Comments on: More Kindle thoughts http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/ John's all-purpose blog, with Debbie's name in the title too! Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:03:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: John http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37538 John Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:20:52 +0000 http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37538 Pretty much every review I've seen agrees that contrast/readabilty and battery life are solved. People you'd expect to be luddites say they've "forgotten it's not a book" within a few pages. The battery's meant to last a week or more, if you leave wireless turned off. One review says it's not nearly as ugly in real life as it is in photos. They missed a trick there, not designing it for both. Pretty much every review I’ve seen agrees that contrast/readabilty and battery life are solved. People you’d expect to be luddites say they’ve “forgotten it’s not a book” within a few pages.

The battery’s meant to last a week or more, if you leave wireless turned off.

One review says it’s not nearly as ugly in real life as it is in photos. They missed a trick there, not designing it for both.

]]> By: David Hayes http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37530 David Hayes Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:25:21 +0000 http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37530 I think the important factors for me are readability and battery life. Until the contrast ration and 'comfort' of an e-book reader are close to that of paper I'm going to steer clear. At the moment I know that if I'm going to be away for a week I can take a book of 300+ pages and that will do. If my ebook reader's batteries aren't going to last for a week I'd then have to take chargers and plug adaptors. You really never what your book to run out of power in the middle of a long flight. I really wish they hadn't made the Kindle so ugly. Amazon could really use poaching some people from Apple or Sony for version 2 The Amazon DRM is a little scary too, I know that if Waterstones go bust I'll still be able to read my books tomorrow. I think the important factors for me are readability and battery life. Until the contrast ration and ‘comfort’ of an e-book reader are close to that of paper I’m going to steer clear.
At the moment I know that if I’m going to be away for a week I can take a book of 300+ pages and that will do. If my ebook reader’s batteries aren’t going to last for a week I’d then have to take chargers and plug adaptors. You really never what your book to run out of power in the middle of a long flight. I really wish they hadn’t made the Kindle so ugly. Amazon could really use poaching some people from Apple or Sony for version 2
The Amazon DRM is a little scary too, I know that if Waterstones go bust I’ll still be able to read my books tomorrow.

]]> By: John http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37525 John Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:18:14 +0000 http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37525 BTW, your comment about reading for pleasure -- I don't see that it's exclusively a leisure device. BTW, your comment about reading for pleasure — I don’t see that it’s exclusively a leisure device.

]]> By: John http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37524 John Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:14:40 +0000 http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37524 Not that I've actually used one, but I think the current Kindle is designed to present material sequentially, so much as an iPod can shuffle a load of tracks for you, but you hear them in whatever order they come, without interacting -- you could have a joke book which you read in order, but that order changes when you shuffle. You'd still get a number of jokes on a 'page'. But you'd be shuffling jokes, not pages. Nonetheless, interactivity is intriguing. Choose-your-own-adventure? As you point out, at some stage, it just becomes a general purpose computer -- the next step from CYOA is The Hobbit (the game, not the book). As e-Ink gets faster, of course dedicated eBook readers will morph into general purpose computers. The frame concept is interesting. I'm not sure how good a metaphor it is. A picture is in a frame, but the frame is in a museum, and the museum is in a world where the exhibition might be advertised on bus stops and written about in newspapers, etc. If Eno's "frame" represents all that stuff, then you may as well just call it "context" and have done. A Girls Aloud song is on a CD, which has a case, which you pick up off a display case in a shop, and you saw Cheryl Cole on TV the other night... I can see that the album cover corresponds to a picture frame.... and sleeve notes to the little plaque next to the frame. The Kindle store as a virtual book cover... well, yes, but you see the book cover every time you pick up the book. You only see the store as you buy it. Not that I’ve actually used one, but I think the current Kindle is designed to present material sequentially, so much as an iPod can shuffle a load of tracks for you, but you hear them in whatever order they come, without interacting — you could have a joke book which you read in order, but that order changes when you shuffle. You’d still get a number of jokes on a ‘page’. But you’d be shuffling jokes, not pages.

Nonetheless, interactivity is intriguing. Choose-your-own-adventure? As you point out, at some stage, it just becomes a general purpose computer — the next step from CYOA is The Hobbit (the game, not the book). As e-Ink gets faster, of course dedicated eBook readers will morph into general purpose computers.

The frame concept is interesting. I’m not sure how good a metaphor it is. A picture is in a frame, but the frame is in a museum, and the museum is in a world where the exhibition might be advertised on bus stops and written about in newspapers, etc. If Eno’s “frame” represents all that stuff, then you may as well just call it “context” and have done.

A Girls Aloud song is on a CD, which has a case, which you pick up off a display case in a shop, and you saw Cheryl Cole on TV the other night… I can see that the album cover corresponds to a picture frame…. and sleeve notes to the little plaque next to the frame. The Kindle store as a virtual book cover… well, yes, but you see the book cover every time you pick up the book. You only see the store as you buy it.

]]> By: Sean http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37523 Sean Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:48:48 +0000 http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/archives/2007/12/03/more-kindle-thoughts/#comment-37523 I love the idea of Kindle inspiring new forms of content. Books you can shuffle would be a nice idea, particularly for things like joke books and quote books. Books you can search and have restructured according to your requirements would be even better. There comes a point at which it stops being a book though, and just becomes a database. I wonder why I say that, given that book (or ebook) is a pretty arbitrary label to apply to data that won't be printed anyway. Perhaps it's because of the reading experience. Perhaps a book is more about having a beginning/middle/end and taking you on a journey predetermined by the author, whereas a database (such as the internet, or even many of those printed quote/joke/trivia books) is more about targeted research or exploration. At the moment the content that's most suitable for searching or shuffling is reference content (maybe poetry too?), which few read for pleasure. Perhaps Kindle will change that, though. We won't lose the book cover experience - the Kindle store will be like a virtual book cover, conditioning the reader about what to expect when he begins to read the work itself. Brian Eno writes about the importance of the frame, where the frame is everything outside the artwork that surrounds your experience of it. I love the idea of Kindle inspiring new forms of content. Books you can shuffle would be a nice idea, particularly for things like joke books and quote books. Books you can search and have restructured according to your requirements would be even better. There comes a point at which it stops being a book though, and just becomes a database. I wonder why I say that, given that book (or ebook) is a pretty arbitrary label to apply to data that won’t be printed anyway. Perhaps it’s because of the reading experience. Perhaps a book is more about having a beginning/middle/end and taking you on a journey predetermined by the author, whereas a database (such as the internet, or even many of those printed quote/joke/trivia books) is more about targeted research or exploration. At the moment the content that’s most suitable for searching or shuffling is reference content (maybe poetry too?), which few read for pleasure. Perhaps Kindle will change that, though.

We won’t lose the book cover experience - the Kindle store will be like a virtual book cover, conditioning the reader about what to expect when he begins to read the work itself. Brian Eno writes about the importance of the frame, where the frame is everything outside the artwork that surrounds your experience of it.

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