I would buy a Kindle in a heartbeat IF --->

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

heheheh

I don't need or want a smart phone. People keep telling me to get with the time. I keep telling them that a regular cell phone works fine for receiving calls and texts and I barely use the cell thing anyway. I have the internet at home, work, and 75% of the places I am out and about in if I need it. The reality is, I survived for my first 30 years of my life without a cell phone or email, I can survive for a few hours without email and the internet.

Then they tell me I am a luddite.

(shrugs)

I don't think they count e-readers, iPads, laptops and other similar electronic products as sufficiently technology savy

LOL. I *do* have a smartphone since 2009, and I only have it for one reason: to make travelling by public transport easier. Now I can find departure and arrival times on the internet, use navigation at my destination, and plan alternative routes on the go without having to first find out what goes where when I'm somewhere unfamiliar.

With regard to that, the smartphone (or better, affordable and speedy internet on the phone) was a godsend.

I don't care one zilch for apps on the phone and I've blocked most functionality. The only non-public transport apps I actively use are Whatsapp (because everybody else I know has it), and a chess and go app to kill some time if I need to wait. That's about it.

Still, some people think that I'm some sort of weirdo because I don't do Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, and a bazillion other socail networks...

[Tarana]

I have had a Kindle Keyboard in the past and would buy another Kindle touch ereader IF just one little simple thing ---- I just want to be able to add extra storage. That's it.

It is not a simple thing. It requires a complete redesign which costs money. Fortunately, your ST has the extra storage if having all your books on the ereader is your requirement. I agree with the other poster that Amazon is unlikely to add extra storage. They would rather push the Kindle Fire, which does allow that extra storage. No matter how much storage they add to devices, a small percentage will piss and moan about wanting even more storage.

Use the cloud.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by mva1985

Well I'm one of those that likes to have everything on my ereader --- all my books, ya know just in case :-)

do you have any idea how many ebooks fit in the Kindle storage?

unless by book you mean comic book or other documents shockful with images, the Kindle tiny storage is more than enough to most books you'll ever read... I mean, you can cramm in there all of Shakespeare, Plato, Tolstoy, Dickens, Stephen King, Game of Thrones or whatever else and you'll should still have plenty of space left to short stories...

ebooks are just compressed text, not at all like videos or audio files. They rarely weight in much more than a few 100KBs each...

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by cybmole

@eschwartz:
they won't listen, Ive given up queriing the need ( & the honesty) of owning billions of books , the crazyness of needing a million of them sideloaded all at once, & the insistence of doing all this on the only popular e-reader that has no SD card support.

there's something quite maniacal about the need people need these days to collect all possible junk into their storages. I suspect the real fun is watching the torrent bars fill in, not reading, listening or watching whatever is left after it's done.

this is the twitter generation, after all, the one exchanging every moment little scraps of cryptic crap about nothing...

[mva1985]

Originally Posted by Geralt

Here you go OP
http://www.tensojapan.com/index_eg.asp

They work with Rakuten too.
Estimation at the bottom of the page says that for a 206g Paperwhite, forwarding fee to USA (I'm guessing you're American) would be 1290 yen, which is around 13$.
If you're not from USA, there is a list of countries they forward to.

Paperwhite 2013 is 100$ on amazon.co.jp, so your total would be 113$. Still cheaper then buying it from amazon.com where it's 139$ without special offers. Japanese paperwhites dont have adds either.

thank you very much

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

I suspect the real fun is watching the torrent bars fill in, not reading, listening or watching whatever is left after it's done.

Alas, I am not proud of that small pleasure. I do understand that Amazon isn't going to increase the cost for everyone just to satisfy people who hoard files for emotional reasons.

[Andy_T]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

this is the twitter generation, after all, the one exchanging every moment little scraps of cryptic crap about nothing...

Interesting point.

I guess it might go hand in hand with the requirement to switch between thousands of books in a matter of seconds, wherever you are, whenever you are.

Not *my* personal way of reading, when I read a book, it typically takes me a few days to finish it, so before I start with the next one, in that time I typically plan which to read/load next... (so I also did not go for the $$$ Paperwhite 3G but - initially somehow reluctantly - got the normal Wifi version instead)

But, of course, different requirements for different people, and the marketing folk at Amazon are most likely avidly following their "target demographics/requirement" to provide the best solution for the most customers (and this does not mean every potential customer).

Best regards,
Andy

[crossi]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's enough for well over 1000 typical ebooks. Do you REALLY need to carry more than 1000 books around with you?

