Where do you buy your ebooks?

[koland]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

If Steve Pendergrast of Fictionwise coming out and saying, "Over 300,000 ebooks have been downloaded onto the iPhone/iTouch platforms from our store," isn't enough "proof" for you, what kind of proof would you require? Auditing their books?

Downloaded, not sold. Everyone who had an account (me included) re-downloaded their entire libraries (in ereader format only), just to try it out. It pretty much overwhelmed the servers the first day or two.

The question is - how many will buy new books to read that way? I have mobipocket on my phone - but haven't bothered to download a single book (or even much music - it kills the battery life to use your phone that way, has lousy speakers and is somewhat one-tracked in what it can do. Although at least attempting to type in an email or web address isn't the total frustration of using the iphone (unless you have the hands of a pre-teen girl).

But, I guess the better question is why you feel the need to try to attack a person who has tried both (and has used various other ereaders for over a decade) and offered their honest and unbiased opinion (not that it's unheard of for company shills to hang out in forums like this, being paid to spread their message; in fact, it's pretty much the norm in any forum that discusses any technology these days). EInk simply wins, hands down, as a reading experience. Sony is cheaper, prettier and probably easier to carry around, but the integration with EVDO is a huge plus that "maybe adding wireless" won't overcome (really, wireless works at home and your office, but requires a lot of time or money to find when traveling, especially when physically in a vehicle). Ease of use is probably a push - easy to bump by accident vs. harder to use lying in bed or for those with mobility issues (those same big buttons are a plus in some circumstances - apparently many with parkinson's or other problems are reading again now that they can "hold the book" and "turn the pages", since that only means to leave it propped up and bump that button now and then).

It seems the other contenders in the field share Sony's shortsightedness on connectivity and believe that people with ereaders won't mind always planning ahead on their purchases and at Sony's pricing, I tend to agree that impulse shopping when at the airport isn't something they want to encourage: case in point, the 103 short stories of Arthur Clark, being sold at 1.99 EACH (according the today's post). Somehow, $206 for the collection seems a bit high.

As it is, you could add "semi-wireless" capability to some of the ereaders out there by using an eye-fi (a wireless SD) card, but you still have to push from the PC side (but it could work from any internet cafe, provided you are enough of a computer geek to install figure it out) and it would affect battery life. But with the Kindle (and I expect eventually many more like it, from other companies), you only NEED a computer for two purposes: first, to buy it (do that at the library or get it as a gift) and if you want to cancel a subscription (theoretically possible using the experimental browser, but easier to hit the library again). You won't even miss out on any of the non-copyrighted works that way (but will miss a number of the deals highlighted here). All the rest of the time, your Kindle IS a book, just one that always weighs only 10.3 oz, keeps itself propped open and can be read anywhere that a paper book can be read (but using only one hand, even for turning pages).

[CleverClothe]

koland, in a perfect world every device could talk to every other device. But right now WiFi costs money to add. And someone has to pay the subscription on cellular if you go that route. Then you have the complication of all the different cellular companies...

Unfortunately, we just aren't there yet.

[Seabound]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm surprised a lot of people do not mind reading on a small LCD screen covered in fingerprints.

Fingerprints? What fingerprints? When I use my iPod Touch to read a book or watch a video, I don't see fingerprints, although I'm sure they're there.

[Seabound]

For free books, I use Feedbooks and Manybooks. They have the advantage over Project Gutenberg of having different eBook formats. Feedbooks eBooks tend to be better and more carefully formatted than those of Manybooks, although Manybooks has a larger selection.

[koland]

Originally Posted by CleverClothe

koland, in a perfect world every device could talk to every other device. But right now WiFi costs money to add. And someone has to pay the subscription on cellular if you go that route. Then you have the complication of all the different cellular companies...

Unfortunately, we just aren't there yet.

True. And no doubt one reason Sprint was chosen for Amazon is their lower cost - it's only $12 for my internet connection ($15 before discount), versus the $40 plus that the other carriers charge. Basically, though, the download charges are being paid by Amazon (out of the cost of the book) and probably are about that dime they threatened to charge (a bulk text message charge, even though they are larger than text messages) for emailing. Those using the free web browser are getting that $12 month for "free" (and no doubt few use it much, as it gets old fast and has the same limitations for complex pages as using mobile IE, plus a few more). The free part, of course, is born by a combo of Sprint and Amazon, mostly likely most of it by Sprint (who needs customers - and has had as good or better coverage everywhere I've tested it as Verizon does and isn't considering selling their southeastern states to AT&T, who still has the highest prices and worst coverage around).

Wireless is more limited in where it works, not just geographically, but due to closed access point and some places still stuck in pricing schemes of a decade ago. That is slowly changing - you can sit outside many fast food places and get free wireless (although if you eat inside, you pay a price in health, rather than dollars), at some libraries (but not all, some restrict to residents only) and even at some interstate rest-stops (most of Iowa, for example). But airports tend to be a bust, in my experience and convention hotels amongst the worst places to try (especially in union states), unless you have a room there (even then, some are wired only, so bring your own access point).

