Quote:
Originally Posted by ssdivot1
Hi there,
I'm new here, having only really thought about e-readers for the first time a few days ago. I was at Amazon looking for a book and watched the Kindle video and, although I'm not much given to impulse, immediately thought "I MUST HAVE THAT"! haha. In fact I can't remember the last time I was so smitten by something material. The E-ink technology, which I previously was oblivious to, is fantastic!
For the last few days I've been reading and researching and driving myself crazy with "should I, shouldn't I", and I've decided I should, but now am almost getting depressed over my inability to decide on which particular reader to get!
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I must say that my experience totally mirrors this... I was on Amazon to look for a book as a gift and was distracted by the Kindle ad on the opening page...only to find they sold out *the day before* [in a few hours, I gather]
Jump ahead a few months of checking every few days on availability, geeked the net for other readers, tried to talk myself down, talked to a friend of mine who somehow managed to get one... finally stumbled across
DearAuthor and review of the CyBook - why had I not seen or HEARD of this thing before (and I'd
been looking)!? Also got pointed to a
snarky/funny comparison between the Kindle and $ony eReader by a husband-wife team arguing over the merits of either... which made me think about <gasp>
actually spending money on a $ony product... until I realized that they don't do MAC, so that ended that foray into madness. (I used to work in TV and consider $ony to be the epitome of the EVIL EMPIRE, esp. WRT designed obsolescence and [lack of] customer support - can you say BetaMAX capstan roller?
)
Aaaanyway, that led me to here, where I must say (as others have) how refreshing it is to find clear, cogent, non-flaming discussions and assistance - THANK YOU GUYS
Here I have spent the last few dozen hours pouring over post after post
deciding, re-deciding, trying to talk myself out of it, trying to decide if I wanted a dedicated reader, a UMPC/MID, or what (my Kindle-friend just got an EeePC, too).
I guess, for me, it boiled down to, do I *really* need wireless access? (plus I seem to be in the *only* non-coverage ["
no guarantee of working inside a building"] area in the valley for AT&T & Sprint... which is why I don't have an iPhone <drool>
)
I don't travel, do most of my reading at home (curled up in my fav chair), and usually just flip open my Mac PB (which now lives under said chair) to look up words I don't know, or to wiki or surf or whatever. The PB is nice, I spend hours on it as it is, but it gets really hot and needs to remain plugged into power (or be frequently charged), and is not too comfortable to read on (requires looking
down just enough to make my head feel like it's going to snap off my neck) . Plus, as others have stated, I just can't see curling up with a keyboard-attached work-computer as relaxing. My Kindle-friend isn't too happy with the "3am download" feature (for newspaper and RSS) which requires the wireless to be on; she's gotten up several mornings after 1) forgetting to leave it on, or 2) with a run-down battery. Now she just surfs over to the actual websites and reads there.
Wow, this is getting long, so anyway decided the CyBook was the best fit (simply a reader) and have placed my order with NAEB and am waiting... barely contained
Question: is it possible to unKindle an .AZW to get the cheaper version of newstuff? I've read that you can go the other way and deMOBI and fake .AZW? I've read, somewhere, that if you're outside the US (or coverage) you can buy Kindle-books and transfer them via USB. True? I've got Virtual PC (that I
almost got rid of - no use for it) with Win2K and am, right now, attempting to install MobiReader, it keeps hanging at 90% (typical, IME) and hope that the USB will punch thru the OS'es when I get the device as I'd like to use the RSS feature thru MobiPocket (any comments on
that feature?)
Anyway
to all you "guys" for all your posts and diligent effort, this is a
GREAT resource.
Matthew
P.S. Most Americans just list their states (or cities) b/c to us, it would be like saying "I'm from Europe" Plus, when I do travel, I like to refer to myself as a "Californian" rather than an "American" [no, I am not unPatriotic, just ashamed of recent past trends
]