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  3. Kindle, E-reader, Tablet, which one?

Kindle, E-reader, Tablet, which one?

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mobilequestionlearning
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  • L Lost User

    In the UK there is no VAT on printed books, but there is on eBooks. With VAT currently at 20% eBooks should therefore be that more expensive than paper ones. Of course with an eBook you don't have the costs of materials, printing, storage, and delivery, although there is the cost of storage, processing, and delivery. And of course the value of the intellectual property.

    Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends. Shed Petition[^]

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    Bergholt Stuttley Johnson
    wrote on last edited by
    #44

    You also have the fact that these books have the price set by the publisher so Amazon cannot discount

    You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.

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    • V Vitaly Tomilov

      I had the same thought about 3 month ago, picked up the best Kindle that was suggested and ordered it. But next day I found out: 1. To have my books as Kindle version, not only i'd have to buy them again, but some of them would cost me more than hard copy that I bought :confused: 2. Most books that they convert for developers, pieces of code are of very low quality, converted into images, so you can't even copy'n paste them...what kind of electgronic copy is that...:confused: On the second day I cancelled my order. Kindle, as a device, is great, but everything that stands behind it sucks big time, that's why they fail to make a big impact on the market.

      Let's agree to disagree! Boris the animal Just Boris.

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      Bergholt Stuttley Johnson
      wrote on last edited by
      #45

      sorry but what books are these? dead wood versions? you can get free ebook version of any book you own, all you have to do is type it into a file! (OCR may be of help here) the fact that the publishers are making a hash of producing the ebook does not invalidate the ebook reader, if you bought a paperback that falling apart and missaligned or pages incorrectly seperated (all the above I have found with new books on occasion) would this invalidate paper books? as for copy and paste, this is an electronic book aqnd as you cannot copy and paste with a deadwood version why is the lack of such a function in some ebooks a big issue? where in a kindle were you thinking of copy and pasting too? As ebook sales are outpacing dead the wood version I feel i must disagree

      You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.

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      • G glennPattonWork3

        Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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        AspDotNetDev
        wrote on last edited by
        #46

        I have a Nook Color, and here is my experience. There are no technical books that survive the conversion to eBook. There is always something wrong. If you are going to get an eReader, I recommend you only use it for books that are plain text (no images, diagrams, or code). Also, even with plain text books, I have found that the quality varies significantly, and the previews offered on the Nook are useless, as they often don't go past the index page. That means you can't check if the eBook is going to be of good quality before buying it. I have seen eBooks with multiple words spelled wrong, while the print book does not have those typos. And any sort of formatting (headers, footnotes, and so on) may be completely butchered. When you're reading a book by Nietzsche, it can be extremely confusing when the eBook leaves out a period and makes his paragraph-long sentences into two-paragraph-long sentences that make even less sense. Also annoying is that reviews for eBooks will sometimes be shared among the various versions of the same book. So you might be tempted to buy the more expensive version in hopes that it will be of higher quality, but you can't confirm that from the reviews because they are shared with the other inexpensive versions. If you want to read about the many other issues I've had with my Nook Color, search the Lounge for "Nook Color author:AspDotNetDev" (without quotes). It seems there is no expectation that eBooks be as high of quality as their print equivalents. eReaders are neat toys, but you may want to save yourself from the frustration.

        Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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        • G glennPattonWork3

          Some times I have alot of RF circuit diagrams so Hmmm! Glenn

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          peterchen
          wrote on last edited by
          #47

          While I want you to get hooked, it's not a good device for this, especially since with those you need fast zooming and panning. I tell you what: you get a kindle, and something else. Or maybe get a Kindle and consider a career change. ;)

          FILETIME to time_t
          | FoldWithUs! | sighist | WhoIncludes - Analyzing C++ include file hierarchy

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          • G glennPattonWork3

            Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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            dazfuller
            wrote on last edited by
            #48

