Disappointed with K3

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by jlmwrite

Wow -- last night I thought I stood alone wanting better collection management and/or a bookshelf view. I'm very glad to hear that other folks share my view.

I still think the K3 hardware is amazing. It's just that the user interface is... um, less than optimal. Too bad some of the true techie Kindle users out there can't come up with some alternate programming! (Which, of course, the next minor software upgrade would completely obliterate.)

At one point in time, Bezos was interviewed saying that they wouldn't add a folder or tag system because it might confuse folks. The argument against this was that people didn't have to use the folder/tag system that was implemented so not implenting one was punishing the folks who wanted one. I was surprised when Collections was released because it meant someone fought a serious battle with Bezos and his supporters.

Hopefully it will improve over time. I am hoping that once they figure out that the help desk isn't getting swamped with calls from folks who can't find their books because of the collections they will make it a bit more elegant.

I would love to have sub-collections so I can have author specific folders in specific collections. Right now I am thrilled that I have collections of any sort since I didn't have them for the first two years I owned my Kindle.

[jlmwrite]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

At one point in time, Bezos was interviewed saying that they wouldn't add a folder or tag system because it might confuse folks. The argument against this was that people didn't have to use the folder/tag system that was implemented so not implenting one was punishing the folks who wanted one.

Really? I was so intrigued by that reference that I wasted 15 minutes looking for the interview!

That's almost Steve Jobs-ian; "we know what you need, and that's what you're getting".

Really? REALLY?

[wongdong]

Originally Posted by jlmwrite

When I've bought or otherwise acquired a dozen new books at a time, it's tough to decide what to read next. A bookshelf view would make my life SO much easier. Cover art thumbnails would make that even better. I'm glad the plain-jane menu works for some folks, but it makes me sad that such a great device has so few options. You know, when I go to B&N or to Borders to kill a couple of hours, I browse rather randomly instead of starting in the "A"s and going down the rows. Heck, the tables piled with the latest fiction are an adventure for me.

I'm so with you jlm.

And one other thing i am very disappointed about, and which only occured to me yesterday is, that the only custom sorting feature (collections) is disabled when you unregister your kindle! At first i couldn't believe it, tought it to be a broken device or something, but when i re-registered, everything worked again. Are they crazy??

Ok, they shipped my kindle with a pre-installed registration to my amazon account (including my credit card). So if the shipment is lost and someone grabs my device she can easily buy some fine books before I notice. Ok, UPS is reliable and all, probably never happened. But what if I just lose my kindle? What then? And don't say that i can set a password. I really don't want to enter a PIN before i can read.

Maybe I'm biased because I'm teaching Internet Security at the University, but seriously, does noone have a problem with that??

[zoran]

Originally Posted by wongdong

Ok, they shipped my kindle with a pre-installed registration to my amazon account (including my credit card).

Wow! What a great minus.
Aside handling the device, spite sold to you, they get hands on your card too.
Imagine someone having a copy of their server with all user data.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by zoran

Wow! What a great minus.
Aside handling the device, spite sold to you, they get hands on your card too.
Imagine someone having a copy of their server with all user data.

Hmm, I presume you've bought the device using your card... So, you've already registered your card with your amazon account. The only thing they do is register the ID of the Kindle with your amazon account.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Hmm, I presume you've bought the device using your card... So, you've already registered your card with your amazon account. The only thing they do is register the ID of the Kindle with your amazon account.

Not yet. Even more, I have to do it over third person, since they cannot
ship it to my place on the planet.
I do understand that it is the only method that does not bother end user.
But, I see the way to shoot in own foot. More security/privacy, more I
like it. A little bit of paranoia doesn't hurt.

[whitearrow]

Yes, but the average user wants things to be as simple as possible. Opening the box and having the Kindle already connected to their account is a big plus, not a minus.

Besides, your credit card itself is not exposed, nor does the Kindle give you access to other parts of your Amazon account. And I'm sure Amazon would refund any books bought in such a situation.

Let's try to keep the FUD to a minimum.

[kennyc]

Hey, you're in Golden, CO....I'll be glad to take it off your hands if you'd like?

I'd even be willing to stop by and pick it up.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by whitearrow

Let's try to keep the FUD to a minimum.

K.
$FUD = 0; export $FUD

[Vighnahara]

I'm a techno-geek and total folder whore on my computers. Everything is in folders and sub-folders and sub-sub-folders.

But I like being able to put books into multiple categories, something that a folder system would prohibit.

That being said, it wouldn't be so hard to implement a fourth sorting, "Folders," which would mirror the file system you create on the device's memory.

I only have two categories: "Courses" for the PDF's my profs give me for lecture notes; and "Currently Reading" so I can find my current book at the top of the list. I'm guessing that putting the categories at the top of the list in Category view is new to K3, and that's good to see. I was afraid I would still have to dig.

I chose to merge the PDF's so that there wouldn't be a massively long list of lecture notes, but it would have been nice to separate them into sub-categories for each class.

There are lots of features that some people want and others don't. A lot of software systems (like my voicemail) implement an "Advanced Options" menu that allows power users to change every last little thing, but keeps that clutter hidden from the average Joe.

Regarding the expectation that you're only supposed to store a few books at a time: Then why the heck did they give me 4gb, and run around bragging that it holds 3,500 books? I don't think I've even read close to that many in my whole life!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by zoran

K.
$FUD = 0; export $FUD

$FUD > /DEV/NULL

[zoran]

Originally Posted by rodion.foma

hmm what is your meaning?

K, /dev/null means that you could remove it, clear it, trow it away.
Putting something to that on linux is like "delete".

[MrPLD]

Originally Posted by rodion.foma

hmm what is your meaning?

/dev/null = device null = infinite black hole to pour bits into.

> means "redirect to"

$FUD of course is all the FUD content.

So, in summary; Send all FUD content to the infinite black hole (where it shall never return).

[kennyc]

[spacemonkey]

Originally Posted by MrPLD

/dev/null = device null = infinite black hole to pour bits into.

> means "redirect to"

$FUD of course is all the FUD content.

So, in summary; Send all FUD content to the infinite black hole (where it shall never return).

But that won't remove the FUD, merely send a copy of it to the black hole. Unless you are setting up a permanent redirect for all new FUD.