To Kindle or not to Kindle; that is the?

Any thoughts?

I hate even the idea of it.

Not on your life. Hate it! I spend enough time at work with a screen. Books by definition have pages, actual pulp. There's a certain tactile comfort to holding a real book with a spine in your hands. Kindles are spineless monstrosities and if that's the future of books, I'll be like my parents are with those newfangled contraptions called computers - will never own one. I don't care if the kindle helps save trees. Just plant some seeds and grow some more trees so I can have real books with bindings and cool book covers and jacket designs. Books are aesthetically pleasing to my eyes; a kindle's about as pleasing to my eyes as being unfortunate enough seeing great-grandmama (or great-grandpapa) naked. I just can't imagine, when a friend comes over, wanting to borrow a book from my library, saying, "here you go," and handing them a freaking kindle instead of experiencing the joy of them peruse my aisles upon aisles of books. Uh-uh, in no uncertain terms, to the kindle.

Yes.

I'm not a bibliomaniac. I care about the content of the book, not what it's displayed on. The Kindle is small, I can look things up online (I'm a compulsive looker upper of things), I can carry an 1100 page book around on a thing that weighs like four ounces, hell I can carry an entire library around, I like it. Aesthetic objections bore me. Books are made of words, not paper.

Aesthetic objections bore me. Books are made of words, not paper.

Go tell that to the hordes of Folio Society Devotees round these parts, and see what they say to your proclamation, if you dare.

Of course books are made of words, and those words have been printed on paper since about 1500 or 1600-something-or-other. I care deeply about the content of books too btw. I don't think that caring about a books contents - it's words - and a book's aesthetics are mutually exclusive passions. I care deeply about what books say - of course I do (are you kidding me?) but I also happen to passionately appreciate the feel of paper in my hand, the beautiful embossing of a finely crafted first edition from, say, 1896 or 1922 thereabouts; I even like the smell of a book. Yeah, I'm old school and maybe I'm coming off as being too damn cranky and cantankerous about it. But look, I have no problem lugging my sixty-seven pound copy of Infinite Jest (or however much it weighs, I exaggerate) around with me wherever I go. It's a good workout and burns a lot more calories than carrying around a feather-light kindle. ;-)

I don't own an ipod either, btw. I listen to LPs (that's "long-play" records) for you hi-tech youngsters out there.

It's a generational divide, katie.

I own a K1 and a K2, and I've also got a huge collection of books in treeware (some in Folio Society but also some first editions, inscribed copies, and the like that are a far lot more valuable than anything the Folio Society has ever produced). I'm also a member of Amazon's Kindle, Kindley Book Club, and Ebook, three LibraryThing groups that could use your support. I'd encourage folks who are interested in this subject to join and post to these groups, where the discussion would be a lot more on-topic than on a group like this one.

I don't intend to insinuate that you don't care about the content; I can't quite comprehend caring only about what a book is printed on and don't imagine there are many people who do. Certainly they're not mutually exclusive, but I care about the content to the pretty much total exclusion of the format.

I don't own any finely crafted first editions; I'm young and broke and have no space, and was thrilled when I got my Kindle and downloaded free ebooks of every book I had that was in public domain, allowing me to get rid of all the rotting yellow paperback copies I had taking up space (that being one format I do object to).

And Infinite Jest is my perpetually-reading carry-around book precisely because I have it on the Kindle. So I'm lazy. I'm still reading the same book, eh? (Also I can mark up my Kindle version with no qualms at all, whereas I have some sort of superstitious dread of marking up paper books. Also it has a built-in dictionary. Also it makes the endnotes way easier--which actually feels kind of like cheating, which is why I'll probably read my dead-tree copy next.) I mean, whatever generational divide exists wrt the technology, we evidently both obsessively carry around the same book; is that really less interesting than the format we carry it around in?

6> What do you mean "on topic," CurrerBell? We talk about anything-and-everything book related (and movies and music and reviews and nature and birthdays and deathdays and feel-good and etc., etc., etc. related too) here in le Salon. We are eclectic in our topics, Mighty Salonistas all of you!

