Kindle adds Page Numbers (and more)

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I say this to Apples critics too. they almost always respond he you give them the time to do it. And they get it right too.

Yup. Of course, a good response first requires allowing those critics to freely voice their complaints.

[elemenoP]

You know, I lol'ed at the article that said Amazon had its own format so that they could make it better and not have to wait around for new standards to be adopted. But now they have actually done it. This addresses two separate but related complaints: "regular people" who just want to know how long the book is, and academics who need to cite a specific page number of a specific edition. Kudos to Amazon.

eP

[gollu]

Great updates, but how to get it on a K2? Sound like K2 is following K1 fate...

[ATDrake]

Oh good. I like the page numbers (even though as a K2 user I probably won't get a firmware upgrade for my device) and the other stuff sounds semi-useful.

I hope the next thing they do is improve Collections to include sub-collections and easier management, and perhaps be able to assign tags (science fiction, contains dwarves, unbelievable plotting, etc.) to books regardless of collections category.

And I hope that one day they also start using the "Description" field of the Mobi metadata so that people can look at whatever blurb the book comes with, without having to resort to going online to the Kindle store to check. I don't always remember what all the books I have loaded are about.

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by Piper_

The way they have implemented it, the page numbers are tied to a specific print edition, and the source ISBN number is provided. So they don't even have to say it was a Kindle edition.

It's a lot more work than previous methods, so I wasn't sure they'd manage it... at least not this soon. But judging from all the feedback they got from users and trial studies in universities, it was a smart move, particularly for academic settings, where it should give them a serious edge over non-hard-coded pagers.

Good work if they roll it out for all of their books. It was weird citing an epub page number for a couple of book reviews last semester. They don't quite jive with the print editions - generally close, but not super close.

Excellent idea from Amazon if they get get them matched up properly for everything (quite the task).

[Andrew H.]

I really like the page numbers: Page 74 of 404 is a lot more familiar to me than the locations ever were. And it doesn't really matter to me that the page numbers relate to an actual book, but I do think that's kind of cool and could be useful for students.

I'm not sure that I'll use any of the social media bits, though.

PS - And the page numbers automagically appeared on a book I bought and downloaded last month!

[tubemonkey]

Question - do all print versions of a book (hardcover, various paperback forms) use the same page numbers? IOW, does page 83 of the hardcover correspond to page 83 of the trade paperback and to page 83 of the mass market paperback?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Question - do all print versions of a book (hardcover, various paperback forms) use the same page numbers? IOW, does page 83 of the hardcover correspond to page 83 of the trade paperback and to page 83 of the mass market paperback?

No. Or not necessarily. Sometimes the trade paperback might use the same pagination as the hardback. But the mass market paperback pagination will almost always be different.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by koland

* Real Page Numbers -- Our customers have told us they want real page numbers that match the page numbers in print books so they can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class.

I want to know how to add that feature to my own ebooks in the Kindle store, at least the ones that have paper editions as well. I don't see how Amazon can do it themselves. Unless they're doing something VERY clever with book uploaded to their "Search Inside" programme.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

No. Or not necessarily. Sometimes the trade paperback might use the same pagination as the hardback. But the mass market paperback pagination will almost always be different.

Then what's the point of having page numbers? Is Amazon basing ebook page numbers on hardcover or paperback versions?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Then what's the point of having page numbers? Is Amazon basing ebook page numbers on hardcover or paperback versions?

Because people are familiar with page numbers.

I suspect that Amazon will mostly be using hardback page numbers, but I think I read somewhere that it'll be possible to get the ISBN number of the edition from which the page numbers are taken.

No doubt the details of how they manage things will emerge in time.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I suspect that Amazon will mostly be using hardback page numbers, but I think I read somewhere that it'll be possible to get the ISBN number of the edition from which the page numbers are taken.

Piper_ said so on the previous page:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=12

That's good enough for me.

(Especially since I don't care about page numbers one way or another.)

[goodereader]

Some people are claiming that the page number is not there after installing it and clicking on the menu . Do you have to redownload the book for it to sync?

[Lilly]

Page numbers! I've been saying that the location thing don't work for me for years. I still don't understand it. One of the 3 major reasons I'm not on the Kindle's bandwagon. So adding that part only leaves 2 now!

[ChrisChillin]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Then what's the point of having page numbers? Is Amazon basing ebook page numbers on hardcover or paperback versions?

Citations, citations, citations.

I would only stick to physical books for my PhD work as long as ebooks lack some sort of standardized pagination system. "Locations" won't work for my dissertation unless all the examiners happen to have Kindles and to have bought all the cited books in Kindle format. Page numbers tied to print editions they can check in the library - now that will work for academia.