Kindle books versus oldfashioned ones ??

[Parson]

Indeed. Having music on in the background sometimes sparks ideas for the sermon or lesson that I am working on at the time. In my youth driving tractor for hours on end having the radio on kept me from going stark raving mad. ---- When there was no tractor I was doing math in my head trying to figure out how long before I finished the particular field.

 

[Timba]

Indeed. Having music on in the background sometimes sparks ideas for the sermon or lesson that I am working on at the time. In my youth driving tractor for hours on end having the radio on kept me from going stark raving mad. ---- When there was no tractor I was doing math in my head trying to figure out how long before I finished the particular field.

Parson,
Are you telling us you were plowing fields back before the advent of the tractor? I am impressed, you seem to have held up well for a man of your age.

 

[Parson]

Sheesh! Of course I meant no tractor radio! Something on our farm only came along after my 18th year.

 

[Moggle]

I now read everything on the ipad out of convenience, and although it is not as good as a dedicated ereader it beats trying to find an old book thru the library which only carries books from the late 90s till now, if that. As far as convenience and accessibility, nothing beats it.

I wonder when people will begin shunning used book stores and booksellers. It has to happen eventually. The question will be, how soon?

 

[Timba]

Sheesh! Of course I meant no tractor radio! Something on our farm only came along after my 18th year.

Well that is a horse...er tractor of a different color... er...

Sure ruined a great mental image I was developing of you though, strapped into your harness and manfully pulling that plow.

 

[Gordian Knot]

Moggle, people have been shunning used book stores already. For years before the e-book. Amazon really started the avalanche with their online purchasing system. It is so nice to order a book in your PJs at two in the morning if you want to.

The e-book has just exacerbated a growing trend. I do not think many people realize that something like 2/3rds of the used book stores in the U.S. have closed their doors in the last decade. And more are closing every day.

 

[anivid]

The e-book has just exacerbated a growing trend. I do not think many people realize that something like 2/3rds of the used book stores in the U.S. have closed their doors in the last decade. And more are closing every day.

I surely can believe that - selling my own used ones through Amazon - my excuse is that ther's isn't much of a market in France for used books in English, AND that my French ones aren't fiction.
As far as I've observed the used books market here is about what I would call "lighter fiction", preferably with some fightings and/or sex - and such ones never stirred my interest

 

[Overread]

Many of the used book shops I see do tend to cater to the regular "light fiction" market - that area certainly will dominate the majority of their stock. Almost anything in the used book world that isn't light fiction stuff or very high value and rare is likely to end up in a specialist. And many of those have closed shop a long while ago (or are trading right out in the sticks far from any commercial highstreet) and now trade on ebay/private sites. Resources like AbeBooks as well as the ability to be a seller through ebay or amazon I think has pushed many specialist shops in any area online.

Simply put the rates on a highstreet shop are too high and the trade that more specialist wears make tends to be small enough that unless you are in a massive urban area you are unlikely to make much of a turnover. Thus online provides the ideal medium for them - letting them reach a massive target audience for very little cost outside of postage and stock storage (and heck you can do that all from your home).

I do lament the death of many shops - I love wandering and browsing from time to time and its a great time to pick up new things. Internet purchases are great when you've got a shopping list but are less good for browsing I find (you can't see/get a feel for something and reviews are not always the best (and book reviews are always a double edged sword considering how many can drop spoilers)).

 

[Grunkins]

personal libraries need to be perusable!

 

[anivid]

I do lament the death of many shops - I love wandering and browsing from time to time and its a great time to pick up new things.

Hi OR - we still got them - they just got a parasol over there head now

 

[anivid]

Darn - bought a Kindle, but do not seem to be able to register as I do'nt have a wi-fi.
Anybody knows something about such situation: How to register Kindle over USB ??

 

[Vertigo]

I can't help there Anivid. I would try contacting Amazon, I think there is a way to manually register. Then you should be able to download to your PC (you will probably need Kindle4PC for that) and then upload to the Kindle. But I would recommend contacting Amazon first.

Alternatively you could get a wireless router for your broadband connection, they're pretty cheap, and then you would have your wi-fi.

 

[anivid]

I can't help there Anivid. I would try contacting Amazon, I think there is a way to manually register. Then you should be able to download to your PC (you will probably need Kindle4PC for that) and then upload to the Kindle. But I would recommend contacting Amazon first.

Alternatively you could get a wireless router for your broadband connection, they're pretty cheap, and then you would have your wi-fi.