I applaud nannybebette for starting this topic (I believe she's also started it in just about every other group she belongs to too!)

Salonistas, I trust your judgment in this matter. While I cannot endorse your heading off to God-knows-where in kindle group-land to talk kindles when you could just as easily be kindle-speaking here on this great thread begun by nannybebette (thanks again, Nanny!); I will not restrict you from doing so. I will not restrict you because I am generous. Though do know I will make a notation-to-file for your files, for those of you who do go there. I'm watching you.

Yes urania loves the wicked but seductive Baron von Kindle, but will their love survive now that the dashing Laddie, Earl of MacIntosh has entered the arena, his iPads poised for action?

An Open Letter to Apple

Honored Customer Service Agent,

In lieu of direct communication with Mr. Jobs, I humbly submit this letter to you. I appreciate the services you render to the lumpenproletariat all across the globe who wish their needs and complaints attended to yesterday. I recognize you have no control over these situations. In fact, so sympathetic am I to your plight that I hereby authorize you to delete this e-mail immediately if you are having a bad hair day. I have bad hair days frequently, for which reason I keep a large hat collection on hand.

But I digress. I am a happy Apple owner. I joyfully await each announcement of a new Apple product, which the esteemed Mr. Jobs usually does after the United States holidays have passed, thereby providing fuel for a post-holiday consumer feeding frenzy. What a pleasure it is to know we can continue our feckless spending habits in the face of economic circumstances that look, shall we say, less than good.

But I do not mean to be critical. I too participate in the frenzy know as global capitalism, and it is in this capacity that I write. At long last, the esteemed Mr. Jobs has announced the release of the iPad, for which I have been waiting breathlessly for several years while I made do with the wicked but seductive Baron von Kindle. But alas, your company stubbornly persists in remaining paired with AT&T as its ISP. Doubtless, AT&T is run by high-minded corporate capitalists who have nothing but the public good in mind . . . that is the public living in densely populated regions of the country. Alack, I live on a remote mountain (a location heartlessly ignored by AT&T) with five goats, one husband (at the moment), and two Welsh terrorists one of whom has decided to embrace a little-known branch of Zen known as Pooism. Among the goats, the husband, the organic garden and the poo that must be cleaned off the rugs, I lead, as you might infer, a sorrowful life. Frequently, I take to my fainting couch to recover. I had hoped I might recover with the judicious application of sal volatile (otherwise known as smelling salts) and the iPad. However, due to the esteemed Mr. Jobs’s refusal to pair with any ISP but AT&T, I will have to forego the restorative powers of the iPad. I wept copiously when the news reached me. Even the sal volatile did not revive me.

So . . . if you are feeling in a contented or sympathetic frame of mind, I would be grateful if you would forward this e-mail to someone who might actually read my woeful tale. In the meantime, I happily type this missive on my new PowerMac albeit with tears in my eyes . . . and a small EVDO Verizon modem plugged into my Apple’s USB port. If the time ever arrives when the esteemed Mr. Jobs decides to allow Verizon to service the iPad and the iPhone (which I own but cannot use), I will purchase the iPad faster than Robert Browning’s “lark on the wing” and with greater joy than his “snail on the thorn.” (Have you ever wondered why snails on thorns feel joyful?) In the meantime, prudence dictates that I remain true to the wicked but seductive Baron von Kindle.

Dejectedly yours,
????????

It would appear that the iLaddie is not up to it yet.

To Those Who Would Assay the Honor of Sweet Baron von K_
Lady urania's Defense of He Who Kindles Her Heart

Ladies,

Such violence of emotion, doeth I think protest
a strange, most passing strange attraction
to the sweet that sweet that draws
bitterness from those coy barbs that quiver
when the mark is hit, the end is bit.

One book may but one cover have.
The Baron's cover multitudes of novel voices covers,
yielding to his lovers all novelty, and ahhh
poetry's sweet music from that organ, that
sweet yet hard organ. Aye me . . .
that he should always be up for it and me when others
have but kissed and bid one last finis.

