Twelve or so questions about the Kindle 2

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by enarchay

How exactly do table of contents work on Kindle?

You open a book, hit Menu, then hit Table of Contents. (The TOC is inside the book, so sometimes you can just page forward to it. Or sometimes you start inside the book after the TOC, and have to page back to it. But by using Menu you can always get there, if it has one.) You go to a page which lists varioues entries, generally chapters. You use the 5-way controller to arrow down to the chapter you want to jump to and click on it, like a hyperlink.

Originally Posted by enarchay

Do all of the books you buy through amazon come with a table of contents, or how do you navigate the books?

No, not all books (Amazon or otherwise) come with TOC. That's entirely up to the publisher whether or not they format their book with a good TOC.

Originally Posted by enarchay

For example, I don't want to have to do a million page flips to get where I want.

Sometimes you have to do exactly that. Yes, it's annoying. You can always return the book for a refund if you download it and find it's not formatted to your liking.

Originally Posted by enarchay

Moreover, when you convert PDFs, does it retain the table of contents or automatically add one or what?

My understanding from other threads here is that TOCs do get converted if one exists already in the PDF, but perhaps not always. I don't think it's smart enough to automatically generate one. PDF conversion is tricky so it probably depends on the PDF.

Originally Posted by enarchay

Is there a way to skip ahead by more than one page at a time?

Not on the Kindle 2. (Except via TOC or hyperlinks that take you to a specific place in the book.) There is a way to move 10% at a time on the Kindle 1, but that feature is not on the Kindle 2 for some unknown reason.

Originally Posted by enarchay

Can you view files in landscape mode?

Not on the Kindle 2, but you can on the Kindle DX. (I'm speaking about text. With the unsupported image viewer you can view pictures in landscape mode.)

[sirbruce]

Originally Posted by enarchay

Another question (in addition to the above).

I've heard that reading the Kindle 2 in sunlight sometimes screws up the screen or something like that. Is this true?

If you plan to read the Kindle 2 in direct sunlight, be advised that some Kindle 2s have an issue where the screen fades during page turning in direct sulight, making the text difficult or impossible to read. Amazon will usually replace such a defective Kindle 2 for free, but you may have to go through several returns to get one that doesn't have this issue.

[enarchay]

I'd like to reiterate Question(s) 2. I'm reading some reviews and some people complain of the battery burning out - and having to send it back or spend 200 dollars to fix it. Is this a common problem or do some people just have bad luck?

Please answer my latest questions (a few responses above) if you can.

Thanks for all the help.

[enarchay]

Not on the Kindle 2. (Except via TOC or hyperlinks that take you to a specific place in the book.) There is a way to move 10% at a time on the Kindle 1, but that feature is not on the Kindle 2 for some unknown reason.

Do you know if you can do that with the Sony PRS-505 or 700, that is, skip ahead by pages at a time?

Not on the Kindle 2, but you can on the Kindle DX. (I'm speaking about text. With the unsupported image viewer you can view pictures in landscape mode.)

Do you know if you can on the Sony PRS-505 or 700?

Thanks.

[enarchay]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

If you plan to read the Kindle 2 in direct sunlight, be advised that some Kindle 2s have an issue where the screen fades during page turning in direct sulight, making the text difficult or impossible to read. Amazon will usually replace such a defective Kindle 2 for free, but you may have to go through several returns to get one that doesn't have this issue.

So, basically, I won't know until I expose it to direct sunlight?

How fast do they send the returns?

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by enarchay

Another three questions.
Is there a way to skip ahead by more than one page at a time?

There are several choices for navigation. Before I explain, let me comment about the choices between ebook navigation and paper. I have had many different types of readers and for the most part I prefer paper when I want to find things. It's much faster for me to guage the thickness of the book and to skim a few passages to orient myself. I have yet to find an e-alternative that is faster. However, there are several options on the Kindle that are useful.

1) Location: The Kindle does not have pages, but it does have location. As I understand it, a location is like a chunk of memory. I don't really know how big a typical chunk is; however, the book that I am reading now has 3,698 locations. Whereas the number of pages in a book can change based on font size, location number 1,234 (to pick a random example) should be the exact same spot in the book, irrespective of the font or font-size.

At the bottom of each page is a display that shows the locations on the current page. As well as the total locations in the book. For example, I have dummied up the location display for my current book below:

75% Locations 2801-8 3698
================================____________

This display indicates that I am 75% done with the book (also shown in the bar chart represented by the "="), and that the current page shows locations 2801 through 2808. The last location in the book is 3698. I can use the menu to go to any location. Therefore, I can "Go To Location 3100". If the spot I am looking for is after that, I can split half the remaining difference and "Go To Location 3300". Eventually I will narrow down to the correct location.

