Tech From an E-booker’s Viewpoint

Jan 06

My Kindle and catching up

Tag: Cybook 3, Eee PC — Ellen Hage @ 1:57 pm

Try as I might I could not finish a good completion of my Kindle review. I am just not interested in the reader. It took me forever to find a book to buy and download. Since Amazon has the one click buy and download, I quickly learned that you got to be very careful when browsing. If you are not paying attention there is the possibility that you will buy something by mistake. I feel as though I have to adjust myself to the reader rather than the reader adjusting to me. For example, I rarely get to read during the day. Most of my leisure reading takes place at night so in order to use the Kindle I have to use a light. To be fair I knew that and that’s the reason why I don’t get much use out of my Sony reader either. Another adjustment is the case. It makes the reader bulky to me. At home I remove it, but I wanted to try using the reader in a different environment. I toted it with me to a coffee café and used the case to keep it from any damage. It was just too uncomfortable for me. M-edge plans to offer a cover for the Kindle. It should be out within a couple of weeks. Maybe that will change my mind about using the device. They do have the second generation Sony reader cases available for pre-order. Also, the on/off and Wifi buttons are on the back. I find it annoying to take off the cover to perform what I see as frequent tasks. I forgot to do so and the battery ran out in a day or so. I guess the Wifi shortens battery life considerably.

The only thing that has surprised me is that people recognize the Kindle. I get questions about the reader everywhere. Most people seem to react positively to the reader, but shy away because of the price. When I have had my other readers with me, most people thought I was playing some sort of video game, or using a PDA. So I am happy that word is spreading about e-books. I just wish that another e-book device would come out that will make me as excited as I was about my Cybook.

On the catch up, I have been running around like crazy. It happens to me every Christmas. I keep telling myself that I will do better, (buy early, buy less, and stress less) but I never do. I have been using my Eee PC more and more. I really like the laptop. My only change would be for it to have a swivel screen. If you are looking at getting a different type of case for yours, take a look at Fabrix Cases. The cases are about $40 plus another $10 for shipping. That’s a bit too pricey for me. Usually I use a portable DVD player case or insert padding into a book/Bible cover. I have yet to find one in a color and style that suits me. I am thinking about making my own cases. We’ll see.

I sincerely hope that everyone had a beautiful holiday season and a great new year ahead.

6 Responses to “My Kindle and catching up”

Charlcs Wilkes
Posted: Jan 6th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

Before you do any review, you should at least read the many sources available on how the Kindle wireless works. It does NOT us Wifi as you say, but EVDO high speed cellular phone technology from Sprint. Another difference between you and most of we Kindle users (got my Dec. 4th) is that we are avid readers. I just found hundreds of books I want to read on the Kindle Store, whereas you couldn’t even find one. And I love the ability to sample a book for free before I buy it, as this lets me chose those I really want to read to the end.

I bring my Kindle with me whereever I go — to the john, when I eat out, or where ever, especially to bed, where I have found the Kindle is the only book I am able to read in bed. I also put my charger next to my bed, and the last thing I do every night is to plug in the charger. Kindle says to never let the battery run down — that frequent charging will actually lengthen the battery life — especially as it cuts off automatically once it is fully charged (and the light goes out at the same time). This way I leave the Wireless switch always on, since it will never run out of juice when I recharge it every night.

And I love the case that came with my Kindle as well. I did use Industrial Strength Velcro to hold the Kindle in the cover along the inside edge only, after cutting off the two non-working holders built into the cover top and bottom to allow the Kindle to go fully inside the cover. I have no problem with unwanted page movements this way as there is room to hold the Kindle by the edges of the case when you do it this way. And I usually read with the left panel of the cover folded around behind the right and held in place by the elastic band, thus giving me a better grip on the Kindle with my left hand.

