Finally got my Kindle

[pwnst*r]

Didn't care for the nasty white Kindles, so this one fits the bill. Just got the non-3G version since I can use my Evo as a wifi hotspot for the Kindle anyway.

So far, I love it and man is it light and thin.

[Rasa1111]

niiice!

I really want a kindle to.
Didnt even know they made them in another color now!
That is definitely better than the white.

Question, that never seemed to be fully answered in my searchings... lol
(been awhile though)

I have about 2,000 ebooks, possibly even more now, Im not sure.. lol
mostly all in PDF.

But, would i be able to simply load any of them onto the kindle to be able to take/read anywhere?

Or is there some kind of "rules", that only allow you to load up ebooks youve bought from amazon or barnes n noble?

That would be pretty useless to me,
and my unsureness is basically the only thing that has stopped me from getting one . lol

But if I could simply load up any of my PDF's onto it,
that would be beyond super cool! ... and my "big Xmas gift" this year. lol

and honestly, I wouldnt even much care if I couldnt get online with it,
as long as I could read any of my books anywhere, it would be worth it.

Thanks,
and congrats.
that is sweet man. :)

p.s... how much? lol

[redfox1160]

I was actually considering the 3G version of this. I read a lot of books online through my schools library, and I was thinking that this might make it easier. Do you think this might work (Wifi or 3G) to read online web pages/pdfs?

[pwnst*r]

Yeah, it'll read .pdf's so you're good there. The wifi only version that I have is $139 before tax.

[Rasa1111]

Yeah, it'll read .pdf's so you're good there. The wifi only version that I have is $139 before tax.

ahh,
all beautiful, thanks!. :D

So, one just plugs it into the computer,
and transfers any PDF's to it?

[Off Topic]

That was a good book.

[pwnst*r]

ahh,
all beautiful, thanks!. :D

So, one just plugs it into the computer,
and transfers any PDF's to it?

That's what I've read. I'll have to try it out tomorrow and update you.



That was a good book.

That's what my friend's have said, so it was the first book I bought on it.

[Islington]

That's what I've read. I'll have to try it out tomorrow and update you.


If that doesnt work, install calibre and convert your books to the .mobi format, etc.

[Rasa1111]

That's what I've read. I'll have to try it out tomorrow and update you.

Thanks man, that would be much appreciated. :)


If that doesnt work, install calibre and convert your books to the .mobi format, etc.

good to know, thanks.

calibre is great. <3

[Dustin2128]

I'm not going to viciously bash the kindle like my inner zealot wants me to. Glad you like it. By the way, I've never used an e-ink screen, but I hear good things about them, what sets them apart from other displays besides low power usage and cost?

[pwnst*r]

No glare and doesn't strain your eyes after long stints.

[pwnst*r]

Thanks man, that would be much appreciated. :)




I got too curious. Downloaded a .pdf of Bram Stoker's Dracula and dragged and dropped to the Kindle. Recognized and reading a bit of it right now. ;D

[Rasa1111]

haha, very niice! :D Thanks.

[ElSlunko]

No glare and doesn't strain your eyes after long stints.

Yeah as far as I understand it it doesn't blast your eyes with light like other similar devices though at the same time remains readable.

Wish I read more books, not just to have a cool gadget but to...be...more...vocabulary...

[wilee-nilee]

I'm not going to viciously bash the kindle like my inner zealot wants me to

Lol tough to do sometimes isn't.;)

[darrenn]

I was going to post a thread like this one but you beat me to it.
Anyway, im still waiting for my kindle to arrive. Should be four days or so can't wait. Hoping the ubuntu user guide pdf looks good on it. It's also awesome that the Canadian and US price are the same for it that's what finally sold me on it.

Now to look for a cheap case for it.

[pwnst*r]

Hoping the ubuntu user guide pdf looks good on it.

Looks as good as the stuff I've downloaded from the Amazon store.

[mxboy15u]

I am a new Kindle user as well and have been using it heavily. The battery life will not disappoint! 2 weeks of almost constant use and I am at half battery.

[Dr. C]

What comes to mind when one hears the word Kindle is George Orwell's 1984

[LMP900]

Enjoy your new device! I was one of the earlier adopters that paid almost $400 for mine but haven't regretted it. The Kindle book store is great, but I've downloaded many classics for free from the Gutenberg Project. I also use it with Instapaper for reading saved articles from the web. When I don't feel like reading, there are a couple of word games for free from the Kindle Store. It really is an awesome device.

