I'm playing with my Kindle!

Wheee!

I found a freeware version of the Kama Sutra!

Do tell! :bounce:

And, cost?

haven't set up the Amazon account yet, so I'm just playing it with downloading free e-books. Anything published before 1925 or so seems available - so got a lot of Twain, Poe, Conan Doyle, some Shakespeare plays, O'Neill plays, Lovecraft, Bierce... whatever I find that looks interesting.

They sell for $399, and most books for it at Amazon are $9.99. There's no monthly fees for the service. It's got a cell phone inside it, so you can just go to Amazon wirelessly and order a book and it's sent directly to the device. You can start reading it right away. You can also get newspapers and magazines that arrive automatically.

The screen is great - best electronic device I've seen for doing serious reading. It's some new "e-ink" technology that really looks like black ink on a white background. Doesn't strain the eyes like a computer screen.

I'm getting used to the controls, but so far it's a real kick. It also comes with a dictionary, free wireless access to wikipedia and some other cool features.

They sound badass!

especially new releases, the savings more than make up for the cost. Even paperbacks are a few dollars cheaper than the hard copy.

And this is one little device that can carry hundreds of books.

I'd guess not many, though. It depends on if the publishers sell their stuff through Amazon, and if they want to sell for the Kindle.

Here's the Amazon Kindle store for you to check out:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=node%3D154606011&field-keywords=&x=17&y=17

and one of the things that they raved about was the potential for school children to just use a Kindle instead of having to carry lots of school books and how it would make it so much more easy to keep textbooks up to date, etc. I know how heavy my kids' backpacks are so I can appreciate how handy that would be.

When I think about the 30 or so cartons of books in my storage locker I'm torn between the idea of loving the convenience (like an ipod for my books!) but feeling afraid I would miss the tactile pleasures of a book. And doomsday scenario, if everyone switches to Kindle and we don't have books any more how will we be able to judge a date by looking at his book shelf?

back in the day, we'd judge a date by their record collection. Now I guess you gotta steal a peek at his iPod.

Same with books, now.

Unless I'm mistaken. For many textbooks, that would be quite a disadvantage. Diagrams and pictures gain a lot through use of colour.

:shrug:

:evilgrin:


I had to read thru the thread to realize what the hell you were talking about.

Some sort of book reader thing.

Cool.

How modern and green of you. :thumbsup:

I've resisted real reading on electronic devices for years. I don't read books on my computer, or a PDA - they suck for that. But this actually WORKS. After a few minutes, you're just reading. You don't notice it's not a book. It's easy on the eyes (and you can change font size if you want).

Yeah, it's nice and green. You can carry a few hundred books, magazines, newspapers... all paperless.

I've resisted real reading on electronic devices for years. I don't read books on my computer, or a PDA - they suck for that. But this actually WORKS. After a few minutes, you're just reading. You don't notice it's not a book. It's easy on the eyes (and you can change font size if you want).

Yeah, it's nice and green. You can carry a few hundred books, magazines, newspapers... all paperless.

Dayam! I'll have what you're having! :evilgrin:

don't even know what that book is. Just googled a pic.

But I googled it, and evidently it's a chapter from an Einstein biography. I have at least one Einstein biography around here somewhere - I don't think it's Isaacson's, though.

:)

Khash.

I'd like one, simply because I don't have enough space for all the books I want, but we can't get it here yet. I would worry about its proprietary nature, though. I still have books I bought over thirty years ago, as well as books printed before I was born. Will you still be able to read your ebooks in thirty years' time?