Will86 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 On the Kindle or the other types, is the book shown identical to the actual book? By that I mean are all the lead up pages with reprint dates etc shown. Inside the rear cover there are often details about the author. Is that shown as well. Can you also search say the British Library ? Can authors be searched for their books the same as being sat in a library? And is there a catalogue to search or is it a matter of a limited supply only ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Will85 - 2014-05-05 10:22 AM The book I'm reading now is about Maot Tsi-tung it has 870 pages. It will take me 2-3 weeks to read. I doubt that a kindle would cater for that type of book. I only read biographical books. I use both the basic kindle, cos battery life good, plus the ipad kindle app. Kindle copes very well with the text. I am reading a history of WW1 at present. Ipad kindle app also works well. the ipad iBooks app, works well, I use this app for my Open University Text books - reading is easy plus it has a search feature which is useful if I need to refer back to clarify complicated problems. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I brought gf a Kindle 3g a couple of years back, as she is a bit of a technophobe I did think if she didn't use it I would. After a slow start she now reads it most nights, a couple of times she's given it to me to read a book, but I just don't find it 'satisfying' to read, I much prefer to hold a book, who knew I was so old fashioned. Gf tends to load up on free books, many she wipes off after a couple of pages, but that still leaves more than enough to keep her happy. Some writers list the first in a series as free then charge for the remainder. The benefit of the 3g model is that any country Amazon has a presence and there is a mobile signal you can download books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teflon2 Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 I've only just joined the electronic pad era but bought a MIL from amazon it runs google android and seems to have an enormous library of books and I can link to my smart phone to look at e/mail etc. if no broadband available simple to use and shop I must admit that I'm more used to paper but I think I might be a convert. John 8-) :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 starvin marvin - 2014-05-05 10:01 AM The free books are free for a reason, mostly rubbish, pay for better stuff. I have all of Dickens, Shakespeare, Verne, Wordsworth, Hugo, Homer, Wilde, Bronte, Rider-Haggard etc, all free, all on my Kindle, all searchable and all with the built-in dictionary to help me with those difficult words. The Kindle has a screen read by reflected light, like a book. The iPad has an illuminated screen, which I find tiring to read for any length of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Will85 - 2014-05-05 8:49 PM Can you also search say the British Library ? Can authors be searched for their books the same as being sat in a library? And is there a catalogue to search or is it a matter of a limited supply only ? Books can be searched by author, title or ISBN, that I know of. also there are projects converting all sorts of literature to digital including all the classics that are rights free. Look here http://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=amb_link_179781127_43?ie=UTF8&node=434020031&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=left-2&pf_rd_r=1Y4Z4SBCGQVQTMGT3KJ3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=485094407&pf_rd_i=341689031 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Thank you the replies, there's certainly more books and information available than I thought. I should now seek to find someone that has one to see how it all works. Presumably one has to have a broadband or mobile phone connection. These all have a cost of course and need balancing against being able to borrow free from the library. I can certainly see the advantage of a Kindle system and I'm all for progress and the future. Some good interesting replies there thanks again W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Will85 - 2014-05-06 9:21 AM Presumably one has to have a broadband or mobile phone connection. These all have a cost of course and need balancing against being able to borrow free from the library. W The mobile connection for the 3g (and I guess the 4g) is part of Amazons costs, you don't have a separate bill, so if you are downloading books at £0.00 (and you do get an invoice of £0.00) you pay nothing. You can download throu a computer or via wifi. I believe you can also swap books with other users, but we've not tried this. p.s. I mainly borrow from a library, this is not at zero cost, aside from the hidden cost within the council tax, for me there is the cost of getting to the local library, plus if a book I want is at a more distant branch then there is a payment for delivery to my local branch. Our library offers a range of 'e-resources' including books and mags, no idea if these will load onto kindle, I guess so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggyd Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Pampam - 2014-05-05 7:15 AMIn your van do you prefer kindle or book has anybody any preference?am thinking of investing in a kindle BUT can you get cheap books on it because most of my books come from junk shops and car boots (new ones at chrimbo) also does a kindle keep you awake at night like an ipad ? I thought id get one for my hols to save me having to pack about 7books thanks pp..... I have tons of books in house and i carted loads in van is it time to move with the times?? 