eReading and eBooks

[Anthony Williams]

Lissa - question for you as the only resident Kindle owner. Can you upload other books to your Kindle? I've heard it doesn't support PDFs for instance.

I'm not Lissa, but I can answer your question with a resounding YES! The latest generation of Kindle supports the following formats: Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP (through conversion).

Ant x

[Lissa]

It does support PDFs but in practice you'll have to decide each time whether you want to convert it or not. If it has a complicated layout that you want to preserve then send it by email as is. Navigating and zooming are a little clunky but it's all there. This is also the only option for PDFs that are all images and no manipulable text.

If your PDF is just text and a few pictures and would be best read like a book anyway, email it with "Convert" in the subject line and Amazon's servers will extract the text and lay it out like a regular book.

So yes - it knows what a PDF is and how to make the best use of it given its 6 inch screen and no touch-screen navigation.

[MinaHarker]

I've had my Reader for almost a year and I love it!

I can read books which are unavailable in printed format (staring for too long reading a computer screen hurts my eyes), and I can switch between books without getting up and losing my warm patch on the sofa

[Rob McCow]

Ask not 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' - apparently you just need to google 'For Whom The Bell Tolls EPub' according to this blog from the Guardian.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technol...massive-scale/

The Pirates have sifted through the DVD booty and now books are about to become free to everyone, all the time (although isn't that what libraries are for?)

It won't be the end of the world, but things are going to get messy for a while.

[SiHart]

It's not that much different to what Google has been doing with out of print material over the last few years, only they were much more underhanded about it.

Si xx

[Lissa]

It will only be a matter of time before Amazon start checking what people email to their Kindles. At the moment you can send anything you like - a public domain Shakespeare or the latest Dan Brown - and all Amazon's machines check are the format and whether the email address it was sent from is on your safe list. Eventually they'll include text recognition or some such cleverness and that route will be closed. You'll still be able to plug it in and drag'n'drop but that's a faff after dropping it in an email and pinging it off.

[Rob McCow]

It's an Amazon device, where you can buy things from Amazon. Surely they'd be able to control what you can download? Admittedly, there'll always be a way around it for the tech-smart user, but they must be able to make it fairly hack-proof to 90% of the users.

[Lissa]

It's not a matter of hacking - there are 3 ways to get stuff onto a Kindle.

(1) Email - each Kindle has an email address and you can email compatible files to that address.

(2) Buy from the Amazon store - either on a computer or on the Kindle itself and the book is delivered wirelessly.

(3) Plug the Kindle into a computer and copy compatible files onto it.

The only one Amazon could plug as a route for unauthorised books is number 1 because everything must go via their servers in order to get from Outlook to Kindle. The problem is that they can't know whether a .mobi file of, to take a random example, Murder on the Orient Express is a legitimately purchased copy from another store or a text to mobi conversion someone has done after downloading a scanned copy of the book.

Amazon could take draconian steps to stop any chance of illegal copies getting onto Kindles but they'd damage the fledgling market for ebook readers and they'd be going much further than Apple ever have with iPods. Apple has a store which they'd like you to use but were never foolish enough to make it so you could only play iTunes store bought files on your iPod. Amazon would love people to buy everything from them but - illogical as it sounds - it's not at present in their best interests to do so.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I've recently purchased a Kindle, having been slightly sceptical for a while, and I have to say it's probably the best purchase I've made in a long time. I would recommend it to absolutely anyone who likes reading.

I don't really have a lot to add to Lissa's very good review, but I would just like to give a different opinion about the keyboard...

I too was initially wondering why there was a keyboard, as I didn't really see much use for it, but I've ended up making quite a few notes while reading books (something I very rarely do with paper books) and I'm really glad it's there. I don't mind texting, but I think I would get quite fed up having to "text" comments and notes all the time, it's much nicer to just be able to type. Even simply looking for words or phrases in the dictionary or your current book is nicer because of it. I've used the keyboard a lot, but I've hardly gone on the Amazon store, so it can't just be there for that reason.

I don't really see the need for a text bigger/smaller button as the text button that is already there opens to that function by default, so I don't think it would make any real difference. I also don't see the need for a dedicated browser, synchronise or amazon store button. The browser is only experimental anyway, and not really the point of the device at all, plus once you're online you'll want to search for things and type which would require a keyboard anyway. I don't have anything else to synchronise it with, so that's just a personal choice, but my understanding was that it did that automatically every time it went online anyway. And the amazon store... well I don't use it much, but it's no hassle to get to it from the menu.

I'm not saying Lissa is wrong, but I'm just offering another, hopefully equally valid, opinion. I for one am quite happy that it has a full keyboard as it adds a lot to its functionality. I'd even go as far as saying it would be even better if it had a full number line at the top too, as there seems room for it. I WOULD say though, that Del key should really be a backspace key, and that the return key LOOKS like a backspace key and I keep pressing it by mistake, and also that the return key seems to be pretty much redundant anyway as the "select" button in the little controller pretty much always acts as a return key anyway.

