Kindle 3

[muddi900]

Yes, I already made that other thread and yes, the Kindle 2 thread is the de facto ereader thread but science has proven that all other ereader devices are lame, including the Kindle 2. You cant argue with science, now can you.

On a more serious note, I just got mine, so initial impressions:

Pros:

-I can't believe I am saying this about a monochrome screen, but it's sexy. Its not just me. Everyone I have shown this too has been thoroughly impressed. I got a 'You haven't even taken off the sticker yet?' from one friend.

-In the 'thank you letter', 'Jeff Bezos' said how he wanted the device to disappear and let the books take over, and it pretty much achieves that magnificently.

-I wasn't expecting getting a decent dictionary lokups without a touchscreen, so I was pleaantly surprised.

-Getting Instapaper'd articles delivered automatically to the device!

-The text-to-speech is surprisingly good too.

Cons:

-It feels...flimsy. The page navigation buttons feel cheap. also, the print on the keyboard has already started fading. :(

-Amazon needs better interface designers. "Yo dawg! we here you like settings menus..." interface is balls.

-The fullscreen text view is there for books, but not for periodicals. It wouldn't be an issue if Instapaper didn't packaged its collection like one.

-Its not a problem of the device, but I am pissed; I ordered a Belkin grip case with my Kindle. The only one that was available was an ugly looking red/pink(or so it seemed) one. And it looks like a vagina. You might say the same about the design in general, but this one is really colored Magenta/pink on the outside and light ink on the inside. It looks exactly like a vagina.:eek: I'd post pics but that might make this thread NSFW.

I would also like a speech option for the dictionary and aac support, but that's just nit-picking. All in all, the device is friggin' brilliant.

[Abednigo]

Let me start by saying I'm a huge fan of books. I like the feel of a new book in my hand. I like the smell of the pages. Old books especially. There's just something about it. I love having bookshelves full of books. Between my wife and I we have almost 600 books. I love it. When eReaders first started coming out I thought it was a stupid idea. It seemed like they were gadgets for people who hated reading books. Real lovers of reading read actual books. That doesn't make sense I know, but that's how I felt.

Then I saw my father-in-law's Kindle (generation 2 I think) a year or so ago. The screen impressed me. I still wasn't totally sold though. I still liked having a book in my hands.

Then this past summer I looked at my father-in-law's Kindle again. I played with it some more and started to warm up to it. I looked at it a lot during our two week beach trip. After the first week I was sold.

To bring a long story to a quick end, I got the Kindle 3 (in graphite) this past weekend for my birthday (I'm still waiting on my birthday gift from CoG, but I guess I'll stop holding my breath ;) ). I love this thing! I've had a hard time getting back into reading for the last few months. But since getting the Kindle and putting a few books I've been wanting to read on it, I read every evening now for at least an hour. And it's so much easier to read a page here and there on the Kindle than it ever was with a real book. I don't know what it is, but I'm officially a Kindle fan.

You're absolutely right about the screen. I'll flip through my Kindle contents just to see the screen. And I love that some of my favorites that have pencil art throughout the book have the same art in the Kindle version (like the Narnia series). It's not just the text. Drawings, maps, everything is there in the Kindle version. I'll still buy books sure, but some books I don't care to own in paper form. And it'll be great going to our 2 week beach trip next June with all my favorite series (which total thousands upon thousands of pages) all in one device and not having to bring a separate suitcase just for books. :)

[muddi900]

Now that I have finished an actual book on it, I must say the formats amazon is using(mobi/prc) suck. They are just simple HTML documents. There is very little in the way of customizing you can do, which sucks when you are reading a book with double spaced words and an extra line break after every paragraph, like I am.

Still, these are just nit picks. Having access to books that I wouldn't have had otherwise is totally worth it.

[Urizen]

I was surprised by one of these gems for my birthday this past weekend.

I wasn't following the back-and-forth on all the features the various readers support, but apparently I must have mentioned to my wife some months ago that the Kindle 3 is attractive.

I've been using calibre to load and manage the ebooks I've acquired over the past few days, and my hundreds of PDFs from JSTOR. I convert everything to EPUB. Calibre is a resource hog - takes forever to convert files and move them to and from the Kindle, but otherwise, it's great.