>10 urania1: but can the Kindle lay down pastiche like that?

>11 MeditationesMartini:,

I haven't asked him, but I know he likes pasticheo gelato.

As long as I cannot read "The Arabian Nights", set in Monotype Scotch Roman printed on Caxton Wove paper at the St Edmundsbury Press, bound in full cloth at Hunter and Foulis and illustrated with full colour prints by Edward J. Detmold, I don't see the point in owing a kindle : )

> 7

I don't own any finely crafted first editions; I'm young and broke and have no space, and was thrilled when I got my Kindle and downloaded free ebooks of every book I had that was in public domain.

You have a point ofcourse. We all react as the well to do burghers.

I understand all of your points and I, too, love the look, feel, smell and everything about reading a "real" book. But I have developed something in my shoulders, elbows, and arms that make holding a large book very, very painful. In point of fact, I told my doc (he thinks it has to do with my tendons and ligaments) that unless he gives me something strong enough to be able to hold "Les Miserables" in bed to read that I was camping outside his office door until he did. So he finally gave me a morpine & rimadyl combo, (Tramadol), something that works wonders, but puts me to sleep and that isn't what I wanted. This communication thing can be a bugger!~!~! So my solution for the moment is that I am reading "Les Mis", "Anna Karinina", "World Without End" and "2666" during the day and holding them in my lap. And I am reading "The Return of the Native", "The Tale of the 1002nd Night" and "The Book of Three" & several others at nap and night times. It is working but not the best of solutions for me, personally.
Thank you to all who responded for your time and thoughts. I just want to get as much feedback as I can before I shell out the $259.00 for the regular or $489.00 for the larger Kindle
belva

Oh Belva that really sucks the pain you're describing. You know what, in my opinion, in your case, buy the kindle and save yourself the pain. Holding a "real" book in your hand isn't worth it. If I were in pain like you, I'd do anything to alleviate it. My Mom fell five years ago and her hips and back has never been the same: constant pain, she walks hunched over - I'd buy her a kindle if she was interested, but her reading habits tend more toward light mystery paperbacks. We want you pain-free, Belva, so shell out, is my unasked for advice, the couple hundred and be able to read whatever you want to read whenever you want to read it.

I can get behind the kindle in situations like this, especially if it will help improve a person's quality of life.

Compassion trumping personal preference. You're a mensch, Enrique.

Okay, I just tried looking up "mensch" in my Compact Oxford English dictionary, Vocabulary-Man Peter, and it's not there; all I see is "menorah," "menses," "menstruate," which is beginning to make me think that maybe that "mensch" is an unflattering descriptive for a man!

OMG: Has civilization, and Webster's 11th, failed to reach Chico?

Main entry: mensch

Pronunciation:*men(t)sh

Function: noun

Etymology: Yiddish mentsh human being, from Middle High German mensch, from Old High German mennisco; akin to Old English man human being, man

Date:1856

A person of integrity and honor

Oh thank God! Thank you Peter :)

I treated myself to a KINDLE about 1 1/2 years ago {the first one was trashed when my cat knocked it off of a bookshelf...but it was replaced free of charge (still under Warranty)} and like it alot...most of the books thereon i got in payment for helping a friend do various bits of research....from Amazon Gift Cards....i just like it...easy to hold and navigate though i wish it was Back Lit..i've learned to read from it in a good, strong light...the price has dropped since i got mine...which is good, too... of course, this little toy will never replace REAL BOOKS for me...rather it's an alternative that i appreciate...oh, and i never take it outside the home (carry it in my purse like a Paperback)..i mean, would i put my computer in my purse?...no way...this baby is easily damaged-by-dropping..be warned

hope this helps, Belva
;-}

.......and i hope my fellow Salonistas don't decide to come after me with the Tar & Feathers....As If i would give up the Physical Books...as if they are not over-running my house...As If, I say!!!!

