

How I got a preview of the Kindle 3 – and totally geeked out - jerrell
http://sonictruths.net/2010/10/how-i-got-a-preview-of-the-kindle-3-and-totally-geeked-out/

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kjuhygtfrde
He read his parents books! They had been licensed for the original purchasers
use only - it's this sort of piracy that funds drug dealing and terrorism

~~~
sliverstorm
There really is _nothing_ more un-American.

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kjuhygtfrde
...queue scary advert voice ....

You wouldn't borrow another person's car or wife - reading other people's
books is theft.

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russellallen
I've got floppy disks and zip drives and old, dead hard drives full of stuff
which I can't run or read.

And that's for files that I created on hardware I own.

Amazon as a company is only 15 years old - will it be around in 50 years? Any
given Kindle will only last for a few years - will I always be able to afford
to buy a new one? Will they always be available to buy?

It is a big issue for me that I can't buy an ebook and have a reasonable
expectation that the ebook will be mine for the rest of my life, and can be
given to my kids to read.

It makes me think of ebooks as disposable - I can't build up a library. It's
more like borrowing someone else's books where they can demand the book back.

But, like this guy, I still use them for convenience...

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sliverstorm
If you are concerned you will not be able to download them in the future,
archive them now. With sane file storage and backups, you can keep them
around. I have managed to hang on to files I made when I was 12 all the way up
to present adulthood; surely an adult can manage to do the same. (hint: it's a
lot easier to do once you accept the dominance of .doc and .jpg, and sign up
for Dropbox)

As for Kindles only lasting a few years- they may introduce a new version, but
the beauty of computers as appliances is they will last as long as their
battery and 120 volts hang around. I have an ipod from the beginning of ipods;
the only reason I haven't repaired the battery is I no longer depend on it to
listen to music.

Lastly, before you worry if your Kindle will last for the decades-to-centuries
range, and elect to use books instead, recall that books themselves must be
carefully printed, stored and used to last 50 years.

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kjuhygtfrde
You are probably too young to remember the days before MS Office domination.

It's a good job that some of the stuff before Windows95 actually got printed
out.

ps. suppose Amazon decide to stop Kindle, or get a better deal from the
publisher - or just decide all your existing ebooks don't work on kindle 4.
Just like Walmart did with their online music service. With the wonders of DRM
you can't back up a copy of the ebook, it only works as long as Amazon's
licence servers work.

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jonhendry
Amazon has already demonstrated a willingness to develop and release kindle
software on 'competing' platforms. Even the iPad, which some consider a direct
challenger of the kindle.

Should Amazon decide to exit the hardware space, there would still be the
kindle software for other platforms.

The difference between Amazon and Walmart is that Walmart's music service was
far from their core business. Amazon's business is to sell things, especially
books, online. That's why they don't limit their ebooks to the kindle device.
They don't care if you're using an iPad or a Blackberry, so long as you're
buying some of your books from Amazon.

Walmart's core business is to sell things in stores. I'm not sure what value
an online music store really gives them, so I'm not surprised they killed it.

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philh
I feel somewhat the same way about bookshelves. When you walk into my parents'
house, the first thing you see is three bookshelves covering a wall, stacked
as high as you can reach without a ladder. I was looking forward to getting my
own when I moved out permanently. Now, I don't see that happening. (On the
plus side, I won't have to fight my dad over who gets to keep what.)

But I'm sure people felt the same about vinyl records. And now, if I want to
check out a friend's music taste, I just look at their iTunes. I'm not old
enough to know whether it's quite the same, but I'm not sentimental enough to
think we haven't made massive improvements.

I suspect DVDs will be the next to go. (I don't have a DVD player of my own,
but I like to have my fairly small collection where people can see it.)

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hugh3
I've bought a Nook, and I'm using it for reading on long journeys, but I'm
being careful not to let it displace my book-buying habits, precisely because
_I_ want to be one of those people with a houseful of awesome books when I get
older.

Therefore, my rule is this: I only use the Nook to read things which are
public domain. There's more than enough public domain stuff I want to read out
there to keep me occupied. But if I'm going to pay for something, it's gonna
be a proper printed physical book which I can keep for the rest of my life.

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alecco
I refuse to pay full price for a digital edition you don't own and can't
resell or lend.

Most of my best books are in the hands of friends and family or given away to
somebody who would use them. If the electronic version had a reduced price I
wouldn't mind. Even if it was for a limited time, like renting the book. But
full price? You got to be kidding.

Also the authors are _still_ getting scammed by the industry and only see a
