New Kindle with WiFi announced

[NormHart]

When I bought my first ebook reader (Kindle 2 us) a year and a half ago I was pretty sure I'd be buying a lot of ebooks from Amazon and that I wouldn't be buying another ebook reader for years to come.



Well, I've only bought about ten ebooks from Amazon, surprisingly few impulse buys, and bought over 600 ebooks from Baen and gotten a bunch of free ebooks here, there, and elsewhere.



So... naturally I've preordered a K3 3G.

Biggest reasons: button placement, I've wanted that right side back page button since I got the K2;
weight, the K2 (with cover) is right on the limit of what I can hold for any length of time (of course I had to order the new cover with the light so I'm hoping for break even there);
smaller size, the closer it comes to a paperback size the happier my hand is going to be;
better contrast, the K2 is OK but my eyes can use all the help they can get. (OK, OK the graphite color too ).

I'm looking forward to plinking around getting it to hook up with my home intranet but that isn't a biggy nor is the faster page turn, my eyes aren't that fast anymore. As for why I got the 3G? I have no idea. I think I have bought one ebook via whispernet outside my home but... come on! It is so cool to be sitting in a cafe and pull down that ebook I've been meaning to read... even if I never do it.

As for all the fal-de-ral about formats and DRM... Meep! I avoid buying DRM ebooks when I can. I'd like better pictures/maps in the ebooks I read but what I've got is good enough. Amazon is not the root of all evil. (Although the final verdict isn't in yet, I am not at all happy about what they have done to used paperback prices.)

Kindle

[maryd2303]

That really is cheap as chips. I have an origianl Bebook (love of my life) and a Kindle DX purely for reading pdf articles and the addition of page turning buttons on both sides fo the kindle is a major plus in comfortable handling. The upgrade to the memory is great too. And I LIKE mobi. BUT what about folder support? I have well over 1000 books which would be totally unmanageable with folder support. Not that I am going to buy one for myself. But my daughter is looking at one, and I might get my mother one, and my sister is looking for a reader!! The family that reads together ...

[NormHart]

Originally Posted by maryd2303

That really is cheap as chips. I have an origianl Bebook (love of my life) and a Kindle DX purely for reading pdf articles and the addition of page turning buttons on both sides fo the kindle is a major plus in comfortable handling. The upgrade to the memory is great too. And I LIKE mobi. BUT what about folder support? I have well over 1000 books which would be totally unmanageable with folder support. Not that I am going to buy one for myself. But my daughter is looking at one, and I might get my mother one, and my sister is looking for a reader!! The family that reads together ...

The category system does work and works fairly well. I mostly use it for sorting ebooks into series and/or author. It is not as familiar as the old file/folder system but it does the job and is fairly flexible. If organization is what is holding you back I'd say don't worry about it, categories work, check out the Kindle threads for more info.

My "old" K2 is going to my sister so we will be sharing a lot more books from now on.

[Papi]

I wanted to pre-order the K3 3G plus the leather cover with light, but...120$ import fees deposit ! I wasn't prepared for that...40$ for the K3 3G if I only take the K3 3G, but still...it's a bit obscure how they define those "fees".

[lord_blackfang]

Originally Posted by morrissey2k7

I love when people complain about how the Kindle doesn't support this format or that -- If you're too lazy to use Calibre to convert your books, then you deserve to have your ebook reader license revoked.

The customer bending over backwards to get something to work is not exactly equivalent to built-in support.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Papi

I wanted to pre-order the K3 3G plus the leather cover with light, but...120$ import fees deposit ! I wasn't prepared for that...40$ for the K3 3G if I only take the K3 3G, but still...it's a bit obscure how they define those "fees".

Where are you located? There might be dues in addition to import taxes.

[thinkpad]

The thing I find flexible when ordering a Kindle is that the VAT is already sorted out and charged by Amazon, that way I don't have to bother with customs. Last time I ordered a laptop from the U.S it took 6 month before the VAT-bill ended up in my mailbox.

Originally Posted by aagstn

ePub is the standard for ebooks and until Amazon supports it as far as I'm concerned they don't even make an eBook reader.

Did I miss the election or the announcement? I agree ePub is the best format and it is open source, but it is NOT THE standard. You can argue that VHS was the standard for video tapes, and that BluRay is the standard for HD DVDs. But ePub is far from being THE standard ebook format. With a large percentage of non-ePub books being sold your statement has no validity.

[BexBits]

Originally Posted by morrissey2k7

I love when people complain about how the Kindle doesn't support this format or that -- If you're too lazy to use Calibre to convert your books, then you deserve to have your ebook reader license revoked.