My concern with these things is not their electronic nature as opposed to paper, but their electronic nature. Kindle, as I understand it, uses a proprietary format and requires you purchase content from Amaz*n. The IPad, as I understand it, uses a proprietary format and requires you purchase content from the IStore. I don't know about Sony's entry in this field.

Will we have to go through another round of 70+ or whatever years it is for copyrights to the digital editions? Especially for books that have been in the public domain for years, centuries, in some cases. Re the Amaz*n/MacMillan dustup I read about in another thread, will we only be able to purchase MacMillan product through the IStore and not through Amaz*n? Will estates license content to one and not the other, creating bidding wars for content that means the eventual reader will pay more?

It seems to me there are some real, practical e-reader and content issues to be worked through before I'm ready to select one. I don't have enough confidence that anyone has a global vision of these things, and will just lead us down one more consumer proprietary rabbit warren. It has been close to ten years now that we've been fighting the DRM war and it still is a major hassle. What makes anyone think this will be settled in a more user friendly way?

Until these and other issues I'm sure will crop up are settled I'm sticking to my treeware.

belva, I think urania and I might be the only Kindle pushers you are likely to find in this thread. I was actually a reluctant Kindle owner - I was given a K2 as a gift and I seriously considered returning to Amazon or to the gifter (a K1 owner who is a huge techie and always wants the next thing...). I didn't see the point, I liked paper books, it was "weird"....etc. Kindle has changed my reading habits - the ability to download and peruse samples and the low prices (Kindle has many, many books for free) means I am lot more likely to try new authors or things I've never heard of. I do end up reading some duds that way, but.... Also, it is much easier to read and highlight/make notes on the Kindle, which has made it more likely that I will write down thoughts and reviews of the books I read. And, I admit it - I love the instantaneous delivery. Decide I want to read something, it is in my hands 30 seconds later.

I still buy a fair number of paper books, because a lot of things I want to read are not yet on Kindle. There are also certain books that I choose not to buy on the Kindle, even when I can get them for free. If I want a specific edition or translation of a classic book - Les Mis or War and Peace, for example, I buy that in paper just to make sure I get what I want. So I haven't really managed to cut down on the "big books" because of Kindle. Also, I don't buy anything that includes photos or illustrations as an important part of the book because those just don't display well on Kindle (it may be better on the larger version, but it would still be black and white).

What I miss most of all - the cover art in paper books. Don't get that with the Kindle.

What I worry about - the ephemeral nature of ebooks: what if Kindle fails and no one else provides support for all the ebooks I've purchased from Amazon in the future? Paper is readable for centuries, barring fire, floods, moths.... e-ink, not so much.

What annoys me - the selfish nature of ebooks: I used to be a big lender of books I recommended to other people. Can't lend an ebook. Can't even share it with my boyfriend, who lives in the same house and also has a Kindle, because we have separate Kindle accounts. (We've found a way, but it's complicated....)

Random thought - I have crusty old editions of paperback books from the 1950s that I've saved simply because they've got my mom's maiden name written inside the cover or my dad's marginalia scrawled inside, despite the fact that I don't read them. No one is going to want to inherit someone else's Kindle, regardless of what brilliant insights are contained therein.

belva,

A serious question here (so forgive my earlier flippancy). When you read in bed are you sitting up or lying down? If you are sitting up, you might want to consider investing in a triangular foam wedge to go under your knees and a different kind of pillow /back support (get a therapist's recommendation before purchasing these items). In your case, I think you would benefit more from seeing a physical therapist for instruction on sitting/lying in bed.

After my breast surgery, I ended up with a winged scapular. Subsequently, I have developed osteoarthritis in my back and bone spurs on my neck. I literally had to relearn how to position myself to sleep. It may be that the stress in your hands is triggered elsewhere in your body. A good physical therapist can help you with this. I wish you were here. I could take you to see my physical therapist who is awesome. She uses a particular technique (the name of which escapes me at the moment) for treatment. You might also consider getting warm gel packs or a hot bottle partially filled and with the air squeezed out on which you can rest your hands. I have really benefitted from physical therapy for issues like this. Acupuncture is another alternative you might consider.

