howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i must admit that i like to hold books when i read them.
there is no substitute for going into a book shop or library and finding a title that takes the eye, browsing through then making a final selection.
besides book shops and libraries are the only oases left of civilisation.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I love real books too, Paul, but what about the sheer convenience? I used to like CDs and before that vinyl - now I prefer an iPod. Why? because of the sheer convenience.....
Howard you are quite right, see a book decide you want it in the shop, then download it as soon as you are out of the shop to read!!!
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Been nice knowing you :)
Forget the Kinder eggnog or whatever it's called, a new mobile phone is about to hit the streets and is certain to be a surefire winner with the more mature person:
Barry, I love situations like this. It shows an interesting side-effect of the gadget era that is as old as I can remember. Back in the mid 1980s the competitive spirit between the Commodore 64 owner and the Sinclair Spectrum owner was rife. During the 1990s it was between Atari ST and Amiga, then Sega and Nintendo, then Playstation and X-Box, Windows and Mac, iPhone and Blackberry, and so on. Gadgets seem to have the strange effect of driving us into a basic sort or primitive tribalism, perhaps as a way of justifying and defending our consumerist purchasing options, or to feel we "belong" to a club (or tribe). I am as guilty as anyone of it - I can't stand Microsoft and I defend Macs to the hilt and will only use Apple computers. I also only buy SONY electronics and have argued many times about their superiority over other brands. I think many brands rely on this "gadget tribalism" and actually market their goods on this basis, making them desirable in ways that appeal to a very old, rather than modern, quality in our brains.
It's always a fun debate and I enjoy competitiveness over gadgets. The "can it do this" and "can it do that" arguments are always great fun. I have an X-Box buddy (I'm a PS3 man myself) and some of the arguments we have over these gadgets are legendary!
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
This sounds like another nail in the coffin of the High Street book-shop - not straight away of course, but it must reduce book sales and hence profits, then viability.
I wouldn't want to stand in the way of technology and I don't, I embrace it when ever I can afford it and this Kindle certainly looks and sounds a great piece of technology, but it calls on the generic high street, to be even more inventive to survive and thrive.
Roger
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
This sounds like another nail in the coffin of the High Street book-shop - not straight away of course, but it must reduce book sales and hence profits, then viability.
I wouldn't want to stand in the way of technology and I don't, I embrace it when ever I can afford it and this Kindle certainly looks and sounds a great piece of technology, but it calls on the generic high street, to be even more inventive to survive and thrive.
Roger
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
You are of course right Roger. Traditional retailing and the High Street are hit badly by on-line retailing but we cannot stand in the way of 'progress' even though some of the impact of that progress is not always desirable.
Good points Roger/Barry. Maybe instead of trying to regenerate town centres across the UK we should be a bit radical and set out a plan to expand out of town retailing and returning town centres to residential areas.
Obviously licenses could be given to "relevant" retailing such as, cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars, banks, hairdressers etc., but non-relevant, plumbers, DIY, clothes, charity, shoes etc., would have to relocate to modern retail units out of town.
Not perfectly presented, but an idea that may see us get the best out of both problem items.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
This may well happen Sid, now that the new (bulky-goods) retail park at Whitfield has been approved.
Roger
I've been looking into the Kindle and to my shock I discovered that Amazon give the thing away for free! I've now got Kindle reader on my iPod, Mac, and MacBook and have just bought my first book Dead Until Dark. The app syncs your purchases beautifully across all your gadgets (in other words, I paid once and it appeared on all three of my gadgets) so I can read whenever and wherever I like. It's fantastic! I might be inclined to agree with Barry to some extent about the Kindle gadget's paper-like screen being quite an attractive proposition, but I cannot justify paying over one hundred quid for this minor benefit when the app itself costs absolutely nothing on virtually any other gadget!
Bye bye bookshops forever
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Emphasises my point exactly.
Roger
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Rick - shiny screen versus ones that can be read in bright sunlight.
- Screen big enough to see properly, just like a page of a paperback and can be held in one hand just as comfortably as a paperback, more so in fact as you are not having to keep a thumb in the crease between pages or break the spine to keep the book open.
- various facilities etc that enhance the reading experience, zoom, text to speech etc (if feeling lazy!)....
I will show you mine when i get it!
Whatever you say a dedicated gadget is superior.