            Kindle can handle PDFs but results may vary, I've got some which look great and others not-so-much. I've got a Kindle and a tablet (Lenovo A1), the kindle keeps with me at all times and is my primary reader, simply because the battery life is amazing and it's really light to just keep on me. The tablet I use for home, especially for night time reading as I don't have a light for the Kindle, but also because for contextual lookup it's just way more intuitive. I'm not sure how the Kobo reader handles PDFs but it is stupidly cheap at the moment (something like £69 when I walked by WH Smiths the other day). Never actually used one either so I have no idea if they're any good. Something else to look at is using Calibre to manage your ebook library on your PC. It can transfer ebooks to devices like the Kindle, and can convert between formats, either from being prompted by the user, or on the fly if it knows what the device supports. I've got quite a few books in ePub format, when I transfer them to my Kindle it converts them to .mobi before transferring.

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            • D dazfuller

              Kindle can handle PDFs but results may vary, I've got some which look great and others not-so-much. I've got a Kindle and a tablet (Lenovo A1), the kindle keeps with me at all times and is my primary reader, simply because the battery life is amazing and it's really light to just keep on me. The tablet I use for home, especially for night time reading as I don't have a light for the Kindle, but also because for contextual lookup it's just way more intuitive. I'm not sure how the Kobo reader handles PDFs but it is stupidly cheap at the moment (something like £69 when I walked by WH Smiths the other day). Never actually used one either so I have no idea if they're any good. Something else to look at is using Calibre to manage your ebook library on your PC. It can transfer ebooks to devices like the Kindle, and can convert between formats, either from being prompted by the user, or on the fly if it knows what the device supports. I've got quite a few books in ePub format, when I transfer them to my Kindle it converts them to .mobi before transferring.

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              glennPattonWork3
              wrote on last edited by
              #49

              Odd that you mention Kobo I walked past WH Smits at the station and they are £59, I was thnking of having a look...

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              • G glennPattonWork3

                Odd that you mention Kobo I walked past WH Smits at the station and they are £59, I was thnking of having a look...

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                dazfuller
                wrote on last edited by
                #50

                At £59 you can't really go wrong as it's just about cheap enough to be counted as a mistake or just use as a casual reading device if it doesn't quite meet your expectations. I've tried their Android app before which was quite nice, but I was already bought into the Kindle way of life by that point

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                • D dazfuller

                  At £59 you can't really go wrong as it's just about cheap enough to be counted as a mistake or just use as a casual reading device if it doesn't quite meet your expectations. I've tried their Android app before which was quite nice, but I was already bought into the Kindle way of life by that point

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                  glennPattonWork3
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #51

                  Mmmm might do that, dang why can't I type this am! Glenn

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                  • G glennPattonWork3

                    Mmmm might do that, dang why can't I type this am! Glenn

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                    dazfuller
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #52

                    It's Friday, possibly a lack of coffee? I'm sat here with my mocha and a breakfast cob so feeling good :-D

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                    • D dazfuller

                      It's Friday, possibly a lack of coffee? I'm sat here with my mocha and a breakfast cob so feeling good :-D

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                      glennPattonWork3
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #53

                      Been here for over two hours, fighting with driver, have consume enough caffeine to keep to Bolivia up most the weekend, the dang keyboard keeps moving! Glenn

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                      • G glennPattonWork3

                        Been here for over two hours, fighting with driver, have consume enough caffeine to keep to Bolivia up most the weekend, the dang keyboard keeps moving! Glenn

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                        Nelviticus
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #54

                        You should never fight with your driver. If he's upset you, get your butler to have a word with him.

                        Regards Nelviticus

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                        • N Nelviticus

                          You should never fight with your driver. If he's upset you, get your butler to have a word with him.

                          Regards Nelviticus

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                          glennPattonWork3
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #55

                          In these hard times the bulter and driver are one. I am afraid I don't work for a bank!

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                          • B Bergholt Stuttley Johnson

                            there is always alternative, just that they maybe impractical - just like him carrying 100000 book around with him,

                            You cant outrun the world, but there is no harm in getting a head start Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.

