new kindle e-reader

[sted]

Just found a nice free bit of software for converting pdfs to ebooks, which makes them more kindle friendly.

 

Mobipocket eBook Creator

 

well the book i have as a pdf seemed to convert ok on the on-screen reader just waiting now for my kindle but atm still don't even have a shipping date i think it said 7th September ish when i ordered so hopefully not too much longer

[tom_newton]

Well I ordered mine 3 weeks ago (9th Aug) and I got a shipping date similar to yours sted... 7th I think?

Still no update form amazon... **impatient**

[sted]

Well I ordered mine 3 weeks ago (9th Aug) and I got a shipping date similar to yours sted... 7th I think?

Still no update form amazon... **impatient**

 

yup im tempted to look at getting an android tablet and putting the kindle app on that

[pete]

Kindle arrived today. My goodness the screen is crisp - after reading ebooks on an iPhone, T3, Visor for years, this is bloody awesome.

 

edit: to eject it (in Win7 64bit at least) and have the screen become usable while charging, eject it by right-clicking it in explorer rather than using the taskbar eject. The Kindle stays in USB mode if you eject via the taskbar.

Edited September 6, 2010 by pete

[mattx]

Kindle arrived today. My goodness the screen is crisp - after reading ebooks on an iPhone, T3, Visor for years, this is bloody awesome.

 

Let us know when you get around the DRM aspect - I may get one then.

[tom_newton]

OK, had mine 5 days.. initial report:

* screen is truly amazing

* ergonomics "nice"

* battery life seems fantastic

 

On the other hand:

* could be more flexible - there's very few settings you can change

* browsing amazon for books is a painful experience, you always get left with a "bucket" of 1000s of books, of which it is possible to see a few uninteresting ends. Especially bad if you share your amazon account with a wife who likes different books to you, as it sends the reccomendations haywire

* ebooks are still too pricey

* should come with a slip-case

[maark]

Had mine a week:

Screen and text really nice and clear.

Very light and ergonomic.

Battery life great.

Takes 60 seconds or less to get a book off amazon - there 4700 free classics alone on there - if you on in to classics then worth buying just for that e.g. dickens, sherlock holmes, joseph conrad - have got 80 books on already not bought one yet.

Downloaded a few from project gutenburg - they have loads in kindle/mobi format.

Not tried newspapers/pdfs yet.

Only downside i find is that there are no illustrations in the books though it is obviously capable of good images - pehaps will be addressed as more are converted.

Edited September 7, 2010 by maark

[tom_newton]

I have read a book which had a "family tree" illustration in it - close?

 

Thinking of d/ling a travel guide for Kenya, but there's only one and it's KE/TZ, and £8

[sted]

finally got a projected date for mine 16th September though as i cheeped out and went for free delivery i expect it to be later than that

[FatBoy]

Could someone answer a question for me please...

 

The school I'm at wants to get a couple and I was thinking of getting the Wifi version but does the wifi settings allow you to put in a proxy server? otherwise I won't be able to connect it to the net!

 

Thanks

[tom_newton]

@Fatboy; I didn't see one. I'll try and remember to have a squiz tonight. Would recommend going for 3g in any case, as you might find it works with the proxy, but not NTLM, or something equally irritating. Of course the other option is to buy books at home, or tether it to your android phone

 

Managed to put a little gouge in my screen at the weekend. Dunno how. Does not spoil the reading experience, but it does annoy me on a general level

[FatBoy]

Thanks would be great if you could look for me, otherwise can you dock it with a PC and download books to a PC then sync with the kindle?

[maark]

You can connect to PC with supplied USB cable and drag and drop documents into the kindle.

[tom_newton]

Indeed - although I don't *think* there's any way to get amazon bought books on in that way, I have done it with various 3rd party ebooks.

 

I've also used amazon's email-to-kindle (obviously needs net access on kindle) when the nearest USB cable was upstairs. The lazy man's friend.

[teejay]

@Fatboy; I didn't see one. I'll try and remember to have a squiz tonight. Would recommend going for 3g in any case, as you might find it works with the proxy, but not NTLM, or something equally irritating. Of course the other option is to buy books at home, or tether it to your android phone

 

Managed to put a little gouge in my screen at the weekend. Dunno how. Does not spoil the reading experience, but it does annoy me on a general level

 

Do they put any content filtering on the 3g? Don't want the little darlings viewing things they shouldn't get access to in school, even if it is in mono ;-)

[tom_newton]

Will try out some low-speed monochrome pr0n later Edited October 18, 2010 by witch

[teejay]

Nooooo, too much detail!!!

[sted]

im 90% sure you cant hook it up to a proxy server as i thought about this.

 

What id like is for it to have an smb share thats accessible via wireless then i could use something like bullzip and turn it into a wireless paperless printer just print to a pdf file located on the kindle and bingo would possibbly save me hours of printer fixing lol

 

Has to be said its probably the best gadget ive ever bought easy to read managed to get most of my current books as pdf's / txt / word docs and being able to download trial versions of new ones is great. My only issues with it are the web browser seems to be flakey as hell everytime i use it i seem to need to reset my kindle. Would be nice if newer books were a bit cheaper but you cant have everything i now dont intend to buy any books on paper anymore its just soo much easier to throw them on my kindle

[Butuz]

Can you use the kindle as a kind of virtual notepad and possibly calendar?? If so then I think I may have to get myself one!!

 

Butuz

[tom_newton]

Hm. You can add notes to existing docs... but yeah a proper "notepad" util might be handy :-/

[Butuz]

Yeh it's a deal breaker for me - reading the odd book would be nice, but if it could also take notes etc throughout the day and possibly ideally use a calendar it would be awesomeness!!

 

Cheers

 

Butuz

[teejay]

Smartphones will do you calendar/note taking etc but they are rubbish as ebook readers compared to a Kindle. Treat the Kindle as a single use device to replace that growing pile of pulped dead trees with a device that gives you as good if not a better reading experience.

[FatBoy]

im 90% sure you cant hook it up to a proxy server as i thought about this.

 

That's a shame can anyone 100% confirm this?

 

Will try out some low-speed monochrome pr0n later

On the plus side, the device is ergonomic for one handed usage(!)

 

LMAO very funny - did you find any mono pr0n? If you can even get the slightest amount it wouldn't be suitable for the school!

[tom_newton]

Not looked for pr0n yet - but no obvious way to set a proxy on wireless.

[FatBoy]

Hi Tom,

 

Sorry to be a pain did you get a chance to get for p0rn :0S