[drawkcab]

I really like the pocketbook line of products as an alternative to the Kindle. Unfortunately Amazon and Sony have locked up the market on pearl e-ink screens which are really nice actually.

I still don't know what I'm going to buy this fall.

[phrostbyte]

As long as it runs Linux, I approve. :)

[pwnst*r]

As long as it runs Linux, I approve. :)

That was more coincidence and didn't weigh in at all during my research for an e-reader though.

[phrostbyte]

That was more coincidence and didn't weigh in at all during my research for an e-reader though.h

Keep telling yourself that. :)

[pwnst*r]

Keep telling yourself that. :)

What.

[phrostbyte]

What.

Exactly.

[pwnst*r]

Meaning you don't know what you're talking about.

Glad we cleared that up.

[phrostbyte]

It just brings me immense joy to see you embracing Linux-powered devices. :P

[pwnst*r]

I'll make sure to post a pic of my iPhone alongside my Evo next time.

[Dr. C]

As long as it runs Linux, I approve. :)

I would take a Microsoft Windows 2000 system where one had administrator's password over this thing any day from a freedom perspective. What one has with the Kindle is a GNU / Linux system where the overseer or "Big Brother" keeps the root password. The user who "owns" the device is given a limited account. The device is tivoized to prevent the user from interfering with "Big Brother's" privileges. "Big Bother" then logs in over the Internet and deletes files at will. Guess what "Big Brother" chose to delete. George Orwell's 1984. The FSF even got this wrong when they blamed the incident on propriety software.

The bottom line is there is no freedom in GNU / Linux without root.

[phrostbyte]

I would take a Microsoft Windows 2000 system where one had administrator's password over this thing any day from a freedom perspective. What one has with the Kindle is a GNU / Linux system where the overseer or "Big Brother" keeps the root password. The user who "owns" the device is given a limited account. The device is tivoized to prevent the user from interfering with "Big Brother's" privileges. "Big Bother" then logs in over the Internet and deletes files at will. Guess what "Big Brother" chose to delete. George Orwell's 1984. The FSF even got this wrong when they blamed the incident on propriety software.

The bottom line is there is no freedom in GNU / Linux without root.

Very good points. Nobody really cares about things like this because the "big brother" (in this case Amazon), uses his powers sparingly. But what awesome powers they are. If the future is the e-reader, a person in the right place at the right time could get control over all the world's books in one fell stroke. It seems almost too ingenious to be an accident. :)

[Dustin2128]

I would take a Microsoft Windows 2000 system where one had administrator's password over this thing any day from a freedom perspective. What one has with the Kindle is a GNU / Linux system where the overseer or "Big Brother" keeps the root password. The user who "owns" the device is given a limited account. The device is tivoized to prevent the user from interfering with "Big Brother's" privileges. "Big Bother" then logs in over the Internet and deletes files at will. Guess what "Big Brother" chose to delete. George Orwell's 1984. The FSF even got this wrong when they blamed the incident on propriety software.

The bottom line is there is no freedom in GNU / Linux without root.
ARGH. *inner zealot bursts forth*
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/KindleSwindle
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
http://diveintomark.org/archives/2007/11/19/the-future-of-reading

Tivoization was acknowledged by the FSF and fixed in GPL 3, though at the expense of rights of the software vendor IMO.

[darrenn]

"Big Bother" then logs in over the Internet and deletes files at will.

Come on now do you really think amazon is going to be able to pull a fast one on users from this forum?

[aysiu]

Come on now do you really think amazon is going to be able to pull a fast one on users from this forum?
They pulled a fast one already, and I don't think it affected different users, depending on what forum they were members of:
Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html)

P.S. My wife has a Nook, and she loves it.

[darrenn]

If I can see it, I can copy it

What in amazon's drm prevents me from taking a camera and copying a book that way? I understand your guys concerns over drm but at this time it's just too easy to break.

[solitaire]

I got my Kindle 2 weeks ago :P (I'm in the UK)
I love it (apart from not being able to get access to root currently!)

There's a "hidden" slot on the side that needs a custom flat serial/usb? connector (The data contacts are recessed more than the power contacts). might be a diagnostic port.

[aysiu]

What in amazon's drm prevents me from taking a camera and copying a book that way? I understand your guys concerns over drm but at this time it's just too easy to break. DRM doesn't stop you from copying the book file. It just prevents you from reading the book on another device. Not much point in having a book file you can't read.

[Giant Speck]

I'd like to get one of these for my father, but the only hurdle would be the price of each individual e-book.

[darrenn]

DRM doesn't stop you from copying the book file. It just prevents you from reading the book on another device. Not much point in having a book file you can't read.

