Comments on: Kindle’s Not Working

By: Noah Brier

Noah Brier — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:09:06 +0000

Haven’t decided where I fall on this one. I am one of those people who gets annoyed about carrying so much paper along with me (packed 3 books, 2 newspapers and a magazine for my 5 day trip to Asia because of the long flights). For that reason, I’m pretty into the idea of the Kindle (haven’t yet purchased one).

I also think it’s interesting in conjunction with a service like InstaPaper. Being able to take the longer articles I’d prefer not to read on the screen along with me in a format my eyes can deal with would be great, but Amazon keeps that part as hard to do as possible …

By: coleman Horn

coleman Horn — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:13:43 +0000

Agreed- Although my gripes with the Kindle stem from a few different sources. I’m not expecting the kindle to be a panacea for all my electronic devices- I like movable, sharable, continuous information as you have outlined above, but to manipulate it properly, I need a proper keyboard and a mouse at the least and hopefully a live connection to the web. My laptop does a pretty good job at this and I use it well in this capacity. I however dont read eBooks on muy laptop. I do agree that there is a need for the eBook device and I await it’s arrival.. So lets look at the kindle as an object that can solely present information form text, and pdf or whatever eBook formats there are.. This the the problem I have with the Kindle. I’m a bit of a bibliophile and I read literature often. I love reading and I love the process of reading. I’m a designer and I love the physical aspects of novels, tomes and even paperbacks, AND I’m willing to suffice some of these qualities for the conveniences e of the eBook. I travel more then I’m at home, mostly to Asia and Europe and every trip lug a few novels with me.. I find myself jet lagged @ 4am and need to read to pass the time until breakfast.. I’d love to have a bunch of different books on the kindle, as I read about 4 books at once- so the kindle seems like a perfect object for a tech-savvy guy with lots of 4am time on his hands, a love for reading and a need to keep the pack light.. But it’s the object.. Its the white fucking plastic object that looks like a SLA prototype with a black screen in the middle. Who designed this thing? had they ever read a book?? had they ever consulted a group of readers to partake in what is good about books? A book has soul, it has a smell, it has a texture, it has a weight (well, we can do without that) but the designes of the kindle managed to remove all the soulful elements of the kindle almost for contempt to these book-like qualities. Not everyone who has a kindle may love these aspects of books, but how about having the ability to have it slide into something that looked, felt and was tactile like a book, or at a minimum have it black to reduce the contrast between a black screen and a white plastic object.. cover the thing in a synthetic leather.. my car’s dashboard in it’s injected leather texture has more soul then the kindle. I dont think it’s possible to be further away form a book like experience then the kindle.. The Sony eBook looks great compared to the Kindle.. Last week in Hong Kong having an after dinner cigar and drink at an upscale outdoor restaurant, I noticed another cigar smell, being attuned to the rarity of cigars; a man a few tables down was smoking a cigar and reading. Upon further notice it was a Kindle he was reading.. It could have been me, as I read often in restaurants if I’m alone, but he was reading a kindle, and it was somehow debasing to witness this. Even if it was the soulful version of the kindle I had referred to which he would have been reading, it was still a bit sad somehow, this progression of technology.. And dont get me started on the name..

By: Jake White

Jake White — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:23:13 +0000

Insightful article! I agree, but speaking as an owner and user of both Kindle and Ipod Touch (and Kindle DX on order) I think the disconnect here is that the concept of a “one size fits all” device for information consumption does not work. I like long novels, literary classics and have a broad interest in non-fiction subjects which I like to read about in depth. The Kindle works well for this. I need to carry around detailed work documents with charts and diagrams, computer manuals, PDF reports and heavy textbooks. With its larger screen and better resolution, the Kindle DX (hopefully!) will work best for these.

t the same time, I live by RSS feeds, mashups and the latest tech information – the Ipod touch is perfect here. (btw I agree Newspapers and pages that look like newspapers are just stone-age and basically useless – my opinion)

So far, I can find no reader that does it all. A ‘giant’ ipod touch could possibly come close, but backlighting could be a problem. My eyes smart after looking at a backlighted screen for more than 1 hour. I can read for hours with the Kindle and it works great in bright sunlight.

I believe it is absolutely inevitable that print will go digital (in higher education and research, it certainly must) but we are at a a toddler stage in developing a device to truly take advantage of this.

By: Floyd Hayes

Floyd Hayes — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:23:08 +0000

I really tried to like the idea of eBook readers in general. Nope. Can’t do it. If I went travelling for a year and there was a solar powered version then and maybe then I’d think about it.

Although last time I went backpacking I enjoyed swapping books and picking up random things to read – anything – as long as it was reading material.

My other worry about networked eReaders is the text can be changed. It can’t be changed in printed books. Think about history revisionists here.

To give an extreme example: ubiquitous eReaders + militant green movent + far right in power = how many people murdered in the second world war again?