People with Kindles are like robots in another world

[emilia maingu]

Nice to join the mobileread forum

[gweeks]

Originally Posted by Schneicw

Off topic but what book is that?

My guess is this one:

http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/9...762B.htm?blurb

Greg Weeks

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu

Oh, yeah... but wait, no! It did happen before! It did! I'm sure I didn't imagine it!

OH... to those who run into things while reading, take my advise: Do yourself a favor, and stop moving.

[kaleissin]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

"Like robots in another world"?
I can cop to that. eBooks *are* far more immersive than print books so reading on them *does* suck you into the world of the narrative. And, since I'm not all that sociable, I'd rather stay in there (currently, Russia in the year 1636) than stop and talk to the likes of Kindle haters like him.

Would that be 1636: The Kremlin Games? I used Planet Baen coupon to get the arc of that one cheaper Wot, me wait?

[kaleissin]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Agreed, with a big caveat. The current ebook market discourages a competitive marketplace. Those who buy a Kindle are buying their books from Amazon.

I've got a Kindle, and I buy from Baen, Smashwords, Bookview Cafe, Fictionwise and directly from the author if I can. So pull the other one.

[ProfCrash]

The people on this board, and others, tend to be exceptions to the rule. We know where we can go to do our shopping and what is available to us. Most folks do not do enough research to have a clue about all of that.

If you were to poll people with ereaders about where they buy their books, the vast majority will end up telling you that they buy it from the store serviced by their ereader.

Heck, I know I can go other places but I find it a pain in the butt and do all my shopping at Amazon. It is more convienent. I like that. Now, if DRM free books are sold at other stores and I can buy stuff for my Kindle at cheaper prices, I will probably change my habits. But I need to save money in order to do that.

[tubemonkey]

I have a Kindle and I buy the vast majority of my books from Amazon. I pay anywhere from $0~$1 per book. I also check out books from the library. I know all of the options available to me, but I see no point in bothering when Amazon and my libraries get me pretty much anything I want.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The people on this board, and others, tend to be exceptions to the rule. We know where we can go to do our shopping and what is available to us. Most folks do not do enough research to have a clue about all of that.

If you were to poll people with ereaders about where they buy their books, the vast majority will end up telling you that they buy it from the store serviced by their ereader.

Heck, I know I can go other places but I find it a pain in the butt and do all my shopping at Amazon. It is more convienent. I like that. Now, if DRM free books are sold at other stores and I can buy stuff for my Kindle at cheaper prices, I will probably change my habits. But I need to save money in order to do that.

Exactly. We're the exception. I gave an ereader to my mother... she can BARELY use a computer. I have to walk her through buying a book from Amazon, let alone side-loading -- no way I'll even try. Same for just about everybody else I know.

And even though I'm capable of shopping around & side loading, removing DRM, etc... I don't bother... the effort isn't worth it to me vs the price. I view ebooks as a rental; if the price is higher than I'm willing to pay for a one time use, I just skip it and move on. Heck, I viewed paper books that way. I'd read them then drop them off somewhere, so they were basically rentals too.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by emilia maingu

Nice to join the mobileread forum

Welcome emilia. I suggest you introduce yourself properly in the Introduce Yourself forum.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by twowheels

In elementary school I perfected the skill of walking while reading. I used to go from my classroom, through the swarm of other kids, out to the schoolbus, ride the bus home, get off the bus, and then walk home without ever taking my eyes off of my book, and that was long before 99.9% of the population had heard of ebooks. :-)

[ebooks having existed since the 60s, I can't fully claim that this was before ebooks]

I walk every day while reading from my (slowly dying) Sony 505.

[ProfCrash]

Call it a pet peeve but people who walk while reading and texting drive me nuts. Pay attention to where you are going and don't slow me down. Drives me crazy.

This of course is a personal opinion and does not change how others live their lives but it drives me crazy.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Call it a pet peeve but people who walk while reading and texting drive me nuts. Pay attention to where you are going and don't slow me down. Drives me crazy.

This of course is a personal opinion and does not change how others live their lives but it drives me crazy.

Who said we're slowing you down? People complain that I walk too fast.

[ProfCrash]

LOL most move far too slowly because they are so engrossed in their phone or book. There was even an April Fools story about a city that had created a special walking lane for people who wanted to walk distracted. The idea turned out to be pretty popular.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Schneicw

Off topic but what book is that?

1636: The Kremlin Games. Eric Flint, et al.
Part of this month's BAEN ebook bundle.
Lots of fun, too.
It's part of the 163X series and not quite off topic, as the series revolves around the social and political disruptions that ripple off from dropping an entire town of 21st century (West Virginia) americans in the middle of the 30 years' war. And the biggest impact comes not from the uptimers technology, but their attitudes. (The first two volumes in the series are free at the Baen Free library; 1632 and 1633.)

As is, in the latest volume, the russians see the uptime tech as a way to fend off the polish-lithuanian threat and import a couple of consultants with pretty good results; better roads, better guns, a central banking system built around paper money. (Like nothing can go wrong there, right?) They want to take advantage of the technology but neglect the innevitable side-effects.

Pretty quickly, the russian "middle class" service aristocracy (read: entrenched middlemen) see the new ideas and technology as a threat to their traditional gatekeeper role and their livelihood (derived from serf labor) and try to use the tech and suppress the ideas.

Much like the big publishers tried to milk ebook technologies to beef up the bottom line while trying to maintain their traditional gatekeeper roles.

Both efforts prove to be equally self-defeating. But the russians are more amusing.
(For a change, Boris and Natasha are working with the Flying squirrel. )

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by kaleissin

Would that be 1636: The Kremlin Games? I used Planet Baen coupon to get the arc of that one cheaper Wot, me wait?

See what you get? A longer wait for the sequel.
It's one of the lighter and fluffier volumes in the series, no?

Definitely not something to read while walking robot-like, Kindle in hand.
Better suited for a hammock in the shade with lemonade on the side and a bit of Tchaikovsky as the soundtrack. Summer reading at its best.