Amph The IPad, Kindle and the possible impact on Print Media

I never looked at my nook as a way to replace the hard copies. I look at all the books I don't have and when they will be on my nook. I've only replace one so far cause it was in a series.

 

...Okay, so my Nook/epub combo cracked a two-by-four across the Kindle/mobi team tonight.

I found out tonight that calibre, the free epub converter program, can convert .cbz/.cbr files to epub. .Cbr/.cbz files are the e-version of comics; as I have a pretty hefty collection of .CBRs, this is indubitably awesome, as I can now read comics wherever I go.

.Mobi is really, really striking me as a pessimistic attempt by Amazon to crowd out competition at this point; .epub is the universal standard for ebooks at this point-and the Kindle is not compatible with it.The Kindle is compatible with .amz, .mobi, and .aa ( a music format that I've only found on the AmazonMP3 player).

I'd be willing to call the Nook a superior device at this point. The only actual money you have to pay is for the device itself; it's compatible with the universal .epub standard and MP3/4. And with calibre...yeah, Kindle is a fail, and a blatantly money-grubbing fail at that.

 

Well, of course Amazon's trying to crowd out the competitiom

Jill - do you still take your old paper copies around with you?

 

There's a difference between fair competition (which would be the case if the Nook and Kindle were more or less analogous with slight differences in features) and blatant attempts at a monopoly.

 

can calibre convert .cbz files to mobi? doubtful I would ever read comics on the black and white screen anyway.

 

Well, yeah - but why are you surprised? After what Amazon pulled last winter (literally pulled - as in, all Macmillon titles, and without warning), I don't really see them as interested in playing fair.

 

Do all e-ink readers do that colour inversion thing when you change the page? Was playing with a kobo eReader at Borders earlier and it did that every single time, which is annoying..

 

I really have no idea; I suppose I could try, but I have nothing that reads mobi.

I was abit skeptical about comics in black & white myself, but I rather like it.


And Xan-color inversion? Not really sure what you mean.

 

Like when you flip a page on the kobo eReader, the entire screen goes from black-text-on-white-background to white-text-on-black-background for a second, flickers a bit, and only then loads the new page. I can see that being really annoying, but it's also the sort of thing that would show up in reviews if it wasn't some kind of inherent flaw of e-ink to begin with...?

 

Oh, yeah, mine does it too. I just ignore it; it's pretty quick on the Nook.

 

Honestly, I don't get why you would want to read books on an electronic device.

With comics, I can understand. But books?
I guess I'm a little old fashioned but there's nothing like a real book, with real pages to hold in your hands while you dive into the book.

And plus, it just looks nicer when you actually own a bookshelf filled with books, imo.

I played around with the Sony ebook reader at my local bookstore and beside the fact that it cost almost 300 Euros, it's just so uncomfortable to read.

I can imagine it would be very helpful when you're still a student but for the average reader who just reads book for fun?

I'll stick with the real books.

 

Huh. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on the Nook or other models, then. The kobo does it so slowly it's distracting and annoying.

I can go through a novel every couple of days if I have a steady supply of them, so I can definitely see the space-saving advantages of an eBook reader. If only they didn't cost so much.

 

I think overall, I prefer reading physical books. But it's far, far more convenient to carry around one device that can store 1,000 books, that has a built-in dictionary, highlighting/note-taking ability, and wireless internet.

The Kindle at least is quite light, and once I got used to the process, I'm now totally comfortable with it.

It's also cheaper than buying books, and my (physical) library is already filled. Filled enough that I have to either go the Kindle route, or start to get rid of some of my books, which I can't bear to do, since I usually re-read them.

 

How much does the average e-book cost?

 

It seems like I've paid anywhere from $5-$7, so about the cost of a small paperback...even when there's just a hardcover version out and no paperback yet, the e-book version of something tends to be cheaper by a few dollars.

 

That's pretty good - I think the last book I bought was $8.50, so it's an improvement.

 

I think the Malazan books I've purchased recently from Amazon have been $9 or $10.

 

Yeah, the list price on B&N for an ebook is typically around 10 bucks.

That's not "old fashoned"; that's just years of habit.


And...Sony? Let us know when you play with something that isn't guaranteed from the factory to suck.

 

I have found that I download the ebook rather than carry around the paper copy. Unless I teach it in class. I have a copy ToKill A mockingbird that I have with me. I can't write in an ebook and make notes so the real thing has to do.

Once again, I used to think like you, you paper copy enthusiasts. But once I began reading three books at once with my nook, well that's all it took.

 

You totally spelled my name wrong, just so you know.

Years of habit...maybe a little. But there's nothing like walking into a room with shelves filled with books.

And yep, Sony. Pretty big over here. You walk into each and every bookstore and you see that Sony ebook reader thing standing in a corner to play around with.
*shrugs*

 

That's just some kind of secret conspiracy to keep German book-readers downtrodden and angry all the time.

 

I have to agree with Ceillean. I understand why its convenient for students or someone who is always traveling, but for the average person, it doesn't seem worth the cost. I've read several pieces on my iPod and I prefer the actual book.

The only real benefits I can see is that you can get the book quickly and there's always a light.

 

To be fair, FG, reading on a dedicated Ebook reader isn't anything like reading on an Ipod or Ipod Touch. For one thing, the screen looks and reads like paper . For another, screen size is roughly page size, so that's more or less the same as well. Additionally, the "it's more expensive" part isn't true. Ebook readers are in a general price plunge as the market for them grows; Amazon just released a version of the Kindle for 139 dollars, and the Nook is at 150. Now, let's take a series a fair number of people are going to buy (or any six hardcover novels, for that matter, with the usual market price of 25-30 bucks per book): The all-hardcover FOTJ series, which is going to be a combined investment of oh, 150 dollars or so. Now you can buy these six books, or an Ebook reader, and either continue to pay for books at their usual prices (which are getting higher all the time) or pay for Ebooks at a stable price of usually around 10 dollars for whatever it is you're going to buy. So yes, "real" reading is actually more expensive over time.

Donno if this really applies to anyone else, but my reading has increased massively since I bought my Nook. I used to read voraciously when I was a child and teenager, which habit gradually died as I got older.

This is what I've read since buying my Nook a month ago:


The Hedge Knight
American Gods
Blade Of Tyshalle
Blasphemy
Caine Black Knife
Heroes Die
Children Of Men
Congo
I Am Legend
Impact
Jurassic Park
Watchers
The Ice Limit
The Lost World
Tyrannosaur Canyon
The Zombie Survival Guide

 

Which is why I stopped buying SW books

Though at a standard $10, that's still bumping the paperback prices.

 

About the slightly higher cost vs. a paperback-paperbacks fail, too, because of durability. Let's say you buy a whopper in PB, like It, with a page count of around 1500 pages (somewhere in there, anyway). If your like me, that copy is gonna be in pieces before a few years is out. A hardcover is the obvious choice here, but then you're going to be paying 15 to 20 bucks more than the epub equivalent.

Epubs are a great balancer between high prices and lack of durability.