news are old....

[DuckieTigger]

Chiron scriba, you are looking for something to upgrade your basic Kindle. What I would say the biggest improvement lately has been the addition of light. Not being dependend on a external light when reading in bed is a huge thing. That also is a big improvement over a paper book. Touchscreen I could do without, but I do appreciate it. I find myself looking at words in the dictionary often. Well and highlighting is more intuitive with touch - I do that a lot. If I had to use buttons, I probably wouldn't.

As for which one to get - I don't think it really matters. Will depend on who you ask. If you ask me, of course it would be a Paperwhite. I am still on 1st gen - did not see enough reason to upgrade to PW2.

[Froide]

+1 to what meeera wrote above, plus my ereading devices allow me to:

• Quickly and conveniently - from wherever I am that has Internet access - find (sometimes by searching multiple sources simultaneously), borrow, renew, and return library and faculty materials, without ever having to worry about late fees or the lending establishment's business hours
• Just as quickly and conveniently find (sometimes by searching multiple sources simultaneously), purchase or return content, without having to worry about the seller's business hours
• Start reading, listening to, or watching a work on one device and then pick it up where I left off, on another
• Back up my content to multiple media
• Easily catalog and search through content (digital and otherwise), and attach to the records URLs and other relevant metadata of my choice

[Chiron scriba]

Well Froide, yours is certainly a way of reading, though pretty far away from mine.

My relationship with the book I'm reading is a private one, contemplative, almost intimate: whatever I read is between the book and myself, and the rest of the world is kindly requested not to step in.
Whereas your way resembles to some extent the way I use to browse the web: hyperactive, almost frantic, hardly a moment to dwell on minor details.

I couldn't say which one is better, probably both - mine for me and yours for you

[bobstro]

Alas, in the end, any product intended for the mass market has to be sold profitably. The device described is likely to be costly indeed, certainly in the first iteration. And if that fails, a second is unlikely.

Most people who describe their perfect <whatever> neglect to mention their maximum price. I've seen a lot of posts wishing for 64 GB internal storage and high resolution displays, all for $150. It could happen, but not likely any time soon.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

Well Froide, yours is certainly a way of reading, though pretty far away from mine.

My relationship with the book I'm reading is a private one, contemplative, almost intimate: whatever I read is between the book and myself, and the rest of the world is kindly requested not to step in.
Whereas your way resembles to some extent the way I use to browse the web: hyperactive, almost frantic, hardly a moment to dwell on minor details.

I couldn't say which one is better, probably both - mine for me and yours for you

How is it "hyperactive" to be able to find a new book when you finish the one you're reading? I don't believe Froide does all of that while he's reading a book...he uses those methods to find his next book (or return the one he just finished). It looks like he also switches from one device to another on a regular basis--maybe reading on a larger device at home and on his phone while out and about. Again...none of that seems "hyperactive" to me at all. I'm just curious--what do you do when you finish the book you're currently reading? Do you to a computer, then search the stores for your next book to read, then plug the reader in and put it onto the device? If so...then you did EXACTLY the same thing as froide, only he did it directly on his device, and you had to wait until you were at your computer to do it.

Shari

[meeera]

Originally Posted by shalym

How is it "hyperactive" to be able to find a new book when you finish the one you're reading?

+1

I see nothing in Froide's post about they way they read or their relationship with a single book. Just about ways of returning books and obtaining new ones. But I guess reading snobbery never goes away; it just changes form.

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by shalym

. . . I'm just curious--what do you do when you finish the book you're currently reading? Do you to a computer, then search the stores for your next book to read, then plug the reader in and put it onto the device? If so...then you did EXACTLY the same thing as froide, only he did it directly on his device, and you had to wait until you were at your computer to do it.
Shari

Well, you know the difference between gulping down a glass of wine and sipping it to savour the fine nuances of taste... the latter is more or less my way with e-books: first I buy a book - or more often, as I like old stuff too, I download it from Project Gutenberg or other free sources; then I edit it to remove the rubbish, browse through it without paying much attention to the contents but looking attentively for blatant typos and scan hiccups, correct them, check for spelling errors and patch them up, brush up the overall appearance, re-convert the book to a compatible format and upload it to my e-reader.
Only then I can read it through and enjoy it fully, unhampered by those nasty little nuisances that are so unusual in good old printed books and pop up so frequently in ebooks.

That's probably because I'm a relic from the past, a past that has spoiled me for so many decades with plenty of well-paginated, well-proofread, well-printed and well-bound stuff.
Whereas I guess that the current way of e-reading is mostly to turn on the crap-filter and concentrate on the contents disregarding the form it's served in. It's probably the (current) lack of such a crap-filter that makes me the unbearable hair-splitting pedant I am...

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by meeera

But I guess reading snobbery never goes away; it just changes form.

Of course I'm a snob: they serve me filet de boef woronoff with camel poo, I send it back

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Chiron scriba

Well, you know the difference between gulping down a glass of wine and sipping it to savour the fine nuances of taste... the latter is more or less my way with e-books: first I buy a book - or more often, as I like old stuff too, I download it from Project Gutenberg or other free sources; then I edit it to remove the rubbish, browse through it without paying much attention to the contents but looking attentively for blatant typos and scan hiccups, correct them, check for spelling errors and patch them up, brush up the overall appearance, re-convert the book to a compatible format and upload it to my e-reader.
Only then I can read it through and enjoy it fully, unhampered by those nasty little nuisances that are so unusual in good old printed books and pop up so frequently in ebooks.