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                            elfstoneUK
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #56

                            erm,.. its "Artifical intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"

                            S'cuse me while I kiss the sky

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                            • G glennPattonWork3

                              Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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                              User 8127885
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #57

                              I guess it depends on what you like. I use a Nokia 770 (Ebay $40) with FBReader (free). With 2GB SD, it holds literally 1000's of books. I use Calibre (free) to convert any format to Epub, but FBReader is compatible with PDF and other formats. It goes about 4 hours per charge, backlit so you can read at night and fits in shirt pocket. It even works as limited internet tablet, mp3 player, etc. I have used it for a couple years as my only ebook reader.

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                              • G glennPattonWork3

                                OK, the issue is will it need all .pdf converting to Mobi I was taken with the a Sony thing that just read straight pdf's Glenn

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                                pfriis42
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #58

                                Kindle reads pdfs directly - main problem with pdfs is the small screen (unless the pdf has been formatted for a small page size).

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                                • G glennPattonWork3

                                  Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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                                  Dennis Saeva
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #59

                                  Hi Glenn, I have a Kindle Fire which adds another way to read PDF's. There is a PDF Reader App available in the Kindle App Store. You can then either download the PDF from your email account or the web. If you do not have a Kindle Fire then emailing them to your Kindle Email address as other readers have posted seems to be the best way to read a PDF on a traditional E-Ink Screen Kindle. Dennis Saeva

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                                  • G glennPattonWork3

                                    Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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                                    User 8990448
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #60

                                    reading PDF's on Kindle, Kobo and such like can vary from just passible to hopeless. It depends on the person that creates the PDF. Trying to scan across an A4 PDF page for each line of text is a pain in the proverbial, and not recommended. I have not tried a tablet, but understand from others that its preferable to the smaller e-book readers.

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                                    • G glennPattonWork3

                                      Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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                                      rnbergren
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #61

                                      just go get an iPad or an Android tablet then you can both on the same machine and enjoy all they both have to offer. Granted you do not get 4 weeks of battery life but seriously I never read a book for more than 8 hours straight before sleeping for 8 hours. I have an iPad, Wife has kindle, daughters have a couple different android tablets. having used them all. I would take the 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab over any of them. Best thing ever!

                                      To err is human to really mess up you need a computer

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                                      • D Dennis Saeva

                                        Hi Glenn, I have a Kindle Fire which adds another way to read PDF's. There is a PDF Reader App available in the Kindle App Store. You can then either download the PDF from your email account or the web. If you do not have a Kindle Fire then emailing them to your Kindle Email address as other readers have posted seems to be the best way to read a PDF on a traditional E-Ink Screen Kindle. Dennis Saeva

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                                        glennPattonWork3
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #62

                                        Hi, Thanks for that! I was aiming for a cheap option of reading books on the go, as I have got a bit sick of going cross eyed on my Blackberry (old 9300 Curve)

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                                        • G glennPattonWork3

                                          Hi All, I'm looking to buy a means of reading books with out the dead wood. My first thought was Kindle (I'm in the UK) like most every one else. But having chatted to a guy on the train he said well you email the books to it and it can show jpegs but he was a little unsure of it showing PDF's. Firstly I have a load of PDF's that I need to carry around (manuals mostly) and I am a bit of a reader as some you might know from comments I have made, really I just want something I can plug into a PC copy over some PDF's and may be the odd eBook, I don't need email, web browsing (Smartphone!) or full Laptop/Netbook. Just something to read all manner of book. Glenn :confused:

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                                          shcSF
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #63

                                          I own a Kindle Fire. I am an adjunct faculty member of two career colleges and teach part time at both. The text books used in my clases come with instructor resources in the form of docx files, power point slide chapter presentations and I often include in my lectures multiple pdf documents found on the web. I connect my Fire to my pc and copy all this content and I can read it easily on the Fire. Unless I specifically have to reference the text book I can prepare and review my lectures easily by accessing only my Fire. The power point presentations are espcially nice. I do also read e-books and occassionaly can be found playing Angry Birds!!

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