
Kindle is OK - brilliant
http://scripting.com/stories/2010/07/29/kindleIsOk.html
======
pilif
Three reasons why I personally think the Kindle is superior to the iPad as a
reading device:

1) It's lighter and smaller and thus easier on your hands to hold it. My hands
begin to hurt after holding the iPad for more than two hours. Reading is
something I can do for hours without interruption.

2) I thought that an advantage of the ipad would be that I can read with the
lights already out. I was wrong - staring at the illuminated screen quickly
hurts my eyes in an otherwise dark room. Interesting: Watching videos is no
problem, but reading apparently is something I use my eyes differently than
watching a movie.

3) The distraction factor is huge if reading your mail, hacker news or google
reader is just a small home button press away. I can't. get. any. serious.
reading. done.

For me, reading a book is an activity I'm doing for hours at a time if I
finally find time. Then, being distracted, having to carry a heavy device or
hurting my eyes all are not optimal solutions.

Hence, if I'm reading, Kindle is my device.

~~~
jk8
My only issue with reading on kindle like devices is the way it changes the
page. I don't think I can stand that. I feel like that would bother my eyes.
EDIT: That is the only thing stopping me from buying one.

~~~
ghshephard
As one who has read about 30 novels on my K1/K2 - I can attest that your brain
/ eyes actually seem to go into a wait state when you change the page, such
that you don't ever seem to recall changing pages while reading long fiction.

On the other hand, flipping through technical references is painful to the
point of despair, and was one of the key reasons I fell in love with my iPad.

~~~
jk8
Yes, I think it would take some time to get used to it.

------
jswinghammer
I bought a Kindle recently even though I have an iPad. I enjoy the Kindle far
more. I also don't mind taking it with me on the train because if something
happens to it then I didn't just lose something super expensive-just fairly
expensive.

It's also nice that I don't get distracted playing "Plants vs. Zombies" or "We
Rule" on it when I intend to be reading.

~~~
HSO
I find it fascinating that people these days are willing to pay (a premium)
for less features or less choice. It's counterintuitive, but if you look at
e.g. Leica's exploding sales, or Macs, or indeed bare-featured Kindles,
there's a pattern. In a perfect world (or, at least, one with perfectly
consistent people) less features could never be worth more. People would do
what they want and whether the device offers more choices or not wouldn't
matter. Distractable as we are, however, every feature introduces a new
decision calculus we need to make, and one more temptation against which we
need to fight.

~~~
frossie
_I find it fascinating that people these days are willing to pay (a premium)
for less features or less choice._

Well in this case people are paying a lot less for less choice. A
kindle/nook/kobo is priced nothing like an iPad.

Having access to both, I too agree eInk is far better for reading. I don't
feel like I am paying to have less choice. My nook is a far better reading
experience than the iPad. The iPad is a great web surfing gadget, and has some
nice games. The fact that they have some overlapping functionality is not that
significant, IMHO.

And, I predict these things will be $99 by Christmas, in which case I will be
definitely gifting them to my family. I am not paid well enough to be giving
away iPads, alas :-)

~~~
HSO
Hm, let me clarify, I meant to say "either pay or even pay a premium". So yes,
they are paying less but they are still paying for a functionality that could,
in this particular case, for the most part also be fulfilled by the more
versatile iPad. I wonder where the thin line is at which people will say
"thank god, now I can pack all my gadgets into one device" instead of "X is
best for x, Y for y, Z for z". Clumsy English, I realize, but I'm too tired
now to try again... In any case, I still have a Sony PRS 700, expensively
imported to Germany about a year ago, and can't decide whether I'll keep it
around now that I have the iPad or sell it at a big loss (given my import
costs and the iPad craze) on ebay.

~~~
frossie
_in this particular case, for the most part also be fulfilled by the more
versatile iPad_

I understand your point, but all I am saying is that in this case "for the
most part" is not good enough for many people (eg. me).

I do, actually, have the urge for an all-in-one device, but I also have
certain things that I don't want to compromise on. My reading experience is
very important to me. On the other hand, my wish to take a quick photo/video
is not a big deal. So, I carried a sub-compact camera with the iPhone 3G, but
if I get an iPhone4 I won't bother - it's good enough. On similar lines, I
have more or less ditched my portable game devices in favour of the
iPhone/iPad. Other people have different priorities.

So I think people _do_ want to converge on one device, but not at the expense
of their convenience.

------
gamble
The Kindle is best at reading straight-forward linear text with minimal
formatting, like novels. You can't go wrong with a Kindle if you read plenty
of novels, especially if you read outside.

OTOH, the iPad is far superior for heavily formatted text and graphical
content. Even the Kindle DX has terrible support for PDFs and the eInk screen
is inherently bad for graphics, so for the person who wants to carry
textbooks, technical papers, other structured PDFs, or comic books, the iPad
is the only viable option.