[Lissa]

The lack of numbers on the keyboard is annoying because one of the navigation options is to jump to a numbered location and you have to use the pop up and the arrow buttons to get there. As I get more used to the Kindle and judge it more on its own merits as opposed to unfair comparisons with iThings I'm less bothered by the limitations of the keyboard. I still firmly believe it is there primarily so you can search the Amazon Store and that any other functionality is of secondary concern to them but there's not actually anything wrong with that.

My only other criticism of the Kindle is that it does things which Amazon don't advertise. If you know the right combination of buttons, the search (which defaults to searching books on your device) will search Wikipedia instead. That would be awesome - the Kindle lends itself to reading lengthy Wiki pages - except that it goes to the desktop Wikipedia rather than the more obvious mobile version of the site and so is that bit less readable.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

You can hold down the Alt key and use the top row of letters as numbers. Q=1, W=2 etc. Still not perfect, but it is better for navigating to a location than opening the Symbol screen. Also you can press Alt+Shift+M and play Minesweeper pity I never liked minesweeper.

I'm not saying you're wrong in your assumption as to why the keyboard is there, but a possible flaw in your argument is that you said a 9-button, texting-like system would have been fine for entering notes. But surely most notes you would type are going to be longer than the title or author of a book, so how come you think a keyboard is necessary for searching in the amazon store, where the amount you actually type is going to be quite small?

[Captain Tancredi]

I've just ordered a Kindle.

Let this be a reminder to everybody of the First Law of Gadgetry:

Lissa Is Always Right!

[Perry Vale]

I remember initially reading some speculation before teh iPad was was released that it could replace Kindle because it works as an e-reader plus a whole lot more.

Just wondering what the consensus is on that now...

Well, I should be getting one soon (had a very good run selling stuff on ebay), and I think this'll be one of the features I use the most on it. Don't know about prolonged reading, but having seen one of them in action, think they look fine for it. Most of the reviews I've read seem to agree.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Right - after ordering in November, it arrived just in time for my birthday!

So I'm Kindled up. Ironically I needed this 3 months ago as I've been on study leave, and an eBook reader would have been useful.

Of course an eBook reader without any books is kind of lousy.

So what have I picked up for this?

Well I've spent $40 on a Kindle version of Agile Tester by Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory - a key book for 2010 for a lot of testers. I used the companies copy, but wanted one for myself.

I spend $1 in the kindle shop on War of the Worlds, and Sun Tsu's Art of War.

I picked a load of books for free like Frankenstein, Dracula, Treasure Island.

Also loaded up some PDF versions of the Warhammer game rules.

And not to be missed, a copy of the mobi for Brenty Four went on too.

[SiHart]

It's interesting to note that you won't be able to download e-books from the library onto a Kindle, as Amazon are holding onto a monopoly of bought novels for it. Other readers should work OK, but we're not allowed to offer items for rental periods on Kindles.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Ah - the Mars University library - with the most extensive collection of books in the Universe ...

[Rob McCow]

E-books are now available from some London libraries. Bexley and Lewisham are definitely offering this service, after a scheme was piloted in Luton.

Luton! Cultural centre of the UK.

Anyway, it's only a matter of time before this gets rolled out to more libraries. (As soon as we get another Labour Government they'll probably start offering free e-readers on loan too )

[Lissa]

How does that work? How do they "lend" an ebook to someone?

[SiHart]

EBooks I imagine come with a finite download date- so you get them for a month and then they vanish off your machine. That's how it works with our MP3 audiobook loans.

I'll know for certain soon, as we're about to start offering them at work, so I'll let you know.

Si xx

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Of course NZ is way ahead of you in libraries!

Someone was just talking about this at my Sci Fi group ...

http://www.wcl.govt.nz/downloads/

Might be of use for you to take a look?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

The books are removed after 14 days I'm told.

[Perry Vale]

Anyone here know what the plans are for Kindle? I may have a possible job offer coming to fruition soon, but it'll invlove a near 2 hour journey each way!

I love iBooks on my iPad, but don't fancy taking that on public transport, but as much as I like the look of the Kindle, I'm wondering if plans are near for a new model, perhaps in colour?

[Rob McCow]

Colour E-readers are definitely on their way. If you're planning on getting one, I would suggest a Sony E-reader rather than the Kindle - with Kindle you're locked into Amazon purchases only, but the others let you get E-books from anywhere.

I would also recommend joining the local library or buying books you want to read!

[Perry Vale]

I would also recommend joining the local library or buying books you want to read!

Do the Sony Readers work with PDFs? I have about 90 Doctor Who books in PDF format which would while away a few journeys...

[Rob McCow]

I believe they do, but check the specs before you purchase.