Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Reading the New York Times On a Kindle 2

Posted by kdawson on from the all-the-news-that's-fit-to-squint dept.

reifman links to his thorough and thoughtful review of the experience of reading a newspaper on the Kindle 2. "I've been eager to try The New York Times on the Kindle 2; here's my review with a basic video walk-through and screenshots. I give the Kindle 2 version of The Times a B. Software updates could bring it up to an A-. Kindle designers should have learned more from the iPhone 3G. Unfortunately, my Kindle display scratched less than 24 hours after it arrived. As I detail in the review, Amazon customer service was not very accommodating. Is it my fault — or will Kindle 2 evolve into an Apple 1G Nano-like $22.5M settlement? You can read about Hearst's e-reader for newspapers from earlier today on Slashdot."

22 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. I actually just tried the Kindle II... by solder_fox · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A friend of mine bought one for reading in the subway. He finds it great, and he points out correctly that for avid readers it's wonderful just from the standpoint of space conservation. For Manhattan-dwellers especially, that's a major selling point.

    It's a pretty good product--the only bad thing about it is from the publisher's standpoint, since IIRC it requires you to prepare your books in a new format (which is a not-insignificant undertaking) and Amazon has near-complete control over the pricing structure. (The pricing structure thing hurts authors, too.)

    Countering that is that it will make some books more accessible. It doesn't take much work to get books now, but the ability to have them in front of you and easily readable right away combined with sample chapters gives you at least part of the convenience of actually walking into a bookstore, only you get it anyplace you can get the data connection.

    I can't speak to the durability, though, because it's still a new toy. Give it a year and see how it holds up in different conditions. But overall, this is definitely a shiny product, in the good sense as opposed to the coefficient-of-specular-reflection-is-too-high sense. It'll probably really help Amazon once the economy picks back up, since more people will have the income to spend on a Kindle and they'll have had a chance to improve it.

    --
    --- Thousands are enslaved every day.
    1. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by iYk6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      the only bad thing about it is ... Amazon has near-complete control over the pricing structure. (The pricing structure thing hurts authors, too.)

      Doesn't this thing read pdfs and/or text files? If so, can't the authors sell their books from any website they want, for whatever price they want? Exactly how does Amazon exert control over the pricing structure?

    2. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by JamesTheBoilermaker · · Score: 5, Informative

      You can't load pdfs directly on to the Kindle but instead of sending the file to youraccount@kindle.com for $0.10, you can send it to youraccount@free.kindle.com and it will send you back a link to the converted file which you can download and load on to you Kindle via USB. You can load text files directly on to it. Also, Kindle supports unencrypted Mobi-pocket format, so you can use any available mobi creator to convert pdfs and other documents.

    3. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I recently tried a Kindle 2. The Kindle is much more *readable* than your back-lit display. The E-ink screen does not cause more stain on your eyes than reading a normal book. It's passively lit, and it looks very good. It takes a while to refresh a while page, but that's a small price to pay if you're reading pages at a time. And the E-ink retains the image when the device is off, so it's using no power most of the time.
      I've tried reading on my iPhone. It just doesn't work. Good for short term, terrible for long term reading.

      Oh, and it plays mp3's and has a (primitive) web browser over 3G.

    4. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by Zerth · · Score: 4, Informative

      You're forced to create an account and then send pdfs and text files to an email associated with the account for a fee ($0.20 per file or something like that). It's difficult, and Amazon has everything locked down.

      .

      You obviously never even looked at the website, let alone read a review of the thing.

      I think they're kind of lame(no removeable storage, non-removable battery), but my wife recently got one, so I know that:

      A)You can(not must) send PDFs to an account for translation. It costs $.10 if you send it via the cell network(duh, that costs money). If you transfer them by computer, it costs $0.00 My wife, being an artsy type, has the Adobe suite, so she just converts them herself if they aren't just used as an image container.

      B)You can just plug it in a USB port and copy plain text to it like a thumb drive, albeit with no meaningful folder managment. She has loaded it up with a bunch of ebooks she already had in plain text, plus the aforementioned converted PDFs.

    5. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by Nyeerrmm · · Score: 4, Informative

      From experience with the Kindle 1, which I've had for ~ 6 months, its a very durable device with the exception of direct pressure on the screen. I've accidentally spritzed it with water and soap, so as long as you're not giving it a bath it does fine. I stick it in my backpack on the way to school and takes a fair amount of abuse that way.

      However, the one sticky point is that the screen is very susceptible to direct pressure on the screen. Because the e-ink relies on a glass backing for its operation, if you lean too heavily on it, it will shatter and the screen will be non-functional. This happened to mine when I had it on my bed and it disappeared under some blankets and I put my palm down on it crawling back into bed. Fortunately, I had a very good experience with Amazon customer service and received a new one within a few days. Keeping it in its leather carrying case and being aware of it eliminates those problems for the most part, and it can take quite a bit of abuse with just minimal precautions.

