Kindle!

[temporus]

Amazon now has over 100,000 books available on the Kindle.   Now that they are purchasing Audible, that will really give a huge lead to the Kindle.  They own Mobi, and I think Fictionwise too.  I'm convinced that in terms of electronic readers, Amazon is the horse you should be betting on.  In fact I'm convinced enough, that I have one on order.  I expect to have it surgically attached  with me at all times, and so, if you run into me and want to look it over I will be glad to let you.  (I've got over 150 free books downloaded and ready to go!)

The one thing I'm still waiting for: more magazine choices.  There's only 8 options available!  I hear rumor that Asimov's and Analog will be soon available.  F&SF?  What about you?  Realms of Fantasy?  I'd love to get them on a device like this.   If you run an online magazine now....this could be a way to pick up a few readers.  With so few options, if you make your publication inexpensive, I'll bet you can get readers on the Kindle.   IGMS, Baen's Universe, Strange Horizons, Fantasy,  Ideomancer, and such....this is a good opportunity for you guys too.  I know, you're probably thinking: why would anyone pay when they can browse to the web to the site and read it?  The same argument as to why people will pay the $1-3 a month to get Boing-Boing and other blogs.  Some will, some won't.  But for those that will, a little extra income doesn't hurt.  

I'll post more details, and a review of it once it arrives.  I think the day of the electronic book going mainstream is on the horizon.  

Comments

[dqg-neal.livejournal.com]

I would definitely like to take a look at that the next time I see you. (assuming you have it by then.)

[temporus.livejournal.com]

If I'm lucky, I'll have it by the next GSHW meeting. I'm not counting on that, but I am hoping for it.

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

The kindle doesn't impress me, but I suppose that's because I've had a pda for awhile now. It can read books, store my calendar, my contacts, etc, etc. Of course, the kindle has a much larger screen. The screen on my pda is wee.

[temporus.livejournal.com]

PDA=way too small. There's no way I'm reading a novel on that small a screen. I can't even stand reading my emails on tiny screens. (I've used Palms, and Compaq Ipaqs, and Blackberries, and many others too though work.) I wouldn't even enjoy reading on an iPhone, though I only really played around with one of them for a dozen or so minutes.

Every review I've read by people who own them, (including Stephen King who got in line just like ordinary folk and had to wait for his to arrive) says the same thing. It feels just like reading a real paper book and you get absorbed in the writing just like a real dead tree book.

I'll let you know if that's true in my experience. Further, my plan is to carry a couple dozen short stories on it, and let people try it out by reading the whole short story. See what they feel.

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

Meant to ask: can it read .pdfs and do they look good (once you get it, obviously)? :)

[temporus.livejournal.com]

The answer I can give is: sortakinda.

As I understand, not natively. Because of the way the device works a PDF must be converted. That's because the concept behind PDF is to preserve the entity of the page. Whereas with the Kindle, you can on the fly resize text, and it re-paginates the whole work without effort. That can't work with a PDF. PDF conversion is "experimental." From what I've been told, the success depends entirely upon how important it is to the original work that it keep things organized in that page layout. If it's 100% text, and the nothing special regards to the format of the text (not poetry that is empowered by enjambment and its critical to preserve the line breaks for example) then there's virtually no issue. If the text interacts with non-text in exact and specific ways that can't be freely re-paginated, as I understand it there could be problems. Lots of graphics, probably not a fit.