Amazon Kindle: want?

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by rounds1

The whole logistics of actually getting a book onto that thing is something I know nothing about.

Who even houses all of these electronic versions? I didn't think anyone did yet.

Amazon do. They have their own EVDO network and online store. You can buy the books straight off the Kindle, assuming you are in an EVDO enabled area.

You can also get your own text documents sent to it: $0.10 to get it sent via EVDO, or free to get a copy in the correct format emailed back to you to transfer manually. No doubt they have copy protection stuff in place to stop you from getting a copy off Bittorrent and then copying it to your Kindle.

[rounds1]

Originally Posted by chedabob

Amazon do. They have their own EVDO network and online store. You can buy the books straight off the Kindle, assuming you are in an EVDO enabled area.

You can also get your own text documents sent to it: $0.10 to get it sent via EVDO, or free to get a copy in the correct format emailed back to you to transfer manually. No doubt they have copy protection stuff in place to stop you from getting a copy off Bittorrent and then copying it to your Kindle.

In that case, I'm going to guess that you'd have to pay twice for any book you currently own. They must charge less than a paperback or hard cover though?

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by rounds1

In that case, I'm going to guess that you'd have to pay twice for any book you currently own. They must charge less than a paperback or hard cover though?

I'd assume so.

As an example, I tried Stephen King's Dreamcatcher:

Kindle: $5.59
Hardback: $18.48
Paperback: Not listed, but runs used for anywhere between $2 and $10 + shipping.

Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey Deaver is $6 on Kindle, $8 + shipping for paperback.

I also saw War of the Worlds by HG Wells for $0.99

It's a shame they have so many books, but so few good ones. No Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, October Sky, Goodnight Mr. Tom, Rainbow Six (or any Tom Clancy for that matter).

[rounds1]

Originally Posted by chedabob

I'd assume so.

As an example, I tried Stephen King's Dreamcatcher:

Kindle: $5.59
Hardback: $18.48
Paperback: Not listed, but runs used for anywhere between $2 and $10 + shipping.

Garden of Beasts by Jeffrey Deaver is $6 on Kindle, $8 + shipping for paperback.

I also saw War of the Worlds by HG Wells for $0.99

It's a shame they have so many books, but so few good ones. No Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, October Sky, Goodnight Mr. Tom, Rainbow Six (or any Tom Clancy for that matter).

No LoTR even? That's surprising. I'm sure in time they'll get all of them.

Plus, isn't google or one of those sites currently in the process of DL'ing almost every book known to man? I wonder if you'll be able to use the Kindle with sites other than Amazon.

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by rounds1

No LoTR even? That's surprising. I'm sure in time they'll get all of them.

Plus, isn't google or one of those sites currently in the process of DL'ing almost every book known to man? I wonder if you'll be able to use the Kindle with sites other than Amazon.

Google's free stuff is only stuff that is out of copyright, or that the publisher lets people use.

[rounds1]

Originally Posted by chedabob

Google's free stuff is only stuff that is out of copyright, or that the publisher lets people use.

Ahh...that won't help much then. Well, give it time and Amazon will eventually have a bunch more I'm sure.

They have to get deals signed, plus the books scanned and all that hoo-haw, so it'll take a while.

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by rounds1

Ahh...that won't help much then. Well, give it time and Amazon will eventually have a bunch more I'm sure.

They have to get deals signed, plus the books scanned and all that hoo-haw, so it'll take a while.

Scanning doesn't take as long as you think. Current machines can do 1000 pages per hour.

If it wasn't for the fact that Amazon will no doubt checking all of the uploads, I'd download the E-books of the books I already own, and buy paperbacks of the ones I want, because I'd say that comes under fair use.

[rounds1]

Originally Posted by chedabob

Scanning doesn't take as long as you think. Current machines can do 1000 pages per hour.

If it wasn't for the fact that Amazon will no doubt checking all of the uploads, I'd download the E-books of the books I already own, and buy paperbacks of the ones I want, because I'd say that comes under fair use.

You're underestimating the # of books there are in publication! Even at that rate of speed, it'll still probably take years and cost them millions upon millions.

[chedabob]

Originally Posted by rounds1

You're underestimating the # of books there are in publication! Even at that rate of speed, it'll still probably take years and cost them millions upon millions.

Yeah, but they could scan some of the more popular ones in a matter of days.

Besides, if they had 10 machines, that's 90 books per hour (assuming each book is 300 pages or thereabouts). You could cover a decent spectrum of the market in a few weeks. Scanning a Library would be the best solution. Oooh, Libraries renting books for Kindle. Now that's an idea.

[rounds1]

Originally Posted by chedabob

Yeah, but they could scan some of the more popular ones in a matter of days.

Besides, if they had 10 machines, that's 90 books per hour (assuming each book is 300 pages or thereabouts). You could cover a decent spectrum of the market in a few weeks. Scanning a Library would be the best solution. Oooh, Libraries renting books for Kindle. Now that's an idea.

Right...if they started with what's most popular first, they could get those in there pretty quickly. But that's not considering the time it takes just to make a deal with every one of the publishers, or whomever owns the rights to the books.