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Amazon only did remote wiping of books from people's Kindles once or twice (somebody without the rights to 1984 was selling it as an ebook in the kindle store), they got sued over it, and it hasn't happened since. Even if they cancel your Kindle account or you deregister the device, everything that's on it stays put. Also you're perfectly free to use mobi-formatted ebooks from any other source (you can even load them onto your kindle by emailing them to yourself as an attachment). DRM only effects books you purchase from the Kindle store, and there aren't any big legitimate DRM-free ebook sellers in the first place (just public domain stuff). If your interest is wanting to use DRM-free files that are not from the Kindle store, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from using them on your Kindle (other than epub files will need conversion). It's also pretty easy to strip the DRM from the ebooks you buy. I don't really understand most of the complaints I'm seeing about this sort of thing online as people still seem to be complaining that you can't deregister a lost Kindle online (when in fact you can, I've done it, too - it's just kind of hard to find on the Amazon website) and Amazon refuses to remote wipe Kindles for any reason (because they got sued over it).
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Apr 23, 2012 12:59
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Also, Amazon didn't take the file off the kindle. They just removed it from the person's kindle cloud library, so they couldn't redownload it.
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Apr 23, 2012 14:06
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Mister Macys posted:You're a little out of date: Been a while since I read a pdf on a kindle so I can't really compare, but the kobo touch does have a decent zoom system, although that doesn't make reading pdfs on it much better since the pages render so slowly. Someone might have the patience to read a few pages on a kindle/kobo ereader, but any more than that and it's definitely worth buying a cheap tablet just for pdfs.
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Apr 23, 2012 15:31
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Hydrolith posted:A co-worker of mine really sold me on the idea of getting an e-reader. He was talking about his kindle, saying that the battery life is phenomenal and the screen is pretty much like reading off paper. However, apparently there are some pretty bad DRM issues, like people having their whole collections wiped and their accounts cancelled. Just grab a copy of Calibre and you're off to the races with a Kindle. I buy stuff from all over the place and just convert it to mobi with Calibre. I haven't experienced any formatting or other issues yet. The Kobo will read epubs natively if you want an alternative. PDF support sucks on both of them but oh well. Most PDFs don't convert well to any ebook format either, don't even try.
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Apr 23, 2012 16:41
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Sperg Victorious posted:Also, Amazon didn't take the file off the kindle. They just removed it from the person's kindle cloud library, so they couldn't redownload it. And gave refunds to everyone who had bought it too.
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Apr 23, 2012 16:55
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Sperg Victorious posted:Also, Amazon didn't take the file off the kindle. They just removed it from the person's kindle cloud library, so they couldn't redownload it. Anyway, if that's the case that's excellent. I don't like the idea of my device having a "kill switch" built in. Hydrolith fucked around with this message at 01:30 on Apr 24, 2012 |
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Apr 23, 2012 23:27
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Hydrolith posted:Really? One of the new posts I read about the incident called it turning the kindle into "an expensive paperweight". Bad reporting, I guess. I've heard people tell it both ways. Even if it did get deleted from the actual kindle that was probably a result of pushing a refund through the system. Some people will return books because they're terribly formatted or poorly OCR'ed. I know you don't get to keep those.
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Apr 23, 2012 23:36
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Hydrolith posted:Really? One of the news posts I read about the incident called it turning the kindle into "an expensive paperweight". Bad reporting, I guess. Most technology reporting is really hyperbolic. Amazon got sued by a high school student and settled out of court over it (because they would have lost) so it's unlikely they will ever do anything like that again. They absolutely refuse to remote wipe people's devices, if they even have the ability to do it, so I don't see why anyone would have a legitimate complaint about it. I think there is a problem where if your kindle is lost and you deregister it you don't have access to purchased books on other devices until you reregister another Kindle, though. But if you deregister the kindle you keep all the books on the Kindle so it's not all bad.
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Apr 24, 2012 05:50
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Be Depressive posted:They absolutely refuse to remote wipe people's devices, if they even have the ability to do it, so I don't see why anyone would have a legitimate complaint about it. A remote killswitch is a security liability. Even if one were to trust Amazon not to use such a thing, it's a liability that could potentially be exploited by viruses/worms/hackers/disgruntled Amazon employees/etc. Besides, "I promise not to brick your device" isn't good enough for me. Anyway, I'll do some digging and see if I can find out what actually happened. I doubt they actually can/did brick the thing, come to think of it, but I'd like to make sure.
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Apr 24, 2012 08:21
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Removing a single book during a sync isn't exactly bricking the device.
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Apr 24, 2012 09:33
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And it doesn't make it a useless paperweight either - you're perfectly free to put as many DRM-free non-Amazon books on it as you want.
