E-Readers

I have noticed more and more people on the train reading books from E-readers, mainly the Kindle I think, Still haven't really found anythng I wanted for christmas so I fancy getting one, has anyone got one, are they worth it, good selection of titles etc, they seem to claim the battery life could be as long as a month but then so does my phone and that seems to be on charge every other day.

Thanks FF

I bought t'other half a Sony E-reader for Christmas last year. Though I gave it to him rather early as he was due to spend 2 weks away from home. - This is why I gave it to him, going away for that length of time would involve more books than he could reasonably carry. To me it seemed to make sense.

I think that they are just gadgets unless you have a specific reason for wanting one - such as the above. then why?

Of course he can read alot of other things - PDF files for example and unpublished books. (most of which are crap but hey ho). Books - massive selection, I won't say just about everything as I don't know this for sure, but not far off. Originally Waterstones was a pain to use and WHSmiths a doddle - don't know if thats changed. There are tons of sites that offer free books (out of copyright) along side charged books - there are some libraries that you can join as well.

The charge seems to last a long time, though just plug it into the pc seems to be no effort.

I don't mind reading books on the pc, I can do that while doing other things just can't read in the bath.

Oh - if you read a lot of periodicas then it saves on paper - though you can't use a kindle to light a fire!

I have a Kindle and it's the best present I've ever had - seriously!  I got it for my birthday and I charged it and read it as I normally would read and the battery lasted for 3 weeks.  It's very easy to read - it's light to hold and there is a vast array of books to download....one of the best features is the sample a book - this means you can read a portion of  a book before commiting to buying it - it's normally the first 3 or 4 chapters.  I can't tell you how much money I've wasted on books because I believed the blub and the book was bad!

The price of books is good - loads of them under £3.00 and tons of free  - new best sellers are expensive in comparison but the prices do drop.

I usually take a good few books on my holidays and this will cut down on my luggage -

That was my other question GFB, I spend ages choosing my books and often read the first few pages before buying.

Thanks so far

What about flicker?  Computer monitors flicker and can give you a headache. The refresh rate is important.  I can't remember any more than that, but does that have any implications for e-readers/kindles?

I've got a irex ilad which classified as a e-pad as not only does it read all ebook formats but you can also annotate the books and use it as a pad as it is one of the few devices with handwriting input also.
Technically it was one of the best ebook products about in terms of screen resolution and quality. It's specification, connectivity, and compatible formats made it one of the benchmark e-books but the price and the fact that it did not have a tie in with a book shop mean't it was doomed.

 You can pic them up at very reasonable prices now and are worth a look if your a geek and want to download books, but if you simply want ease of use and do not mind paying for books the Kindle is simply unbeatable imho

A Very Merry Chrism.ouse wrote (see)

What about flicker?  Computer monitors flicker and can give you a headache. The refresh rate is important.  I can't remember any more than that, but does that have any implications for e-readers/kindles?

 e-readers do not use the same technology as monitors as such do not have the same limitations, this is why they are better than anything to read from (although deluded ipad owners state otherwise)
A electronic paper, e-paper or electronic ink display (what ever its called this week) is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which uses a backlight to illuminate its pixels, electronic paper reflects light like ordinary paper. It is capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed later. This is why they have awesome battery life.

Squeakz - that's brilliant, thank you for that information.  (I guess I could have done some research myself but hoped for a knowledgable person and you were there!)

Thanks again.

Bought my Wife a Kindle for Xmas. Great piece of kit. Easy to read. Cheap (nay free) books - bought loads of titles for under a £1.00.

Charge lasts ages if 3g off.

Nice and light - saving on lugging books on holidays.

Highly recommended.

I am rapidly running out of space for all my books and I've noticed the Kindle and its reviews.

One thing holds me back: there was a case recently of a book being published but then recalled and pulped after a court case (libel, I think). A revised version was issued. The electronic versions were recalled from Kindles and replaced with the new version, without the users' say-so or even knowledge.

Is this true or just an urban myth? If it is true, it raises privacy issues imho.

Interesting Mutts, that would put me off too.    How does the kindle store the books - is it possible to store them on some kind of memory stick ?

 I think I probably will get one eventually though - if I hadn't had a lot to pay out with vets bills/xmas recently I might have been swayed a bit more easily - reviews on here seem positive.   

Muttley wrote (see)

One thing holds me back: there was a case recently of a book being published but then recalled and pulped after a court case (libel, I think). A revised version was issued. The electronic versions were recalled from Kindles and replaced with the new version, without the users' say-so or even knowledge.

Is this true or just an urban myth? If it is true, it raises privacy issues imho.

I believe it is true, however following the incident Amazon re-evaluated what they'd done (I think mainly down to furore along the lines you mentioned) and have now changed the firmware so they won't\can't do it again.

Have bought a Kindle for Mrs C. for Christmas (wish they'd stop advertising them now as is going to ruin the suprise), she goes through books at a rate of knots and the Kindle seemed the best out there. Ok at the moment it doesn't support the emerging standard ePub format for eBooks, but there is plenty of free software out there to do a conversion for you (Calibre looks to be the best).

They've also just bought out the 'lending' function that allows you to lend a book to another Kindle for a period (2 weeks I think) which is brilliant considering Mrs C, my mum, SIL and cousins all read the same authors and pass them round.