Another piece of advice - I do think the Kindle is better than the Nook. I think Amazon offers a thirty-day return policy on the Kindle. Amazon offers some free classics (like Jane Austen novels). So . . . go to a therapist. Learn how to sit to reduce pressure at the stress points. Once you have done this, try out the Kindle for a couple of weeks, and see how it goes. You can always return it if it doesn't work for you.

And yes , a good physical therapist can help relieve pain in the tendons and ligaments. Honestly, I don't think you need heavy medication for this problem. Moreover, rather than medication, you might consider getting pain patches instead. Ask your doctor about that. Ask kidzdoc. He may have better advice.

If you can give me the exact name and description of your problem, I will forward your issue to my breast cancer support group. Because so many of us have had our bodies destroyed in one way or another by chemo, radiation, and the after effects, we have amongst us a wide array of problems as well as a good repository of information for dealing with these issues. PM me.

Sorry about your pains. :(

To some of the comments above, you do not have to buy only from Amazon. Almost any e-book file-type (note: I know nothing about the nook, what kind of files it uses, etc.) can be converted to .mobi for use on the Kindle. Which is how I've yet to spend $5 but have over 1k e-books already. >_>

I don't really understand the DRM on Amazon's e-books. So far, only some of the files I've downloaded for free have had any DRM. The Haggard and Lovecraft files I've actually paid for I could edit as I please. And even those files with DRM I've extracted to my calibre e-library, uploadable anywheres--I've even downloaded .azw files (Amazon's DRM-infested version of .mobi) and sent those to my device; they weren't editable, but I could still read them--so how do they prevent transferring it to another Kindle?

I can also see cover art for any books I download. They're a tad hidden, though...plus, they're black and white, not really so hot to look at.

A sideways comment, that relates, I think, to reading via Kindle or its like:

Over the past ten years or so all of the publishers for whom I've freelanced, as a copy editor, have gone electronic except one, Ballantine, which still sends me old-fashioned, so-called hardcopy manuscripts (I've got one in the house now, by Alison Weir, on Eleanor of Aquitaine). And what I've noticed, editing via various templates on the computer, and sometimes not, and using the track changes function, is that the eyes glide over the text in a different way: that I miss more than I used to when editing paper manuscripts.

This difference can be somewhat negated by the use of spell-check and the find-and-replace function (for words I know were spelled differently earlier in the ms., compared to later). But not entirely. And from anecdotal feedback I get from the invisible people I work for, other copy editors are missing more too, though on the whole publishing houses save money by using computer files, and by editing that way, since a stage or two is leapfrogged.

So, I wonder on your end (you people who are reading rather than editing), whether in some subtle way the efficacy of reading, and comprehending, isn't affected by the pace and/or whatever else is in play when reading off a screen, rather than when flipping pages on an old-fashioned book.

I can appreciate the aesthetic pleasure of the tactile text; however, as someone who is rough on her books (I write in them, get crumbs, and grease spots on them, step on them, etc.), I find the Kindle handy. The e-ink technology is easy on the eyes. For art books, I think future iterations of the iPad or something like it will be much better than the material text. One will be able to peruse images in high definition, zoom close enough to study brush work, and more. I do own some Folio editions as well as some lovely art press editions of books. When I read them, however, the engagement feels too formal - rather like attending a society ball. I cannot loll over and with the text because I want to keep it in all of its pristine glory. Formal living rooms are lovely, but if you can't sit in in them with comfort, what's the point. Alice Walker makes a similar point about quilts in her short story "Everyday Use." I own several heirloom quilts. The real choice becomes in such cases: I can either use the quilt, enjoy its tactility, but ultimately wear it out or I can let it become an objet d'art (beautiful to look at but never to be touched). People worry about the impermanence of the virtual text, but material texts do not last forever either. A Gutenberg Bible? For the majority of us our closest contact will be the pleasure of looking at two pages carefully separated from us by a thick case of museum glass.

Moreover, I own some paperbacks the pages of which crumble at the touch.