I'm enjoying the a lot, actually. Will post more when I dive into the Gutenberg books.

[muddi900]

I suggest http://feedbooks.com for free texts. They are usually better formatted than Gutenberg.

Also, Kindle supports the mobi format, so the reason calibre is taking so long to copy books over is because its converting the files again. Go in settings and set your default output profile to Kindle.

[Abednigo]

Having just finished my first book on my Kindle (The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan), I must say I'm officially in love with this device. I haven't read a book that fast, while not on vacation, in a long time. I won a book via a Good Reads contest and started reading it last night. It's a little weird to be reading a regular boo and I still keep my Kindle next to me. LOL! It's fine of course but I really like the feel of the Kindle.

And I'm a little addicted now to finding books I've been wanting to read for cheap to keep in the Kindle for me to get to later. Like I've been meaning to start Stephen King's Dark Tower series, so I'll be getting book 1 for the Kindle this week. I won't be reading it for awhile, but for some reason I'm hooked on finding books I've wanted to read and stocking up on them for my Kindle. From classics like Dracula and The Island of Doctor Moreau to newer books like the previously mentioned The Lost Hero or I Am Number Four (I'm still hooked on teen fiction). I've got 47 books on my Kindle already, which includes the free ESV Study Bible I got off Amazon.

I've been able to clean up my book collection too. One of my favorite pastors, John Piper, has written a ton of books, most of which I have. But they take up A LOT of shelf space. I was pleasantly surprised to see that 99% of his books are available in PDF, for free, on his website. So I stocked up and am getting rid of my physical books (Amazon takes the Piper books for trade in credit!).

So yeah, I love my Kindle. I think if I had an iPad, while it would be fun I'm sure, I wouldn't do much reading on it. Probably lots of Angry Birds or something else of a time wasting nature. At least with the Kindle I'm doing more of what I want to do anyway.

[Urizen]

I suggest http://feedbooks.com for free texts. They are usually better formatted than Gutenberg.

Also, Kindle supports the mobi format, so the reason calibre is taking so long to copy books over is because its converting the files again. Go in settings and set your default output profile to Kindle.

Well played, sir. Well played.

[muddi900]

Have any of you had any luck converting PDF's? I usually end up with the converted text containing all headers, footers and dual column texts turning into single line texts and other oddities. It wouldn't be such an issue if there was 'fit-width' zoom option in portrait. There is one in landscape, but it is not ideal for holding the device.

By the way, Instapaper is awesome. If you guys read online, definitely setup kindle automatic delivery. I am also going to try RSS to kindle email setup in Calibre. Will update tomorrow.

[Abednigo]

Have any of you had any luck converting PDF's? I usually end up with the converted text containing all headers, footers and dual column texts turning into single line texts and other oddities. It wouldn't be such an issue if there was 'fit-width' zoom option in portrait. There is one in landscape, but it is not ideal for holding the device.

I'm not quite sure what you mean, but I haven't had any problem sending PDFs and reading them on my Kindle. They're just the PDF format of an existing book though so the format is just like that of the original book (ie: a favorite pastor of mine, John Piper, has most of his books in PDF on their website for free). Some of the text is kind of small but nothing that bugs me too much.

That may not be what you're asking though.

[muddi900]

Yeah, native PDF support is kinda meh. The only acceptable way to read PDF's is in landscape mode. But even that is hit and miss sometimes.

[fitbabits]

So while reading Under the Dome last night I had a kind of epiphany - no longer will my genitals be in danger if I happen to doze off while reading a book that has over one thousand pages. I now want an e-reader, please, Santa.

[Abednigo]

So while reading Under the Dome last night I had a kind of epiphany - no longer will my genitals be in danger if I happen to doze off while reading a book that has over one thousand pages. I now want an e-reader, please, Santa.

The Count of Monte Cristo. Ouch!

And it's free (public domain) in the Kindle store. :)

[muddi900]

BTW, Calibre doesn't have automated RSS delivery. It does have a feature to set up your Kindle email and send book directly through the client, using your own personal email. That made my life a whole lot easier.

