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jampot

By jampot
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jampot Engager

jampot

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Hi

Does anyone have one of these? I saw it on the Gadget Show this week and think it might be the "answer to my prayers" !!!! We are planning on living onboard and cc-ing from next April and one of the things I am most concerned about is storage for books! I will never part with some old friends but new books if I can get them on the Kindle, it will mean I don't have to buy them and store them somewhere.

I have looked at the Amazon site and although pricey if they do what they say, for me it is worth every penny. There are hundreds of customer reviews but the vast majority I looked at are from Americans and they rate it very highly. I would like to get some thoughts from Brits.

So, anyone have one and willing to share your thoughts, experience with me please? Thank you

cheers, Janice

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Robbo Veteran II

Robbo

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Hi

Does anyone have one of these? I saw it on the Gadget Show this week and think it might be the "answer to my prayers" !!!! We are planning on living onboard and cc-ing from next April and one of the things I am most concerned about is storage for books! I will never part with some old friends but new books if I can get them on the Kindle, it will mean I don't have to buy them and store them somewhere.

I have looked at the Amazon site and although pricey if they do what they say, for me it is worth every penny. There are hundreds of customer reviews but the vast majority I looked at are from Americans and they rate it very highly. I would like to get some thoughts from Brits.

So, anyone have one and willing to share your thoughts, experience with me please? Thank you

cheers, Janice

 

My friend has a Sony one and she loves it (they have the same screen), the Amazon one has the benefit of been wireless. I don't think the Kindle supports the epub standard which alot of free books are now in (although there are convertors). The Kindle DX is larger and supports pdf files, but is not for our mobile network. Remember these are shipped from the States so add ya import duty to the price.

 

Walk down to borders and have a look at the Sony ones there, if you like the screen it's the same as the Kindle, if you can do without the wireless bit you have more choice.

 

Also I believe they will be alot of these type of devices coming out next year, Barnes and Noble's Nook, etc. So if you don't want one now and can wait 6 months I would.

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Lady Muck Veteran

Lady Muck

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Very tempted too - all my old recipe cuttings are now stored on a hard drive (boy that took a long time to do - there are over 800 pages!).

I get esubscriptions of some magazines that I buy for work. I wish the canal mags would let us have a downloadable pdfs - think Waterways World does it for subscribers?

I have dozens of books onboard not much room for anymore, so an ebook reader sounds like a good idea!

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Robbo Veteran II

Robbo

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Very tempted too - all my old recipe cuttings are now stored on a hard drive (boy that took a long time to do - there are over 800 pages!).

I get esubscriptions of some magazines that I buy for work. I wish the canal mags would let us have a downloadable pdfs - think Waterways World does it for subscribers?

I have dozens of books onboard not much room for anymore, so an ebook reader sounds like a good idea!

 

I think once a device like the rumoured Apple tablet comes out, more digital content from magazines will be available, although there is no reason they can't do it now. Most people would prefer a tablet/kindle type of device rather than a computer monitor position to read for long periods.

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Robbo Veteran II

Robbo

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so which ones work with pdf files? the Kindle DX looks a bit unwieldy but i hear the Kindle only works with Amazon books.

 

What's the point of having something called a standard, pdf, and then inventing other proprietary formats ?

 

(spoken as someone who remembers Whitworth)

 

 

PDFs are not really suitable for different screen sizes, as the PDF is set to one size when created. The format to look for is ePub as this looks to be the standard.

 

The dx supports PDFs and is better at doing so purely due to the screen size, the Sony ones support but due to screen size, are poor at displaying them.

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Amicus Rising Star

Amicus

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Oim finking of getting one of dem wotsits, just about decided on the new Sony,

 

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronic...:11566036|cat:E

 

 

some bumff here

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/22/ebook_content/

 

tho there is a new technology just round the corner :lol:

 

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/353956/hybrid-...early-next-year

Edited by Amicus
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RLWP Veteran II

RLWP

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What's delaying my plunge is - why do I want this?

 

It has a screen almost as big as a netbook, but it isn't a netbook. My phone browses the internet but the screen is too small. My netbook has a keyboard but has to have a card to access the internet and isn't a Kindle.

 

What I want is a colour device with a touch screen with internet access by wifi and 3G, a detachable keyboard, that I can make skype webcam calls on, read books, browse the internet, edit documents, play music

 

The last thing I want is another electronic thingy with a screen to carry about.

 

Richard

 

And I don't want anything made by Apple. I know they are good computers but I don't want to have the brain surgery that makes you smugly claim that "this computer is obviously better than any other computer, you are so stupid using anything else".