The trouble is when I want to browse my books for something to read the archive just doesn't cut it. Almost all my books have the titles edited to show series number and other modifications, some have the authors edited, series books have pub date edited so they show on my kindle with entire series together in the correct order. Looking through my archive its hard to find the book I want and if I download from the cloud I get the unedited book. If all my books were in my archive I would have 90 pages to check one at a time. With all my books loaded I only have 10 pages in my home page. Much more manageable. I hate, hate HATE Amazons archive system and I never turn on whispernet. All my books are sideloaded.

If they really needed to save money by eliminating hardware why don't they make a version with NO whispernet (3G or Wi-Fi) and no archive. That would save money right there. Simpler program by eliminating searching so indexing would not be needed. Just basic file system so users could organize as wanted using their computer. No notes or underlining. So no need for any keyboard. Eliminate the expensive touch and lighted screen. Just add cheap memory and page turn, back and select buttons. I just want my books and a way to find and read them. Don't need bells and whistles and gimics.

[ProfCrash]

The percentage of the overall population buying e-books is probably pretty small. There are studies that show that the majority of Americans adults do not read a book in a given year. So let's say 49% of the US population reads a book in a given year.

What percentage of that population do you think is reading using e-books? Say that number is 75% (pulling these numbers out of my butt and I think 75% is generous), so you are looking at 37.5% of the population reading e-books.

What percentage of that do you think is reading over 10 books a year? Over 100?

Across the people who read e-books, the percentage of people with thousands of books is pretty small. I would guess under 5% and that might be high.

Now, how many people buying e-books are reading them on a dedicated e-reader and not a tablet?

So you are talking about a very small number of people who need an e-reader that can handle thousands of books. The Kindle is sold at cost, maybe under cost. What economic incentive does Amazon have to develop a special Kindle that has a ton of memory, no WiFi or front light?

The answer is none.

The K1 had an SD card slot and it caused a ton of problems. K1's crashed, were slow, and had all sorts of issues with the card. That is probably why Amazon got rid of it. Since then, Amazon has pretty much dominated the US market, without the SD card slot. BN just dumped its SD Card slot, probably because it meant people were buying books or downloading books from sites that were not BN.

I suspect that the reality is, most people have well under 100 books on their devices and this is not an issue. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 books and I don't carry them all on my device for my own reason. I did max out my K1 memory and decided that I would simply remove books. (shrugs)

I am guessing that I am more of what Amazon sees as a heavy reader and they are more concerned about someone with 500 books and not in the least bit conerned with someone who wants to carry thousands of books.

Until there is a huge uptick in the number of people who want to carry massive libraries and those people are buying the majority of their books from Amazon, there is not going to be a Kindle with a card slot. There simply is not enough of the demand to justify the cost.

[HarryT]

Absolutely, Prof. From Amazon's point of view, a person who buys a dozen books a year is a heavy reader. The number of people who want to store 1000+ books on a Kindle is probably insignificantly tiny, and not one that Amazon have any incentive to cater for.

[Geralt]

I don't get all this aaah and uhhh s/he wants 4GB kindle. This person must be mental. Who needs 1000 books on a reader. Then something about twitter generation or whatever. Why do you care? Why would you care?

If somebody wants it, they want it and there ends the conversation. If you have some info that can help them post it, but all this judgmental talk is old.

And honestly I would have never bought a kindle pw with 2GB. If I have a choice between 2GB and 4GB, without significant increase in price, my choice is always 4GB.

[ProfCrash]

Different strokes for different folks. SOme people want their entire library with them, others don't. If it is important to someone then they won't buy a Kindle.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Different strokes for different folks. SOme people want their entire library with them, others don't. If it is important to someone then they won't buy a Kindle.

Or they will buy 4GB kindle.
I swear some of the posts on this thread is like watching BBC's Grumpy Old Men episode

[mva1985]

Thanks for backing me up Geralt

I have a fairly extensive physical library and have attempted to find ebook version of those so I can dispense with them. Except of course very old books.

I have no plans on moving anytime soon but when I do I'd like to pick up an ereader and maybe a box or two and be done.

Plus what can I say I do like to have my whole library on my device. I definitely don't make any excuses about it. It is what it is. Probably why you will always find me with a device that accepts some sort of memory card.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Geralt

Or they will buy 4GB kindle.
I swear some of the posts on this thread is like watching BBC's Grumpy Old Men episode

AFAIK, you can't buy a 4GB Kindle outside Japan. Not officially.