The eReader Megathread: Yes, all publishers hate Canada

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The eReader Megathread: Yes, all publishers hate Canada

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

Just remember that with Amazon and Sony, you're dealing with established software shops. Depending on your view point this could be a bad thing because they may not make bold moves. On the other hand they have large teams devoted to building the best experience for you.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2010 02:29

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 05:17

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

Captain Frigate posted:

So I have a choice of an ereader for an early christmas gift, and I'm trying to get my research straight. I'm looking for good pdf support and enough memory to allow me to take at least a good portion of my pdfs with me (I have about 4 gigs worth but it grows slowly, mostly academic stuff). I guess I would also like to know if there are any options available that allow highlighting or annotation on PDFs. In fact, highlighting and adding notes to any kind of non-standard media (I guess google books stuff or project gutenberg, that kind of thing) would be very nice. I have been looking at the Kindle DX because it has the biggest screen, which is a plus for me. Right now my choice is between that and the Nook because I'm a fan of expandable memory. I'm also interested in learning about the Sony reader (I guess the model with the biggest screen?) and how it fits into the criteria here. And ic case anyone thinks I might be missing something important, are there any other questions that I might be interested in looking into?

Honestly, by the time you can fill up the built in memory of the Kindle with books, there will be a much better version of the Kindle available for purchase.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2010 00:18

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

frameset posted:

To further that point, amazon is much less successful in Europe, to say that they have a near monopoly is very US centric.

Currently they don't dominate Europe, but they only have 4 countries where there are landing pages. (They just opened up Italy in Thanksgiving).

# ¿ Dec 9, 2010 19:20

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

Suntory BOSS posted:

The Kindle is also incredibly dangerous. I found, purchased and downloaded a book in about a minute and a half-- my wallet is screwed.

Yeah it is way too easy to purchase books...luckily most of the books are cheaper than the physical copies.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2010 04:15

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

Carebear posted:

I got the Kindle 3 for Christmas from my boyfriend. I really love it so far, but it seems a bit slow to me. Also, the web browser sometimes freezes the entire Kindle. Is this normal? Also, I hope they will have it so you can select a folder of songs to listen to instead of having to go through every song.

This is what all e-ink readers are like. They're slightly slow, but if you're only using it for reading it'll be faster than turning the pages on a real book.

# ¿ Dec 27, 2010 06:18

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

Centipeed posted:

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Amazon jumps on the bandwagon and provides their own touchscreen e-reader, but then again maybe they prefer the hardware keyboard.

I doubt it'll be long before we see something new from them - Kindle 1 was 2007, Kindle 2 2009, and Kindle 3 2010.

Either way, there aren't enough new features in the Nook 2 to win me over, and the amazing customer support I continue to see from Amazon has earned my loyalty.

There's no way Amazon isn't coming out with a touchscreen Kindle. A touchscreen is the best way to navigate a device like that in conjunction with physical page turning buttons.

# ¿ May 26, 2011 02:59

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

PoisonedV posted:

What are the chances of a new Kindle being released soon? I'm considering getting one but I don't want to be screwed when they release a new version a day later with massive price drops on the old model.

Edit: Arggh now that I've been reading this thread I'm completely conflicted over the new Nook or the Kindle. I guess I just have to decide if I actually give a poo poo about 3G.

A new kindle is extremely likely but won't be coming around until mid Q3 if anything.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2011 02:04

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

coldplay chiptunes posted:

Nook Tab or Kindle Fire? (Gift for girlfriend who expressed interested in a "Nook Color" ages ago)

I'm leaning towards the Fire simply because I've got it built up in my head that the Amazon implementation of Android would be much nicer and cleaner than whatever the B&N setup looks like.

Any thoughts from some biased goons?

I trust amazon more as a tech company that will throw a lot of resources at the fire. There are a few kinks with the fire that they will get sorted out in time hopefully.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2011 00:06

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

frameset posted:

The reason Valve get away with being such a "nice" company comes down to them being privately owned. Gabe Newell and the other Valve directors can do just about anything they want within reason and they don't have to justify it to shareholders only interested in extracting maximum short term quarter to quarter profit.

If Amazon become a near-monopoly in the field of ebooks, the shareholders would be demanding to know why Jeff Bezos isn't reaming each of his customers for every penny he can get.