~~~
ruchi
Amazon has improved support for PDFs. Here's from their Kindle page:

" _Improved PDF Reader_

Now with new dictionary lookup, notes and highlights, and support for password
protected PDFs. Easily carry all of your documents on the go."

------
JoelSutherland
One of the coolest things I do with my kindle is send my instapaper articles
to it. It costs $0.15 per send (not per article), but it is great to have a
bunch of really good, long form articles available.

As an example, I read this great article about Lincoln the other night:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2005/10/lincoln-
ap...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2005/10/lincoln-apos-s-great-
depression/4247/)

There is no way I would read that on a computer.

~~~
jsulak
One way to avoid kindle fees is to use USB to sync. If you're on Mac, use
Ephemera (<http://goephemera.com/>), or if you're on Windows, use Wordcycler
(<http://www.wordcycler.com/>). (I'm the developer of Wordcycler.)

Another great benefit of these programs is that you can sync individual
articles, not just the pre-made bundles that Instapaper provides. You can plug
in your device, have the program download the articles, and automatically
eject it. Later, when you finish reading an article on your device, delete it,
and it will be archived on Instapaper the next time you sync.

~~~
w1ntermute
And for Linux, check out calibre: <http://calibre-ebook.com/>

~~~
briandarvell
I second Calibre. I supposedly works for Mac too. I use it for Windows and on
my Sony PRS-600. Calibre offers lots of ready-to-use web subscriptions which
gathers articles from other websites like an RSS Reader.

------
far33d
Rough anecdotal polling from my experience on the Boston-area commuter rail in
from the suburbs: I see more iPhones than Kindles, but way more Kindles than
iPads. People on iPhones are often playing games, not reading.

Kindles are surprisingly popular with older women. I suspect it's because it
does its one task really well and is much less technically intimidating for
non-savvy users. I own one and use it periodically, but prefer traveling with
the iPhone so I avoid having 3 devices at all times.

I think the Kindle will continue to be popular with older commuters - it's
easy on the eyes, simple to use, and doesn't have a lot of technological
baggage.

~~~
brilliant
Go to the park or beach. You won't see too many people using tablets or phones
with backlit screens because they don't work in sunlight.

~~~
swombat
I've never had any issue using my iPhone in sunlight. Granted, I live in
London, where bright sunlight is like a rare delicacy, even in the summer (
_glances out the window_... yeah..), but still, the point remains - I have
never had any trouble reading my iPhone even with direct sunlight on it.

------
Xurinos
I guess I am in the minority. I found that the eInk displays of these readers
made for a poorer reading experience than reading straight off my iPhone with
the help of Stanza.

(1) I can read with the lights off.

(2) The default font is not as grating.

(3) I can adjust the brightness.

Without giving my preference, I had an older gentleman compare the experience
of trying to read with both devices. He usually needs to wear glasses to read
things close up, and even then, he has trouble making out words at times. To
my surprise, he was able to read the iPhone text much more easily than the
reader's text, and keep in mind that the iPhone text by default is fairly tiny
-- smaller than the reader. I am guessing that the high resolution and the
contrast helped him make out the letters.

I have not tried this on an iPad; I imagine it will be the same good
experience as on the iPhone except with more of a book feel. On the other
hand, I have no interest in an iPad any more than any other touch tablet. The
iPhone was novel since it was a computer that fit in my pocket.

But the Kindle was a thumbs down for me with all its DRM limitations and the
lack of reading improvement that was promised with eInk.

