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Question about the Kindle ebook reader
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mjemom, We tried all of the readers we could get our hands on. I’m an early adopter of technology and always keeping an eye out for where we need to make SCM books available.
The eInk displays on some of the devices are nice but they update slowly and are black and white only. That’s okay for just book reading but it was important to us to have more of a multi-purpose device.
In testing, we found that we kept wanting to touch the screen to do things but the other devices just don’t work that way. If that’s all you are used to then it’s probably not bad but we found it unintuitive. With the iPad you don’t really have to learn how to use it much. You just touch things on the screen in ways that seem to make sense.
The iPad is a more of a computer than just a book reader because you can load applications on it. For example, we have a bird field guide with color images and audio samples of their songs. We use it all the time for looking up things on the Internet. It’s also great for Google Earth as a map reference. Karen is actually using it as her primary computer most of the time and is helping write some future SCM materials on it. It’s great for e-mail and keeping up with the SCM forum from the couch. And the CM Organizer is nice on it too. 🙂 The eInk displays on other devices are just not fast enough for those many of these kinds of uses.
You’re not limited to books from just one source either. There is Apple’s own iBookstore, which has both paid books and free books from Project Gutenberg. There’s also a Kindle app to read anything from the Kindle store. And you can move in any of your own PDF files.
We were pleasantly surprised at how nice the display is on the iPad even though it is backlit. It has much more of a real-world feel to it than you would expect. If you haven’t tried one yourself you’ll want to go to a store and look at it to see how it works for you. It does wash out a bit in sunlight but we don’t care much about using it outdoors in the sun.
It is more expensive than some of the lower-end e-book readers so that is a consideration. It does have a larger screen than most of them, though. In fact, it doesn’t cost much more than the large-screen Kindle model.
Another question for those using the Kindle…
Did you buy a cover for it?
If so, was it worth it?
If not – how do you protect it?
It seems the cover choices are about $35 for a plain one, and $55 for one with a light…. (going by memory… the amount might be a bit off…) I was given a Kindle (well, it is on order) for my birthday (can’t wait to get it!) – but I’m wondering if I should be ordering a cover… sigh.
I got the plain leather one from Amazon. I do like it (though I jazzed it up with a little cloth cover I sewed myself to go over it), and I think I’d buy it again. I’m rather clumsy! You don’t need one with a light … just buy a cheap-o clip-on light for those times you plan on reading in the dark 🙂
OK, Doug. I need you to talk me out of this iPad thing. I’ve avoided these up til now but I’m coveting. I own and operate a 10,000 volume living books library. But I often buy ebooks, print them and have them bound or put them in a binder. Plus there are public domain books out there that I either haven’t found hard copies for or haven’t been willing to pay the price. Obviously if they were on my iPad, they still couldn’t be checked out but we could use them. Would I benefit from this? I love the your idea of having the field guide and looking it up that way. Also, we have very little cell phone service where we live and our only internet choices are dial-up or satellite (which is what we have…hate it, btw.) Not sure how that would work. Save me some money, please.
Not Doug … but if you get very little cell service, I’d think you’d have to have wifi for the iPad to be “connected.” (You can do a lot of stuff offline, I’m sure, but how much stuff would depend on the apps you purchase.)
Robin – I don’t own or use an Ipad, but I am a dedicated Itouch user and I concur completely with what Doug said about having a multi-functional device.
I read on apple’s site that if you have the 3G (or 4G or whatever it is) compatible Ipad, the more expensive one, unfortunately, you can buy time on their network without having a contract at all.
So here is how that would work, as far as I understand it from my reading. You have wi-fi reception any time you are in range. You would want to have this at home to enjoy the functionality of any of these devices. But if you wanted to, say you were traveling and wanted to have constant use of your Ipad online, you could buy a month of 3G service for $15, or I think $25, depending on how much data you want to use, and you would have internet access anywhere AT&T has cellular service. But you are not committing to a contract with AT&T, you are just buying a period of usage from apple.
Of course, most of the apps work offline, so if you went to a park and wanted to use your bird app, no problem, you could use it, or read your books, or whatever. You just couldn’t get new books until you were in wi-fi range. I have read a few books on my Itouch, including with the kindle reader, and it is ok I guess. I like a real book, personally. But if it is the only way to get the book, it is entirely functional as a book reader.
Now to further complicate matters, I think that Kindle has some kind of special whispernet service that has a sort of wifi blanketing the country that can deliver a book even though you are not within range of a traditional wi-fi network. Is this true, kindle users? If so it would save the trouble of getting and installing a router, if you don’t already have one.
In closing, I will repeat what I have said many times – my Itouch is the single best tech purchase I have ever made. Period. It was worth every penny, and I use it every day, for many different things. (Not the least of which – I can access the SCM organizer LOL – thanks Doug, but how about an app for easier readability?) I am sure the Ipad has similar value.
Also coveting the Ipad,
Gem
Suzukimom, I did not order a cover, because I just couldn’t afford it, but I would have just gone with the non-lighted cover if I could have. I sew, so I’ve been mentally devising a cover in my head that I can make. It will still be about 2 weeks before the Kindle arrives so I’ll have to wait til it gets here to actually make anything.
Robin, You can use an iPad without Internet service. You just won’t be able to look up Web sites or use apps that rely on Web data. There are plenty of apps that don’t need the Internet, though, like those for reading e-books. If your satellite Internet service is connected to a wifi router you can use that service on your iPad as well as your computer.
You can also easily connect the iPad to your computer to install apps or load books you’ve download there. Or you can take the iPad somewhere with free wifi (library, MacDonalds, Starbucks, Panera Bread, etc.) and download apps or books.
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