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Apr 24, 2012 13:32
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I ordered myself a Kindle and it was supposed to be delivered last Tuesday, but UPS in Norway is absolutely horrible and not flexible at all. They only deliver packages between 12 and 3pm during the weekdays, and the UPS website is also horrible. It was supposed to be delivered again today, but now they sent to Oslo for clearance, AGAIN. I just want to read 
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Apr 24, 2012 13:55
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Hydrolith posted:Besides, "I promise not to brick your device" isn't good enough for me. I cant believe how paranoid you are about an e reader.
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Apr 24, 2012 14:27
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cubicle gangster posted:I cant believe how paranoid you are about an e reader. Yeah I don't really get it either. You can keep your entire library in Calibre and never use the Kindle store or sync on Amazon if it bugs you that much. I love the Kindle store but its not the only place to get ebooks.
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Apr 24, 2012 15:09
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Hydrolith posted:A remote killswitch is a security liability. Even if one were to trust Amazon not to use such a thing, it's a liability that could potentially be exploited by viruses/worms/hackers/disgruntled Amazon employees/etc. Besides, "I promise not to brick your device" isn't good enough for me. There is no killswitch. That's 100% false. Even if your Kindle gets stolen, the best they can do is deregister it from your account. Technically they might be able to de-sync your books, but they don't by policy. They also can't touch the books you put on there without using the Kindle store because there's no provision in the software to mess with them. If you're seriously that paranoid, then store a copy of all your books on your computer and never turn on the wireless function. Problem solved. You can also open it up and tear out the wireless parts and the internal microphone (in case the CIA finds a way to activate it remotely) and then cover your walls with tinfoil while you're at it. Seriously, a Kindle is semi-disposable like most modern gadgets. Once that battery starts dying, there's no way to replace it short of buying a new one. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Apr 24, 2012 |
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Apr 24, 2012 18:10
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You can deregister your kindle and the books on it will continue working forever. I actually did this recently, I had a Kindle DX (newer model not original) that I wasn't using and sent it off to a friend, after deregistering it. They can still read all the I had on it, even though it's registered to their account now.
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Apr 24, 2012 19:35
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mcustic posted:How do you people clean your Kindle? I would hate to ruin my screen with something too abrasive. cubicle gangster posted:I cant believe how paranoid you are about an e reader. Even when I explain the loving case to them, they're still like that.
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Apr 24, 2012 23:05
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Cream_Filling posted:There is no killswitch. That's 100% false. Even if your Kindle gets stolen, the best they can do is deregister it from your account. Technically they might be able to de-sync your books, but they don't by policy. They also can't touch the books you put on there without using the Kindle store because there's no provision in the software to mess with them. I guess, thinking about it, I was overreacting a bit. It's the principle of the thing, but at the end of the day it is just an e-reader.
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Apr 25, 2012 02:12
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I mean, I understand the concern and I'm pretty distrustful of the future of stuff like cloud computing and planned obsolescence and all that jazz, but at the same time Amazon is basically subsidizing the cost of the Kindle, their policies seem pretty decent right now, and they haven't locked it down so I can't use my own ebooks, so I feel like it's pretty OK. I wish the battery was user replaceable, and I hate the Kindle touch and am afraid that more bullshit models with touch controls or color or something are going to replace the normal Kindle, but what are you going to do?
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Apr 25, 2012 04:09
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Hydrolith posted:Great, thanks for the info. I guess I'll be picking one up, then And like people said, if you're worried about having more control over the books you purchase, it's trivial to use a program like Calibre to transfer your purchased books to your computer. Even stripping the DRM (though illegal, I believe) is easy to find out how to do and makes it possible to convert the files into whatever format you want, though realistically you probably won't need to do that. Not to mention the free books from Project Gutenberg more than make up for the initial cost of the Kindle and the somewhat high prices of ebooks in general. I've probably read 20+ books for free with my Kindle and from Project Gutenberg and there are plenty more available.
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Apr 25, 2012 18:44
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Levitate posted:And like people said, if you're worried about having more control over the books you purchase, it's trivial to use a program like Calibre to transfer your purchased books to your computer. You don't even need that. The Kindle works just like a normal flash drive, needing absolutely no special software to copy your books off, and you can download all the books on your computer from Amazon instead of using any kind of wireless if you're paranoid.
