July 29, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I'm not sure the sony reader allows annotations. The iPhone apps don't, though you can bookmark a page.
The PC reader (BN) does allow notes.
July 29, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Steve Jones - Editor (7/27/2009)
Nicole, I'd be curious what you thought of the e-ink. If you go to a Borders or a Target, you can see the Sony reader. Spend 15 minutes there, and I think you'll be surprised. The e-ink is as good as paper. Nothing like a iPod/laptop/cell phone screen.
Hey Steve,
Apparently the reader market in Australia is very murky. Technically the Sony reader books are only available to American readers so Aussies either have to get a US credit card or set up two accounts and send gift vouchers from one to the other to purchase books. Again Kindles are US only. We do have another reader, the Iliad (approx AU$900!), which is tied to Dymocks bookstores. The price of ebooks from Dymocks is extortionate at about a $5 discount on the paper version. This means that Dymocks ebooks are usually well over AU$20 and Dymocks quotes a 1-4 week delivery time on some ebooks?!
Because of these restrictions neither Borders nor Target stock these readers as far as I am aware and most people here seem to buy their readers online. Dymocks in Sydney only have the Iliad at their main store in the city which I can't get to easily. I'll just have to wait until someone I know gets one and/or the Australian market sorts itself out. We have always paid much higher prices for books here than in the US. I can often get 2 technical books delivered from Amazon for the price of 1 book delivered from Dymocks even taking into account the exchange rate. We currently pay about AU$25-$35 for a new paperback fiction book.
As you can see my reading habits are expensive here in Australia so I try to get books from second hand stores, borrow from libraries and swap books with friends.
Cheers,
Nicole Bowman
Nothing is forever.
July 29, 2009 at 5:38 pm
My wife has a Kindle and she finds the e-Ink very easy on the eyes. In fact I thought when we got her the Kindle that I would have some time with it, but she orders her next book almost immediately and I have not gotten on the machine at all. She dropped her Kindle off the bed last week and cracked the case, called Amazon and there was a new Kindle at the door the next day. She pulled her current book from the archive and it opened up to the last page she was reading. We put the cracked one in the mail back to Amazon the next day. She is sold on the thing for sure.
July 31, 2009 at 9:42 am
Steve Jones - Editor (7/24/2009)
clean, used books? give me a battered, dirty, bent copy any day, as long as all the pages are in there!
Same here- the first thing I do when I buy a book is crack the spine! I don't like borrowing books as I don't feel I can enjoy the book properly without making a mess of it!
I'm probably in the 100 books a year camp. Almost entirely fiction, with a good mix of genres.
I'm also in the paper book camp - there is an almost ritualistic feel to reading for me, a gadget just wouldn't cut the mustard.
July 31, 2009 at 9:50 am
mazzz (7/31/2009)
Steve Jones - Editor (7/24/2009)
clean, used books? give me a battered, dirty, bent copy any day, as long as all the pages are in there!Same here- the first thing I do when I buy a book is crack the spine! I don't like borrowing books as I don't feel I can enjoy the book properly without making a mess of it!
I'm probably in the 100 books a year camp. Almost entirely fiction, with a good mix of genres.
I'm also in the paper book camp - there is an almost ritualistic feel to reading for me, a gadget just wouldn't cut the mustard.
Oh no, don't crack the spine... jeez. I'm not lending you any of my books.
Seriously, I'm busy training my kids in how to read a book without breaking it. Too bad I couldn't do the same for She Who Must Be Obeyed. Every book I've recommended her to read has come back looking like she chewed on it. Put me in the nice, clean stacks of books category.
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July 31, 2009 at 10:00 am
Grant Fritchey (7/31/2009)
mazzz (7/31/2009)
Steve Jones - Editor (7/24/2009)
clean, used books? give me a battered, dirty, bent copy any day, as long as all the pages are in there!Same here- the first thing I do when I buy a book is crack the spine! I don't like borrowing books as I don't feel I can enjoy the book properly without making a mess of it!
I'm probably in the 100 books a year camp. Almost entirely fiction, with a good mix of genres.
I'm also in the paper book camp - there is an almost ritualistic feel to reading for me, a gadget just wouldn't cut the mustard.
Oh no, don't crack the spine... jeez. I'm not lending you any of my books.
heh, I like my books to look lived in. Pristine books make me sad, they look like they've never been read
Seriously, I'm busy training my kids in how to read a book without breaking it.
You do realise this makes it more likey that they *will* break books...? 😉
Too bad I couldn't do the same for She Who Must Be Obeyed. Every book I've recommended her to read has come back looking like she chewed on it. Put me in the nice, clean stacks of books category.
Good job my husband is as messy a reader as me really!