[Urizen]

Have any of you had any luck converting PDF's? I usually end up with the converted text containing all headers, footers and dual column texts turning into single line texts and other oddities. It wouldn't be such an issue if there was 'fit-width' zoom option in portrait. There is one in landscape, but it is not ideal for holding the device.

By the way, Instapaper is awesome. If you guys read online, definitely setup kindle automatic delivery. I am also going to try RSS to kindle email setup in Calibre. Will update tomorrow.

Like I said, ost of my PDFs come from a handful of sources, like JSTOR and other large online journal aggregators. Landscape view is the only way to do it, but for these sources it works well.

I tried converting the PDFs at first, but that cause them to balloon in size and didn't convert properly. Only the cover pages of a JSTOR doc made the conversion. The rest were often blank. And the size - oh the terible size - they went from 0.1MB to 10MB. It was a nightmare...

I need to figure out this Instapaper and Calibre RSS-esque stuff.

[muddi900]

So I just discovered the browser has an 'Article' mode, which is like the instapaper text bookmarklet. Now I just need a way to send links to it.

[fitbabits]

So while reading Under the Dome last night I had a kind of epiphany - no longer will my genitals be in danger if I happen to doze off while reading a book that has over one thousand pages. I now want an e-reader, please, Santa.

Lovely. My to-be got me a Kindle 3G for Christmas! It's so damn teeny... Shame it doesn't have a backlight, though.

[Abednigo]

Lovely. My to-be got me a Kindle 3G for Christmas! It's so damn teeny... Shame it doesn't have a backlight, though.

That's what I like about it. It's so much easier on your eyes. You can get cases with lights on them though.

My wife keeps forgetting it's not a touchscreen too and has to stop herself from navigating through the menu that way. After 20 minutes of solid time with it though she stopped touching the screen. She likes that you can get the first few chapters of any Kindle book sent to it to see if you like it or not. She's kind of hooked.

The Kindle is mine though. :)

[fitbabits]

That's what I like about it. It's so much easier on your eyes. You can get cases with lights on them though.

My wife keeps forgetting it's not a touchscreen too and has to stop herself from navigating through the menu that way. After 20 minutes of solid time with it though she stopped touching the screen. She likes that you can get the first few chapters of any Kindle book sent to it to see if you like it or not. She's kind of hooked.

The Kindle is mine though. :)

Yeah, I get that it's easier on the eyes. I've been pricing lighted cases for the Kindle and they're kind of expensive ($60). Not sure that I need it that bad...

Have you tried any of the games? I'm totally hooked on Every Word. :)

[Wilkz07]

still enjoying my kobo.

[Abednigo]

Yeah, I get that it's easier on the eyes. I've been pricing lighted cases for the Kindle and they're kind of expensive ($60). Not sure that I need it that bad...

Have you tried any of the games? I'm totally hooked on Every Word. :)

Yeah, $60 for a lighted cover is way too much. I got the $35 leather one which is very nice. I don't like reading in the dark anyway so I don't need a light.

I have Every Word, Scrabble, Blackjack and Monopoly. I've played a little Every Word and Scrabble. I'm not a huge fan of the games so far but I'm sure I'd enjoy them if I spent more time with them.

I'm still amazed at the space on this thing though. I have probably 70 books, 90% of which were free, and I still have over 3GB of free space. And that's with 17 PDFs, which I want to try and resend to it since apparently if you put "convert" in the subject line of your email it converts them to Kindle format and they look better.

[muddi900]

I have always read at night with a bedside lamp on, so I never saw the problem. Every Word is ok, but a game that deserves to be on the Kindle, with the fee 3G is Words with Friends.

[fitbabits]

still enjoying my kobo.

You should create a kobo thread, then.

[muddi900]

I think this should be a unified ereader thread. More people should share tips and tricks.

Also, Amazon PDF conversion is worse than local conversion through calibre.

[Abednigo]

I think this should be a unified ereader thread. More people should share tips and tricks.



The thread title kind of limits that idea though. ;)

[fitbabits]

I think this should be a unified ereader thread. More people should share tips and tricks.

Also, Amazon PDF conversion is worse than local conversion through calibre.