40years ago when i was extremely poor i couldnt afford the luxury of books and used library but always yearned to have a few shelves full ..... I have them now :but technology has moved on and perhaps its time for me to follow whadya think? Pp:)Im like you Pam ;-) I used to get all my books from charity shops or car boot sales, hubby bought me a kindle as he used to weigh the stack of books I needed to see me through 6 weeks holsI get lots of bargains from Amazon ie; a set of 6 for 49p :-D can you believe it!! the most Ive paid is £1.99 but they usually range from 50p to 99p I bought 20years a Slave which was about £1.50 ?? there abouts anyway Ive had a couple of Dan Browns and some Anne Cleeves books that I loved set in Shetland, Ive never not had a few on the go since I got it, as O.H has his details on Amazon it easy (lol) (lol) I buy with 1click and its painless. ;-) Im going away shortly but if you get one when I get back Ill try to send you a couple.You need to be in range of a wifi signal to go to the kindle shop, that lets you browse and buy once they have downloaded which takes seconds you can turn it off, you can also buy on your computer buy with one click they will download as soon as you switch the wireless on on your pad so if you dont have a wireless rooter pop somewhere that has and they will download. :-D you dont need the wireless turned on when you read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Pampam - 2014-05-05 7:15 AM :-D you dont need the wireless turned on when you read. That's very useful to know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 I had one of the original Kindles which is 3G/wifi from the family 2/3 Christmases ago and was thrilled with it. Then Christmas 2013 I received the Kindle Fire HDX which is superb. With this I can download lots of apps as well as the books and also receive all my emails if I can access wifi. It takes a large SD card as well so plenty of storage for games, BBC news, newspapers, weather forecasts, photos etc. etc. Brilliant when travelling as it is a small size and light. I can now hide the laptop and secure it to the chassis and carry this around with me if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Having Deliberated. Discussed. Looked at. Played with and handled for some hours the two main Kindles today, the colour version and the all white version. I am never going to be a Kindle user. I find they are too small. The white version is bland, if it were coloured I may change. They require too much faffing about and they do nothing for me. The eyes are drawn to a smaller flat image that has no curves. Not a good optical experience. In my view the feel and sight of a book is what reading is all about. A flat plastic screen does nothing except provide words in a repetitive machine like order. With a Kindle there is no excitement attached to the reading experience of holding a piece of history. All there are, are columns of words on a flat screen. Reading is not just a matter of passing sentences through the brain. Imagination plays a large part. A book that's handled does just that. A plastic screen is a dead object that has to be regenerated, like a television, its useless on its own. My neighbour delighted in saying she has over 200 hundred books stored. I find this tally's with the users of 'Smart Phones' where they delight in saying how many pictures they have and demonstrate by racing through them. Thank you to those who offered advise. I did my best and they are not for me. I'm an artist. The Kindle has no artistic merit about it. Its a basic reader of words and that's all Ps listening the Euro song contest No 2 is a winner Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Will life is a bore, to be able to carry a vast selection of books by various authors on various subjects in one hand is far better than a tea chest of real books with the kindle you can change font style and type size to suit, in order to form any opinion you need to read a few books not just handle the reader.The colour kindle is a Tablet and as such not a full blown e reader. It's each to there own. its a poor artist that blames his tools. Alf Will85 - 2014-05-10 8:45 PM Having Deliberated. Discussed. Looked at. Played with and handled for some hours the two main Kindles today, the colour version and the all white version. I am never going to be a Kindle user. I find they are too small. The white version is bland, if it were coloured I may change. They require too much faffing about and they do nothing for me. The eyes are drawn to a smaller flat image that has no curves. Not a good optical experience. In my view the feel and sight of a book is what reading is all about. A flat plastic screen does nothing except provide words in a repetitive machine like order. With a Kindle