On the other hand, there are very good reasons not to provide open access points (more, now that some ISP's are starting to charge for "excess downloads", which should stop hi-def movie downloads in it's tracks). No one wants to end up on the wrong side of a warrant for child-porn or suspected terrorism or end up defending a suit from the RIAA. Of course, in your ideal world, you could leave your access point open and your firewall would stop these abuses cold.

In the meantime, we have edevices tethered to PC's and the Kindle standing alone (so far) using EInk and various backlit devices - some tethered as well (many palm models, for example) and others using wireless and/or cell (the iphone does both, for example), but all at addition cost and with less than satisfactory performance when outdoors.

What's funny is reading the messages about the Kindle over the last year - at first, all were attacks on how awful the design was, predictions of total failure and scoffs at the idea that it sold any books (I didn't buy then - because it was out of stock and $400). Then, it came back in stock and later dropped $40 (at which point, I did buy - because I wanted to try to tame the teetering TBR piles around the house and perhaps find room on the bookshelves for the books I wanted to keep). Shortly thereafter, the announcements started about how many Kindle books were being sold, as a percentage of the books where the Kindle is available. Then that percentage doubled (even as the number of books grew by thousands nearly every day -- which makes growing that percentage of books an even bigger accomplishment). Rumors of actual sales started to skyrocket, based on numbers coming out of the place making eInk displays (after all, Sony and the others weren't selling all those displays, so the reasoning was it must be all Kindles). And some numbers started coming out of publishing houses that ebook sales, while still a small minority of all sales, were skyrocketing. The date where the charts showed a steep increase in numbers corresponded almost exactly with delivery of the first Kindles (and the press ignored that the new Sony came out about the same time). Bezos confirms - those who buy Kindles keep buying the same number of print books, but now buy 2.5 times as many books as before. Which means for every ten they bought before, they get those plus 15 ebooks and those who grabbed early Kindles were heavy readers. Warren Buffet chimes in - he's getting one just for finance newspapers/magazines, as he'll save the cost of the unit in a few months (no word on whether he liked it later, as it no doubt greatly slows scanning of these vs. the print editions). And here it is a year after release (more or less) and all the press is about the "next Kindle Killer" - either new Kindles, new eInk devices (none of which, so far, seem to have wireless or cell access as a basic feature) or the iPhone (and ipod touch) - despite the added cost of $70/month for that phone (or did it go up higher) and more limited coverage of the cell provider (not to mention that some may not use cell phones, even in this day, or be unable to easily switch providers, even if the iPhone weren't being sold by a company that believes reading is dead).

So, the virulent hate press continues, but the message keeps changing. Funny how it all seems the same (if, so far, less vitriolic in content) as the blu-ray vs hd-dvd press and forum messages of the last few years. Don't forget that in that fight - the losers were the consumers, as prices of the media increased across the board after Sony won (not picking on Sony in particular, although losing the betamax fight did bring prices down, but this happens anytime you have a closed format with a single supplier/patent owner/monopoly).

[BlackVoid]

Tons of free ebooks in many formats.
http://manybooks.net/

[ficbot]

I buy from Fictionwise. I had some old eReader downloads from the Palm days, and I re-downloaded those first. But I have since spent about $50 on new stuff intended to read on the iPod Touch. The screen IS a little smaller than would be my preference, but this is more than made up for the fact that I can carry around ONE device with me instead of needing to lug around regular iPod, eBookwise and PDA. I read on the subway (I have a discreet sleeve for it and don't wear the headphone when I read) and have also found I enjoy reading in bed before I go to sleep. If they ever made a Touch with a slightly larger screen, that would be super. But with that said, I am finding it quite nice to read on. I have tured the brightness way down and am quite comfortable.

[TallMomof2]

When I went on vacation this past summer I forgot my Kindle but had my iPod Touch. I never noticed fingerprints on the touchscreen and the reading experience was sort of like reading on the Palm. I didn't like swiping my finger to turn the page, much prefer taps. My main quibble was the battery life. I could definitely read for a longer time period on the Palm than the Touch. The Touch makes a decent backup reader but I far prefer my Kindle for long reading sessions.

[Robotech_Master]

Sounds like you're talking about eReader.

You can configure it to swap tapping and swiping, so you swipe to bring up the menu and tap to turn the page.

[TallMomof2]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

Sounds like you're talking about eReader.

You can configure it to swap tapping and swiping, so you swipe to bring up the menu and tap to turn the page.

Now you can but when I went on vacation that wasn't an option.

[JSWolf]

Like I've always said, you buy a do it all device that's also your phone and you use for other things like playing music or reading books and when you need to make a phone call, the battery is dead. That's why I want a phone that's mostly just a phone.

Anyway, I've been recently getting books from MobileRead, libraries, & Fictionwise.