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Started 4 years ago by kit444
Latest reply from Rockmastermike

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kit444
Elsewhere
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I know this was a discussion thread about a year or so ago, but I want to bring it up again since the product has been out for a while and the Kindle 2 was just released. Do any of you have a Kindle? If so, how do you like it? Has it been worth the pricey cost for it ($359)?

I'm not sure how many of the $9.99 books I would buy, but I'm intrigued by the possibility of porting a bunch of old public domain works through Project Gutenburg to it. And it might make reading scripts easier if I could just send the PDF's to the Kindle instead of printing them up and toting around a ton of paper.

I still love the physical aspect of books, and I love wasting time in bookstores, so I can't see giving those up. But perhaps this is a good way to supplant that addiction.

Posted 4 years ago #
catnfiddle
Peeghaven
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It doesn't look like you can upload your own PDFs to the Kindle yet, which is a sticking point for me.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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Apparently PDF support is limited to emailing them to amazon and they convert them and send them to your kindle... for a small fee for each one.

if it could directly read PDFs I would buy one today.

Posted 4 years ago #
kit444
Elsewhere
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Rockmastermike wrote >>
Apparently PDF support is limited to emailing them to amazon and they convert them and send them to your kindle... for a small fee for each one.
if it could directly read PDFs I would buy one today.

There is a free converter, if you e-mail it to "name"@free.kindle.com. The difference being it doesn't send it directly to the Kindle. You have to transfer it from your PC via USB cable.

And supposedly this product will convert files to ebooks: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp

Posted 4 years ago #
karenS
UA/Hilliard Area
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The Columbus Metropolitan Library allows up to five free e-book downloads at a time using an Adobe Digital Editions reader you can also download from CML. Looks like you get the books for only 14 days, but they're free and you can authorize multiple computers.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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hmm. i may have to rethink this

BTW... the kindle does NOT read the DRMed PDF ebooks that the library lends. I looked that up already.

Posted 4 years ago #
JonMyers
HCMC, Vietnam ✈
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I think I'm going to make the jump and pick up a Kindle. I buy a lot of books and the thought of condensing my collection down to a portable device is really cool. For traveling, this makes a lot of sense.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bear
The woods
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Figured this'd be on this thread already, but guess not (click for full-sized version):

Posted 4 years ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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A coworker has one and constantly raves about it. Give it a shot.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rocknrolloutlaws
German Village
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Heh, I was coming back to this thread for the very purpose of posting the strip Bear linked to.

Don't Panic.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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I've been looking into this more. Apparently there are a few different conversion softwares that can handle pdf files and so forth. Each yields slightly different results, but apparently "Calibre" is a favorite among many ( http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ )

The pile of PDFs I have here should be no problem then.

Also... 30 days no questions asked return policy.

I may have to start saving my pennies.

Posted 4 years ago #
catnfiddle
Peeghaven
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I'll wait until there's one that's waterproof so I can read in the tub.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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catnfiddle wrote >>
I'll wait until there's one that's waterproof so I can read in the tub.

This is one of the few devices that can be used while it is inside a sealed ziplock bag.

Posted 4 years ago #
catnfiddle
Peeghaven
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Rockmastermike wrote >>

catnfiddle wrote >>
I'll wait until there's one that's waterproof so I can read in the tub.

This is one of the few devices that can be used while it is inside a sealed ziplock bag.

Okay. I'll borrow yours.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bear
The woods
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Rockmastermike wrote >>
I've been looking into this more. Apparently there are a few different conversion softwares that can handle pdf files and so forth. Each yields slightly different results, but apparently "Calibre" is a favorite among many ( http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ )
The pile of PDFs I have here should be no problem then.

Hope you're right, but I'm skeptical. Reflowing anything other than a very basic PDF is sort of like firing up a CAD program and turning a skyscraper into a condo. You can do it, but... geh.

This review is a little daunting. As someone who would happily use a Kindle-like device for a LOT of PDFs, I might just have to wait for the eSlick reader.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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Bear wrote >>

Rockmastermike wrote >>
I've been looking into this more. Apparently there are a few different conversion softwares that can handle pdf files and so forth. Each yields slightly different results, but apparently "Calibre" is a favorite among many ( http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/ )
The pile of PDFs I have here should be no problem then.

Hope you're right, but I'm skeptical. Reflowing anything other than a very basic PDF is sort of like firing up a CAD program and turning a skyscraper into a condo. You can do it, but... geh.

This review is a little daunting. As someone who would happily use a Kindle-like device for a LOT of PDFs, I might just have to wait for the eSlick reader.

I'm going to grab that free PDF-to-ebook converter and fire some PDFs into it and see how it does. I'll let you know what i find out.

Posted 4 years ago #
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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Yeah, the non-native PDF support kinda makes me more inclined to look at other readers.. The aformentioned eSlick reader looks pretty good, as well as some of the other devices in that space.. I'd love to have a handy device for reading my software manuals as well as e-books. WiFi might even be a nice addition.. Seeing as many of the "unbrand" e-book readers run linux, I could see support for other formats being easily added.. (Comic Book Reader format anyone?)

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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Yeah. I fed my thesis and some other papers i wrote into calibre and it chewed them up pretty good. They were readable, but did not look the same. Figure/map captions were moved around (because the figures were embedded in text blocks) and mathmatical formula were completely hosed.

Oh well.

Posted 4 years ago #
Rockmastermike
The Bacon District
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On the other hand I'm reading the e-book version of last month's Scientific American in an "E-book reader" software and it looks very nice.

Posted 4 years ago #
Bear
The woods
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The basic problem is that PDFs are generally based on the idea of formatting something correctly and having it look exactly the same way wherever you read it -- the most extreme example being LaTeX-generated PDFs, which are typeset with exacting precision. E-book readers, on the other hand, are generally based on the idea of reformatting something bigger to fit into a smaller space. Reflowing text is pretty much anathema to the philosophy behind many, if not most, PDFs, except those that are really just plain text thrown into PDF.

Which always gets me back to, "I guess what I really need is a tablet PC." (sigh)

Posted 4 years ago #