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catsittingstill · 12-04-2007, 10:08 AM

Hi. I've been reading a little bit for about a week, and I've just decided to go ahead and join.

I guess I have about a thousand pounds of books at my house, and I'm really attracted by the idea of books I can store on a chip the size of a postage stamp.

I don't have a dedicated e-reader yet, and am still trying to decide whether to take the plunge or to stay out of the market and watch for Better Things To Come.

Aside from the DRM issue, I am leaning toward the Kindle at the moment. I just wish Amazon had gone the Baen route and made their ebooks widely available and their reader able to read a wide range of formats. Frankly I think they'd expand both their market for the Kindle and the market for their ebooks.

To find out whether I will like the concept in practice (and since Kindle will read unprotected Mobipocket) I downloaded Mobipocket reader for my Palm TX, and got a handful of books out of the Baen Free Library. So far it's just as Baen's diabolical plan predicted--having finished the first two books in the 1632 series I am going to have to buy the next books. The first taste is always free... Damn you, Jim Baen! (shakes fist at the sky)

But the TX does have drawbacks. I find it makes my eyes ache after a while, especially when I'm reading in the dark (but it provides its own light for reading under the covers--I just find myself wishing I could turn the light *down*). Also, its battery tends to run down a lot faster when I'm reading books on it, and not just carrying it around to tug my sleeve and remind me that I promised to meet my friend so-and-so at such-and-such time today and that's only 30 minutes away, so shouldn't I get ready? I have to charge it pretty much every day--and it's annoying to be almost at the end of the book and to have the TX beeping every ten screenfuls or so and whining that it wants to be recharged.

Those little screenfuls of text are a bit like potato chips. I can't read just one.

Anyway--Hi everyone. I look forward to learning more about ebooks and formats and such on this forum.

12-04-2007, 10:08 AM	#1
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	Yet another newbie Hi. I've been reading a little bit for about a week, and I've just decided to go ahead and join. I guess I have about a thousand pounds of books at my house, and I'm really attracted by the idea of books I can store on a chip the size of a postage stamp. I don't have a dedicated e-reader yet, and am still trying to decide whether to take the plunge or to stay out of the market and watch for Better Things To Come. Aside from the DRM issue, I am leaning toward the Kindle at the moment. I just wish Amazon had gone the Baen route and made their ebooks widely available and their reader able to read a wide range of formats. Frankly I think they'd expand both their market for the Kindle and the market for their ebooks. To find out whether I will like the concept in practice (and since Kindle will read unprotected Mobipocket) I downloaded Mobipocket reader for my Palm TX, and got a handful of books out of the Baen Free Library. So far it's just as Baen's diabolical plan predicted--having finished the first two books in the 1632 series I am going to have to buy the next books. The first taste is always free... Damn you, Jim Baen! (shakes fist at the sky) But the TX does have drawbacks. I find it makes my eyes ache after a while, especially when I'm reading in the dark (but it provides its own light for reading under the covers--I just find myself wishing I could turn the light down). Also, its battery tends to run down a lot faster when I'm reading books on it, and not just carrying it around to tug my sleeve and remind me that I promised to meet my friend so-and-so at such-and-such time today and that's only 30 minutes away, so shouldn't I get ready? I have to charge it pretty much every day--and it's annoying to be almost at the end of the book and to have the TX beeping every ten screenfuls or so and whining that it wants to be recharged. Those little screenfuls of text are a bit like potato chips. I can't read just one. Anyway--Hi everyone. I look forward to learning more about ebooks and formats and such on this forum.