies, in the long run, it could actually be harmful, with the more casual fans not buying the paperbacks because the ebooks are so readily available.

Anyway, I am pretty close to buying a Kindle. I am just not sure which version to go for.

To be honest, I love reading, and I love holding books in my hands, but the problem is that they aren't as readily available in these parts... at least not the more obscure ones which I want. And it seems that Amazon has an ebook version of just about everything nowadays.

[ren]

How does the e-book store work? Is it the exact same one as amazon.com in every country or do we get watered down versions?

I'll still be happily using paper books until e-readers mature a little and come down to the $100 range but when it's affordable I'll switch over without hesitation.

[iPPi]

Heh... the second books become digital piracy emerges.  Gotta love the internet.

Anyway, my interest in this is definitely piqued, but the initial cost is far too high to justify it.  I also don't read on a regular basis anymore so it's hard to get my money back.  Also the fact that the books are still quite expensive makes it even harder to justify the cost.  $10 for a book is what I pay when I buy paperback, I just get the benefit of being able to read it when the book is 'newer'.

[gpw11]

Apparently, it's easy to get much cheaper still.  One undeniable advantage of real books is that they're not nearly as prone to piracy.

Except for, you know, libraries.  Honestly, I think most of the people who buy books WANT to buy books and put them on the shelf (or are in an airport). Most heavy readers though?  They use libraries.

[Pugnate]

Perhaps people who read heavily for research or school use libraries, but I'd be surprised if most people who read recreationally did so at a library.

[gpw11]

They check the books out.  I see a ton of people around doing recreational reading with books checked out from a library. If you read ~20 books a year, it just makes more sense to do it for free than pay ~10-20 for a book.

Personally, I can't do it because it feels like a hard deadline on when I have to have it read, but a lot of people read most of their books that way.

[Quemaqua]

I don't know any heavy readers who use libraries.  They enjoy building their own personal libraries too much.

[ren]

I usually borrow books from the library and then buy my favourites to support the author, assuming they're still alive.