>26 tootstorm:..and anyone interested, there is:

http://manybooks.net/

...where one can download Free to Kindle...Classics galore here...and many seriously Quirky Titles...for those of us what crave the Quirk

;-}

Can pdfs be read on a Kindle? I don't want to read novels electronically, but if I could read journal articles on an e-book instead of having to print them or read them on the computer (and 40 page articles are hell to read on an LCD screen) that would be awesome. Virtually all academic publishing has gone electronic and it seems like a perfect fit for academics and students.

Yes, I don't doubt that reading for information can be faciliated by the use of Kindle and its like. But how about reading otherwise? Novels, for instance, which you say, glammonkey, that you don't read electronically,

In message #27 I pose a phenomenological question concerning the difference between the eye gliding across a screen and one reading a page; does the former change the pace of reading, does its margins alter the act of reading and perhaps understanding? Are there other factors at work that make one experience different, however subtle, than the other? And I've presented some admittedly anecdotal evidence that the two modes of reading in fact might have an impact on comprehension.

Reading e-ink and reading on a computer screen aren't exactly the same, tho I wouldn't be surprised if there is still a difference, however infinitesimal.

#30:
Yes, .pdf files can be read on a Kindle (2) after a patch released late Nov. or early Dec., but it's still a new addition, and as such isn't quite fleshed out yet. Notes/highlights cannot be made, and the .pdf page is scrunched to fit onto the small Kindle screen (unless you're using an outrageously priced Kindle DX). Surely these issues will be fixed within the next year, it just might be a while.

#31 For me there is a very clear divide between reading for work and reading for pleasure. It is an entirely different experience. And as I said, journal articles are much easier to get a hold of digitally than in print and an e-reader would make reading them easier. Whereas my pleasure reading comes from my bookshelves, from friends and most often from the library and I much prefer actual books. However, I have access to two of the best libraries systems in the world and have never been unable to find a book that I was looking for. If I lived somewhere else, where I did not have that kind of access, perhaps the ability to download such a wide variety of books would be a reason to get a Kindle.

#27

I have the same experience--I find concentrating on the text on screen hundred times more difficult. Electronic availability of texts means nothing to me apart from ease of acces), I still print out everything I need to read. So much for saving trees...

Moreover, the professional articles I read are very heavy in graphics, tables, graphs etc. and these are impossible to assess on screen. And forget about comparing figures etc.

I can see myself getting an e-reader (once they become at least four time cheaper than the current versions), but only for a small fraction of my reading--text only stuff I don't care for enough or cannot get in printed form.

If I had the money to spend on a device like that and if I read often enough to make it worthwhile I would be looking into a Sony eReader or a Nook. Both are far less proprietary than the Kindle, which is a huge issue for me. I dislike the idea of spending a great deal of money on a contract that gives me so little power over the object I am purchasing, and Amazon does not have a good history of giving power to the consumer (charges to convert to the their format, withholding ebooks for entire publishers during contract disputes, pulling files from customer machines without hesitation, etc).

The nook's interfaces is a little choppy, the touch screen lags a bit and the scrolling is counterintuitive, but it is open to all .PDF and ePub files, which means you can convert your own files or purchase ebooks from third parties and they will work. The Sony eReader looks nicer, and handles nicer too it seems, though I haven't had much chance to play with it and could be wrong in that area. Its downside is that it doesn't use eInk and is therefore subject to the eyestrain and glare associated with standard computer screens.

The iPad is too much for me. Besides having an unfortunate name, it's too big to be convenient and too pricey to be a replacement for 50c books. But unlike the other machines out there it isn't being sold as a eReader device but as an everything device, hence the higher price and larger format. I wouldn't buy one if all I wanted to do was read.

There is also the Bookeen, which is an older gen reader (which means less capacity, older feeling interface, etc) but does the work fine, and isn't tied to a vendor which means there is very little restriction on the user once it has been purchased.

Anyway, there are a lot of readers out there for those interested, and were I to get one the Kindle would be my last choice.

5> ...I even like the smell of a book.