Blu-ray was cracked earlier this week. It had way more drm on it then the kindle does and now look. Im not concerned about kindles drm at this time.

[Dr. C]

Very good points. Nobody really cares about things like this because the "big brother" (in this case Amazon), uses his powers sparingly. But what awesome powers they are. If the future is the e-reader, a person in the right place at the right time could get control over all the world's books in one fell stroke. It seems almost too ingenious to be an accident. :)

There is also the danger that a future totalitarian government would use the technology to digitally burn books, for example books written by a particular ethnic group, by forcing the holder of the root password to release it to them. The following quote says it all:
German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who wrote in his 1820-1821 play Almansor the famous admonition, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen": "Where they burn books, they will also burn people."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings. So may be, just maybe, GPL v3 could save some lives from a future holocaust.

[Rasa1111]

They pulled a fast one already, and I don't think it affected different users, depending on what forum they were members of:
Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html)

P.S. My wife has a Nook, and she loves it.

Nook! That's actually the one I wanted! niice!
Thanks for the memory fix. lol <3

but yeah, If I could stay away from anything amazon.. would be great. <3

[aysiu]

Blu-ray was cracked earlier this week. It had way more drm on it then the kindle does and now look. Im not concerned about kindles drm at this time.
I was replying to a post saying you can just copy the file over.

I didn't see anything about someone actually attempting to crack the DRM on Amazon eBooks.

[Dr. C]

Blu-ray was cracked earlier this week. It had way more drm on it then the kindle does and now look. Im not concerned about kindles drm at this time.

Actually what was cracked was High Definition Content Protection (HDCP).

[pwnst*r]

They pulled a fast one already, and I don't think it affected different users, depending on what forum they were members of:
Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html)

P.S. My wife has a Nook, and she loves it.

I don't see what the problem was. Amazon did the right thing. Oh, and I purchased 1984 and Animal Farm today just because I felt like it.

I looked at the Nook, but 2GB of storage and the 10 days of battery life killed it for me. And white? No thanks.

[aysiu]

I don't see what the problem was. Then read the article I linked to. It's explained toward the end.

[pwnst*r]

The homework bit? Yeah that's pretty crappy, but meh.

[darrenn]

I was replying to a post saying you can just copy the file over.

I didn't see anything about someone actually attempting to crack the DRM on Amazon eBooks.

Im not going to try and crack the amazon drm either. I was just saying that it is possible.

[Dr. C]

Then read the article I linked to. It's explained toward the end.

It explains it well. The thing to keep in mind is that this is not only limited to Amazon's Kindle but applies to any device where the manufacturer keeps a kill switch for itself for example the iPhone. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3358134/Apples-Jobs-confirms-iPhone-kill-switch.html. Sooner or later it will abused. It is just a matter of time.

[Cam42]

That was a good book.

What book was it?

[Merk42]

It explains it well. The thing to keep in mind is that this is not only limited to Amazon's Kindle but applies to any device where the manufacturer keeps a kill switch for itself for example the iPhone. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3358134/Apples-Jobs-confirms-iPhone-kill-switch.htmlThe iPhone kill switch is meant in case someone's iPhone is lost/stolen the original owner can prevent it from being used


Sooner or later it will abused. It is just a matter of time.So anything that can be abused should be outlawed? I guess you shouldn't be able to reply to this post as computers themselves can be abused, and I guess by your logic should be outlawed.

[Dr. C]

The iPhone kill switch is meant in case someone's iPhone is lost/stolen the original owner can prevent it from being used

So anything that can be abused should be outlawed? I guess you shouldn't be able to reply to this post as computers themselves can be abused, and I guess by your logic should be outlawed.

The kill switch in the iPhone "allows Apple to remotely delete malicious or inappropriate applications stored on the device". It is right in the article.

Who said anything about banning anything? What is important is that the owners of these devices need to be protected by law should they choose to disable the remote deletion / remote control / kill switches on the devices they own. Unfortunately in some countries the opposite is the case.

[charly17201]

"Big Bother" then logs in over the Internet and deletes files at will. Guess what "Big Brother" chose to delete. George Orwell's 1984. The FSF even got this wrong when they blamed the incident on propriety software.

The bottom line is there is no freedom in GNU / Linux without root.

Quote: An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said. Unquote

Looks like they did the correct MORAL and LEGAL thing to me.

And you could always turn the wifi off. Of course if you got the 3G version you're screwed.

[Dustin2128]

Quote: An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said. Unquote

Looks like they did the correct MORAL and LEGAL thing to me.

