Kash Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 If the Kindle was around $100 or less, then it would sell like hotcakes. The thing is that you still have to spend money on books/magazines/newspapers, so the price of the device itself should be lower to entice more people to purchase it. Sales of books/magazines/newspapers is down significantly, doing anything to increase sales is probably a good idea. In the same vein, e-book prices should be much lower than they are now. $10 for an e-book that I can get a physical copy of for $6? Something's not right there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hardnrg Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 E-book schmee-book I just use PDF readers on my SE Xperia X1 (480x800 @ 64K) or EeePC 1000H (1024x600 @ 16.7M)... For people mentioning tangible/physical books, I'd just like to say that about 95% of my technical books and service manuals are/were available free (or extremely cheap), and most were out-of-print or extremely rare, or just very expensive to buy physically PDF reading on a low resolution device like the iPhone/iTouch (320x480) is barely more than a PSP (480x272) and is somewhat painful to read detailed PDF documents... Honestly, it's sometimes even a bit of a struggle with a document in landscape on the X1 (800px wide), and I find myself zooming to > Page Width and scrolling left-right... obviously, not all the time The 1024 px wide of the 1000H, and the 1050 px wide of my 2nd monitor in landscape seems like a very good resolution, so I'd recommend getting something ~1024 px wide in portrait view, with at least 16 level grayscale, probably more for technically illustrated documents Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted October 5, 2009 Posted October 5, 2009 Like I said, I've not seen an eBook device that excites me. You spend so much on such a limited device. I'd go Netbook before a eBook.I agree, none of them are spectacular and for the most part they are very limited but they do one thing well and that is show you decent sized text to read. Being a geek I would LOVE to have a netbook but I wouldn't do much reading on that as I would be too busy playing games or something un book related. If I buy something that can ONLY read books or articles (for the most part the only other option on the majority of them is something simple like MP3 capability or some other gimmicky thing) than thats what I'll do. I guess I sit in front of the computer enough so an LCD doesn't really bother my eyes but I effing loved the look of the E-ink display on the Sony reader I saw. Tangible books all the way. I think e-readers are ridiculous. Just another way to kill off the small bookstores.I don't see it that way at all, if we looked at everything that way we would still be smashing rocks together in a cave. I have a small collection of books and for the collection aspect I'd love to buy more but for ease of use and travel purposes at this point in my life an E-reader makes more sense. If the Kindle was around $100 or less, then it would sell like hotcakes. The thing is that you still have to spend money on books/magazines/newspapers, so the price of the device itself should be lower to entice more people to purchase it. Sales of books/magazines/newspapers is down significantly, doing anything to increase sales is probably a good idea. In the same vein, e-book prices should be much lower than they are now. $10 for an e-book that I can get a physical copy of for $6? Something's not right there.Well the Kindle is expensive because it offers more than just the device, it offers the whispernet service to download books to your Kindle wherever you are that has Sprint coverage. As for why the other E-readers are just as expensive for the most part I have no idea. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d3bruts1d Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 I have a small collection of books and for the collection aspect I'd love to buy more but for ease of use and travel purposes at this point in my life an E-reader makes more sense.Well the Kindle is expensive because it offers more than just the device, it offers the whispernet service to download books to your Kindle wherever you are that has Sprint coverage. As for why the other E-readers are just as expensive for the most part I have no idea. I don't see WhisperNet as a reasonable justification for the price. Sure, it allows you access anywhere via Sprint, but the Kindle App also includes WhisperNet. With the iPhone you have coverage everywhere, and with the iPod Touch you'd have it when connected to WiFi. You could always get a littlen Xen or something simple, and listen to Audio books. No distractions then. Sprint Enough reason by itself not to get a Kindle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 Enough reason by itself not to get a Kindle. I've never used it, I wouldn't know if it was any good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d3bruts1d Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 Sprint may be better coverage now than what it use to be, but the experiance I had with their Sales & Service has generated a lifetime worth of hate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire_storm Posted October 6, 2009 Posted October 6, 2009 I've never used it, I wouldn't know if it was any good. Ya sprint should be your NO.3 option you should always pick Verizon or AT&T and sometimes T-mobile before you go to Sprint. I have a cell phone and broadband card that runs on Sprint and have droven around the New Hampshire and Vermont area for many years and the service is ok in the towns or in flat areas but in the mountains the service is terrible. You may want to consider that before you buy the kindle. It kind of suck to have to be sticking the kindle out your window or have to walk around your yard or something to get service. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d3bruts1d Posted October 7, 2009 Posted October 7, 2009 Andrew the Kindle (non-DX) just got a slight pricecut. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flareback Posted October 7, 2009 Posted October 7, 2009 Andrew the Kindle (non-DX) just got a slight pricecut. nice. now that is starting to get my attention. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted October 7, 2009 Posted October 7, 2009 Andrew the Kindle (non-DX) just got a slight pricecut.Thats certainly a better price, I think I'll buy one within a few months. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewr05 Posted October 12, 2009 Posted October 12, 2009 I think I'm gonna pick up a cheap Tablet PC and make a DIY E-book reader. I bet I can find a decent tablet for under $100 and throw a decent Linux distro at tit and hae a pretty darn good UMPC/tablet/E-reader. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cirro Posted October 14, 2009 Posted October 14, 2009 (edited) Tangible books all the way. I think e-readers are ridiculous. Just another way to kill off the small bookstores. unless they are making straight to e-book's don't they have to goto paperback/hardcover first? in a city of 300k we have maybe 2 used bookstores? barnes & nobles/borders/waldenbooks has already done a good enough job to destroy local small town bookstores here on a side note. my wifes birthday is coming up and the last visit to Tigerdirect (now compusa -gag-) she saw the Sony ebook reader and wanted it. is there a big difference in the quality or should i just get the sony? id look into it more but man.. its like beating a broken drum for me, not in my interests lol Edited October 14, 2009 by cirro Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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