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Apr 25, 2012 19:47
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Install Gentoo posted:You don't even need that. The Kindle works just like a normal flash drive, needing absolutely no special software to copy your books off, and you can download all the books on your computer from Amazon instead of using any kind of wireless if you're paranoid. I've clocked up so many hours on my Kindle 3, I can't recommend it enough. Cons: Fragile screen, half-arsed web browser. Pros: Long rear end-battery life, light and booklike, non-intrusive company, notes and bookmarks. And ye gods, the screen works so drat well. No sore eyes/glare like on a normal tablet. I read use it on the beach. I use my Kindle 3 daily as a: Calendar book, Dream journal, mp3 player and book. I've read countless books on it. If you are on the fence, get a Kindle 3/touch/whatever with a good case. You will not regret it! Unless you accident-prone lean on the screen, then you will curse this post!
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Apr 26, 2012 14:49
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I've been enjoying my Kindle Touch a lot more since the 5.1.0 update with Landscape mode. When I first bought it I liked it but felt like I was paging too often even with the smaller font sizes. The landscape mode feels more book-like while still being easy to hold. I just wish the Kindle had that neato coverflow home view like the Kobo Native epub would be nice too but I already use Calibre so eh whatever.
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Apr 26, 2012 15:04
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I find that the Kindle's only real use is reading books, but I've read a poo poo ton of books on it, possibly twice as fast as I would hard copies. I love how I can make the text bigger and sort of walk around reading while navigating with my peripheral vision. I've never been able to pull this sort of thing off with real books - I wind up having to walk or ride the bus an hour or more a day between my different jobs and it's turned all this extra time into reading instead of just staring off into space mulling over things. I feel so much more productive when I can read a whole novel every few days just utilizing the interstices of my daily routine - the small fragments of my day where I'm not doing anything can now be used to enjoy fine literature instead of worrying about whatever. I used to work in bookstores for years and thought ereaders were a terrible idea, but I have become a true believer. I should mention, though, that I've been living in China for a while and English books are hard to come by here unless you're only into reading copyright-free books from a hundred years ago. Contemporary books are only available in the big cities and even then are marked up from European prices (they all come from Hong Kong by way of the UK). To me, the whole concept of a bookstore seems sort of anachronistic now, especially traveling to another city just to buy books. I mean, in the future, physical media as a whole will be obsolete and only exist as a specialty market, like vinyl records. There's no reason we need to be printing random poo poo like political "why democrats/republicans are stupid" hardcovers anymore. At some point the market will splinter and books will be for collectors and special editions, though printing is fairly cheap and mass market/bargain bin publishing will probably never completely go away. Be Depressive fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Apr 27, 2012 |
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Apr 27, 2012 17:27
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Has anybody tried rooting their Nook Simple Touch? I'm going to do this tonight: http://lifehacker.com/5889158/turn-a-99-nook-into-a-fully-fledged-android-tablet-in-four-easy-steps
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May 2, 2012 14:13
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I've been torn on the whole e-reader situation for a long time. My mom has had several kindles and she loves it. I've seen the benefit. However, I live and breathe the IT world and there are a few things that bother me:
On the other hand, I'm completely competent and capable of ripping the books, removing DRM, etc etc etc but it seems so silly to me. I also fear a book won't feel like a book should if it's not a tangible thing I can pick up. There are a few things I'd really like though:
I think I'm just gonna wait until they come up with a backlit e-ink and maybe check into it then because right now that would be the only killer feature for me.
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May 2, 2012 14:47
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feld posted:I've been torn on the whole e-reader situation for a long time. My mom has had several kindles and she loves it. I've seen the benefit. However, I live and breathe the IT world and there are a few things that bother me: Sounds like you should get a Nook Simple Touch. Honestly I like it so much better than Kindles. It's easier to load books on and it uses Android natively. And the new one you can preorder has built in lighting!
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May 2, 2012 15:01
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The backlit Nook Simple Touch will be out May 7 and has received glowing reviews. I still prefer print to e-ink, but love using my Nook Touch to bypass issues of weight, portability, and highlighting/bookmarks. Similar ereaders also do the job very well. I've rooted my Nook Touch in order to gain portable internet access to email, these forums, what have you, but I rarely use it for those purposes and really just like having more options. Someone looking for a cheap Android tablet by way of e-reader would probably get a better experience out of rooting a Nook Color or Tablet. Watching e-ink refresh every time the Internet blinks gets old.
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May 2, 2012 15:21
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feld posted:[*] I stare at a screen all day already You can load things via calibre, ignoring amazon totally if you like, have look back through this thread a few pages. I also stare at a screen all day at work, e-ink on the kindle is about the same as newsprint or mass market paperbacks. If eye fatigue is at all an issue stay away from the tablet style - all imo.