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RLWP Veteran II

RLWP

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E-books are different to all the other gizmos, the e-ink screen uses juice only when the page is turned, hence the long battery life, tother gadgets use all sorts of power hungry screens.

So you need an e-book, plus sommik to do all the rest :lol:

 

Hey, if these screens are so good, put one on my netbook

 

Richard

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Lady Muck Veteran

Lady Muck

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I think once a device like the rumoured Apple tablet comes out, more digital content from magazines will be available, although there is no reason they can't do it now. Most people would prefer a tablet/kindle type of device rather than a computer monitor position to read for long periods.

 

I assumed that one of the reasons you can't get that many esubscriptions (in the UK, anyway) is because the audit bureau of circluations only counts paper copies -am I correct? I tried to get an esubscription to Drapers Record - it's a bloody expensive subscription to get (£190 a year) especially when you are away boating and can't read it as it comes out, but they refused, you have to be abroad. I get a US mag, Footwear News by pdf - costs me $40 a year for the subscription, the paper one would be $300.

 

I love having my recipe scrapbook on my computer though, so easy to search for recipes, because you can tag them. Just have to watch out for gravy on the monitor. :lol:

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Robbo Veteran II

Robbo

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What I want is a colour device with a touch screen with internet access by wifi and 3G, a detachable keyboard, that I can make skype webcam calls on, read books, browse the internet, edit documents, play music

 

Archos 9 may fit many of those needs? http://www.archos.com/products/nb/archos_9...=dj〈=en

 

 

Can't you set up a foreign email account?

 

They go by your Credit Card address.

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Lady Muck Veteran

Lady Muck

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Can't you set up a foreign email account?

 

You need a foreign bank account too - but recently they've made most of their website content available to subscribers only, it now has more or less most of the mag on it. So I guess I'm a bit happier though - but what a rip off at £190 - a subscription to the WWD website is only $40 a year and you get so much more...

 

But then WGSN - emailed me - new rates for small businesses, partnerships etc. They wanted £4,500k for a years access to their site. :lol:

 

Apols for the massive derail, there. :lol:

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Chris Pink Veteran II

Chris Pink

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PDFs are not really suitable for different screen sizes, as the PDF is set to one size when created. The format to look for is ePub as this looks to be the standard.

 

not so.

 

Whereas most pdfs are electronic version of print sizes, the technology is inherently scalable, with the exception of raster images but i can't imagine ePub can really do anything about that.

 

pdf is just so universal, i have a computer stuffed full of pdf files, i don't think i've even got one epub file and as we are talking text based reading (i guess) then resolution is not an issue.

 

 

 

(VBR for jpg anyone)

 

e-ink screen uses juice only when the page is turned, hence the long battery life

 

exactly so, i don't use my computer, netbook or otherwise for reading as the power overhead is too much and pixels don't really do it for reading long bouts of text.

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koukouvagia Influencer

koukouvagiaDonate to Canal World

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I was surprised at the price, too!

 

Under £450 seems very cheap.

 

Yeah, but the after sales service is appalling. We've got an Archos. Had to send it back FOUR times and it came back three times with the same fault. Finally they finally sent a new one under guarantee.

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Robbo Veteran II

Robbo

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not so.

 

Whereas most pdfs are electronic version of print sizes, the technology is inherently scalable, with the exception of raster images but i can't imagine ePub can really do anything about that.

 

pdf is just so universal, i have a computer stuffed full of pdf files, i don't think i've even got one epub file and as we are talking text based reading (i guess) then resolution is not an issue.

 

I stand corrected, the "reflow" option wasn't part of the original standard so many of the PDF's out there are not in this format. But there's no reason why they can't be used now of course.

 

ePub is basically a standard for eBooks (the actually content of a ePub file is XHTML, XML and CSS files) and is designed for reflowable content so is perfect for different size screens, where PDF's were designed originally for non-flowable content.

 

You need a foreign bank account too - but recently they've made most of their website content available to subscribers only, it now has more or less most of the mag on it. So I guess I'm a bit happier though - but what a rip off at £190 - a subscription to the WWD website is only $40 a year and you get so much more...

 

But then WGSN - emailed me - new rates for small businesses, partnerships etc. They wanted £4,500k for a years access to their site. :lol:

 

Apols for the massive derail, there. :lol:

 

Not really a de-rail, as digital content including magazine and book content is what is going to drive the sales of these devices to non-tech people.

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Chertsey Veteran

Chertsey

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What I don't like about the Kindle concept is that you never actually own the book, only a licence to it, and they can delete from your device (say if there had been a mix up with copyright or it was subject to a libel action) at their will.

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