Disappointed with K3

[wongdong]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. I see absolutely no reason that Amazon should suddenly provide a folder browser, given that they haven't done so in the 2 (?) years that the Kindle has been around.

You're right of course. What I meant was, that in a few weeks I'll be able to manage my books in a satisfying way. Currently I'm using the "Kindle Collection Manager 0.4" which is not bad but still needs some improvement.

I don't count on a firmeware update ;-)

[JeremyR]

I can understand the frustration with this, but I think Amazon designed the Kindle for a certain sort of user. Someone that mostly uses it to buy a book or two at a time from Amazon.

At least, that's who they want to buy the Kindle, since they probably are selling the hardware close to cost with the idea of making it back on the books (the razor and blade model)

From that POV, the current system works decently enough.

[MrPLD]

At least, that's who they want to buy the Kindle, since they probably are selling the hardware close to cost with the idea of making it back on the books (the razor and blade model)

Drifting off topic a little bit - I've heard people say that the BOM (bill-of-materials, eg core cost) of the Kindles is well below $99, though I'm not sure it's quite that dramatic ( I'm an electronics engineer, I design things and have to work within some insane budgets working direct from China ).

My guess is it's costing somewhere between $60~$90 to manufacture. It seems cheap but by the time Amazon covers all costs including returns/support/etc there's surprisingly little margin. The CPU/glue-logic/casing will be comparatively cheap but the eInk display is the costly bit. My guess is that the eInk display people are going to be trying to play hard-ball and keep the price of their display technology up as high as possible for as long as possible (who wouldn't when you know you've got Amazon buying). The developer kits for the eInk systems are about $3000~$6000 to purchase, probably giving the eInk display, which I'd then imagine the actual displays are $30~$60.

Anyhow, pulling myself back to the point, I don't think that Amazon are "raking in the cash" with the sale of the hardware and hence I support your view that they're likely working with the plan that the sale of the eBooks & services will subsidise the lack of margins.



Paul.

[Josieb1]

I have over 700 books on my Kindle, in 45 collections. Some collections only have 3 or 4 books, my biggest collection has 73 books. They are stored exactly the same way they were on my Sony 505 and Touch 600.

My way round the search option is to use a _at the front of each collection name (as advised on here) and then select the 'order by title' option, that puts all my collections in alphabetical order, at the front of the titles. I then store each collection in alphabetical order by title.

For specific orders of books, and series etc i edit the title name in Calibre and put 01, 02 etc, or in one extreme case i even created a word document with the list of the books in order on it and used Calibre to load the list as a document, and then put all those books, and the list, in one collection.

I don't have any issues at all with the collection management, its just finding a way that works for you.

[DiapDealer]

I would prefer the Amazon spend 100% of the R&D budget on the reading experience. I can appreciate the fact that many seem to enjoy:
-browsing through their hundreds of books.
-rearranging their library.
-cataloguing their library.
-creating their very own version of the dewey decimal system.
-staring lovingly at the covers of their books.
-dressing it up in a coat and hat and taking it for a walk.

But there are many of us who just enjoy using their Kindle to read a book.
One book.
One page at a time.
At home, in a chair.
Maybe one or two other books on there to choose from if I happen to finish the one I'm reading.

In that regard... the Kindle is perfect. I hope they stay focused on the meat & potatoes and keep the fluff to a minimum.

[church mouse]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

But there are many of us who just enjoy using their Kindle to read a book.
One book.
One page at a time.
At home, in a chair.
Maybe one or two other books on there to choose from if I happen to finish the one I'm reading.

I only read one book at a time, and I never put my entire library on my e-reader. However, I never know what I will fancy reading next until I have finished my current book. So I do like to keep a nice variety of books on the Kindle, so that I have a wide selection to pick from as soon as the current book is complete.

[Jabby]

Originally Posted by pchrist7

It IS better than nothing, but ...

I think it is worse than nothing. I set up collections and had to remove them because it was more difficult to find a book. You can't sort within a collection making collections, as implemented, of no value. Others mileage may vary.

Regards - John

[Bittybye]

Originally Posted by IntegrityWolf

I'm sorry you are disappointed.

I think however, that the thumbnails of the covers wouldn't come out well anyway. It's just an e-ink screen. The Kindle's purpose is just to read and really, nothing else. It renders simple pictures/graphs just fine but nothing much else. I must admit, I do read manga on my kindle and it renders beautifully, but it's much bigger than a thumbnail.

The Kobo has the thumbnail in it's menu, it looks fabulous. It's the one thing I really miss about my Kobo. I really hope that Kindle eventually has that option. I usually go by covers when picking a book, pressing the little arrow key to see the cover is a little annoying. But overall I'm very happy with my Kindle.

[cvkemp]

What we all have to learn is that the Kindle is an ebook reader. It is not a full blown computer and hopefully will never be. While I agree that I would love to have folders to organize my books. If Amazon has not done it yet more than likely will never do it. As for as the browser is concerned I do not need it, do not use it, and it can go away and I will not miss it.
I am so glad that I was able to get the wifi only kindle and to be honest I did not get the kindle soon due to the 3g network.
The main thing I am loving is that I can read and not be temped to surf the internet or do other things on my K3.
Thank you Amazon
Chuck

[tlrowley]

Originally Posted by Jabby

I think it is worse than nothing. I set up collections and had to remove them because it was more difficult to find a book. You can't sort within a collection making collections, as implemented, of no value. Others mileage may vary.

Regards - John

I'm not sure what you mean but the bolded parts. If you meant to say that you can't have sub-collections, then you're right of course. But inside a collection the books can be sorted by title, author, or most recent - exactly the same as the home screen.

[MrPLD]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

The main thing I am loving is that I can read and not be temped to surf the internet or do other things on my K3.

That's a surprisingly good and insightful point. Thank you for making it.

[KunoK]

Amazon made some choices to keep things simple. I think they have chosen well. Even though it is simpler than my other readers, and can't organize stuff in folders, I prefer the kindle to the others. What is a problem is the 5-way, which is too small.

[wongdong]

Originally Posted by cvkemp

What we all have to learn is that the Kindle is an ebook reader. It is not a full blown computer...
Chuck

I disagree. It IS a full blown computer (running linux. And i can't accept the argument that crappy software doesn't matter because the customers don't "need" anything better.

However, I think the arguments that 1.) amazon targets a specific group of consumers and 2.) You spend 99% of a kindle's on-time reading anyways, are right to the point. It's a good (and cheap) device and the screen is awesome (have i mentioned that?

More Hacks will come for sure.

[bjones6416]

How we prefer to see our books on our readers seems to vary a lot -- it just boils down to personal preference, in the long run. I dislike cover flow, pretty much everywhere that I encounter it, including itunes. I much prefer to see a list of my items. Even on my computer, in windows, I prefer the "details" view to the "thumbnail" one. But that's just me, and I know that a lot of people do like to see the cover images, so it would be nice if the Kindle gave you a choice of how to view your library.

[EldRick]

"Amazon made some choices to keep things simple."

I agree with the OP - the "organization" on the Kindle isn't "simple", it's simply crude and ugly. Even the Collections just add to the number of pages in the Home pages, because Collected titles still appear in the list.

It's just cheap, sloppy programming by management trying to keep the programming cost and support costs down, at the expense of usability; a poor strategy in the long run, as it makes the competition more attractive.