It sounds great. I still use my DS programme 100 Classic Books. There is so much on there I have been able to get rid of a great many dog eared old paper backs. It is user friendly in many ways, and you can read it in bright sunlight. It is partner friendly as I do not have to have a bedside lamp on when I read into the early hours of the morning. I take it with me when I go to hospital for appointments, as I can easily take another couple of programmes and have enough to keep me occupied for the 6 hours I am away from home if using hospital transport.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
24 August 2010
16:4667037Here is a link to a Telegraph review - very favourable
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/amazon/7959715/Amazon-Kindle-review-the-e-reader-for-the-mass-market.html
It seems mine might be delivered in the first week of September.....I have a growing list of books to download.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
24 August 2010
17:2867045I have just been browsing the bookstore and found this...
"""The Classic Mystery Collection (100+ books and story collections) [Kindle Edition]
Mary Roberts Rinehart (Author), Wilkie Collins (Author), Edgar Allan Poe (Author), Sax Rohmer (Author), Gilbert Keith Chesterton (Author), Chalres Dickens (Author), Father Brown (Author), Honore de Balzac (Author), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), Agathie Christie (Author)
No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
Digital List Price: £2.21 What's this?
Kindle Price: £2.21 includes VAT* & wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT."""
Amazing that, some great authors and titles among them - all for just £2.21
If you love classic books and authors then a Kindle is a must for deals like that. There are a mass of free books too, Conan Doyle, Edgar Rise Burroughs, Shakespear, Dickens, etc etc etc....
I sound like an Amazon salesman....sorry - got itchy fingers to get my hands on this toy.
ohhhh.... like science fiction?
What about this lot for.... £0.72 for the whole lot!
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- Jules Verne
The Island of Doctor Moreau- H. G. Wells
The Brick Moon- Edward Everett Hale
Flatland- Edwin A. Abbott
Looking Backwards from 2000 to 1887- Edward Bellamy
The Gods of Mars- Edgar Rice Burroughs
Warlord of Mars- Edgar Rice Burroughs
A Princess of Mars- Edgar Rice Burroughs
Thuvia, Maid of Mars- Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Chessmen of Mars- Edgar Rice Burroughs
At the Earth's Core- Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Land That Time Forgot- Edgar Rice Burroughs
The People that Time Forgot- Edgar Rice Burroughs
Out of Time's Abyss- Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Lost Continent- Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Monster Men- Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Outlaw of Torn- Edgar Rice Burroughs
Invaders from the Infinite- John Wood Campbell
Millennium- Everett B. Cole
Brigands of the Moon- Ray Cummings
Tarrano the Conqueror- Raymond King Cummings
Badge of Infamy- Lester del Rey
The Lost World- Arthur Conan Doyle
Space Prison- Tom Godwin
Planet of the Damned- Harry Harrison
Operation Terror- William Fitzgerald Jenkins
Space Tug- Murray Leinster
The Defiant Agents- Andre Alice Norton
Star Surgeon- Alan Nourse
Little Fuzzy- Henry Beam Piper
Adaptation- Dallas McCord Reynolds
The Galaxy Primes- Edward Elmer Smith
The Time Machine- H. G.Wells
24 August 2010
17:5067049some great book titles there, and in the midst we have,......... Space Tug. Brilliant.
I reckon Mr Burrroughs missed a trick by failing to write, "Mars, a planet time and people forgot".
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
25 August 2010
12:5567147They are quite good. But I much prefer a real book for the beach...sun cream, water, sand etc. I do most of my reading at home, in the evening on the sofa or in bed. The iPad suits this perfectly and you don't need a light...something my friend used to find with his kindle.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
25 August 2010
13:1167148I take the point about the risks of sand etc but the big advantage is its portability and storage capacity. I had four big paperbacks with me on my last two week holiday and got through them before the holiday was over. They did take up a lot of space in the luggage too. The Kindle is smaller than a single paperback.
There are covers to protect the Kindle and a lot cheaper than the £50 quoted by the Telegraph review. Independent manufactorers produce an increasing range at less than £10 and even Amazon have a leather one at £30. The £50 quoted includes a light.
The problem with iPad is the relative size and weight, laying back in bed or on a sofa, holding it comfortably in one hand for long periods. I do most of my reading that way too......
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
25 August 2010
15:5467159That last sentence was far too much Barry.
I have played my son at chess this morning, replied to this post and have just downloaded The Adventures of Winnie the pooh on iBooks (for nothing) for the kids tonight, all on the iPad. As far as toys go, I love it!
