Amazon tipped to launch three new Kindle tablets in 2012

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Audiobooks are another thing that really eat up the GB's.

yes.....

[sbroome]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Tell me about it. I have a 12TB file server at home which I thought would last me quite a while. Ever since I started collecting Blu-ray, the free space is being depleted quite quickly (25-40GB per disc without recompression). Was supposed to switch to 2TB drives but the flood in Thailand drove HDD prices 2-3 times as high.

I got lucky to be up late working when there was a sale on 2tb Sammy drives almost two years ago. I stocked up.

[anamardoll]

Ha. My Calibre library is 41 GB. My audio book folder is another 43 GB.

[ApK]

12TB? Wow. Geesh, I remember way back when I thought my 1TB NAS was big.....I found out that DVD images and complete system backups can fill that pretty darn quick.

[QuantumIguana]

I remember in 1992, seeing an ad for a 9 gigabyte drive. It cost $3,000. Now you have more storage than that hanging from your keychain for a few dollars. Back in my day, we had 20 megabyte 5.25" full height hard drives, and we liked it!

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by sbroome

I got lucky to be up late working when there was a sale on 2tb Sammy drives almost two years ago. I stocked up.

Was that the $60 sale on Newegg? Bought 5 of those at the time (max limit) but I've pretty much used them all for internal local storage/DVR drive for the HTPCs. Was waiting for another sale or HDD price drop for my planned server rebuild (all hot-swap rackmounted case) but then the floods hit.

[sbroome]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Was that the $60 sale on Newegg? Bought 5 of those at the time (max limit) but I've pretty much used them all for internal local storage/DVR drive for the HTPCs. Was waiting for another sale or HDD price drop for my planned server rebuild (all hot-swap rackmounted case) but then the floods hit.

$50 with free shipping. Cheapest I ever saw it.

I buy blu-rays that are worth the improvement in video/audio (use hidef digest ratings mostly) and everything else I just buy and rip the regular DVD. DVD lot listings on ebay used to be a huge boon.

[Krystl]

OK. place me on the "expansion" side of the arguement (and the stylus side, as well).

Of course, I was also the one to wait for a laptop with an e-sata external port and wanted it before it became "semi" mainstream.

In my profession, I have HUGE databases of information and the time saved per esata makes a great difference in effectivity. That is a particular case, I know others who use those ports for additional drives for movies, etc. Do most use it--probably not, is it useless, definitely not.

I have 30 GB of music sorted (yes, it's ALL legal) and regularly used. I enjoy the idea of taking movies on SD cards with me when I travel, etc. and having selection.

Sometimes what I want before I go on vacation is not what I want on a certain night (I'm picky, what can I say ).

For work I have large pdf files that eat up tons of space but I would like to read "on-the-go".

Then there is the huge questions of a) backup, b) privacy and separation and c) wireless connection. I want one device for several tasks.

I do not trust "cloud storage" as it is not mine and I have no control over it. I want my backups with me and able to be applied without using a second device or webprocess. I want to add and take away without erasing from my device permanently.

I don't want others gaining easier access to my libraries than need to be. I don't want to have to be "on grid" to get my information. I am not paranoid--I am private. And that is ok.

I have been burned by roaming costs before and do not want to have to factor that in my thought process. WLAN etc. is usually off on my devices unless I need it.

What I hear here are 2 sides: those who recognize general practical uses and those who personally have no use for them and deduct from that thought that no one else should, either. Give us miniSD just because it IS useful and those who don't need it can just not use it.

As far as I see, the SDcardless are not (much) cheaper than qualitatively equal products with SDcard slots.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by sbroome

$50 with free shipping. Cheapest I ever saw it.

I buy blu-rays that are worth the improvement in video/audio (use hidef digest ratings mostly) and everything else I just buy and rip the regular DVD. DVD lot listings on ebay used to be a huge boon.

Bought an Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on (around $30 on clearance) and bought a ton of HD-DVD movies for $1-2 a pop. Way cheaper than DVD, go figure. For stuff I already own on DVD, I only buy select titles in Blu-ray format (e.g. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc) but for all new purchases, it's Blu-ray for me. I don't really buy a ton of movies but the TV series use up a ton of space.

