I move quite often. At least five times a decade. As a result I became kind of a book-o-phobic.
Because the only thing that's worse than carrying your washing machine is shlepping your very own library around.
So I found my self giving away my books as soon as an opportunity presented its self (mind you I'm too lazy for ebaying and too cultured for throwing them away) or trying not to buy them in the first place.
Now, I've been interested in that Kindle thingus for a while now. Looks practical. Easy. Light.
But does it really work that well in all day usage? is the contrast satisfying? Does black on grey really cut it? Does the battery hold long enough?
' Wrote:I move quite often. At least five times a decade. As a result I became kind of a book-o-phobic.
Because the only thing that's worse than carrying your washing machine is shlepping your very own library around.
So I found my self giving away my books as soon as an opportunity presented its self (mind you I'm too lazy for ebaying and too cultured for throwing them away) or trying not to buy them in the first place.
Now, I've been interested in that Kindle thingus for a while now. Looks practical. Easy. Light.
But does it really work that well in all day usage? is the contrast satisfying? Does black on grey really cut it? Does the battery hold long enough?
Please share your experiences.
I got one for Christmas last year, and I love it. I have thirty-something full-length novels on there, plus a few 100-year old issues of Popular Mechanics for giggles, and have barely taken any of its space. The battery lasts a few weeks for me, except under very heavy use (two hundred pages a day or so), but even then it's good for nearly a week.
It is very light, and has proven pretty durable. I've used it for three hours straight in a waiting room with minimal power loss and no eye strain. It only uses power when the image on the screen changes (page change, or when it goes to standby mode), so it's the number of pages you read that determines how long the battery lasts. If you're a slow reader, it will last longer.
As for the contrast, I've used it in every lighting situation...from the full daylight of a Texas summer, to nighttime, illuminated only by the dregs of light from the headlamps of the vehicle waiting behind me at a train crossing. In no situation has it disappointed. The only bad thing is that when it gets cold (below freezing), the screen is slow to change, and sometimes goofs up and won't change at all until you reset the device or warm it up a bit. No amount of heat has seemed to harm it, though; even in my car in the midday summer heat, seems to be no trouble at all.
Also, many classics are free or nearly so. The original Bram Stoker's Dracula, Time Machine by H.G. Wells, that sort of thing. You can also download programs online - I use Calibre - that can convert rich text (and pdf, and a few others) into "mobi" format, which the Kindle can use. It does result in a few "added errors" (typos where none were previously), but it's pretty cool to be able to pull text from anywhere and put it on the Kindle. I've taken story and RP threads from various sources, copied them to OpenOffice, saved as .rtf, converted and uploaded.
I've got the whole Honor Harrington series by David Weber on there now, minus the newest one (that's 17 novels right there), a dozen or so other books from the Baen Free Library, and am working on getting most of the other books I love in Kindle format. (mainly my extensive Anne McCaffrey stuff). Most recent addition was Red Storm Rising...have it in paperback, but it's thirty years old and well-worn (read: falling apart XD).
It is a good investment if you read a lot, I like Kindle's Display -even in the really sunny days outside it works perfect. The only drawback is the price, I have not my own but I used one for a while. I haven't tested any other reader modes except Kindle but I really liked it. So from a guy who reads around 3-5 books per month when I have the time for it of course- yes go for it if the price dont bug you. My experience is with V2, as it seems there is V3 on the market and it looks really promising.
(10-09-2013, 10:51 AM)Knjaz Wrote: Official faction players that are often accused of elitism, never deploy them and have those weird, immersion killing "fair fight/dueling" suicidal hobbies. (yes, i've seen enough of those lolduels, where house military with overwhelming force on the field willingly loses a pilot in a duel. ffs.)
' Wrote:I got one for Christmas last year, and I love it. I have thirty-something full-length novels on there, plus a few 100-year old issues of Popular Mechanics for giggles, and have barely taken any of its space. The battery lasts a few weeks for me, except under very heavy use (two hundred pages a day or so), but even then it's good for nearly a week.
It is very light, and has proven pretty durable. I've used it for three hours straight in a waiting room with minimal power loss and no eye strain. It only uses power when the image on the screen changes (page change, or when it goes to standby mode), so it's the number of pages you read that determines how long the battery lasts. If you're a slow reader, it will last longer.
As for the contrast, I've used it in every lighting situation...from the full daylight of a Texas summer, to nighttime, illuminated only by the dregs of light from the headlamps of the vehicle waiting behind me at a train crossing. In no situation has it disappointed. The only bad thing is that when it gets cold (below freezing), the screen is slow to change, and sometimes goofs up and won't change at all until you reset the device or warm it up a bit. No amount of heat has seemed to harm it, though; even in my car in the midday summer heat, seems to be no trouble at all.
Also, many classics are free or nearly so. The original Bram Stoker's Dracula, Time Machine by H.G. Wells, that sort of thing. You can also download programs online - I use Calibre - that can convert rich text (and pdf, and a few others) into "mobi" format, which the Kindle can use. It does result in a few "added errors" (typos where none were previously), but it's pretty cool to be able to pull text from anywhere and put it on the Kindle. I've taken story and RP threads from various sources, copied them to OpenOffice, saved as .rtf, converted and uploaded.
I've got the whole Honor Harrington series by David Weber on there now, minus the newest one (that's 17 novels right there), a dozen or so other books from the Baen Free Library, and am working on getting most of the other books I love in Kindle format. (mainly my extensive Anne McCaffrey stuff). Most recent addition was Red Storm Rising...have it in paperback, but it's thirty years old and well-worn (read: falling apart XD).
TL;DR = Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Recommended.:P
' Wrote:It is a good investment if you read a lot, I like Kindle's Display -even in the really sunny days outside it works perfect. The only drawback is the price, I have not my own but I used one for a while. I haven't tested any other reader modes except Kindle but I really liked it. So from a guy who reads around 3-5 books per month when I have the time for it of course- yes go for it if the price dont bug you. My experience is with V2, as it seems there is V3 on the market and it looks really promising.
hey guys, thank you very much for your extensive feedback!:)
Yes, the price does indeed seem like a lot on first glimpse but in the long run, it should get the pennies of the books that I didn't need to buy back in pretty quickly.