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[Stephquiem]

I just bought a Kindle a few weeks ago. Aside from being in that honeymoon stage of new gadgetry, wherein I still believe my new shiny toy can do no wrong, it's really nice to be able to buy books without having to wonder where I'm ever going to put all of them. Also it's slightly more protected from my moments of idiocy than a book would be--if I break the thing, or leave it some place, I've still got all my books on my computer.

Now. If only I could get the books I already own in ebook form without having to rebuy them. But that more falls under "hopelessly illogical dreams I have."

[nekowafer]

Yeah, that would be nice. I'd feel a little strange carrying around a regular book now that I have my Nook.. so if I could just get the whole Song of Ice and Fire series on there then I'd be set.

[Elysiana]

I have no qualms whatsoever about procuring e-books for free if I have already bought the paper version.

But then, I have no qualms about doing this with books I have NOT bought.

I'm not really a qualm kind of gal.

[J]

*cough*demonoid*cough*

[nekowafer]

Or pirate bay.. or you know, other things. I've only gotten one series like that but kind of want to get more once I run out of stuff to read. Which will take some time 'cause I have something like 500 books right now.

[IrrationalPie]

There was a download with 1000 fantasy books that I 'obtained'. 

It has everything I could ever possibly think of reading in the genre (with one or two newer exceptions).

Still waiting on my Dance of Dragons . . .

[Stephquiem]

Considering the amount of time I've spent downloading music, you'd think it would have occurred to do this with books. A bit slow on the uptake I am.

Speaking of being slow, another reason I like my Kindle: Internet. Internet. Internet. Because I'm one of those woefully behind the times people who still don't have a smart phone, and therefore being able to access the internet from anywhere is still a novel idea to me.

[Toba]

Yeah, I haven't pirated any books... (well, yet) but I wouldn't have any qualms with downloading a book I already have a paper version of.  Not that I probably will, since I generally don't get bothered by carrying a few paper books around.

On the 'books and music are the same so go forth and pirate' angle - I don't quite agree.  I'll try to explain that.  I have (and will continue to) go to shows of bands whose music I download. There aren't so many events along those lines for book authors, and I don't think I would enjoy most of them - so I'm unlikely to become an alternate source of income other than from pure royalties/sales.

What does everyone else think?

[Ikrik]

I have the same philosophy when it comes to movies, books, and music.  If I download something and really enjoy it, I will go out and buy it.  The fact that  I can download movies has not prevented me from buying DVD's, what it has done is given me the opportunity to make my DVD collection much more refined and awesome.  I am treating books the same way.  If I download a book, read it and love it, then I will go and buy it.  If I download music from a band and I really enjoy them, if they come to my town I will buy a ticket and see them. 

[tender]

What does everyone else think?

I don't know how anyone could honestly justify not downloading one while downloading another.

"I do pirate a lot of music, but I don't pirate books! No sir, I think there's something wrong with that."

[Elysiana]

If I know I will read a book again and again, I generally go buy it, especially with classics or favorite authors. My relatives like giving me gift cards so that helps.

Cheap thrillers though? I'm so freaking sick of buying them for $10. I don't get that much enjoyment out of them, they're just "something to read". Our library doesn't have a very big selection, so that's kind of not a viable option.

If I bought every book I ever read, I'd be broke. Flat broke. I've already spent several thousand dollars on the books I do have, and I don't make enough to even justify that.

[Jeans]

I pirate the fuck out of books and music but like, it's not that hard to imagine a hypothetical argument on how the two are different? Publishers and record labels are very different creatures, and artists and authors are in vastly different situations - for instance, like Nick Toba pointed out, touring/band merch is a thing a band can cash in a lot more on that they can records whereas an author doesn't really have anything similar.

[Toba]

What does everyone else think?

I don't know how anyone could honestly justify not downloading one while downloading another.

"I do pirate a lot of music, but I don't pirate books! No sir, I think there's something wrong with that."

Ah, a very solid and thoughtful counterpoint to my general rule that I follow personally. Well said!

[imagist42]

I pirate the fuck out of books and music but like, it's not that hard to imagine a hypothetical argument on how the two are different? Publishers and record labels are very different creatures, and artists and authors are in vastly different situations - for instance, like Nick pointed out, touring/band merch is a thing a band can cash in a lot more on that they can records whereas an author doesn't really have anything similar.

oh come on you know those fuckers are making billions off of book signings, they're just rolling in it

[nekowafer]

I usually only get older books anyway.. books that, if I were buying the physical version, would be free (from the book thing) or insanely cheap at some yard sale.

The only thing I miss about getting books from yard sales is the interesting things left in them. My boyfriend was reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower the other day and found an old (1992) Amtrak ticket from NY to MD and a dentist's business card.

That and the musty smell are lost with e-books. Though I do love the plastic-y smell of new gadgets.