That's probably because I'm a relic from the past, a past that has spoiled me for so many decades with plenty of well-paginated, well-proofread, well-printed and well-bound stuff.
Whereas I guess that the current way of e-reading is mostly to turn on the crap-filter and concentrate on the contents disregarding the form it's served in. It's probably the (current) lack of such a crap-filter that makes me the unbearable hair-splitting pedant I am...

Wowza, Chiron scriba, you sure made a lot of assumptions about my reading habits. Incorrect ones, I might add. For example, I happen to be both a fast reader and a quick study, but I'm by no means "frantic". I concur with shalym and meeera's responses to your earlier posts and will let those speak for me.

Your most recent post (which was not necessarily directed to me) highlights both commonalities we share and some differences. To wit:

• I don't "gulp" down ebooks like a wino who indiscriminately consumes whatever quality of booze she can get her hands on, not distinguishing between MD 20/20 and Moet & Chandon's top-tier champagne. Rather, like you, I'm a connoisseur who appreciates and savors the fine nuances of well-crafted content.
• Also, content aside - like you, I have little tolerance for reading any works that are poorly-paginated, poorly-proofread, poorly-printed, or poorly-bound.
• On the other hand, 'though I have no qualms about changing an ebook's cover, refining its metadata, or changing its format to accommodate the platform I plan to read it on, the only times I'll invest the time and effort you described to a bring poorly-paginated, poorly-proofread, poorly-printed, or poorly-bound work up to snuff is when I'm being paid to edit it or grade it, or I'm helping a loved one polish his/her work.
• Whereas you would download a free book and "edit it to remove the rubbish, browse through it without paying much attention to the contents but looking attentively for blatant typos and scan hiccups, correct them, check for spelling errors and patch them up, brush up the overall appearance," I would delete such a book posthaste and replace it with a better-quality edition, perhaps by using the above-mentioned search methods you decried (e.g., Worldcat and Inkmesh, each of which searches multiple sources simultaneously).

[bobstro]

Charon Scriba: You seem to spend as much time manipulating ebooks in preparation for reading as others spend reading. You can't make much of a case for your way being any less manic than others. I'd rather buy a good bottle rather than try to make a poor bottle better by tweaking the label.

Froide's approach rewards those who prepare cleanly formatted ebooks for all rather than just for one's self. I feel much the same. Like wine, quality ebooks are worth a few bucks more.

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by Froide

Wowza, Chiron scriba, you sure made a lot of assumptions about my reading habits. Incorrect ones, I might add.

I'm sorry Froide, please don't be piqued: one's attitude towards books is a matter of personal taste, I meant no disregard or criticism with my remarks.

For example, I happen to be both a fast reader and a quick study, but I'm by no means "frantic".

I'm a fast reader too, and whenever I have to do it I am frantic - but that's a sort of occupational disease: in my work I often have to go through huge amounts of dull material - on paper as well as on the screen - hastily discarding the ballast without missing the important details.
What I do in my armchair at home with stuff I like to read is (deliberately) quite another story.

. . .

• I don't "gulp" down ebooks like a wino who indiscriminately consumes whatever quality of booze she can get her hands on, not distinguishing between MD 20/20 and Moet & Chandon's top-tier champagne.

• 
  

  Rather, like you, I'm a connoisseur who appreciates and savors the fine nuances of well-crafted content.

  Also, content aside - like you, I have little tolerance for reading any works that are poorly-paginated, poorly-proofread, poorly-printed, or poorly-bound.

  Poorly-bound ebooks?
  

  . . . the only times I'll invest the time and effort you described to a bring poorly-paginated, poorly-proofread, poorly-printed, or poorly-bound work up to snuff is when I'm being paid to edit it or grade it, or I'm helping a loved one polish his/her work.

  Still a matter of taste: when I can afford reading for the sheer pleasure of it I prefer to see things arranged the way I like, and (as you perhaps already guessed ) I'm pretty finicky on the matter.
  
  

  Whereas you would download a free book and "edit it . . . the overall appearance," I would delete such a book posthaste and replace it with a better-quality edition, perhaps by using the above-mentioned search methods you decried (e.g., Worldcat and Inkmesh, each of which searches multiple sources simultaneously).

That's more or less what I do, as long as a decent replacement exists at all. But, alas, that's not always the case with some of the old obsolete stuff I'm so fond of. And you certainly know how much overhead, underhead and middlehead must be removed from a Gutenberg-converted ebook before it becomes palatable. Not that the other sources, free or not, are all much better...

[Chiron scriba]

Originally Posted by bobstro

. . . I'd rather buy a good bottle rather than try to make a poor bottle better by tweaking the label.

Bobstro I'm not tweaking the label, I'm tweaking the contents!

Froide's approach rewards those who prepare cleanly formatted ebooks for all rather than just for one's self. I feel much the same. Like wine, quality ebooks are worth a few bucks more.

As long as you can find them, I concur. But...
You know, during the transition from vinyl to CD there was a period when only the most popular pieces were available in the "new" version, and if you wanted something else you still had to rummage through dusty attics and then carefully brush and clean up your lucky findings. I've got the feeling that the ebook is currently going through such a phase.