[Severian]

I bought an iPad recently;mostly because I love my iPhone and my old MacBook and made the mistake of saying so in the apple store. So a thousand dollars later I'm finding myself with not a whole lot of uses for the thing...allowing it to sit in its packaging for a couple weeks, and taking it out here and there to do whatever I'd been doing on my phone only, well..bigger.
Finally I'm giving the thing some attention and I downloaded a "Kindle" app recently just to see what it would offer me. I wasn't expecting much, but with a quick free download you can basically just get a kindle on your iPad/iPad mini/iPhone. Instant access to your amazon cloud, all your purchased kindle books, and all of the kindle library. The only thing you can't do apparently is jump directly from book viewing to the Amazon store in general. But guess what does do that? The Internet.
Honestly, I see no reason for the Kindle to even exist as a hardware product at all if they're going to make it this easy to have one without having to spend your money on a good e-reader that sucks at everything else.

I mention this only because I've seen a number of people talk about buying them on SYG, but I cannot seem to recall which thread/threads. If you don't already have one, you'll probably end up being talked into one of the fancy pants new HD ones; and if so, you will be wasting $500 for a crap proprietary system with two uses, when $399 could have bought on an iPad mini.

I mention it also because I have purchased no less than 3 kindles over the years, and while they're nice for reading, I'm still glaring at the lonely fuckers as THEY sit and gather dust ... Until the next shiny thing grabs my attention of course.

[Keeping It Simple]

I was thinking along those lines quite recently, funnily enough. I felt the same when I purchased my first ever smartphone. Why bother buying a digital camera, mp3 player and handheld console when my smartphone is designed to function as all three of the above devices perfectly adequately? That's what I love about devices like smartphones and tablets, they're multifunctional devices that have thankfully done away with single function devices that just cluttered the place and cost you unnecessary expense and bother.

[!@#$%!]

i almost bought a kindle last december but ended up not doing it for fear it would quickly turn into a piece of plastic junk. good to hear maybe i did the right thing (sez you).

i got a kindle app in the macbook but frankly the one on the phone is too small to read comfortably for a long period. okay to check a reference maybe, or for a couple of minutes while waiting in line somewhere, but that's that. of course one could get a magnifying glass like this:

 

the ipad--- have considered, but haven't jumped in yet, prefering to save for a macbook air when they revamp. so far i read books in the computer just fine. plus the keyboard allows for easy copypaste/notes/quotes/pseudoacademic work. and while apps are convenient, i love the versatility of a keyboarded machine.

i suppose if i spent more time in trains/planes/taxicabs priorities would change making an ipad more desirable for me, but the phone and computer satisfy plenty at this point. i really don't know what i could use it for except read books but for that alone a kindle is more cost effective. hello recursive thought loop.

now, gotta say, with kindle cloud you don't even need the kindle app-- it opens up right on your browser.

Originally Posted by Severian

I love my iPhone

haaa haaa haaaa. toldja.

[evollove]

$79 for a Kindle.

I loaded it up thanks to torrenting.

I have enough material to last the rest of my life.

What's your prob?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by evollove

$79 for a Kindle.

I loaded it up thanks to torrenting.

I have enough material to last the rest of my life.

What's your prob?

at first glance no problem! i thought, "hm, kindle good...!" then i notice you loaded it up "thanks to" torrenting. which is kinda sucky for writers. deja-vu, have we had this conversation before? but anyway, yeah. a dime here a dollar there it adds up for your favorite authors and their publishers (same goes for musicians and their need for day jobs and lack of health insurance, etc.)

[floatingslowly]

I wish that I could trade in "real" books for the e-variety. As it is, I'm being forced to liquidate my (once) large collection, in hopes of a pittance. Books are in even less demand than cd's...

That said, my Retina Display makes me genki.

[Rob Instigator]

My wife and I are moving this weekend, and half our boxes are books and records. Jesus.

[tesla69]

I got a Kindle last year as gift, but I only use it as an inventory of my postcard collection to bring to shows with me. I have little interest in reading a screen for hours on end.

there is a corporate trend to ipads but i see it as gimmick, technofetishism. Yeah you can slip it in your pocket but so what, at the end of the day you're still looking at 4x6 screen. Much better on my laptop. There seems to be a movement away from computers to more passive (receiver only) platforms. All I know is I can't create access databases and Excel macros on a fucking tablet screen keyboard. its bs.