The thread title kind of limits that idea though. ;)

What Abe said.

[muddi900]

So I request a change of title...

[fitbabits]

Yeah, $60 for a lighted cover is way too much. I got the $35 leather one which is very nice. I don't like reading in the dark anyway so I don't need a light.

I have Every Word, Scrabble, Blackjack and Monopoly. I've played a little Every Word and Scrabble. I'm not a huge fan of the games so far but I'm sure I'd enjoy them if I spent more time with them.

I'm still amazed at the space on this thing though. I have probably 70 books, 90% of which were free, and I still have over 3GB of free space. And that's with 17 PDFs, which I want to try and resend to it since apparently if you put "convert" in the subject line of your email it converts them to Kindle format and they look better.

I may get a head lamp! There's an idea.

I'm loving my Kindle. It's everything I hoped it would be, plus some.

[Abednigo]

I may get a head lamp! There's an idea.

I'm loving my Kindle. It's everything I hoped it would be, plus some.

I was surprised how much I liked mine. After I played around with my father-in-law's 2nd generation Kindle I thought it was very cool. I had the mindset of, "I would probably really like a Kindle". I really couldn't have predicted how much I ended up liking it though.

[fitbabits]

I was surprised how much I liked mine. After I played around with my father-in-law's 2nd generation Kindle I thought it was very cool. I had the mindset of, "I would probably really like a Kindle". I really couldn't have predicted how much I ended up liking it though.

Yeah. It's weird how my own mindset has changed on the Kindle over time. I was not at all interested when it was first released, then I was a little interested when the second generation was released, and was even more so when the current generation was released.

It hit me (literally) when I was reading Under the Dome (1100-plus pages) that portability, etc. was a real selling point for e-readers. I expressed this in an off-hand way to my fiancé and it apparently sunk in.

Will it replace paper books for me? Not a chance. However, it's a great supplemental solution.

[Abednigo]

Yeah. It's weird how my own mindset has changed on the Kindle over time. I was not at all interested when it was first released, then I was a little interested when the second generation was released, and was even more so when the current generation was released.

It hit me (literally) when I was reading Under the Dome (1100-plus pages) that portability, etc. was a real selling point for e-readers. I expressed this in an off-hand way to my fiancé and it apparently sunk in.

Will it replace paper books for me? Not a chance. However, it's a great supplemental solution.

You sound exactly like me. I was of the mindset when e-readers first hit the market that they were stupid and "give me an old fashion book!!" But while at the beach for two weeks this past summer, after I had run out of books to read (my wife and I pack a separate bag for our books, usually about 30), I started to consider how awesome it would be to have all my favorite series of books on one device (I may have said all this in a previous post). My father-in-law had Lord of the Rings on his and I imagined how easier it would be to have that, all 7 Narnia books, Harry Potter (come on Rowling, make them available!), and so many others on one device. Having to haul all those thousands of pages is just not realistic. I may not want to read them at the beach, but sometimes the mood might strike me for The Last Battle (the last Narnia book) or to start LotR again. I don't want to haul them all the way down there on the off chance I MIGHT want to read them.

But for me my Kindle has mostly replaced actual books. There are still books I want to own the physical copy (like my recent purchase of A.S. Peterson's Fiddler's Green, which you should all get, along with book 1, The Fiddler's Gun, where the Kindle version is only 2.99!! ;)). But I digress....where was I?

Oh yeah, physical books. Some books I just want to have on my shelf. I have Narnia, LotR, Harry Potter, etc., and I love seeing them on our bookshelves (we have over 500 books). But some of my favorite I want portable. And some books I don't care either way, so I usually go with the Kindle version (which is sometimes cheaper anyway).

Regarding Fiddler's Gun, seriously, if you like fiction at all, grab the Kindle version. You can't beat 2.99 for a most excellent book. For a first time author it's absolutely brilliant. It's about an orphan girl in Savannah, GA who ends up on the run from British soldiers after an incident and winds up on a pirate ship. Book 2, Fiddler's Green (Peterson's 2nd book), is even better, which surprised me since Gun was so great.

Speaking of which, maybe we should start an e-book thread for great books we've read and/or great deals on great books we've found.

