Save the trees, says Ben Kelly

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Save the trees

Ben Kelly looks at the benefits of reading books on electronic book readers like the Kindle
 
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BloemGuy said:
How do I read this article? I get the following:
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Generally English articles are read line by line, left to right and top to bottom. Hope that helps you with the reading :p

Jokes aside though I get the same screen.

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Leftfoot said:
Restricted access?!
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This article is obviously a matter of state security.
 
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One annoyance. You cannot read an audio book. You can, however, have an audio book read to you.

I like ebooks - but I like real books too.
Of the dilemma. When I look at my book shelves I can SEE what I have. Cannot do that with a ebook reader.
Then again, I had to buy all my books.... Which of course leads me to DRM and its evilness.

/end rambling rant
 
If I had a Kindle here in SA, are there restrictions on what I could buy? For example, I can buy whatever music CDs from amazon, but can't buy music mp3s to download. Is it the same with e-books?
 
I've had my Kindle DX for about 3 weeks and can't quite think how I managed without it in the past.

I don't read much fiction on it though, but it is absolutely marvelous to have all my technical documents, dictionaries and some text books available the whole time without having to lug my laptop or netbook around.

I'm also printing all long documents to PDF and reading on the Kindle ... and my calculations show that just that will justify the captial cost in a period of 3-4 years, however by then I will probably have ditched the device for something fancier, faster, bigger, better :)
 
duncan1a said:
If I had a Kindle here in SA, are there restrictions on what I could buy? For example, I can buy whatever music CDs from amazon, but can't buy music mp3s to download. Is it the same with e-books?
Click to expand...

Yes, the South African selection is a bit smaller due to rights issues. Currently, South Africans have only 319,567 :) books available to buy from the approximately 400,000 in the Amazon Kindle Store.
 
Moederloos said:
Of the dilemma. When I look at my book shelves I can SEE what I have. Cannot do that with a ebook reader.
Click to expand...

But you can see your books on your e-reader

attachment.php



And qucikly find them by searching...
 
While I dont have a pressing or justifiable need for a dedicated ebook reader a multi-function device like the iPad sure is appealing. It might not be the best ebook reader, it might not off the highest quality, it might not be the perfect form factor but like the Arouet quote in my sig says . . .
 
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Don't like the DRM aspect. Also don't like the fact that Amazon can remove books remotely.
 
Would love to have an ebook reader, just can't justify the price for the amount of books that I read.
iPhone will have to do for a while longer.
 
You'd only be saving trees that were specifically grown for making paper.

The plus is you can carry millions of books on an iPhone or something I guess.
 
"I would argue that my experience of the book is actually enhanced by listening to it. It may take a bit longer than my usual speed reading to get to the end, but many of the subtle nuances that I would normally gloss over in my haste to get to the next page I actually pick up while listening to an audio book."

Actually, I found that I miss a lot of things when listening to an audio book compared to when I read a (real) book. I guess if you're into speed-reading and skipping half the words, you would pick up more of the story if someone else is reading every word to you!

Another disadvantage of audio books is that, in a world where "meh", "moar" and "nao" appear to be all too common, the consumer does not learn proper spelling from the experience.

Somehow, though, I don't think the author of the article is representative of the average reader.
 
I read an average of a book every 2 days ... on my HTC HD2

With a 4.6" screen, backlit, it's clear as crystal. Each "page" has about 1/3 that of the average paperback, and reading in portrait mode, my eyes only have to track up & down, not left & right as it would on a larger device.

I honestly cannot see why people complain about LCD screens. I had my HTC P3300 for almost 4 years [screen broke ... R.I.P. :cry:] & used to read a LOT on it ... I have yet to experience eye strain.

To me a multifunctional device [Smartphone with WM or Android that has a large screen] makes dedicated eReader devices totally redundant.

As far as sourcing books ... there are TONS of legally free [post-copyright] books available on the internet, and all the books you can buy for Kindle & Co. can be read on my HTC as well.
 
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