Except Jeff Bezos always tells shareholders to gently caress off when it comes to short term profits. See last Q4.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2012 21:14

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

If you have a stock Kindle Fire, I highly recommend rooting it and installing CM9 if you don't need Netflix. It is a night and day difference in speed and fluidity.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2012 06:46

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

wolrah posted:

Can you get the Amazon Appstore or the normal Android Kindle app to run? Both just crash on mine running the 2/19 build, which sucks since it means my Amazon-purchased apps (mostly FAotDs) are unusable.

I did as well and just deleted them and reinstalled them. Some how that worked. On the 2/24 build btw.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2012 06:31

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

MrBond posted:

Ah, that's true.

Sidebar - I do consider BN's receiving end of that these days to be a smidgen unfair. I love amazon, but I do disagree with their stance on collecting sales taxes. Amazon, the company with EC2 and a giant recommendations algorithm, hypocritically argues that computing sales taxes for your destination is too hard. Really, they see it as their competitive advantage and fight tooth and nail to keep it, to the point where they were ready to buy their own proposition in CA. The price check app was a dick thing to do too. With their scale and efficiency they really don't need to do these things to beat local retail pricing as is.

Calculating sales tax is easy. Remitting sales tax to the 10000 jurisdictions in America is difficult. They all have very difficult and stringent rules which makes this a non trivial task, especially when it comes to the diversity of goods amazon sells. Under reporting and over reporting taxes is met with hefty fines at multiple levels.

Amazon supports a streamlined set of tax forms that work nationally so there are only 50 jurisdictions with similar rules.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2012 02:28

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

Crackbone posted:

How's the battery life on the Paperwhite? My mother is claiming hers drains far faster than her Touch, like needing a recharge every few days vs once a week. I told her to report it to Amazon, because they're claiming same or better battery life on the PW.

Is her wifi on?

# ¿ Nov 16, 2012 01:49

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

ShadowMoo posted:

Not sure if this is the right thread. Tried to post it in Haus of texsupport.

Problem description: Provide a DETAILED description of your problem here.

My kindle fire HD randomly reverts to 0.0.0.0 according to my wireless monitor app. The Kindle can access the modem/router through the browser app but cannot connect out. Router management says kindle is getting allocated an IP. Usually a few restarts of the kindle fixes the issue, but it is getting annoying.

Attempted fixes: Connected to two different routers. One is chained off of the wireless modem/router. Restart kindle.

Recent changes: A few app installs but this issue persists through wipes.

--

Operating system: Android

System specs: Kindle fire HD 8.9 System version 8.4.6 (current stock for KFHD8.9). Is rooted. Which equated to I think 4.2.2 Android.

Location: USA

I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes

Call up Customer Service and they'll send you a new one.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2013 02:24

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

baka kaba posted:

I'm talking about 1000-eBookz_NYT_BestSELLERS.torrent or whatever. Someone could download something like that, throw it on their Kindle and nicely tag it up in collections and they'd basically be set for life. Lots to read just by picking up the device, less likely to go browsing the Kindle store. So instead they get to throw 1000 books on their Kindle and then cry as they try to somehow organise it.

Searching is all very well if you know exactly what you're looking for, but if you're browsing your stuff (or, say, you've dumped hundreds of books on your Kindle) you have to be able to look through it. These are devices with gigs of memory, and your average book is in the order of kilobytes, yet the organisation system has to be meticulously done by hand, one by one, very very slowly. And it inconveniences people who pirate tons of books more than it does people who buy things individually.

I'm not saying it stops anyone pirating, it just seems like Amazon's happy to make their lives a lot harder by restricting basic functionality. Anyone it deters is a potential customer, and it's book sales they care about in the end, not Kindle sales

What the gently caress conspiracy theory nonsense is this? They're working on features that are worthwhile for 90% of customers instead of catering to the 10% (it's way less than that) that need these serious features. Every organization at Amazon is hiring like crazy and still can't find enough people to fill head count. It's not for lack of trying.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2013 06:54

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 05:17

Ethereal: Mar 8, 2003

I love my voyage but it's hard to justify the additional delta over the new paper white. It is beautiful and so incredibly lightweight. The glass screen is ace as well.

If anyone's interested in a wifi kindle keyboard with case feel free to PM me!

# ¿ Jun 22, 2015 00:50

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The eReader Megathread: Yes, all publishers hate Canada