At my job they expect to be conducting video conferencing on ipad within the year.

tablets are in line with MS and Amazon obsession to get you on their virutal systems -

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by tesla69

I only use it as an inventory of my postcard collection to bring to shows with me.

you, sir, are an enigma.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Lame.

 

Nothing beats vellum yo

[evollove]

This is about a third of my collection. Therefore:

-There is no Kindle vs physical book battle

-The industry owes me a few free books. And a blow job.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by evollove

This is about a third of my collection. Therefore:

-There is no Kindle vs physical book battle

-The industry owes me a few free books. And a blow job.

ha ha, that's kinda like saying that a millionaire is allowed to steal a little extra to supplement his millions & the world owes him a blowjob. okay.

(there's tons of free books already from various legitimate sources btw)

just wanted to put the idea out there that piracy hurts real people, especially the people we supposedly admire. it's easy to call it "the industry" but behind that cop-out term there's an artist collecting royalties every time you watch a movie, buy a book, play a song.

i say this having pirated plenty, so you know, i'm not a cop, or a saint, but i think these days, with the wide availability and low cost of digital media, even through public libraries, and with the ability to even lend your electronic books to friends, piracy is no longer a democratizing way to make restricted information accessible to all, but rather just plain thievery, at this point.

but eh, just sayin'.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

piracy of literature definitely hurts the artists. piracy of music much less. artists just don't make that much money on selling records, and besides of which, most people who download STILL end up making a legit purchase, as well as going to shows. Besides, what about tape trading? Giving a friend a burned copy of an album to introduce it to them? Many shades of gray here. But I agree completely with piracy of books, stealing of books, and generally not buying of books, because writers make shit for money and their work is so great!

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

artists just don't make that much money on selling records

great-- so now they can make even less!

cmon, that argument doesn't hold water. music is as wonderful as books and as anything else-- tv shows, whatever. there's no excuse.

seriously, napster made up for the death of radio at the hands of the clearchannels; now that you can access anything anywhere, and there's a viable economic model for digital music, there's no need moral argument to thieve.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

great-- so now they can make even less!

cmon, that argument doesn't hold water. music is as wonderful as books and as anything else-- tv shows, whatever. there's no excuse.

seriously, napster made up for the death of radio at the hands of the clearchannels; now that you can access anything anywhere, and there's a viable economic model for digital music, there's no need moral argument to thieve.

Yes but the music industry robs artists WAY more than downloading ever could and bands have other revinue sources (touring, merchandising) that authors just might not have


I think that the term "thieve" is disingenuous and emotionally loaded. So when a band leaks their album or streams it or gives out MP3s are they robbing themselves? And again, what about tape trading and sharing burned CDs? I agree that piracy in these sense of downloading or redistributing for profit as being morally wrong, and indeed being thievery, but not necessarily downloading free music from a music blog, or some torrent files. I think as with many issues of law, the matter of intent is the crucial difference.

But we are free to disagree here, this is just my opinion.

[keep poppin pimples]

you guys should get that smartphone app with a book price database. there are dorks who make a living going around to thrift stores and scanning everything to sell online.

seems like a good idea if you have a huge collection to ditch

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

not to mention keeping alive more obscure modernish literature

[evollove]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

piracy of literature definitely hurts the artists. piracy of music much less.

????

Never heard this. J'accuse you of making shit up. Do you know what the average royalty is for an ebook sold--that is, how much actually gets to the author? No? Then what are you talking about?

Book publishers suck as much demon-dick as record companies. Sorry, but true.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by keep poppin pimples

you guys should get that smartphone app with a book price database. there are dorks who make a living going around to thrift stores and scanning everything to sell online.

seems like a good idea if you have a huge collection to ditch

I hate those fuckers! The Houston Public Library has a sale each year where they get rid of tons and tons of books, at very good prices. I go and load up. There are always a few people who just scan each book and toss it into a large bin or a wagon, so they can sell it later. Fuckers! The antithesis of book browsing!

[evollove]

^

Yes! The reason I have so many books is because the local library has a huge monthly sale. And those fuckers are always there, taking up space scanning books they'll never read.

I have no problem being incredibly rude to these people. Once I grabbed a book out of dude's bag. "I'm gonna read it. You're just gonna sell it. I win." He seemed flabbergasted, but I like to think he knew I was right.