The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm with you. The easy converts have been made, many a long time ago. For everyone else? They've already got a device that'll do the job. Why spend $100, $200, more? on a single-use device? Especially for people who don't read much anyway -- that might be their book budget for a couple of years.

That said, coming off summer when I saw a lot of people at the beach and pool reading paper books (and really, my heart swells with fellow feeling, especially when it's a kid) I wonder why they haven't converted. But aside from the price, I think it's lack of hands-on exposure.

We just got a fourth device so my youngest now has her own but I've found that my kids are very happy to switch between paper and eink. My eldest even prefers paper.

All three read nearly daily though. It's wonderful.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

All three read nearly daily though. It's wonderful.

Because you brought them up right. You fostered reading, took an interest in what they were reading and modeled reading with your own habits. Kudos.

I know I'd be shocked at how old that delightful baby with the basilisk stare is now!

[Dazrin]

She (pink in my avatar) just turned 8.

The one on the far left is a senior this year which is terrifying.

[ownedbycats]

KDP Select's exclusivity requirement can go burn in a pit.

Rant over.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

KDP Select's exclusivity requirement can go burn in a pit.

Rant over.

I agree.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

But it's a fact I've heard young people talking about screen fatigue, while I've never heard middle-aged or older folks doing so.

I don't know, maybe it was different in the Western Europe and the US. Here no one I knew had a computer in the 70s and 80s, and most people didn't spend hours every day watching TV.

U.S.A. here.

I had a Tandy 1000 from RadioShack in the '80s. Built solid as a rock and carried me until I later bought my first Windows 95 PC (used) around 1996. The monitor I got cheap, as it was green text on black background and a discontinued model.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_1000

Intel 8088, yeah baby!

My brother had the TRS-80 Model I, late 1970s, and let me use it some, so I already had the computer bug going, but had to wait until I was out of college and had a job to save up for my own PC.

I spent more time reading than watching TV though. Sometimes I'd try to watch TV, but then I'd nosedive into a book and forget about what was on the screen.

[ownedbycats]

Describing a voice as "throaty" makes me think of a cat throwing up.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Describing a voice as "throaty" makes me think of a cat throwing up.

It makes me think of a Mustang muffler.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

KDP Select's exclusivity requirement can go burn in a pit.

Rant over.

I agree.

[ownedbycats]

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Attachment 210870

Attachment 210871

That's nothing. All eBooks where the publisher doesn't want DRM has DRM when it's downloaded from Amazon as KFX. Amazon's idea of no DRM for KFX is that you can use that eBook on any Kindle. But it still has DRM.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Attachment 210870

Attachment 210871

That is weird. You could likely write to Kobo about it. I bought a DRM-free book yesterday and it was indeed DRM-free.

[Graham44]

Originally Posted by issybird

But aside from the price, I think it's lack of hands-on exposure. At least in the US, you don't see the devices much in the wild and you'd have to make an active effort to seek them out in one of the few retail outlets that still sell them.

Its the same in the UK, I've just had to buy a new e-reader a couple of weeks back and I was considering perhaps swapping over to a kobo from Kindle so decided to try and have a look at both Kindle and Kobo in a store - nope wasn't happening.I trawled around every type of store I could think of that would conceivably stock e-readers and I found one Kindle in a big name electrical store and thats it. I don't know how e-reader companies expect to convert traditional readers over to them if people can't see them and try them out.

Needless to say I ended back up on Amazon buying a new Paperwhite Signature

[maddz]

It was the same when I was in the market for a new ereader pre-pandemic. I wanted to try the Kobo Forma; could I find one? I found a Kobo (Touch or Libra) in John Lewis in Milton Keynes (himself was tempted by a returned Mac server), otherwise it was only Kindles.

I ended up taking a punt on the Forma sight unseen and was glad I did. My issues were the larger form factor and the weight because I have RSI in both wrists. I'd like to go for an Elipsa, but the weight may make it a no-go for me - the difference is that the Forma has a plastic substrate, but the other larger Kobos are glass substrates.