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May 2, 2012 15:49
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feld posted:I've been torn on the whole e-reader situation for a long time. My mom has had several kindles and she loves it. I've seen the benefit. However, I live and breathe the IT world and there are a few things that bother me: As far as your other concerns with Amazon, I've purchased about as many ebooks from Amazon as I have audio files from Apple. That is to say, not very many. Not that I'm lacking for media for my Kindle or my iPod. Also, all of the legitimate purchases I've made I've stripped all the DRM out of them. You can really use the Kindle and never even deal with Amazon other than the original purchase. Plus, 99% of the time I have the wifi turned off because it sucks too much battery and the Kindle is really only a good solution for reading books. With the wifi off, Amazon couldn't delete my books even if they wanted to do so.
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May 2, 2012 16:39
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feld posted:I've been torn on the whole e-reader situation for a long time. My mom has had several kindles and she loves it. I've seen the benefit. However, I live and breathe the IT world and there are a few things that bother me: If you haven't gathered by now, all three of those points are non-issues.
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May 2, 2012 16:58
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feld posted:I think I'm just gonna wait until they come up with a backlit e-ink and maybe check into it then because right now that would be the only killer feature for me. Do you read in poor light that often? I ask because pretty much any ambient light is sufficient for reading with an e-reader since you don't have to worry about page shadow. It looks like paper so don't worry about eye fatigue. I read sometimes 2 hours a night and it's like reading a regular book. I have a leather bound case for my Kindle and it really helps reinforce the traditional book experience. I do miss having easier access to the cover art, you have to long press on the book in the Kindle to see it. The Kobo Touch has a cool coverflow style home screen where you can see all of the covers for your books, it's a nice touch. The rest of your concerns are all met by just using a (free) copy of Calibre. As someone else mentioned you can basically just convert your books from any store to pretty much any format you like and keep copies on your PC.
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May 2, 2012 17:27
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feld posted:However, I live and breathe the IT world and there are a few things that bother me: So one of the possible issues with getting an e-reader is that you already stare at a screen all day but the killer feature for you would be a backlit e-ink screen...which negates any positives that comes with an e-ink screen. If you get a Kindle Keyboard, just buy a used lighted case. It adds some weight but it isn't that bad and you'll never have to worry about batteries or being unable to read in the dark.
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May 2, 2012 17:54
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Has anybody tried rooting their Nook Simple Touch? I'm going to do this tonight: http://lifehacker.com/5889158/turn-a-99-nook-into-a-fully-fledged-android-tablet-in-four-easy-steps Yep, it's pretty much that easy with just two caveats: 1) You need to grab the app market search, there's something about the latest market place app and z-ordering that makes it so you can't use the standard search right with eInk. 2) Aldiko works, but not the most recent version of Aldiko, you need to download from the Aldiko site one of the previous apks and use adb to install it. What I did was remapped the 4 hardware problems to be: Back | Menu Volumen Down | Volume Up And then told Aldiko to use volume as page turners.
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May 2, 2012 18:51
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Fiendish Dr. Wu posted:Sounds like you should get a Nook Simple Touch. Honestly I like it so much better than Kindles. It's easier to load books on and it uses Android natively. And the new one you can preorder has built in lighting! I don't understand how it can be easier, my Kindle works as a USB key when I want to put books on it. Or it just automatically puts them on it as soon as I turn the screen on after buying a book.
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May 2, 2012 19:21
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Target to Amazon - gently caress you. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/amazon-kindle-will-be-stop-being-sold-at-target/2012/05/02/gIQA36NxwT_story.html quote:May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Target Corp., the second largest U.S. discount chain, will stop selling Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle brand of e-readers and tablets after two years, while continuing to offer similar products from Apple Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc. I honestly can't blame them, should be good for B/N and Apple. Be on the lookout for these to hit the Target Endcap of Savings where they offer huge discounts on discontinued or open box product. You might also be able to grab one of the official cases if they discount them.
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May 2, 2012 19:34
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Cartoon Man posted:Target to Amazon - gently caress you. Yeah surprised it didn't happen sooner, Amazon is stomping all over several markets that are Targets bread and butter.
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May 2, 2012 19:36
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Cartoon Man posted:Target to Amazon - gently caress you. Weren't they already phasing out the Kindle awhile back? I remember reading that they had 3G Kindle Keyboards for $99
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May 2, 2012 19:53
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Hughlander posted:Yep, it's pretty much that easy with just two caveats: About to try in a bit. I'm confused though... volume down / up? The NST has no audio.
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May 2, 2012 19:59
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The Gunslinger posted:Yeah surprised it didn't happen sooner, Amazon is stomping all over several markets that are Targets bread and butter. Sporadic posted:Weren't they already phasing out the Kindle awhile back? I remember reading that they had 3G Kindle Keyboards for $99 WoG fucked around with this message at 20:40 on May 2, 2012 |
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May 2, 2012 20:38
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