[schimmy]

Publishers and record labels are very different creatures

I'll be darned if I can remember where I read it, but I distinctly remember reading an article written by a professional author which explained that, actually, publishers and record labels operate in practically identical ways.
Come to think of it, I probably found the article on these forums somewhere. Anyone know where it might be?

Your overall point is pretty spot on, though.

[Stephquiem]

Cheap thrillers though? I'm so freaking sick of buying them for $10. I don't get that much enjoyment out of them, they're just "something to read". Our library doesn't have a very big selection, so that's kind of not a viable option.

Not that you want to, but if you did want to buy them, trade paperbacks are your friends. I don't spend more than $8 or $9 on those things, often less. Granted, it's been a while since I've spent money on them.

[Elysiana]

I'm not sure I know what the difference is between the paperbacks I get and trade paperbacks? Are they different somehow? Even at that price, though, with the way I devour books it's still not worth it to me. If I were to buy them as fast as I read them, at $5 a pop I'd be spending $15 a week.

I do love a good book sale at the library, or finding a bunch of books at a yard sale. I picked up about a dozen books for $3 at a yard sale once, and even though maybe 4 of the books were actually worth reading a second time... hey, it was only $3. It's so hit-or-miss though.

[Stephquiem]

Sorry, I just double-checked, and I got the term wrong. I meant Mass-market paperbacks. Though, from what you're saying, it doesn't really matter with the number of books you'd be buying.

[Elysiana]

I think either way, they're basically the same thing as what I'm already getting - the stuff you find in the "current best-sellers" section of Walmart. Like, every once in a while I'll pick up the latest Michael Connelly book or whatever, but the cheapest they seem to sell them for anymore is maybe $8, and usually it's $10. I remember maybe a decade ago they were only $4.99 apiece.

I just need a good fluff piece every once in a while, but I think the fluff is overpriced. I hate to say it, but... I'd rather download it for free. I don't want shelves and shelves of the things, I'd run out of shelves fast haha.

[Stephquiem]

Okay, I'm either misremembering, or have got wishful thinking about the price. Actually, now I'm thinking about it, and I'm pretty sure I was full of it when I wrote that post, so nevermind.

I always wish that book prices were based on quality. I'll happily shell out extra money to get a fancy copy of some book that I love, or for a hardcover by one of my favorite authors. But... those fluffy books made up most of what I read for years. And now that I'm trying to scale down my book collection, those take up 80% of the books that'll be going to charity. Big waste of money on books that really aren't worth it.

[tender]

On the 'books and music are the same so go forth and pirate' angle - I don't quite agree. I'll try to explain that. I have (and will continue to) go to shows of bands whose music I download. There aren't so many events along those lines for book authors, and I don't think I would enjoy most of them - so I'm unlikely to become an alternate source of income other than from pure royalties/sales.

Why would being an alternate source of income from pure royalties/sales matter? Just because you can't go to a book concert after downloading doesn't mean you can't buy the book or support the author in some other fashion. If the most important thing is to give back to the artists you download, the music-but-not-books distinction seems capricious at best.

[imagist42]

Pretty sure that argument was against pirating books.

[tender]

Nope.



edit:

Not Gaiman's argument, Toba's.

I know that, which is why I responded.

"Hello forum! Here is my opinion. What does everyone else think?"
"I disagree with you."
"Nice short reply. Emoticon goes here."
"Okay, let me elaborate."

[imagist42]

Not Gaiman's argument, Toba's.

[Ozymandias]

Nope.

Interesting aside:

Soon after getting my Kindle I downloaded a massive pile of books off of a less than legitimate source.

The first book I ever read on my Kindle?

American Gods.

The reason it was the first one?

American Gods was the last physical book I had bought to read for my own enjoyment and just hadn't gotten around to it.

No, that doesn't make a lot of sense. But I really enjoyed it.

ALso, I'm glad every day that I did that because I keep finding books in that pile that I enjoy.

[horsefish]

Now. If only I could get the books I already own in ebook form without having to rebuy them. But that more falls under "hopelessly illogical dreams I have."

This.  My wife just got a kindle recently.  She has about 15 titles on it so far.  We have about 2000 books in our house apartment (both librarians - occupational hazard).  I like being surrounded by them; it makes me feel cozy, but if we could magically zap most of them into the kindle, our next move would be soooo much easier.  Last move: 47 boxes of books

*EDIT* "just...recently?"  I need to report myself to the department of redundancy department.
Also, I'd really only wish for that if I could magically zap them back on to the shelf after the move.  Actually just zap the whole move.  And zap some new shelves from IKEA without having to drive to Atlanta. 

[jhocking]

If e-readers existed when I was in highschool I would have carried around the entire Robotech series, and probably Dragonlance too.