~~~
2mur
Yes, but did the older gentleman get to adjust the Kindle's text size. That's
a killer feature that has sold Kindles to 6 of my older relatives who have
used mine for more than a minute or so. I read at the 2nd to smallest font
(probably about 10pt) but you can adjust it up to what seems like 32 pts or
more. Older readers really love that.

~~~
Xurinos
To be fair, the iPhone readers can also change the font size, the background
and foreground colors, and so forth. We experimented. The real killer feature
should have been the ease on the eyes of the eInk for long-term reading.

------
fragmede
>Further, I have a backlog of unread books I bought on Amazon, and I don't see
why I should replace them (or if I can) using Apple's store.

To clear that piece of FUD - there's a Kindle app in the Apple app store which
lets you read all your Kindle books on your iPad.

<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kindle/id302584613?mt=8>

~~~
bonaldi
If you read the comments Dave is busy shouting at people who make that point.
Apparently there's some sort of additional reason why the Kindle hardware is
staying around.

~~~
telemachos
A sidenote, but when is Dave _not_ shouting at the people who comment on his
blog? He should really disable comments entirely, since they only bring out
the worst in him.

 _Edit_ : As further proof, see his latest post today -
[http://scripting.com/stories/2010/07/29/doYouThinkBeforeYouC...](http://scripting.com/stories/2010/07/29/doYouThinkBeforeYouComment.html)

------
pragmatic
I don't think it's a zero sum game. It's not either/or. For most it's both.
You will have a smart (brilliant) phone and if you read a lot, a dedicated
reader. The 2 form factors just don't overlap enough to do both well.

~~~
mechanical_fish
At this point the Kindle is so cheap that if I actually commit to buying any
quantity of Kindle books, I might try one.

~~~
wwortiz
I have a kindle and buy most of my books through the local used bookstore but
the kindle is great for all those free classics that I haven't read.

------
maw
_When I read on tech blogs that Kindle is a goner, I think these people must
not read very much._

Yeah, pretty much. It is snobby and rude to say it that way, but being snobby
and rude myself I'm fine with that.

In fairness, while e-ink devices offer what I believe is the best reading
experience in the present for texts read linearly, they're less pleasant when
used to read texts where you're likely to bounce around: technical texts,
books with lots of footnotes, and even omnibus editions of linearly read
texts. Then again, this looks to be true of the iPad as well. The faster and
more colorful screen was used to make a chintzier experience, classy the way
casinos are classy, which they aren't, not a better reader.

~~~
ojbyrne
If you read the article that Dave links to, it's pretty obvious that the
author doesn't read very much, because he clearly can't write.

~~~
maw
But I said that I have no problem with rudeness and snobbiness, and I was
being more than half serious.

~~~
ojbyrne
I was just pointing out that the specific article Dave points to is even more
proof that we're dealing with the illiterate (I also have no problem with
rudeness and snobbiness).

------
kenjackson
Two questions for Kindle users: 1) How is it for reading programming books? I
have a bunch of PDF programming books that I'd love to load on it, but fear
that the screenshots (mostly B&W) and code snippets will look horrible.

2) On occassion I'd want to read a lengthy blog entry in the backyard -- how
easy is it to read blog pages on it? So clearly not Flash pages, but web based
text.

I had looked at a Nook, and it didn't seem to do a satisfactory job with
technical books.

~~~
wazoox
I can't say about the Kindle, but I have a Sony PRS and it's pretty good. PDF
are usually better seen in landscape. However you may want to convert them to
ePub for better readability.

BTW, I won't EVER buy any DRM-laden book, music or anything else. It seems
that the Kindle pretty much propose only that...

~~~
kenjackson
I haven't thought about the Sony readers, although I also don't want DRMed
books.

How would you compare the ease of getting content on the Sony reader vs the
Kindle (given that I have the PDF already on my desktop).

~~~
wazoox
I only read public domain books from gutenberg.org (more than enough great
material to read 20 hours a day until you die), and PDFs I download here and
there.

I simply copied them the the PRS using it as USB storage, usually, though now
I'm using Calibre to keep a list of what's on my reader and organize it.

------
sh1mmer
I just sold my Kindle DX, and while I really liked it I find having a single
unified device much more convenient.

I tried to read my iPad on a beach and it sucked, but frankly, I do most of my
readings in bed, on planes or indoors.

Reading on the Kindle is definitely easier on the eyes, but the iPad handles
technical books much better, even with the Kindle PDF support.

------
Encosia
I often wonder how many people are actually spending much time reading
outdoors in bright/direct sunlight, versus just regurgitating that well-known
point in favor of eInk.

I find my iPad quite a bit more readable than the Kindle or Sony reader
indoors, which is where I do nearly all of my reading. It's nice not needing
to find a light source too.

