[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

I'm confused. If you're comfortable with conversion, what types could you possibly have that Kindle does not work with? Unless this is a DRM issue?

I have RTFs (well, I have Word docs; conversion to RTF takes seconds.) I have a lot of PDFs. Those, I can throw on my Reader as-is if I don't have time for conversion.

This complaint doesn't make any sense either. If you're comfortable with conversion, you can do the conversion yourself just like you do for your Sony; you don't *have* to use Amazon's email service.

I was under the impression Kindle had to read Amazon-converted files. (Does it also read Mobi files directly? That would've been a mild negative; mobi was a format I never quite clicked with. I preferred ereader for my PDA.)

I could learn Mobi conversion. (I'm learning lrf conversion.) But the ability to work with multiple filetypes I could already make by myself was a strong part of my Sony decision; I almost went with the Hanlin instead, but couldn't find it in the States (I had a 24-hour window to decide which to buy), and decided that international shipping/customer service was a hassle I didn't want to deal with.

There's no extra transfer stage for the Kindle vs. the Sony if you are using the computer. If you're using wireless, there's *less* stages, which is something you *can't do* on your Sony.

If I'm getting the emailed version, when I'm at home, I'm going through my dialup internet. Ugh. Even if not... I'm giving Amazon a record of everything I read. Ugh. (I know, I'm cheating. Bringing up a new reason that I didn't initially mention. I remember having strong "No Kindle!!!" thoughts, and haven't actively tried to recall exactly what they were until recently.)

If the Kindle can read mobi and txt files *loaded directly onto it from one's computer*, that needs to be added to the "Kindle Myths" thread--because it's not clear from the advertising hype. They pitch Whispernet & their books for sale, and try not to mention if you can use content you already have without sending it to them.

I know you say Whispernet is irrelevant to you, but Kindle lets you access than blog *easier*; you could pay the money to subscribe to it or do it free via the web browser. What you describe above seems pretty crazy to me, but you could still do it on Kindle; you just convert to MOBI rather than PDF.

I don't want to subscribe to blogs. I want to read the blog posts with comments (I don't know if any of the subscription formats do this, but rss feeds certainly don't), and sometimes combine those into a single document along with any relevant extra links. (So I could, for example, combine three different blogs "Reactions To The Kindle 2" into one file.)

"Blog" may be a misnomer here. I'm talking about connected sets of LiveJournal and InsaneJournal posts, where the comments are often as important as the posts. For example, the four most recent posts here.

Also, I'm *comfortable* converting to PDF. It's quick and easy for me. I can convert a novel-length Word doc to LRF-sized PDF, change the font to something I like, bookmark the chapter headers, all without reading the content, in a couple of minutes, sometimes less. I have (twitch) almost a decade's practice working with PDFs. I have no practice with Mobi; I'd be learning from scratch.

I know these aren't reasons that'd be compelling to a lot of other people.

The extra cost was probably a factor as well, but not much of one.