I remember being in my grandmother's library, where the bookshelves were lined with colorful spines of leather and cloth. Perhaps it was the gold leaf trim, and raised portions of the spines that prompted me to explore further, or maybe it was the scent of the books that encouraged me to get up on that chair and reach for one. It would have been beyond my comprehension to devour the contents of that first volume of green leather, with gold-leaf embossed title on the spine and cover, for Lord Byron is not good reading for a seven-year-old. That would come seven years later.

Instead, I was lifted from the chair, by the strong hands of my grandfather, who replaced that book on the shelf, and then pulled down another, in dark leather, before taking me to one of the large, overstuffed chairs by the window. It was there that I curled up in his lap and listened raptly to him, as he read Tom Sawyer to me, and allowed me to know the beauty that was hidden on those shelves.

The room was magical, and the rules of respect for the books within it only added to the allure, as I grew up and was allowed to 'check out' a precious member of this unique collection on occasion. I guess I would ask: where will future generations find this magic? In a Kindle?

I prefer hardcopy books to eBooks, but limited space for books is an issue at my house. I bought a Sony Reader about three years ago. I used it only for free books I got from manybooks.net, so I can't speak to the ease or limitations of Sony's eBook store. The Reader was easy and comfortable to use, and I was quite pleased with it until I learned how fragile it was. My glasses slipped out of my hands as I was cleaning them, and fell about ten inches onto the screen. This was sufficient to crack the circuitry and destroy the reader. Accidental damage was not covered by Sony's warranty. I would like to replace it, but I'm not going to shell out hundreds of dollars for something that vulnerable.

I have found one advantage to acquiring an e-reader: I now have a free and headache-free way to read public domain books.

That's pretty much it, though.

Ah, the debate of the age. I remember having this debate about film, which I adore, adore, adore, with all it's unpredictable grain and ability to translate reality into something with a bit less or more light or color range, and digital, back when one could still get a good film camera and film without a minor odyssey...

I now have a nook. I love to read from dead trees. I love the feel of the page. I love the smell. I like to peruse the shelf, and I will always own books and fill my rooms with them (just as I still own film cameras and film). But, ah, when I want to read ... it stares at me. A few buttons. There it is... E.J.W. Gibbs' Ottoman Literature: The Poets and Poetry of Turkey suddenly appears on my screen. Oh, my, it's free from Google Books. I didn't have to find an academic library or order from abebooks. A few buttons.

And then, there I am, sitting on the can with either a small shelf of already well read books and magazines in front of me or.... IT. The thing. And I've been meaning to start Infinite Jest. And gave away my copy a long time ago. Just a few seconds. Might as well have it...

Yes, you're all like me. You like books. You love books. You don't want to read it on a screen. But, you will be seduced. You have no choice. Don't try to resist. Come, join us, become one of us. Resistance is futile...

#32 & #30

.pdf's can be emailed to amazon and converted to kindle format for free.

Fees for Personal Document Service (via Whispernet)

Pricing for wireless delivery of personal documents to the Kindle is based on the size of the file submitted (before compression if you use a .zip file). Fees will only be charged for documents that are successfully delivered wirelessly to your Kindle. Here's the Personal Document Service fee schedule for U.S. customers:

15 cents per MB, rounded up to the next whole MB. (These fees apply to each personal document wirelessly delivered to each Kindle.)

If you would like to download your personal documents for free, you can send attachments to "name"@free.kindle.com to be converted and e-mailed to your computer at the e-mail address associated with your Amazon.com account log-in. You can then transfer the document to your Kindle (1st Generation) using your USB connection.

For example, if your Kindle email address is Jay@Kindle.com, send your attachments to Jay@free.kindle.com.

Kindle help

I got an iPhone a few days ago. While I bought it mainly for reasons other than ebooks, it does make a decent reader. The biggest advantage is that, since it's your phone, you'll always have it handy when there's an unanticpated reading opportunity (wife/mall). The chief drawback that I can see so far is that the battery life for hours of continuous reading isn't comparable to that of dedicated devices.