How much is Amazon missing by not having a waterproof Kindle?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kacir

I would love to have a waterproof e-ink reader. (Please notice I did not say Kindle.) It would come handy perhaps 5 days per year, when I am camping and want to pack my reader with me in a canoe. And perhaps another week when I am at the beach.

Why not buy one, then? The Waterproof Kobo Auro H2O has been around for quite a while.

[piperclassique]

I've got a waterproof bag that will hold most e-ink readers, and the touch screen works just fine. It even has a cord so I can hang it from anything convenient. I mostly use it for my passport etc when I am on a walking holiday, but I have been known to use it for my kindle. They come in various sizes. The Kindle travels in my backpack in a plastic shell.

[John F]

Originally Posted by crich70

One thing that the Kindle has (at least the Kindle Fire) is a Gorilla Glass screen which makes it very hard for it to break even if dropped. ...

Do you mean the new Fire tablets? Doing a quick search and looking on Amazon, it looks like for the current Amazon model tablets, the only one that has Gorilla Glass is the Fire HD 6?

And they aren't "Kindle Fire" anymore; I believe they are now just called "Fire" (not to be confused with "Fire TV".)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by piperclassique

I've got a waterproof bag that will hold most e-ink readers, and the touch screen works just fine. It even has a cord so I can hang it from anything convenient. I mostly use it for my passport etc when I am on a walking holiday, but I have been known to use it for my kindle. They come in various sizes. The Kindle travels in my backpack in a plastic shell.

I too do a lot of walking, and I also carry my Kindle in a waterproof bag. Not a transparent one, but what's called a "dry-sack". They're sold in outdoor stores to keep things dry in your rucksack.

[DiapDealer]

I simply don't buy the revisionist "ebooks didn't take off like expected" faulty narrative, nor any conclusion infered from it. It's agenda, not data.

My opinion on a waterproof Kindle is that Amazon isn't missing out on a thing by not offering one. There would already BE a waterproof Kindle if its importance was even remotely significant saleswise.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I simply don't buy the revisionist "ebooks didn't take off like expected" faulty narrative, nor any conclusion infered from it. It's agenda, not data.

It's a ridiculous assertion to my mind and, as you say, instantly invalidates the article. Ebooks have been an enormous success for readers, authors and publishers.

[booklover6]

The article about ebooks not taking off was from 1996.

Of course a waterproof Kindle would be a hot seller. Almost all Kindles are hot sellers. I would absolutely buy a waterproof 6" Kindle. Not that I read in the tub, but it's added insurance against spills, getting caught in the rain, etc.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's a ridiculous assertion to my mind and, as you say, instantly invalidates the article. Ebooks have been an enormous success for readers, authors and publishers.

It makes me wonder exactly whose ebook take-off expectations they're basing the assertion on? Exactly what level of take-off-edness WAS expected, and by whom)? I mean, there's no way Amazon was disappointed in how well ebooks have been recieved, right? So who was it that expected them to do better than they did (are doing), and wny were their expectations lent such credence?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by booklover6

The article about ebooks not taking off was from 1996.

No, it's a current article saying that the prediction of ebooks taking off that was made in 1996 has not turned out to be true.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by booklover6

The article about ebooks not taking off was from 1996.

Yes. But I was also addressing Zodwallop's later follow-up, as well:

Many (most?) e-book articles that I read that aren't at e-book specific sites make many of the same claims the article I linked to did: E-book sales didn't take off like expected.

By my calculations, ebooks FAR exceeded any expections that traditional publishing insiders had for them. In fact they never took them very seriously at all until their level of success starting causing them migraines and panic attacks.

The expectation that ebooks would entirely replace print books was never really one that anyone with common sense took seriously.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, it's a current article saying that the prediction of ebooks taking off that was made in 1996 has not turned out to be true.

Oh, sorry. I didn't look at the article, just the original post. (Too early for me to be posting, obviously!)

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by crich70

One thing that the Kindle has (at least the Kindle Fire) is a Gorilla Glass screen which makes it very hard for it to break even if dropped. I don't think paper will ever go completely away either. Technical manuals for example and other reference volumes are more likely going to stay in paper for a while if not forever. Fiction on the other hand has more portability in e-book format. If I have a book in the cloud I can access it anywhere I can get access to a WiFi connection. And it makes it easier to store books than it is when all your books are paper. Plus all your e-books weigh the same amount (the weight of the e-reader). You can't say that with paper.

Yes! I once sat on a Sony PRS300. That was not a good thing. Those puppies were EXPENSIVE when they first came out.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I too do a lot of walking, and I also carry my Kindle in a waterproof bag. Not a transparent one, but what's called a "dry-sack". They're sold in outdoor stores to keep things dry in your rucksack.

I rarely walk around with an ebook reader, though I always have my weather resistant Galaxy S5 with me, and it has both the Kindle and Moon Reader Pro apps installed. My eyes are old, but not so old I can't read the S5's screen!

Water and Weather proof is pretty misleading! Resistant is a better word! They all can fail, but a dry sack, while ALSO capable of failure is much less likely to fail than the devices themselves!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Water and Weather proof is pretty misleading! Resistant is a better word! They all can fail, but a dry sack, while ALSO capable of failure is much less likely to fail than the devices themselves!

Oh sure - if you drop your rucksack in a river and leave it there for 5 minutes your reader is probably not going to like it!. They hold up just fine against even the most torrential rain though (and goodness knows we get enough of that in Britain ).

[Alpha o]

Originally Posted by crich70

One thing that the Kindle has (at least the Kindle Fire) is a Gorilla Glass screen which makes it very hard for it to break even if dropped. I don't think paper will ever go completely away either. Technical manuals for example and other reference volumes are more likely going to stay in paper for a while if not forever. Fiction on the other hand has more portability in e-book format. If I have a book in the cloud I can access it anywhere I can get access to a WiFi connection. And it makes it easier to store books than it is when all your books are paper. Plus all your e-books weigh the same amount (the weight of the e-reader). You can't say that with paper.

That's what most cell phone fanboys don't get.

I have apps that were books in print. Audubon's guides are now apps. So are Sibley's and Peterson's.

I also have astronomy guides put out by O'Reilly that were originally books.
Those are PDF.

I have a couple of Geology Guides that are either PDF or HTML. One did do EPUB.

I also have camera and phone manuals in PDF format. I use Pocketbook reader.

Having them on the phone (which does have gorilla glass) saves me from a lot of heavyweight backpacking which I can't do.

Those who don't see the same savings in a mobile format with an e-reader either don't read or they are oldtime purists.