Be Excellent To Each Other

Well, the predicted lock-in cuntery has indeed occurred:

http://gizmodo.com/5594251/you-can-only ... until-2012

One publisher has locked itself into a two-year deal with Amazon, so their books will only be available on the Kindle. Wankers.

Not so - their books will only be availible on Kindle, not the Kindle. So you can still read them on an iPhone/iPad, PC, Mac, etc.

They are still wankers, however, but it would have been worse if they locked to, say, Apple or Sony. Or the Nook.

Yes, true. They are locked to the Kindle if like a human you want to read them on a surface that's designed for reading books, rather than a lit screen.

Is there no hackery to get Kindle (or other) software onto other devices?

Y'know, as someone who owns both an iPad and a Kindle, I reach for the Kindle first -- but if I'm the other side of the house I read on the iPad rather than go fetch it. I don't think reading on the iPad (for example) is anywhere near as problematic as you think it is.

Crack the Kindle DRM and get a clean MOBI file out. Obv.

No, I meant the actual Kindle software.

OT: Your MSN seems to be down.

I can't abide it. The reflection, even indoors, is awful.

The Sony is as close as I've ever seen to reading real words on a real page.

I've read four books on my iPhone now. My eyes get tired after about an hour*, but I find the rest of the experience largely brilliant. As long as you turn the brightness down, pick a decent typeface and turn it to sepia, it isn't bad at all.

*but they're shit. I really need to get them tested again.

I quite like reading the odd short story using Stanza on my Touch, if only to pass the time whilst waiting for someone in a pub with no wireless

There's a Kindle app for android, fyi

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?i ... =165849822

I was rather impressed by Grim...s Kindle (although less so the quality of the book he was reading), although I still have doubts as to its usefulness for any kind of referenece work.

Meanwhile, I just can't properly read anything like that on a lit screen. Just no.

You need the smell of real books.

This is far, far more interesting that you suggested. Wylie aren't a publisher at all, they are an agent; they are cutting their publishers out of the loop for ebooks by making this deal. Publishers are not amused.

Well, my Sony has died. A bit annoying, though it's been with me every day for the 18 months I've owned it, and has gone through a significant amount of reading time.

I've pre-ordered one of the new Kindles. Annoyingly, I also ordered a cover. The cover is available now, but they won't hold it and ship it together with the device. So I'm going to get a cover that I can sit and look at for three weeks while I wait for the device to arrive.

Real books 1 - Ebooks 0

I'd imagine, as you suggest, that you've basically just worn it out.

Of course, if you already had a Kindle and were purchasing a replacement case, you'd be annoyed if it took three weeks to ship.

Also: one of us! One of us!

I've had many paper books that haven't lasted 18 months, and certainly wouldn't have lasted 18 months of solid reading.

I am considering getting a Kindle for Xmas, though I am concerned about the following:

1 - I like books that fit into the side pocket of my jacket. A Kindle will likely be too big for this, correct? I don't fancy carrying a bag with me everywhere I go.

2 - Are the prices for the eBooks on Amazon the same as for their normal books? They normally do good deals on normal books, but are special offers and reductions etc the same for the eBooks too? I don't want to suddenly have to pay full RRP for books, when I never normally do.

The new Kindle is about the same size as the Sony, and I've kept that in a jeans pocket with no difficulty. Suit pocked should be fine.

Prices aren't the same - some are cheaper, some are the same, some are pricier. Note that you don't have to buy books from the Kindle store to read them on the device.

If only someone had answered that question, perhaps with a full list of dimensions and weights across a number of Kindle models.

If only someone had answered that question, perhaps by letting you browse the full Kindle store on the web.

Isn't it a big bigger? The PRS300 (I think this is yours...?) is 107x158x10 and 220g. The Kindle is 190x123x9 and 240g. Remember when we put my Kindle against your eReader? The v3 Kindle is smaller than mine, but not by all that much.

FTFY. And your 1 is dubious.

Nah, I have the 505. It's 175x122x8. So the Kindle is same width and thickness, but taller. And height doesn't really matter when looking at slipping it into a jacket pocket.

When you're trying to quietly impress house guests do you leave the Kindle on with the list of book titles showing, or does it just display a carefully-chosen passage as it sits there on the coffee table?

It's return to the screensaver after a while, so there's no point.

Uh - an eInk screensaver? Surely that's counterproductive?

Ebook readers will never replace sumptuous coffee table books. Ebook readers replace paperbacks.

After a few minutes, or when you hit the off switch, the Kindle display changes to one of a couple of dozen images (mostly author portraits). As the "off" switch is mostly just there to put the wireless to sleep and lock the buttons, the "screensaver" is mostly just a visual clue that the buttons are locked.

Oh, OK. And the coffee table is what the iPad's for.

Easier to just ask you though, to be fair.

Day four of being back to reading physical books. Apparently each book is an individual load of bits of paper glued together! I can't see it catching on.

Hurry up, Kindle.

The new black Kindles look so much better than the old ones, I must say. I am feeling very tempted indeed.

I'm tempted and I already own a v2 Kindle!

After seeing iBooks on Ange's iPad, it makes me very much want to have an eReader of some kind.

Fucking Amazon aren't shipping my Kindle until the 23/9. A month after ordering it.

In other news, the new Kindle ad is ace.

A guy at work ordered his last month, but he knew they weren't shipping it until late this month at the time. They can't make the buggers fast enough, apparently.

They said "If you order now, we'll be shipping it in the first week of September"

Not surprised at all, this v3 is the breakthrough device I reckon.

I best get the parental units to order one now. It's gonna be my Xmas pressie.

Mate in work has had his Kindle ship date pushed back again. Heard anything from Amazon, Cras?

Yeah, 23rd now.

My friend Daniel recieved his last week; I got a play, it's bloody lovely! WANTWANTWANT!!

Does the Kindle deal well with stuff that comes in odd fonts or has simple B&W pictures/diagrams in it? Or does it struggle with those?

No, it deals with images quite well.

Excellent.

Aaand now the 21st.

Dispatched!

I've ordered a kindle 3 for Lady T's birthday, I'm hoping it arrives in time but think I might have left it a bit late.

I understand that different regions have wildly different e-book availability. How much of a fiddle is it to register accounts for the device for multiple regions?