Unable to compete with the Kindle, Apple wants a cut of ebook sales

[superboyac]

I wish there was a way to like a reply. Renegade's sums up my feelings

A huge resounding +1

-Josh (February 02, 2011, 08:30 AM)

3 drinks in on an empty stomach and I start to express my true inner feelings. All warm and fuzzy and unicorns and rainbows. Apple, Sony and a few others just tend to force my unicorns to start impaling people and turning the rainbows to beautifully gasoline covered ponds. The warm comes from them throwing a lit match on the pond. The fuzzy then comes from what happens to my vision as my eyes begin to melt.

-Renegade (February 02, 2011, 07:12 PM)

yes, you're right.  That was a bit of an exaggerated response on my part.  I shouldn't say that the e-ink is bullshit, i have no grounds for that, and a lot of people agree that it is a more pleasant reading experience.  Here's what I really intended to say: the kindle and other purely e-readers are going to die quickly when the other tablet manufacturers start offering a lot of decent tablets.  Why would you get a pure e-reader, when you can get the same type of screen (the Adam comes to mind) but with an OS that allows other software also (iOS, Android, Windows).  So if the screen was the same, why would I choose a kindle over an ipad?  It's like paying for a portable video player that can't play mp3's.  Why would i do that, when I can just get the thing that plays everything?  I may be wrong here if the price differences between the readers and fully featured tablets are significant.  Anyhoo...i didn't put much thought into that.  Sorry.

[J-Mac]

I don’t think you can use a screen with e-ink technology as a digitizer - or touch screen. Looking for where I read this; when I find it I'll post back with the link.

Jim

[Renegade]

I wish there was a way to like a reply. Renegade's sums up my feelings

A huge resounding +1

-Josh (February 02, 2011, 08:30 AM)

3 drinks in on an empty stomach and I start to express my true inner feelings. All warm and fuzzy and unicorns and rainbows. Apple, Sony and a few others just tend to force my unicorns to start impaling people and turning the rainbows to beautifully gasoline covered ponds. The warm comes from them throwing a lit match on the pond. The fuzzy then comes from what happens to my vision as my eyes begin to melt.

-Renegade (February 02, 2011, 07:12 PM)

yes, you're right.  That was a bit of an exaggerated response on my part.  I shouldn't say that the e-ink is bullshit, i have no grounds for that, and a lot of people agree that it is a more pleasant reading experience.  Here's what I really intended to say: the kindle and other purely e-readers are going to die quickly when the other tablet manufacturers start offering a lot of decent tablets.  Why would you get a pure e-reader, when you can get the same type of screen (the Adam comes to mind) but with an OS that allows other software also (iOS, Android, Windows).  So if the screen was the same, why would I choose a kindle over an ipad?  It's like paying for a portable video player that can't play mp3's.  Why would i do that, when I can just get the thing that plays everything?  I may be wrong here if the price differences between the readers and fully featured tablets are significant.  Anyhoo...i didn't put much thought into that.  Sorry.

-superboyac (February 02, 2011, 10:20 PM)

I think maybe you quoted the wrong post.

Anyways, regarding e-ink, it really is a better viewing experience. It is specifically designed for "reading", and not "viewing". It reduces eye-strain. Give a tablet and a kindle to someone in their 50's or 60's and ask them to read for a few hours on each of them, then ask them which they prefer, and I will guarantee you that the vast majority will prefer the kindle.

If you're young and have excellent eye-sight, then you're not likely to really know the difference as easily.

[wraith808]

^ But what about developing vision?  As I said, I'm looking at the nook for my daughter simply because she's 10.  Would the increased strain from an LCD be bad for her eyes?  I don't know.  But I figured I'd take the lesser risk any day.

[superboyac]

nah, nah...forget i said anything.  I was just in a mood.

[johnk]

Apart from the e-ink, the best thing about the Kindle (for me) is that you can email documents to it as an attachment (Word document, HTML, plain text, whatever) and a few seconds later the document appears on your Kindle, formatted and ready to read. The Kindle server converts the document to Kindle format on the fly.

It makes it very easy to use the Kindle to read any long documents. And of course other people can email documents to your Kindle too (hence the value of services such as Instapaper).

[mahesh2k]

What happened to microsoft surface devices ? (finally managed to remember the name ). I think these devices are competent enough to stand against ipad(despite long beta period).

[Renegade]

What happened to microsoft surface devices ? (finally managed to remember the name ). I think these devices are competent enough to stand against ipad(despite long beta period).

-mahesh2k (February 03, 2011, 12:01 AM)

That's a way more advanced technology and only available for commercial use. I've seen them at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood and a few other places. Very cool stuff.