The thing is that on this thread people promoting the Kindle have argued it both ways.

First, that the Kindle gives the user a drop dead simple experience without the need for tech skills -- just buy and read.

Then, secondly, that complaining about library books and reading other formats is ridiculous because there are work arounds for those that just take some tech knowledge and time.

I'm not saying that the same people are arguing both of those but it does make the Kindle "side" of the discussion a bit self-contradictory.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by maryd2303

That really is cheap as chips. I have an origianl Bebook (love of my life) and a Kindle DX purely for reading pdf articles and the addition of page turning buttons on both sides fo the kindle is a major plus in comfortable handling. The upgrade to the memory is great too. And I LIKE mobi. BUT what about folder support? I have well over 1000 books which would be totally unmanageable with folder support. Not that I am going to buy one for myself. But my daughter is looking at one, and I might get my mother one, and my sister is looking for a reader!! The family that reads together ...

I am going to agree with Norm here. the Collection systems works well. You build your own collections and can put books, PDFs, and the like into as many collections as you want.

[Papi]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Where are you located? There might be dues in addition to import taxes.

Indeed, i'm in France, VAT must be around 20% here, i don't know how much it's in USA, but i guess it's less than 20% (for an imported product, do i have to pay for VAT for both coutries, or just the destination's one ? i don't know...).
Still : K3 3G : 190$, import fees deposit : 40$
K3 3G + leather cover with light : 250$, import fees deposit : 120$ !
There's more than VAT here, and what i don't like is that it's not very clear how they calculate that fee.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by Papi

Indeed, i'm in France, VAT must be around 20% here

19.6%, actually

(for an imported product, do i have to pay for VAT for both coutries, or just the destination's one ?

The US usually don't charge sales tax (there is no federal sales tax) on online purchases. In other, similar cases getting it back is possible but cumbersome.

Still : K3 3G : 190$, import fees deposit : 40$
K3 3G + leather cover with light : 250$, import fees deposit : 120$ !

I think the reason might be that there is no customs duty (on top of the 19.6% which you need to pay in any case) for shipments below 150€ in value (it's an EU thing). If you exceed that value, though, additional dues may apply.

Try to make it two separate orders (even if that would mean paying S&H two times) just to see if I'm right.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by morrissey2k7

I love when people complain about how the Kindle doesn't support this format or that -- If you're too lazy to use Calibre to convert your books, then you deserve to have your ebook reader license revoked.

Yeah, sure, try converting drm-ed ePub.
I can de-drm true. But why should I ? Plus, it's losing all the ePub fanciness when the publisher actually bothered with it. I'm not so happy with the result of converting my mobi. Nor was I with the one ePub i converted to mobi. Margins went way to large, and no easy possibility to edit to fix.

Seriously, what don't you people understand that, in other parts of the world, there is a standard. And that ePub is this standard. DRMed epub... All the shop in france uses adept ePub. We don't have multiple formats like you do, just one.

And just like you want to access the catalog from the main US publishers, I want to access the catalog from the main French publishers.

[NormHart]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I am going to agree with Norm here. the Collection systems works well. You build your own collections and can put books, PDFs, and the like into as many collections as you want.

Collection not category Just goes to show how little I pay attention to the actual system itself. It becomes second nature fairly rapidly and for those not into computers it will probably be comfortable from the git go.

My first Kindle was named Alexandria in honor of that first great library.

My second will be named Armaria, Latin for a cupboard style bookcase such as was believed to be used in Alexandria. That, in some ways, reflects my changing perception of ebook readers generally, and the Kindle in specific.

I also decided that, rather than the black case I had originally ordered, I would get the Chocolate Brown case. I love my old K2 black case, it is so stylish, much like a professional lab notebook, but the new case is not as austerely shaped and there is nothing quite like warm brown leather. (Not to mention chocolate!) Another reflection on my changing perceptions, I think.

[rainsux]

Seems that the PDFviewer in the DX/Graphite is also "different."

For the DX/White; I create PDFs where each page is a PNG. (MUCH smaller files and
the pages render MUCH faster. )

The DX/Graphite's PDFviewer gripes, "The PDF cannot be opened due to embedded
features not yet supported by Kindle." Kind'a misleading since they have seemingly
dropped support for PNGs in PDFs.

Any K3 owners willing to test one of my K2-formatted ebooks and report if the PDFviewer
in the K3 was lobotomized?

http://dranz.readyhosting.com/approach/ebooks/CT.pdf


Amazon needs to write a check to Foxit or GoodReader and replace their PDF crippleware.