      With how thin the new version is, and the fact that the case doesn't come standard, I wonder if the screen isn't more durable on Kindle 2. Can't say I'd want to test it myself though...

    6. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by daniorerio · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So, we are all waiting for the Chinese version of this device without all the lockdown and including all the obvious useful fetures?

    7. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by sdnick · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So it can't read PDFs. Big negative IMHO - I wouldn't mind having something like this (at $150 max) to stash dozens of technical references and white papers on. But I'm not going to go through the hassle of converting every PDF I'd want to store.

    8. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by pimp0r · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think you've missed the whole point of PDFs. They are meant to preserve formatting.

      People use PDFs for the same reason they don't use HTML or plain text for said documents, and vice versa.

      Now if the documents you want are perfectly readable as plain text you should blame the source for using an unsuitable format, rather than hating the format for doing what it is supposed to do.

    9. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by Kooonsty · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You're forced to create an account and then send pdfs and text files to an email associated with the account for a fee ($0.20 per file or something like that). It's difficult, and Amazon has everything locked down.

      .

      You obviously never even looked at the website, let alone read a review of the thing.

      I think they're kind of lame(no removeable storage, non-removable battery), but my wife recently got one, so I know that:

      A)You can(not must) send PDFs to an account for translation. It costs $.10 if you send it via the cell network(duh, that costs money). If you transfer them by computer, it costs $0.00 My wife, being an artsy type, has the Adobe suite, so she just converts them herself if they aren't just used as an image container.

      B)You can just plug it in a USB port and copy plain text to it like a thumb drive, albeit with no meaningful folder managment. She has loaded it up with a bunch of ebooks she already had in plain text, plus the aforementioned converted PDFs.

      Something seems very wrong with the fact that a whole novel can be sent over a cell network for $0.10, but a text message of under 200 characters cost double that.

    10. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by flosofl · · Score: 3, Informative

      No they just charge you for the privillege of reading your own work on your own device.

      Not true at all. I just spent the weekend converting all the e-books I had purchased on Baen's webscription site for the Kindle. Bean has a link in the download section of each book to "convert to Kindle format". You enter you kindle email and go. Now you can enter the email address @kindle.com and it will convert and use Whispernet to push it to the reader. That costs $0.10 per book. Or you can use the @free.kindle.com address. The conversion happens and a link is sent to download the e-book to your computer. It's then a simple drag and drop to the Kindle and you're good to go. That one costs nothing.

      Incidentally, this option is available for the "Free Library" section at Baen which has a pretty extensive collection of their published authors.

      --
      "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
    11. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by Dun+Malg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think you've missed the whole point of PDFs. They are meant to preserve formatting.

      I think the OP is saying he hates PDFs as a format for reading electronically. This is completely logical. As you note, PDF is specifically designed to not be like a computer document, but rather to preserve printed media formatting. This makes them totally unsuitable for on-screen reading. Why people continue to distribute documents that will never be printed in PDF format is beyond me. I blame Adobe for pushing the Acrobat Reader software as being something more than the printer-friendly format it is.

      What I'm waiting for is a color e-ink reader, with a roughly 8.5x11 screen (or at least the same aspect ratio), and the capacity to natively display PDF documents. I imagine something the size/weight of a laptop screen, with a touch screen and a few nav buttons at the edges.

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    12. Re:I actually just tried the Kindle II... by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And with a Nokia Internet Tablet you get eight hours of battery life and a much smaller screen, as opposed to eight days of battery life and a fairly decent sized screen.

      I have an N800, I love it, but a Kindle it is not. If the Kindle were cheaper, I'd probably get one to complement my N800, not to replace it. They're different products aimed at different applications, and what the Kindle is designed to do is something I don't believe the N800 is a particularly good match for.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  2. Re:Scratching is a valid form of artistic expressi by Renraku · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't see this as an issue, or I would have returned my cat.

    --
    Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
  3. Hey, honey? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Will you hand me the sports section to read while you browse the NYT magazine?

    Hey, where's the crossword?

  4. Re:an amazing product by glwtta · · Score: 4, Informative

    Seriously? Every time with this shit?

    Let me summarize the obvious: reflective display, not an LCD, ie you can actually read on it; first more-or-less practical generation of a new technology, as with everything else in the entire history of all technology, price will come down as it becomes more popular.

    What is so fiendishly difficult to grasp?

    --
    sic transit gloria mundi
  5. Re:an amazing product by value_added · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and... you can't read text on an LCD?

    LOL. Allow me to chime in with the OP for folks like you that refuse to get it.

    Of course you can read text on an LCD, just like you can also read text on a CRT with 60Hz flicker, in giant lights at softball game, or hand scrawled on a bathroom wall with really bad kerning. You can also rub lemon juice on paper cuts to keep them from getting infected, but the majority of us choose not to.

