Re: Re: Amazon Kindle

Actually, Kite Runner is available for the Touch. You can buy it in pdf, microsoft reader, and palm reader formats. If you hate pdfs, you can convert the file from pdf to plain text using adobe reader, or from microsoft reader format to text using several free converter programs. Any of these formats will cost you $12.43 from Powells. Which you can download using the free wifi built into the Touch, or use your computers connection and transfer it over. The perk of buying these is that you can use them on readers other than the Kindle. You can also purchase it from Fictionwise for $11.90 or $10.11 if you're a club member. You swap out the pdf for mobi format there, but still, it is available.

Chris.

John Landahl <[email protected]> wrote:                               Interesting points, Chris, and very similar to those posted by many adamant early rejecters 
 on Amazon.com.  However, the Kindle has been listed as out-of-stock for a couple of 
 days now, even though Amazon timed its introduction to hit the Christmas market and it's 
 not even December yet, so obviously people, many of whom probably already own iPods, 
 have been ordering them.  Granted that the iPod Touch is a very cool device with a lovely 
 screen, what is tilting the scale toward the Kindle for ebook reading?  Maybe something 
 you didn't list.  Project Gutenberg classics are fine, but how much is The Kite Runner for 
 the Touch right now?  Oh, you can't buy it?  It's $8.99 with free WhisperNet auto-delivery 
 for the Kindle.  For reference, it's $14 from Mobipocket at the moment.
 
 John 
 
 --- In [email protected], Chris Huff <ooligan_chris.huff@...> wrote:
 >
 > Hello everyone. I'm new but had to comment on this one.
 > 
 > Elizabeth, check out the iPod Touch, it's an iPhone without the cell phone and the 
 monthly bill.
 > 
 > Potential Issues:
 > 1. It's a backlight screen instead of eInk. Advantage: personal preference. 
 >  
 >  2. Touch is $100 cheaper (for 8GB of storage) or the same price for 16GB of storage. 
 Advantage: Touch.
 >  
 >  3. Touch is limited to free wifi instead of the full cell phone based net for the Amazon 
 reader. Advantage: Kindle.
 >  
 >  4. The Kindle is only a reader, the Touch is an iPod and an ebook reader. Advantage: 
 Touch.
 >  
 >  5. The latest Touch software update allows for viewing pdfs by tilting the touch (for 
 widescreen). Advantage: Touch.
 >  
 >  6. Touch has a full browser so you don't have to pay to subscribe to blogs that are free. 
 You can go to Gutenberg yourself and download and read their books. Advantage: Touch.
 >  
 >  7. Touch can't read some of the ebook formats, but with third-party applications 
 around the corner (February) you can bet that will change quickly. Advantage: Touch.
 >  
 >  8. Look at a picture of the Kindle. Now look at the iPod Touch. Advantage: Touch.
 >  
 >  All-in-all the Touch is a much better deal than the next several generations of the 
 Kindle. Hell, you can use any ipod with a screen to read text files, google: ipod text files.
 > 
 > Elizabeth Burton <EBurton@...> wrote:                               ASIN is just the way Amazon 
 inventories--the "SIN" stands for  
 >  "standard identification number." It's no different from the stock  
 >  numbers any retailer assigns to inventory for purposes of efficiency.  
 >  It's a lot easier to keep track of inventory using a standard coding  
 >  system than to do so using the thousands of ISBNs currently in use.
 >  
 >  The Kindle format is a variant of standard HTML. I give it a week  
 >  before some enterprising geek has a program available to do direct  
 >  conversions. But, as Sandy said, all you need offer is unecrypted Mobi.
 >  
 >  Let's give the behemoth credit for knowing how to run a business. I'm  
 >  quite sure Amazon had people monitoring the ebook community for long  
 >  months, and they aren't stupid enough to ignore the fact that most of  
 >  the avid ebook readers hate a machine that won't let them load their  
 >  own stuff. The offer they have to convert for people for a dime is, I  
 >  suspect, mainly aimed at the technologically challenged who don't want  
 >  to handle it themselves.
 >  
 >  I also suspect they have stats that indicate Mobi is a preferred  
 >  format for those who read on PDAs. Ergo, they designed the Kindle so  
 >  it will accept unencrypted Mobi AND MADE THE SOFTWARE TO CONVERT FILES  
 >  THERETO FREE. Keep in mind that up till last spring you had to buy the  
 >  Mobi translator program. It was Amazon that made the PROFESSIONAL  
 >  level of the software free.
 >  
 >  The encryption part is a necessity if they hope to have the mainstream  
 >  publishers come on board. It's no different than what Apple had to do  
 >  to persuade the major recording companies to sign up for iTunes. And  
 >  note that several have declined to continue with iTunes for the very  
 >  same reason Penguin et al. refuse to deal with the Kindle program-- 
 >  they want to charge more money.
 >  
 >  So far, the only mistake Amazon made was designing the thing so you  
 >  basically have to have it in the cover to read without accidentally  
 >  turning pages. I suspect some design maven told them they should do it  
 >  that way so non-ebook readers would have a more book-like experience.  
 >  Unfortunately, that designer must not have read the research data.
 >  
 >  Well, and not having a backlit screen--but the opinion is divided on  
 >  that anyway. There are those who demand it and those who find it hard  
 >  to read on. And there's no question the E-ink resolution beats the  
 >  other options hands down.
 >  
 >  Personally, I'll wait for the next generation, where I'd imagine most  
 >  if not all of the major criticisms of the overall design will have  
 >  been addressed and where they may even have managed to come up with a  
 >  color screen. Hopefully, they'll also do an iPhone and lower the  
 >  price. But as readers go, I don't see that much not to like, and as a  
 >  publisher I foresee this as being a way to persuade a fair share of  
 >  the "I hate ebook" holdouts to change their tune.
 >  
 >  L
 >  Elizabeth Burton, Executive Editor
 >  Zumaya Publications LLC
 >  http://www.zumayapublications.com
 >  Opening doors to the creative mind
 >  
 >  On Nov 27, 2007, at 2:11 AM, Kent S. Larsen II wrote:
 >  
 >  Amazon is using a proprietary identifier for ebooks (ASIN)
 >  
 >  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 >  
 >  
 >      
 >                                
 > 
 >        
 > ---------------------------------
 > Never miss a thing.   Make Yahoo your homepage.
 > 
 > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 >
 
 
     
                               

       
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