Thanks, Vertigo.
The problem with Amazon was that they kept explaining in their explanatory for Kindle, that when your own name appeared in the uppermost left corner of the device instead of the generic "my kindle", and when the "Set up Kindle" disappeared from the menu - you were registered.
I worked very had to have those two things to happen, but alas
When finally I told them that I'd had it, and they could have it all back - they explained than the Kindle WAS already registered from their side when I bought it !!!!
I figured that the two things to happen only is when using wi-fi - not when using USB - but they didn't really care to mention that
So it's registered and I've downloaded a book - all fine.
Now I want to download some personal documents - let's see what'll happen

"Wireless router", "broadband connection", "wi-fi" - I don't think I have the use of such exorbitant things - I understand that when having a wi-fi you can contact the internet from cafés, airports etc. - but as retired I'm quite happy by downloading things from my home - just needed a reading device for taking with me when wanting to read e.g. in a forest on a trail (as today when being in a public place waiting for a transport, or in a resto - don't need all those "connecting to the internet possibilities" - matter in fact I try to cut down on the net as I think it would be better for the overall me to be using my time elsewhere/in other universes
I don't even have a tele - consider it bad for my intelligence - am a thinker and a doer, not a viewer
(well, during the EUR foot I went down to a café, mingling with the crowd, to experience the tele - drank what the others drank (some beer of a sort, called pression) which gave me a headache - morale: better stick to my own life style, that I can manage

 

[Vertigo]

wi-fi is what is used in cafes airports and the like, though I too generally don't use them (I'm not usually that desperate to get online - I can wait until I get home). However a home wireless router is exactly the same technology and indeed most home routers that you can buy now have wirless (usually much shorter range than the public wi-fi 'hot-spots') though not everybody uses it. So it is a perfectly normal thing to have your own wi-fi in your home.

To get your own stuff onto the kindle you can either email it to your kindle (discussed elsewhere on one of the other threads on ebooks) or you can copy material to your kindle directly over the USB - it just looks like an external drive. Though you should check the documentation to check where to put it. Alternatively you could get Calibre which is a free eBook database program and without doubt the most popular one on the market. Import your own work into Calibre (it can be word documents, rtf files, pdfs etc. etc.) Then Calibre can convert to MOBI which your Kindle will be happy with and finally just plug your kindle in and Calibre will detect it and allow you to send any of your stored books, documents, etc. to your kindle. Calibre sorts out where to put it making the whole process very easy.

 

[Sapha]

Are you comfortable with reading from Kindle ?? – are you bringing the Kindle with you as you would do with a pocket book ?? - which problems (if any ;-) have you experienced when using such reading apparatus ?? - are the SF/F books you want to buy usually available for such media ?? – are they cheaper/more expensive than the pocket editions ?? – etc. etc.

I was kindly given a Kindle as a present last Christmas by a thoughtful gift-giver who was aware that I'm an avid reader, and a person who undertakes work related travel often throughout the year, and thought it would be perfect for me and my reading habits.

I do carry the Kindle with me when traveling, however, I also carry my traditional bound pages books. Yes, a Kindle is convenient, but it doesn't have the smell, feel and beloved cosiness of paged books. I wouldn't...I couldn't trade my book collection for ebooks.

I also find the available titles not extensive enough, although, what is available is often cheaper than the tangible book copies.

 

[Cayal]

I am pretty much Kindle through and through. A lot easier to carry multiple books when travelling and I don't get the motion-sickness I do when reading in a car.

 

[Parson]

I find the Kindle is saving me money another way. I don't have to drive 45-60 min. to find a book store which actually has more than Star Trek and Star Wars books on its shelves.

On second thought, maybe not. I read more books. Is that a bad thing?

 

[chongjasmine]

Kindle is not supported in my country. So sadly, I am not able to buy a kindle or a kindle ebook. I hope one day, kindle and ebooks will be available in my country.

 

[Valer]

I will like an ereader with 2-3 pages I can play back and forth. I am sure I will not have one very soon.

 

[Parson]

I will like an ereader with 2-3 pages I can play back and forth. I am sure I will not have one very soon.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Kindles, and I assume every ereader allows you to page back and forth. What is really missing from the Kindle is the ability to go back x number of pages, or to return the the beginning of the book without paging back the full number of pages read. (At least I haven't found the way to do this. But it befuddles me why that would not be there, it would seem to be an easy thing to program into the machine.)