I don't know when it will be available for consumer devices.

[mahesh2k]

If that comes in form of tablets then i'm sure many folks will ditch apple ipad.

[Renegade]

If that comes in form of tablets then i'm sure many folks will ditch apple ipad.

-mahesh2k (February 03, 2011, 03:55 AM)

It's probably over-kill for tablets.

[mahesh2k]

due to graphics or some other reason ?

[CWuestefeld]

They're going to keep saying that the e-ink displays are better on the eyes vs the tablet screens, but that's a bunch of bullshit. Whatever little truth there is in that, it's the only point they are hanging on to.  i read pdf's on my ipad, and it's a great experience.

-superboyac (February 02, 2011, 11:07 AM)

The quality of the display is fantastic, but there's another really awesome feature of e-ink readers like Kindle: the batteries last freakin' forever. Seriously, it can go *weeks* of normal usage on a single charge. When I got mine for Christmas I charged it overnight. Since then, the only time I've plugged it in is when I've loaded new content. And those little dribbles have been enough to keep it going for 6 weeks.

And like johnk said, one can use Calibre to load up darned near any content you want, so while technically Kindle is a closed, proprietary system, in fact it's open to anything you're likely to want.

[Renegade]

due to graphics or some other reason ?

-mahesh2k (February 03, 2011, 08:36 AM)

It's not just "multi-touch". It's multi-person. The number of touch points on a Microsoft Surface is something like 255 or 5000 or something. I believe that the only real/practical limit is in the actual hardware, and I've read about demonstrations that show 20 touch points at once.

While it may make it into common devices, it's way over the top for most uses.

[40hz]

And like johnk said, one can use Calibre to load up darned near any content you want, so while technically Kindle is a closed, proprietary system, in fact it's open to anything you're likely to want.

-CWuestefeld (February 03, 2011, 11:51 AM)

I didn't know that.

Hmm...now I may have to reconsider. That would make it great for hauling around something like the Microsoft Inside-Out series of books - or a complete copy of the LDP archive.

[zridling]

That would make it great for hauling around something like the Microsoft Inside-Out series of books - or a complete copy of the LDP archive.

-40hz (February 03, 2011, 06:41 PM)

That is the great advantage of an ereader: series. One example: the six volumes of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Or imagine carrying around Joyce's Ulysses with another book or two full of annotations for it. Very handy. But I still need to be able to markup, take notes, and export those notes in text format sooner, not later.

[JennyB]

That would make it great for hauling around something like the Microsoft Inside-Out series of books - or a complete copy of the LDP archive.

-40hz (February 03, 2011, 06:41 PM)

That is the great advantage of an ereader: series. One example: the six volumes of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Or imagine carrying around Joyce's Ulysses with another book or two full of annotations for it. Very handy. But I still need to be able to markup, take notes, and export those notes in text format sooner, not later.

-zridling (February 04, 2011, 03:44 AM)

Any notes or highlights you make in the Kindle are logged in a text file called My Clippings.txt. If you edit a note, the revised version is logged there too. Some people use their Kindle as a calendar or To Do list by having a text file showing the days or categories, to which they can attach notes. You can export or My Clippings via USB any time, or delete it. A new one will automatically be created the next time you make a note or highlight. The "real" notes for each document are held in a  MobiReader format .prc file of the same name. I'm sure there's software to convert these into text, but I haven't gone looking yet.

Another odd thing - the Kindle doesn't read .htm natively, but if you rename them to .txt it can do a pretty good rendering. Character and list formatting are supported, but not tables, as well as external links. You just need the bare <htm> and <body> tags. I've found that a quick way of saving content from the Web to read later.

[johnk]

Another odd thing - the Kindle doesn't read .htm natively, but if you rename them to .txt it can do a pretty good rendering. Character and list formatting are supported, but not tables, as well as external links. You just need the bare <htm> and <body> tags. I've found that a quick way of saving content from the Web to read later.

-JennyB (February 04, 2011, 05:06 AM)

If it suits your circumstances, you could feed the web content through Instapaper, which strips away formatting and saves the page content in your Instapaper account (it's a one-click job once you set up a bookmarklet in your browser). Then Instapaper can email the content to your Kindle automatically if you wish (in Kindle-friendly format, of course). Makes everything seamless. And it's free (although I find Instapaper so useful I voluntarily pay a subscription).

EDIT: Also, I am sure I have emailed .HTM files to my Kindle in the past, and it has done an excellent job at conversion. Which isn't surprising -- I think mobi/azw files are just very basic html with a bit of DRM added (in the case of AZW).