[fitbabits]

You sound exactly like me. I was of the mindset when e-readers first hit the market that they were stupid and "give me an old fashion book!!" But while at the beach for two weeks this past summer, after I had run out of books to read (my wife and I pack a separate bag for our books, usually about 30), I started to consider how awesome it would be to have all my favorite series of books on one device (I may have said all this in a previous post). My father-in-law had Lord of the Rings on his and I imagined how easier it would be to have that, all 7 Narnia books, Harry Potter (come on Rowling, make them available!), and so many others on one device. Having to haul all those thousands of pages is just not realistic. I may not want to read them at the beach, but sometimes the mood might strike me for The Last Battle (the last Narnia book) or to start LotR again. I don't want to haul them all the way down there on the off chance I MIGHT want to read them.

But for me my Kindle has mostly replaced actual books. There are still books I want to own the physical copy (like my recent purchase of A.S. Peterson's Fiddler's Green, which you should all get, along with book 1, The Fiddler's Gun, where the Kindle version is only 2.99!! ;)). But I digress....where was I?

Oh yeah, physical books. Some books I just want to have on my shelf. I have Narnia, LotR, Harry Potter, etc., and I love seeing them on our bookshelves (we have over 500 books). But some of my favorite I want portable. And some books I don't care either way, so I usually go with the Kindle version (which is sometimes cheaper anyway).

Regarding Fiddler's Gun, seriously, if you like fiction at all, grab the Kindle version. You can't beat 2.99 for a most excellent book. Speaking of which, maybe we should start an e-book thread for great books we've read and/or great deals on great books we've found.
When I was married we used to have tons and tons of books, but they kind of went the way of many things when we got divorced. For shame...

Fiddler's Gun = purchased and sent wirelessly to my Kindle.

[Abednigo]

When I was married we used to have tons and tons of books, but they kind of went the way of many things when we got divorced. For shame...

Fiddler's Gun = purchased and sent wirelessly to my Kindle.

Cool! I don't know what kind of books you like, but if you're anything like me you can't pass up a good book for 2.99 if someone you know (even a little) says they liked it. Let me know what you think.

I created a thread for e-book deals and put Fiddler's Gun as my first recommendation. Print copies of Fiddler's Gun are sold out period (even with the author), but he's working on a 2nd printing. They were both independently published.

[Grifter]

Grabbed myself a Kindle for Christmas and I couldn't be happier with it. I thought I would miss having the actual book but that hasn't been the case at all, I actual think I prefer reading on the Kindle as apposed to a paper back. Thanks to the Kindle I'm finally getting around to reading A Storm of Swords and plan on downloading all the books I've been meaning to read over the last couple of years but never got around to.

[Abednigo]

Grabbed myself a Kindle for Christmas and I couldn't be happier with it. I thought I would miss having the actual book but that hasn't been the case at all, I actual think I prefer reading on the Kindle as apposed to a paper back. Thanks to the Kindle I'm finally getting around to reading A Storm of Swords and plan on downloading all the books I've been meaning to read over the last couple of years but never got around to.

A friend recommended that series to me. It's on my wish list. I have to make a conscious effort to not just buy all these books people recommend. I'm already afraid I'll forget some I have on my Kindle already. It's hard to lose a book in a virtual stack of 70+ books! :)

[muddi900]

Kindle has ruined reading for me. I am tapping words in newspapers now expecting instantaneous definition

[Sandman]

I fucking love this thing. I need a lighted case though but I think this is how I will be reading novels from now on. The device really does just disappear as you are reading. Page turning is fast enough that I don't have to pause while reading as it goes. It's just awesome.

[Clark]

I bought the 3G for Christmas. She is loving the hell out of it. Has used it every day since.

I splurged on the lighted case, it works quite well and draws power from the Kindle.

Now I really want my own....

[muddi900]

There are issues with the free books though...

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo299/muddi900/b17936c9.jpg

Screen taken form the iphone, but its just as bad on the kindle.

[Jason]

Bought one for my mom for her birthday. She likes it better than the Kindle 2 I had given her the other year for Christmas. I like how the screen is brighter and pages do turn much quicker. Might have to pick one up for myself soon.