Tell me of the Amazon Kindle

[Jürgen Hubert]

Well, I've got it now.

First impression: Looks good. I managed to convert "GURPS Temple of the Lost Gods" to a format that the Kindle can read. The basic layout of the result reminds me of Pyramid articles. The text flow is maintained, despite the fact that the conversion software needs to convert it into HTML files along the way. However, tables are somewhat messed up.

If the PDF you want to read consists mostly of "standard text" and doesn't use any weird layouting tricks, they should be well readable on the Kindle after conversion. The layout won't look like the original PDF, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - after all, PDFs are primarily intended for printing, not reading. You can also convert HTML pages to a format readable by the Kindle.

More later.

 

[Mark]

The layout won't look like the original PDF, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - after all, PDFs are primarily intended for printing, not reading.

Huh?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Huh?

Almost all PDFs have some sort of format that adheres to printer paper (usually Letter format for the American market). This means that they are less than ideal for reading on a screen, which are horizontal when compared to the vertical layout of the pages. In a typical example, you have two columns next to each other on the screen, but you have to scroll down to see the following part of the same column.

 

[Ruined]

Wow, that was pretty quick turnaround. They've been supposedly on backorder ever since they were first released. Had you already made the decision to purchased beforehand, Jurgen, or do you know a guy?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Wow, that was pretty quick turnaround. They've been supposedly on backorder ever since they were first released. Had you already made the decision to purchased beforehand, Jurgen, or do you know a guy?

I decided on it on Monday afternoon, and they were listed as available at Amazon. Their free two-day delivery did the rest to make one end up on my doorstep today.

 

[Mark]

I decided on it on Monday afternoon, and they were listed as available at Amazon. Their free two-day delivery did the rest to make one end up on my doorstep today.

Cost?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Cost?

$399. Or €260.43, in my case (Amazon converts the currency automatically for me).

 

[Kesh]

Wow, that was pretty quick turnaround. They've been supposedly on backorder ever since they were first released. Had you already made the decision to purchased beforehand, Jurgen, or do you know a guy?

They just restocked this Monday, so Jürgen got lucky on his order.

 

[Kesh]

I honestly don't understand why this product is getting as much buzz as it is. The concept of electronic books dates back several years, and a multitude of different companies have released them (including Sony, Phillips, etc). Is there something about the formatting or pricing that makes this one specifically so attention-worthy?

Mostly a combination of 1) pricing and 2) selection.

You can get other ebook readers with some similar specs, but they tend to be pricey in comparison. A few are similar, or cheaper but with fewer options.

The real key is the selection. The Kindle had a huge portion of books available from Amazon the day it came out, while many of the competitors only have major bestsellers listed.

The delivery system is rather innovative, too. By eating the cost of the Sprint cellular service, people can download newspapers and books anywhere they get signal at no additional charge.

On the down-side, the e-ink display is still slow and black & white, if you don't get Sprint service it's not as useful for purchases (unless you plug it into your PC), and the DRM is pretty strict.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

According to Amazon customer service, you can only buy books from the Kindle store if you have a credit or debit card issued by a U.S. bank.

I wish they had actually mentioned this little detail on the Kindle product page. I am not very happy right now...