And you could always turn the wifi off. Of course if you got the 3G version you're screwed.
Wait a second, Orwell died in 1950, his stuff is in the public domain now, isn't it? I'm pretty sure I read animal farm online...

insanity aside, the main problem with deleting user's copies of the books is that they also deleted notes about the book- a person mentioned earlier in this thread had all of the annotations and notes erased from a book he was writing a book report about.

[Dr. C]

Quote: An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said. Unquote

Looks like they did the correct MORAL and LEGAL thing to me.

And you could always turn the wifi off. Of course if you got the 3G version you're screwed.

So if the same situation had occurred with a book printed on paper, it would then be acceptable for the bookseller to break into the customer's home or office, remove said book or books and leave in its place the amount in cash the customer paid for the book or books?

[phrostbyte]

So if the same situation had occurred with a book printed on paper, it would then be acceptable for the bookseller to break into the customer's home or office, remove said book or books and leave in its place the amount in cash the customer paid for the book?

Sure. It's in DMCA Subsection G, "Authorization for Use of Deadly Force". :)

[Merk42]

So if the same situation had occurred with a book printed on paper, it would then be acceptable for the bookseller to break into the customer's home or office, remove said book or books and leave in its place the amount in cash the customer paid for the book or books?I'm not saying I agree/disagree with what Amazon did, but I'm curious, what do you think should have been done?

[Dr. C]

I'm not saying I agree/disagree with what Amazon did, but I'm curious, what do you think should have been done?

The same as if the books were printed on paper. Pay compensation to the copyright holders and take the remaining books of the market. Then put systems in place to prevent a repeat of the incident.

[darrenn]

Just got my kindle a little while ago and am loving it! First thing I did was turn off wifi. While you guys complain and moan I will enjoy a good read.

[fatality_uk]

Just got my kindle a little while ago and am loving it! First thing I did was turn off wifi. While you guys complain and moan I will enjoy a good read.

Excellent. You buy a product and limit it's functionality due to a seemingly over zealous administration of Amazon's distribution channels.

Enjoy the reading!!!

[Calash]

*looks around*


Nook Rules



*runs away*


;)

[yossell]

Does anyone have any experience of reading technical/academic papers in pdf format on the kindle? A lot of academic papers are now distributed in this form and the kindle would, for me, be ideal for me. But the screen is relatively small, the papers may contain a lot of formulae, and they're probably not written to reflow nicely, I don't know whether the kindle would display them properly. Anyone know?



What book was it?

Judging from the text on the opening image, I think it was `The girl with the Dragon Tatoo' - I gave it a go, but didn't like it very much myself, but I'm in a minority.

[samalex]

Nice! I've been going back and forth between getting a Kindle or Nook for months, but I ended-up getting a DroidX instead :) I think for reading books the Kindle would be MUCH better than the DroidX, but I think in my day-to-day happenings the DroidX is working out much better. Maybe some day I'll get a Kindle since those things are SLICK!

[pwnst*r]

Does anyone have any experience of reading technical/academic papers in pdf format on the kindle? A lot of academic papers are now distributed in this form and the kindle would, for me, be ideal for me. But the screen is relatively small, the papers may contain a lot of formulae, and they're probably not written to reflow nicely, I don't know whether the kindle would display them properly. Anyone know?






Post an example and I can take pics this weekend.

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I will be buying a Kindle the beginning of next month. I can't wait. If anyone is interested I found the books by George Orwell free to download from Project Gutenberg Australia. I guess their copyrights are different there. I just converted it to MOBI format using Calibre.

[darrenn]

Excellent. You buy a product and limit it's functionality due to a seemingly over zealous administration of Amazon's distribution channels.

No I did it to save battery life. It lasts a month if you turn off wifi.

[fatality_uk]

No I did it to save battery life. It lasts a month if you turn off wifi.

My mistake then!

[yossell]

Post an example and I can take pics this weekend.

Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

I'd be interested to see how something like this comes out:

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1009/1009.4664v1.pdf

[puzzler995]

ahh,
all beautiful, thanks!. :D

So, one just plugs it into the computer,
and transfers any PDF's to it?

Amazon also has a service where they will convert it to the kindle format for you. All you have to do is email it to them.

[pwnst*r]

Thanks, I'd appreciate that.

I'd be interested to see how something like this comes out:

http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1009/1009.4664v1.pdf

Excuse the pics. They were taken around 0500 this morning. Without zooming, the text was pretty small in portrait, but was about right for me in landscape without altering text size.

[yossell]

Thanks, that's much appreciated.

[pwnst*r]

No problem.