there is no excitement attached to the reading experience of holding a piece of history. All there are, are columns of words on a flat screen. Reading is not just a matter of passing sentences through the brain. Imagination plays a large part. A book that's handled does just that. A plastic screen is a dead object that has to be regenerated, like a television, its useless on its own. My neighbour delighted in saying she has over 200 hundred books stored. I find this tally's with the users of 'Smart Phones' where they delight in saying how many pictures they have and demonstrate by racing through them. Thank you to those who offered advise. I did my best and they are not for me. I'm an artist. The Kindle has no artistic merit about it. Its a basic reader of words and that's all Ps listening the Euro song contest No 2 is a winner Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Life is wonderful it is not a bore. I don't need a tool that fails to do what suits its user, I'm quite capable of making my own decisions how I read. Thanks again everyone and particularly Alf for sharing their views on the Kindle. Like all things in life some agree some do not. Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Had Enough Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 I hadn't realised that the average paperback, or even hardback book, had 'artistic merit'. My TV doesn't seem to have any artistic merit either but it seems capable of delivering some very fine artistic programmes to me. Likewise my hi-fi set up appears to have no artistic merit whatsoever, just being a collection of boxes, but last evening listening to Mozart's Requiem on it was superb and uplifting. Still, what would I know as I'm not an artist? My wife who is extremely well educated and intelligent (she was a senior school teacher) is an artist and a very talented one who also teaches others, loves her Kindle and tells me that only pompous pseudo intellectuals could possibly go on about a Kindle not having any 'artistic merit'. But again, what do we know as we don't spend our nights watching such artistically uplifting programmes such as the European Song Contest? That's only for the gifted few I suppose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retread24800 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 I was given a Kindle Fire a few months ago. I am a dyed in the wool Luddite and had always sworn that books were books and no piece of plastic could replace one. But as HE says it's the content which contains the artistic merit, not the medium.The Fire allows me to keep in contact via Skype, read my mails and follow this forum while away, If I had to rely on my laptop and a pile of books it would seriously eat into my load allowance :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerC Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I 'avoided' like the plague any form of 'e reader' since their entry into the ever expanding 'techno world' because I like my 'real' books............limited editions/a few first editions/signed etc they all hold a sort of emotional content that an e reader never could. I suppose in this age of 'weird speak' you could call them 'organic'. However my good lady began dropping hints just before last Christmas that she would like a Kindle. Not wanting to disappoint her I succumbed and bought her a paperwhite version...............and she loves it. So much so that when the Kobo went on offer (at a price I could afford to ignore if I didn't like it) I succumbed and bought myself one. Whilst it will never take the place of a real book I find I am now reading much more widely than before. For example.......Joseph Conrad, Winston Churchill, Tolstoy, Solzhenitzyn and other authors which merely take my fancy. One major advantage is being able to read those books which are now either in the 'collectors' exorbitant price range or out of print. The 'open source' (free) web sites allow one to experiment and investigate such a broad spectrum of writings/authors from modern day to historical published works that I find for that alone it was worth the money buying the Kobo. Would I convert from 'real' books entirely to an e reader? No I wouldn't but the e reader has a firm place now in my readings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Nook with built in Glowlight £59 at Sainsbury's. That's it,I'll say no more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Will85 - 2014-05-06 1:54 PM Pampam - 2014-05-05 7:15 AM :-D you dont need the wireless turned on when you read. That's very useful to know In fact you should keep the wireless turned off, unless you are using it to download because the unit will keep paging and looking for wifi points and eat the battery up. (Also applies to any product that uses a wifi connection - Kindle - Ipad - Ipod - mobile phone with wifi on (as opposed to having a 3 / 4 G connection) Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickyDee Posted May 14, 2014 Share Posted May 14, 2014 Not only has amazon got free Ebooks but there is another one smashwords.com Search online (google) and there is lots of free good books to be obtained :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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