That said, having the means to increase storage is good so I'm hoping the next Kindle Fires would have expansion slots. Not sure what's the likelihood of that happening given there's a big incentive for Amazon to push folks to their cloud.

[BearMountainBooks]

I'd like an SD slot. But almost no matter what comes out, I'm sticking with my 3g Keyboard. It pretty much does what I need it to do.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

That said, having the means to increase storage is good so I'm hoping the next Kindle Fires would have expansion slots. Not sure what's the likelihood of that happening given there's a big incentive for Amazon to push folks to their cloud.

Of course you are sure, you can admit it. You will feel better

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Krystl

What I hear here are 2 sides: those who recognize general practical uses and those who personally have no use for them and deduct from that thought that no one else should, either.

Odd, what I hear is one side who thinks all devices need all the features that THEY personally think are important, and that any manufacturer (despite their success) who is not taking their advice is doesn't know what 'people' want, and that any consumers who buy those devices (no matter how many satisfied millions there are) made a poor choice.
On the other side I see realists who understand different people have different needs. No one is anti-expansion...we're just pro-choice.

Give us miniSD just because it IS useful and those who don't need it can just not use it.

Go buy one. There are plenty of devices that have one. Don't make people who can do without it subsidize you.

As far as I see, the SDcardless are not (much) cheaper than qualitatively equal products with SDcard slots.

Regardless of your distance vision, it's wrong. Adding hardware adds cost, period. To a lesser degree, maintaining and supporting the additional software features also adds costs, and these costs have been forecast and figured in to the prices you see.

[sbroome]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Bought an Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on (around $30 on clearance) and bought a ton of HD-DVD movies for $1-2 a pop. Way cheaper than DVD, go figure. For stuff I already own on DVD, I only buy select titles in Blu-ray format (e.g. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc) but for all new purchases, it's Blu-ray for me. I don't really buy a ton of movies but the TV series use up a ton of space.

That said, having the means to increase storage is good so I'm hoping the next Kindle Fires would have expansion slots. Not sure what's the likelihood of that happening given there's a big incentive for Amazon to push folks to their cloud.

I'll never move over the cloud. I like to buy stuff and own it and be able to access it without internet access. No idea what people see in this cloud stuff.

[plib]

Originally Posted by sbroome

I'll never move over the cloud. I like to buy stuff and own it and be able to access it without internet access. No idea what people see in this cloud stuff.

I know what providers see in "this cloud stuff".

$$$$$$$$$

[petermillard]

Originally Posted by plib

Then you've either had extraordinary bad luck or their employees were extraordinarily careless. Devices with card slots have been around for years and I've never heard of anyone having to replace "dozens of phones", or any other card slotted device because of "dust ingress"

Oh, OK - so because you've never heard of it, it can't have happened, right??

Sorry, I call FUD.

There's no FUD here. Want the whole story? OK, pour a brew and pull up a chair...

I'm going back six or seven years and was working under contract to a large construction company. Company phones were Sony Ericsson. I had a K750i and two K800i rendered unusable in that year - the card slot was protected by a little rubber door/bung that never sealed properly, and regularly just broke clean off; dust and muck would get in there under the keyboard and the little joystick/button would stop working. End of phone.

I and my work colleagues of that time were neither unlucky nor careless, simply working in more hostile environments (construction sites) than most, though the 'sticky' joystick on these SE models was a common problem to many users. As a lowly contract worker I didn't have a fancy 'pen-based' phone (SE P900 I think they were) but the folks who did were always losing their little sticks; OK, maybe they were careless with company phones <shrug> Doesn't mean it didn't happen - feel free to google "Sony Ericsson sticky joystick" or "lost my stylus pen" and see how many hits you get...

Now none of the above is to suggest that there isn't a place for stylus-driven touch-screens (great point made further up re handwritten character-based languages for example) card slots, ports etc.. etc.. but it's certainly not the case that everything pre-2007 was wonderful and working perfectly, then the iPhone came along and ruined it all...

Just sayin'