2) Search: The Kindle supports a full text search. If I can remember some fairly specific text passage this makes it easy to find a spot. I search for it and it takes me directly to the correct spot.

3) Page turning: The K2 uses the latest Epson controller. This means that simple page turns are faster than in the past. I used to own a Cybook and it took me forever to turn pages. If I have to page forward to a new spot, it is relatively fast for the Kindle.

However, I would make one comment about page turning and power consumption. Remember that eInk platforms are rated according to page turns, not time. Let's say you skip through a book using lots of page turns. Each page turn uses a similar amount of energy as-if you actually read the same amount of pages. In other words, 100 page turns uses a given amount of energy whether the page is displayed for two seconds or two minutes. Therefore, if your battery is low, skimming quickly through the book using the page turn will not save you a lot in terms of battery life.

[Slow_hand]

There are two things that appear to me to be different as far as page jumping from K1 to K2 - at least I have not found the equivalent functionality on the K2.

1. On the K1 when one held alt and hit next page it jumped more than one "page", I equated it to a ten page jump (though I am sure it was of a greater scale).

2. Also on the K1 when one positioned the wheel on the page count bar one could skip directly to the next or previous bookmark using the next/previous page bars.

[enarchay]

1) Location: The Kindle does not have pages, but it does have location.

Do you know if the Sonys deal with page numbers rather than locations?

Also, as I asked previously, does Sony have the ability to skip ahead by more than one page at a time, or does it offer any other advantages for navigation?

2) Search: The Kindle supports a full text search. If I can remember some fairly specific text passage this makes it easy to find a spot. I search for it and it takes me directly to the correct spot.

Does searching chapter titles work?

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by enarchay

Do you know if the Sonys deal with page numbers rather than locations?

Does searching chapter titles work?

No info on the Sony, but in the Kindle 2 you can search on any text in the book. This includes chapter titles.

[susan_cassidy]

Originally Posted by enarchay

I'd like to reiterate Question(s) 2. I'm reading some reviews and some people complain of the battery burning out - and having to send it back or spend 200 dollars to fix it. Is this a common problem or do some people just have bad luck?

A Kindle 2 ( and presumably, the DX) does not have a user-replaceable battery. You have to send it to Amazon for replacement (similar to some of the Apple products). If I recall, the charge is $49 or similar, not $200.

It is my understanding that the Sony calls them page numbers, but they have no more correlation to page numbers in some physical edition than the Kindle's location numbers do.

[enarchay]

It is my understanding that the Sony calls them page numbers, but they have no more correlation to page numbers in some physical edition than the Kindle's location numbers do.

Yeah but it looks like the Kindle has thousands of locations - far from correlating to page numbers - whereas the Sony is more precise. I told my friend about this and he said if it is true, then that would seal the deal for him: he wouldn't buy the Kindle. So... yeah... the scale weighs back in favor of the Sony, though I'm still confused.

[susan_cassidy]

Actually, locations are more precise: one location is something like 100 bytes, not one screen-full of text. I think the Sony re-numbers the "pages" when you resize the font, too, which the Kindle does not. A location is the same place in the book, regardless of font size.

[enarchay]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Actually, locations are more precise: one location is something like 100 bytes, not one screen-full of text. I think the Sony re-numbers the "pages" when you resize the font, too, which the Kindle does not. A location is the same place in the book, regardless of font size.

Why are there so many damn locations, then? I've seen some books have thousands of locations - and I doubt the actual books have thousands of pages (in paperback or on the Kindle).

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by enarchay

Why are there so many damn locations, then? I've seen some books have thousands of locations - and I doubt the actual books have thousands of pages (in paperback or on the Kindle).

Well your statement was about precision. If you don't compare well in bytes then you can think in pages. At my font choice a location is like 1/8 of a page. Therefore you can more precisely specify the location to the nearest 1/8 of a page.

However, there is a reason that pages are a bad measure. Think of it this way. You want to tell your friend how to find something on his/her reader. "Its on page 231 of the text in the first paragraph." Now the problem is that page 234 does not contain the same words on his text as on yours because you both select different fonts and font sizes. This means that your texts will contain different page numbers.

Locations are tied to the physical book location. It doesn't matter what the screen is set at. If you tell your fried to go to location 2310 then both of you will see the same text.

Therefore, locations are more precise for two reasons. 1) In typical font sizes they specify a place at a finer level of detail than pages. 2) They are not affected by changing fonts or font sizes.

[whitearrow]

Most non-fiction books and nearly all reference books have TOC's. The books most likely not to have TOC's are novels, especially contemporary popular fiction. IMO, most don't really need them.