July 31, 2009 at 10:01 am
Grant Fritchey (7/31/2009)
Too bad I couldn't do the same for She Who Must Be Obeyed. Every book I've recommended her to read has come back looking like she chewed on it. Put me in the nice, clean stacks of books category.
I hear you there!! I'm the same way with my books. I like to keep them nice for as long as possible. My wife will have them torn, food stains on them, phone numbers written on them, etc. It drives me nuts!! :crazy: Therefore, I either purchase a separate copy for her (usually the paperback edition) or I check it out of the library. Either way, that way she'll leave mine alone!
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July 31, 2009 at 10:07 am
Nicole Bowman (7/29/2009)
We currently pay about AU$25-$35 for a new paperback fiction book.
It certainly doesn't make any sense why books would be that expensive for you! Obviously if you can get them more economically from Amazon, then shipping can't be the culprit.
As you can see my reading habits are expensive here in Australia so I try to get books from second hand stores, borrow from libraries and swap books with friends.
I certainly can't blame you on this one. I bet 2nd hand book stores do well in business, don't they?
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July 31, 2009 at 8:26 pm
We currently pay about AU$25-$35 for a new paperback fiction book.
As you can see my reading habits are expensive here in Australia so I try to get books from second hand stores, borrow from libraries and swap books with friends.
Book chain is loosely coupled book club five, ten or twenty people each buys just one book and all read five, ten or twenty books. It comes with the pressure to finish the book on time so the chain is not broken. See if you can start one.
🙂
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie
August 2, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I am one of those people that try to keep their books looking good as long as possible. My parents taught me that books are your friends and to treat them with respect. Breaking the spine of a book was tantamount to murder in my parents house! I also like to re-read books so I have quite a library.
I was lucky growing up in that my father was the general manager - marketing at Golden Press for some years and we got lots of books at a substantial discount. Hey, maybe that's what I should do, find a publisher to work for! It would certainly save me money.
Oh I forgot to say that we are so used to the book prices in Australia that second hand book stores don't do any better than in other countries.
Nicole Bowman
Nothing is forever.
October 24, 2009 at 11:06 am
I think Amazon did rather badly on 1984, but they say they won't do it again. It's a definite disadvantage of e-books that something like that can be done.
I read probably more than 150 books a year, a lot of them on trains or planes or in station waiting rooms or departure or transit lounges at airports. In a typical year between 5 and 10 of them will be technical (CS or IT or Maths). Maybe two dozen will be other non-fiction. The rest will be fiction. Almost all in English, but some French and some Gaidhlig; and I decided I really should learn to handle Spanish properly so right now I'm struggling with El Pais del Fin del Mundo (Pratchett is probably not the best place to start on a language, but ...) and as I intend to spend most of my time around 29°00' north, 13°40' west from now on (can't stand the British climate) the amount of Spanish reading will rise and the English will drop. There's some Latin poetry on my shelves still but I find I mostly can't follow it any more - except Catullus, which is easy because I love his stuff so. I haven't any sort of e-book reader.
Tom
April 25, 2014 at 6:45 am
I prefer fiction (sci-fi and fantasy) although some non-fiction creeps in sometimes. Probably 20-30 books a year. Most from the library in paper form. I have an original iPad and have read some complete books on it: about 7 so far. That said, as an amateur writer trying to hone his craft, that is the only way my novels are available. I just send them out to friends and family in ePub format for now as I haven't decided how I'm going to distribute them (Apple, Amazon, Smashwords, traditional publishing, oh my) to make money (it's my pension plan for after I stop DBAing). But in the end I'd rather my books were read than not read. What would George want? We should organize a seance. He certainly has no need for the money now and may just want his timely words read no matter how much it makes Amazon's lawyers shudder.
But I digress. I agree, Steve, that Amazon was very heavy-handed and Orwellian with (not really) their Orwell.
Terry
April 25, 2014 at 7:48 am
I read fiction and non-fiction 90-110 per year -- some "light" reading and some less so. I also read two monthly magazines as well as a bi-weekly one. I read using my ipad as well as physical ones. The are pluses and minuses to both. The ipad often has additional material including links, photos, etc. The magazines generally "arrive" at my ipad before the other arrives in the mail. It's less to carry when I'm travelling. There are many free ones available -- either because copyright has expired or amazon has made it available for free or low cost (hoping you'll buy more by that author). I started keeping a spreadsheet a couple years ago, noting the title, author, pages, and my opinion. I keep this on my ipad for easy reference.
May 4, 2014 at 7:47 pm
Both 1984 and Animal Farm are out of copyright and in the public domain in many countries. Copyright is not infinite. It is a restricted privilege granted to authors for a limited time after which the creation of mankind returns to mankind.
I read only ebooks in html format in desktop computers with big monitors with big letters so my eyes do not get strained. I will never buy the kindle or any DRM crap.
I read about 200 books a year. I rarely read physical books any more, even though I have a big private library of books.
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