    The point is that e-ink is easier on the eyes, which makes what you're reading ... wait for it ... easier to read.

    In Jeff Bezos' interview on The Charlie Rose show, he used a flashlight analogy, saying thta reading on a convential screen is like staring into a flashlight. The light may not be as bright as a typical flashlight, but it's a helluva lot brighter (and different) than the light reflected off a piece of paper. Or a Kindle. Ergo, Bezos opted not to use a LCD screen, while being aware of the tradeoffs of doing so. The reaction to his decision has ranged from praise to amazement to a shitload of Kindles being sold.

  6. Propietary Format by cervo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What if amazon goes under? All those ebooks that I may have bought will be gone. If you look at some of the music DRM services, what happens when Amazon decides not to support the format anymore?

    I want an e reader because my books are piling up. But I want the same rights I get for paper books and until I get that I will not buy one. I have some books that are older than me. Now I see people with this e-reader or that e-reader and then a year or two later they have a new one and re-buy all their books.

    I want all the benefits of paper books but without wasting all the space on books. Also as a society, what happens if in years people dig up our society and just find these e-readers with a proprietary format? All of our knowledge will be lost whereas with books/tablets at least they can get something to try to translate.

  7. Re:Free content and pay by the page. by shoemilk · · Score: 3, Funny

    Also, people should be able to pay by the page for content rather than buy the book. Just like paying for songs instead of albums, this is the future of reading.

    Are you serious? What sort of sick demented world do you live in? Why would someone want to buy one page unless it were for a sample, which is usually given out free?

    Aside from the above speculation, here are ten solid, in-depth, good reasons why you're completely wrong. 1. Y

    Thank you for purchasing part one of this post! Please click confirm to buy part two for an only additional $.99! (Parts 3~37 are an additional fee)

    Confirm

  8. Some questions from a non-Kindle user. by ClemensW · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was looking into buying a Kindle as soon as it becomes available here (Rightpondia), but after reading the license agreement on Amazon, I'm not sure anymore.

    Do I understand it correctly, that..
    - in case the Kindle should be lost/broken or I buy a newer model, then all books are lost, too?
    - in case I switch to a different brand of ebook reader, I'm stuck with a load of unreadable books?
    - I cannot loan a book to a friend, except by giving him the whole device?
    - I cannot try to remove the DRM, otherwise Amazon will kill my service?
    - Amazon is snooping what documents I have on my reader?

    If that's correct, then - sorry to say that - it looks like Amazon is telling me: "HA! WE SCREWED YOU!"

    1. Re:Some questions from a non-Kindle user. by Brandee07 · · Score: 4, Informative

      -in case the Kindle should be lost/broken or I buy a newer model, then all books are lost, too?

      No, book purchases are tied to your Amazon.com account, not to the device. You can redownload any of them on a new device. This includes books that get pulled from the Amazon.com store after the date of purchase! (I have a Kindle, I tested this)

      - in case I switch to a different brand of ebook reader, I'm stuck with a load of unreadable books?

      Yes. Hopefully Amazon will switch to the ePub format for more openness soon.

      - I cannot loan a book to a friend, except by giving him the whole device?

      Yep, although you can share with family who have a second or third device on the same account.

      - I cannot try to remove the DRM, otherwise Amazon will kill my service?

      That's pretty standard, isn't it? However, I haven't seen any cases of service getting cut off, or anyone even trying to break the DRM.

      - Amazon is snooping what documents I have on my reader?

      Only the documents you bought from them. They back up your annotations and bookmarks for the books you purchased from them, but not from any books you got from other sources or created yourself. You can also turn this feature off, if the idea of Amazon poking its nose in your stuff bothers you. Or you can never turn the wireless on and do all book purchases by USB, just to be completely paranoid.

      ----

      The end of the story is that proprietary formats and DRM suck, but that's the way it is and is going to be until Amazon can break away from it the way Apple did.

      For the record: Amazon's .azw format is really just .mobi with the DRM. So if you can break the DRM, you can read the book on any device that can read .mobi, from Palm Pilots to computers. The tricky thing is that some of the books they sell are in .tpz (Topaz, sometimes .azw1) which allows them to imbed fonts in the file. I presume that this is an evolution of .mobi, but we really don't know, and other readers might not be able to handle it.

  9. Re:Free content and pay by the page. by ErikZ · · Score: 5, Informative

    Um, they do allow Authors to give their content away. I downloaded a free e-book from Amazon over the weekend.

    The sheer amount of ignorance on this forum has been STAGGERING. What the hell is wrong with you people?

    And if you look up the Kindle Wikipedia page, they list off a dozen stores that sell and give away books that are readable on the Kindle.

    --
    Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.