[Metope]

Hi guys, I just want to show off my sweet Kindle case:




I got the case from a secondhand store at some point last year, and till now I used it to keep sketchbooks in. Not long ago I found out that my Kindle fits perfectly in it, so now I have my Kindle, a moleskine, pen, reading light and a year planner all in one place, it's so good!

(That's it, I just wanted to show off, continue whatever you were talking about now)

[Toba]

I noticed yesterday my kindle has a small scratch on the screen. I definitely need a case

[Ikrik]

Showed my mother Gutenberg last week.  She has emailed me at least 20 times telling me the books that she's downloaded off of it. On the one hand, she gets her Russian literature and on the other my mother has the NEED to let me know about it. 

I've also noticed how much easier it is for me to read multiple books at a time. I had an incredibly hard time doing this with paperbacks but with the kindle I currently have 3 books that I'm reading right now.  It's quite awesome.

[Barmymoo]

I got the wifi, non-3G version and am having trouble using the web browser - as in, it just doesn't work (keep getting errors to do with lack of security certificates). Is this a common problem?

[Toba]

I'm not sure Barmymoo, it has always worked OK for me. Are you using https sites or just http ones?

[Barmymoo]

HTTPS seems to be the main issue but both - Amazon itself, yahoo, facebook are the ones i've tried so far.

[Toba]

Huh. I never thought to use mine as a way to access anything that even required authentication to read - as I use my Kindle to read things. It seemed to scale badly to 'heavy web apps' such as facebook the one time I did try to log into my facebook account.  Perhaps I should have used mobile facebook - that would probably have worked much better.

As a note to people in general: the Kindle web browser isn't hardcore enough to do much of anything but browse relatively simple web pages, in my experience.

[nekowafer]

Same goes for the nook browser.

[horsefish]

soooo... I just got a kindle as an early birthday present.  The library where I work is going to start carrying e-books.  Yay, right?  I was in a conference call with the sales guy from the unnamed ebook vendor (which is pretty much the only game in town for libraries and popular e-books) - the ebooks they carry work with practically every platform known to man....
EXCEPT KINDLE

I know amazon is evil, blah, blah, but it's still annoying.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

yeah, that was the main thing that really put off from getting a Kindle (before I actually got one) but then I realized that I don't even know where a freaking library is in my area, and plus....FREE 3G FOREVER DUH.

so yeah...it's super lame, but considering how completely awesome my Kindle is, it's not a huge deal. It might be a deal-breaker for other people (regular library patrons, for example), but to me it's pretty much just a disappointing footnote.

[Elysiana]

Isn't it possible to just convert the files into something usable? I was sure someone posted a link to a program that does that (kind of having a shitty night, I will let someone else do that legwork).

[nekowafer]

Calibre can probably convert files to a Kindle-usable format, but you can't convert any files that have DRM. I'm assuming that library books have that. It's why I love my Nook

[Yunior]

I haven't really ever considered getting any sort of e-reader, but -- for whatever reason, I find myself very curious about it lately -- can you write in the margins somehow? Or is there some way to take notes?

[Barmymoo]

The Kindle has a note-taking tool, rather like adding a note in a Word document I think although I haven't used it yet.

Guys, I am kind of regretting not getting the 3G model now, as many of you suggested I would. Do you happen to know if there is a way to upgrade or would I have to buy a new one?

[Elysiana]

I don't *think* there's a way to upgrade but they seem to be pretty resellable so you might be able to recoup some of the cost.

[KvP]

My technophile dad just gave me his old Nook! He just got a Kindle.

[Ikrik]

So, my kindle broke. Sort of.  It kept resetting every single time I turned it off and then on again.  And would let me browse about two or three pages before locking up.  Reset the entire thing (to factory settings) and then upgraded the firmware.  Working perfectly now.

Another con of the kindle, hopefully we haven't discussed this before.  These e-readers, they have problems, they are not perfect.  They can/will break and you won't be able to access what you want to read.  I had to go for a few hours without any entertainment because my ability to read was impaired.  Books do not have that problem.

[Toba]

Books run out of pages and then poor you didn't bring another one.  I think this happens more often than ereaders kick off and stop working.

[Ikrik]

Yeah, but your book running out of pages is a) forseeable, and 2) easily remedied by having another book. 

A piece of technology not working properly means that you lose access to everything and it can be quite difficult to fix.  Potentially I might have had to send in to Amazon for a replacement.

[Toba]

I accept the risks for the benefits.  They're worth considering when deciding whether to get an e-reader, though.

[Ikrik]

For sure, I just wish I had fully realized that when I was making the decision.

Still the best purchase I've made this year.  It was also in sleep mode for three days and there was no change in battery life, again I am astounded with this device. 

[Scandanavian War Machine]

it's pretty amazing how they can just sit there, holding an image on the screen, without actually using any power.

i was amazed when i peeled the plastic instructions sticker off the screen only to realize that it was 100% clear and the instructions were being displayed on the screen...in the box...just waiting.

i was like