~~~
jasonlotito
It doesn't have to be bright, directly sunlight to impact performance. I love
the iPad, but I'm still considering the Kindle... if I weren't so addicted to
audiobooks.

------
luffy
I agree with Dave on pretty much all of this, except for one sort of off-topic
point: though speech is protected by the First Amendment, Apple's behavior
towards other parties is irrelevant as far as 1A protections go. The 1A
doesn't apply unless there is a government actor involved... just sayin'.

------
jordanroher
Very seriously considering a Kindle, but all my eBooks are non-DRM ePUBs. I
know Amazon has a feature to get your existing files on the Kindle, but has
anyone tried to import ePUBs? Do they transfer 1:1 to Amazon's format?

~~~
jmelloy
The nook support ePUB.

~~~
hugh3
Thanks, I've been trying to decide between Kindle and Nook on the assumption
that I'll mostly read Project Gutenberg books anyway. So you're saying that
Nook would be better for me?

~~~
joshfinnie
The nook works perfectely well with the Project Gutenberg books. I recently
found this fact out and downloaded over 50 books and they are all nicely
sitting on my nook now. The only drawback is that they are seperated from your
purchased books and are found only in the My Documents section of the nook. (I
do not know if this is a rule, but I haven't found a way around it.) I would
have liked to see them right along side my purchased books.

------
JoCoLa
I think in a couple years time, these large, 9 inch readers and tablets are
going to look the way those old, chalk board eraser-sized cell phones, or the
original ipod looks today. They just seem unwieldy and awkward. I think we'll
see a market open up for devices that are larger than a cell phone, smaller
than a tablet, like the Dell Streak.

Personally, I have a Sony Pocket Edition and it's the perfect size-about 6'1/4
by 4 1/4', with a 5 inch screen- about as big as paper back. True to it's
name, I can put it in my jacket or back pocket and carry it anywhere with
ease.

------
slowpoison
The Kindle is great. But I'll wait. I like the product, but, it doesn't quite
fully solve the problem I have. Here's what will really tip the things over
for me:

1\. I love to read, but I don't want any dead trees around me anymore. What I
need is a way to convert all my past Amazon book purchases into e-books
without cost. Or better yet, all book purchases I have.

2\. Have a better way to input text, notes etc. That awkward keyboard coupled
with the holding position doesn't help.

3\. Have a way to share things. May be share a quote, a passage or a page with
others.

------
cschneid
My girlfriend has a kindle 2, and I have an iphone. I've found that the iphone
has one killer feature that the kindle doesn't: It's in my pocket all the
time.

For whatever reason, my reading happens in 15 minute spurts while waiting for
someone or something. The kindle app for the iphone allows me to do that,
along with all the book options that amazon provides (and synced up to my
girlfriend's kindle too, so we share books).

~~~
judofyr
This is what I love about Amazon: They know that they can't make "one device
to rule them all", so they've simply focused on making Kindle available
_everywhere_. Very often when people talk about Kindle vs. iPad, they actually
talk about Kindle (device) vs. Kindle (on iPad).

------
zandorg
Not a real complaint, but I got my DX too soon, had to pay custom charges, and
the model I got is US-only. I figured they'd never have all-Web access in the
UK, as my previous Kindle 2 only did Wikipedia. Then they fixed it in the 2.5
upgrade, and I can't go webbing on this.

My silly fault for rushing in, but I figure 5 years' reading will pay off that
£300 investment, and it's great for Japanese comic books!

------
thought_alarm
I think Conan O'Brian said it best:
<http://mobile.twitter.com/ConanOBrien/statuses/19842630249>

------
berrow
I concur with Dave's points. I'm very happy with my Kindle DX. I love to read
and I love that it is focused so well on that activity.

------
dododo
i only wish that i could annotate a kindle by pen or touch. this is super
clumsy:

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200322620)

i read a lot of papers and text books: typically i want to draw pictures for
intuition or write math. you can't do that with a keyboard easily.

------
ganley
Like him, I read outside, in the sun when possible. Thus, any LCD screen is a
nonstarter.

------
nazgulnarsil
the kindle offers a fairly straightforward utility. if you don't grasp the
utility of the kindle (or see only marginal utility in a dedicated reading
device) it isn't for you.

------
varjag
1984 in July, 2009.