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Ellen Hage
Posted: Jan 7th, 2008 at 12:17 am

Author Comment

Before you do any review, you should at least read the many sources available on how the Kindle wireless works. It does NOT us Wifi as you say, but EVDO high speed cellular phone technology from Sprint. Another difference between you and most of we Kindle users (got my Dec. 4th) is that we are avid readers. I just found hundreds of books I want to read on the Kindle Store, whereas you couldn’t even find one. And I love the ability to sample a book for free before I buy it, as this lets me chose those I really want to read to the end.

I bring my Kindle with me whereever I go — to the john, when I eat out, or where ever, especially to bed, where I have found the Kindle is the only book I am able to read in bed. I also put my charger next to my bed, and the last thing I do every night is to plug in the charger. Kindle says to never let the battery run down — that frequent charging will actually lengthen the battery life — especially as it cuts off automatically once it is fully charged (and the light goes out at the same time). This way I leave the Wireless switch always on, since it will never run out of juice when I recharge it every night.

And I love the case that came with my Kindle as well. I did use Industrial Strength Velcro to hold the Kindle in the cover along the inside edge only, after cutting off the two non-working holders built into the cover top and bottom to allow the Kindle to go fully inside the cover. I have no problem with unwanted page movements this way as there is room to hold the Kindle by the edges of the case when you do it this way. And I usually read with the left panel of the cover folded around behind the right and held in place by the elastic band, thus giving me a better grip on the Kindle with my left hand.

Charlcs,

Thanks for your comment. Sorry you got the impression that I am not an avid reader. It is my love for reading that got me started into e-books during the late 90’s. On average I read about 2 books per week, sometimes more. That is why I found it very hard to find something that I WANTED to read. There is much to chose from, but that doesn’t matter when I buy maybe 10 books per month from Fictionwise. As an owner of just about every e-book device made, I have my favorites.
One of my biggest must have/be about technology is that it has to be user friendly straight out of the box. I try to do my reviews as the average layperson. In other words from the viewpoint of someone that has never used e-books. How many people really read the whole user guide and understand it? How many people actually are aware of all the forums available for help? Sorry about EVDO vs Wifi. All I know is that the symbol on the Kindle looks just like the one my laptop. I know the difference in the technologies, but does everyone? Does it really matter in the context of my post? I forgot to turn it off and it drained my battery and did so with a quickness.
I have enough devices plugged next to my bed: Epod-1, Cybook, Hiebook, Rocket E-book. All of these have a backlight. No need to plug in something that is useless at night.
One last thing. You paid $400 for your Kindle. Why should you have to add Velcro to it in order for it to fit your individual needs? I refuse to do so, but then again I have many other devices to chose from.
I am glad that you love your Kindle. All that matters is that e-book devices are out and people have access. Hopefully, I will come to like my Kindle, but until that time I have to call it as I see it.

Ellen

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Heath Brown
Posted: Jan 7th, 2008 at 12:55 am

I agree with Ellen. I have many of the devices she does and I find it troublesome not to have a backlight. The other features of the Kindle, including the huge library, are a huge plus, but without a backlight and that high price I just won’t by buying e-Ink at all. I wish I could find a Hiebook for sale somewhere. I would really love to have one of those and there haven’t been any on ebay forever.

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Traci Collins
Posted: Feb 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

The one very frustrating problem I have with Kindle is that there doesn’t appear to be any way to convert the 115 books that I purchased for my Sony Reader into a format that the Kindle can read.

This isn’t a Kindle problem but it is an good example of how DRM can hurt the legal and legitimate user. I paid for all of those books and I would like to have continued access to them even though I am now moving on to a different reader.

I’ll keep Googling for a converter but it doesn’t look promising at this time.

Traci

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Sara
Posted: May 16th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

This is exactly why I prefer my Cybook to the Kindle… I am not a fan of the proprietary technology. I like the fact that the Cybook gives me the freedom to purchase ebooks and audiobooks from most online retailers. Before making a decision on which reader to buy, I looked for the last 10 books I read on both Amazon’s Kindle Store and BooksOnBoard (the ebooks and audiobooks retailer I ultimately purchased my Cybook from). Amazon had 3 of the 10 titles, BoB had 8… clear winner.

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