The Silver Screen Oasis

I was wondering how the kindle and nooks were being received in the US. Practically everyone in the UK that I know has someone in the family who got a kindle for Christmas. I don't think the other ebook readers are making much of a mark on the market. This might have to do with the kindle now being sold in some supermarkets, Amazon holding the price steady, UK shoppers not allowed to buy the cheaper US kindle and have it shipped here. The kindles in America to buy are so much cheaper than the ones here but someone mentioned that American readers had to pay a monthly subscription. How does that work?

As regards to the kindle, I think it depends what kind of books you like to read. I bought one to relieve my bookshelves and make way for more movie books in the future. They are excellent as space savers, they are excellent for classic writers and books, many things are free or relatively low priced to download. Novels, at least here in the UK are a lot cheaper, in fact books that are devoted to the written word come across well on the kindle. I've noticed though there isn't a great many film biographies available or film books in general so if this is the only genre to enjoy it might not be such a good investment.

I still like the written word but I like to think there is room for both.

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Take that, E-books! This video is about a gloriously real bookstore in Toronto. The only electrical impulses involved are between the covers in prose and poetry. I'll probably get an e-book reader someday, a bit reluctantly.

I have a dear friend who had a stroke 7 years ago, and completely lost the use of his left arm. He is an avid reader, and the Kindle has been a lifesaver for him. Holding that small device is much easier than trying to hold a large, heavy book. I am a gadgets person, and the Tablets and E readers are extremely tempting, but the small amount of time I would use them, and the high (to me ) cost are the reasons I will continue to go to the library and use the laptop I already have

I can't tell you how much I like a good book shop but our stores outside the big cities or specialist sellers are very homogonised. The books I have bought in the last few years have either been from Amazon, Alibris or Abebooks mostly because the things I want to read are not mainstream. The joy of a book shop or library is to be able to browse and broaden horizons, pick up a book i've wanted and intended to get but also pick something else up that I wouldn't directly go for but will enjoy justthe same.

E books must be so a bonus for the visually impaired or like your friend Nancy, it's easy to hold meaning that with fibromyalgia I can hold it for a long time without any adverse effects. It's a great space saver but I'd never get rid of my movie books, not for all the tea in China.

I love books and bookstores a great deal. The number of books that we have in our collection far surpasses the amount of space we have to shelf them so too many of them remain in boxes in the garage waiting for the day when we have more room for them.

That said, last Christmas (2010), MrCutter surprised me with a Kindle for Christmas. I love it. It is great for traveling. Much easier to carry on planes and mass transit and easier to read there as well. He bought it for me not only for the ease of travel but because he thought it would cut down on the number of books we buy each year. I still buy him books for Christmas as he reads them while he rides his exercise bike so that didn't quite work out the way he was hoping but, oh well.

I have my ebooks for traveling and my hardbacks/paperbacks for every day reading (lunchtime mainly where I am reading Kevin Starr's multi-book series on the history of California) and I still have all my movie books for easy reference.

I can definitely see why the e-book readers would be great on mass transit and flying, as well as easier for anyone with a handicap.

One question for you guys: I realize that this might be time-consuming, but would it be possible to scan parts or an entire real book that you own into a database and then retrieve it via an e-reader, allowing you to create your own library, rather than accessing stuff through a commercial vendor like Amazon or Google or a public library system?

I'd like to have an e-reader. Lately, I just never have any extra money. Plus, almost all the women at my local library are cute. I'd miss them!

I'm sure you would be able to although I wouldn't know where to start. You can make a library of your own documents and I've found archived material that I've been able to add to my kindle, which has been great because I've been able to tidy up my laptop.

charliechaplinfan wrote:I'm sure you would be able to although I wouldn't know where to start. You can make a library of your own documents and I've found archived material that I've been able to add to my kindle, which has been great because I've been able to tidy up my laptop.

Thanks, Alison. That really makes me think it might be useful. One other question for those of you in the know: How long is the battery life on most e-book readers? (I realize that these questions may sound ignorant or as though I should be asking these things of someone at BestBuy or somewhere, but I would rather have your opinions than that of someone I don't know). Thanks again.

the best teacher I ever had always said, "There's no such thing as an ignorant question!"

Moira,

I'm able to go a couple of days before recharging the battery in my Kindle. Of course, if you get the one that allows you to surf the web, the battery goes faster.

I love my Kindle more than I thought I would. It is really handy and I love it!

"There's no such thing as an ignorant question!"

I knew somebody in a recovery group who said, "Nobody's too dumb for this program. But a lot of people are too damn smart for it!"

knitwit45 wrote:the best teacher I ever had always said, "There's no such thing as an ignorant question!"

I love this quote Knitty! ... and, I'm thinking about getting a Kindle too. Because I do travel ... and I do not want to carry around 2-3 heavy books. 15 pounds of books verses 10.2 ounces for a Kindle!

I get plenty of battery life out of my kindle, even more if I turn the off the wireless. It doesn't take long to charge up either. The battery drains faster when it is ordering files, for instance when I downloaded the Complete Dickens it ran the battery down quite quickly as it catalogued it into the system.

I see it as a way of branching out into other areas, I quite like travel writing but have never felt that I could branch out as I'm too much of a hoarder where books are concerned. I like to see the kindle as complimentary to my reading, I'd hate to think it would mean the end of the book and I'm sure it won't be but if I was a bookshop owner I would be looking to diversifying a little.

Has anyone ever made hard copies of the content of their kindle? I know it's all held remotely at Amazon and heaven forbid it would ever fold but stranger things have happened. I'd hate to think it might be possible.