tiny fraction of what the buyer pays. This is not _it_.

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barrkel
This is key: digital edition books are way overpriced compared to second-hand
books. Personally, I slightly prefer second-hand fiction books to new books.
There's something about the book being a bit worn, having some history in
human hands, rather than being the product of mechanized industry and being
shipped out of a factory into your hands.

And I delight in having a book that's perfect for lending (usually means
gifting) to a friend or family member who I know will enjoy it.

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evilduck
Fiction maybe, but nonfiction, especially computer related books, second-hand
is near worthless. How valuable is a book on Python 2.2 today? Cost cutting
with digital versions is a very welcome change.

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alecco
Books about specific versions of software, yes. On the other hand other
technical books, like CS, are a very different case and age slowly.

But following _your_ example, Amazon sells "Learning Python" 2009 paperback
for $34.64, while the Kindle /license/ version for the same edition is $25.75!
And note the paperback version includes shipping costs. Paying 3/4 of the
price for just a license on a single device is ridiculous, IMHO.

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pmcginn
Sorry, but does Learning Python 2009 really have a single-device restriction?

Every single book I've purchased for my Kindle will work on my android phone,
my Windows VM, and my Kindle. If I had an iPhone/iPad/iPod I could read on
those as well. And they all sync, which means I am quite literally always have
dozens of books with me. If I run down to the store and grab nothing more than
my keys, phone, and wallet, I can catch up with my Instapaper queue while I
wait on line.

If I go on a short weekend trip, I don't have to use up a fifth of my luggage
on books so that I can have a book for the plane ride there and another for
the ride back. If I'm stuck in an airport with nothing to read, I can jump
online and download any one of over 600,000 titles (and that's just from
Amazon! I also have the option of grabbing a free book from manybooks on my
phone and emailing it to my kindle account.) If you want to talk about
ridiculous pricing, go pay fucking $29.95 for a new hardcover in an airport
and try not to appreciate having greater convenience and selection at under
half the price in the space of half of a magazine in your bag.

I've been accused of being minimalist or utilitarian, and I can't wait for the
day when I can afford to rebuy all of my hardcovers in an ebook format and
dump the lot of them on a local library.

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bambax
The only thing that prevents me from using a Kindle is DRM: I want to be able
to backup and really "own" the books I buy, and read them in whichever device
I choose (or Notepad).

Does Amazon realize how terrifying the '1984 incident' was?

On the other hand, Amazon doesn't need to lift DRM: a crack would suffice. Any
news on this front?

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gst
Sure - just Google for "mobidedrm.py" (and verify that you have the latest
version - there are some old versions out there).

One note of caution: Most Amazon books are encoded in the Mobipocket format
and can be easily cracked. However, there are some (few) books in another
format (AZW) which cannot be cracked yet. It is possible to find out in which
format a book is before you buy it.

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zzzmarcus
Here's an idea:

A touch screen bookshelf replacement. A large screen you could hang up as a
virtual bookshelf with an interface similar to Delicious Monster / iBooks.

You could flip through your books and still see the cover art and enjoy
browsing them in a size comparable to that of as a paper book.

Your kids could still see that books have "physical" presence in your house.

You could still show your books off to people visiting your house.

The shelf would also incorporate sharing. You could drag a book from your
shelf to one of your devices shown as an icon on the screen or share it via an
email address.

As a starting point you could have this an app for Google TV and Apple TV
(when/if they open it to apps), but ideally it'd be touch screen.

~~~
aberkowitz
In every new medium is missing a few endearing qualities of its predecessor -
qualities which can never be replicated no matter how hard you try.

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petercooper
I was pretty negative on the Kindle over time. Mostly because of its abysmal
typography and fonts. But I bought a Kindle 3 because "it's so cheap" and
because I plan to release some books for it and wanted to test direct. And..
I'm won over. The typography still isn't great, but the form factor and the
ease with which I can read the screen for longer periods is much welcomed.

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jseliger
I bought one a while ago and find I don't use it as much as I'd hoped:
[http://jseliger.com/2010/09/29/the-last-word-on-this-
version...](http://jseliger.com/2010/09/29/the-last-word-on-this-version-of-
the-amazon-kindle) .

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golgo13
I love going to my local book stores here in Austin. I feel kinda bad when I
buy something for the Kindle app on my iPad instead of the physical books. But
having the ability to read a book on the iPad, or my laptop or my T-Mobile
MyTouch is a killer feature.

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riprock
How are programming/technical books on the Kindle 3? I've read reviews that
the Kindle DX can handle them but the normal Kindle has a much more attractive
price point.

