Kindle vs. the iPad

[Guest]

Both devices read .PDF files. As portable readers, however, I favor the Kindle. i learned a hard lesson here about paragraph length on back-lit screens with my first story. It's hard on the eyes and gives you headaches. For that reason alone, I believe that the Kindle is the better choice. It allows readers to look at books in as close to the original print form as possible. I have spent hours with a friend's Kindle curled up on a couch and felt no more eye strain than I had with a paperback.

But the iPad does so much more than just serve as a reader. It is going to have applications and is the "Next Big Thing". As an e-Reader, I predict limited success primarily because of the screen issue. But you can write on the iPad (after a fashion, with an on screen keyboard). You can't write your erotica on the Kindle. Nor can you publish from the Kindle, which you can (presumably) do on the iPad.

Applications for the iPad, however are said to be censored. If an application was sexually explicit or linked directly to an adult site (which LIT is) on the iPhone, rumors are that it won't make it over to the iPad. Apple, apparently wants to maintain a specifically family friendly image, and they are no longer allowing third-party applications to be sold without approval at the iStore. So, presumably, no LIT App for the iPad (not that one ever made it to the iPhone). This will make publishing from the iPad a little difficult, but not impossible.

As far as importing LIT stories onto the Kindle, I save them in Open Office, then export them to .PDF . I send my favorites to my friends and they import them directly to their Kindles. That should work the same with the iPad. Hopefully.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[Dragonlipz]

Books are still hard to beat......

 

[sr71plt]

How does B&N's new Nook compare?

 

[Guest]

How does B&N's new Nook compare?

I don;t know, I don't have a B&N here.

It seems though that they all read PDF files. so it should be simply a matter of aesthetics after that. But I really don't see the iPad replacing the Kindle unless it gets a sunlight readable display that replicates the (at least visual) style of a paper-bound book.

the Kindles biggest fault, i think is also it's strength. the black and white screen makes it easy for outdoor use, but makes it hard to use for textbooks or things that require color illustrations.

 

[Guest]

Books are still hard to beat......

I agree, but it is expensive to bind a LIt compilation, and it's easier to take a Kindle on a plane or deployment (or vacation, even) than an entire library.

 

[3113]

Applications for the iPad, however are said to be censored. If an application was sexually explicit or linked directly to an adult site (which LIT is) on the iPhone, rumors are that it won't make it over to the iPad.

Um...I don't quite understand how the iPad--which surfs the web--would keep you from visiting Lit, or, if you wrote up stories using the iPad word processing software, keep you from publishing stories on Lit. I can visit and read stories on Lit from my iPhone.

Now, if you're talking about downloading book off the iTunes bookstore--those will be limited for a while anyway, but likely, eventually, if e-book readers and reading become popular enough, then such censorship might relax. You can't, after all, buy X-rated porn off iTunes yet either. But you can buy X-rated porn off other sites. A MacBook isn't going to say, 'Sorry, that's x-rated porn, you can't download that."

As for which to get--it depends on what you want to do with the devise and how much you want to pay, etc. If just read, then Kindle. If more, than iPad. But, IMHO, I wouldn't buy either UNTIL taking them both out on a test drive. When it comes to electronic devices, like computers, a smart phone or an e-reader, then I think it's foolish to buy without playing on them. On line research just isn't the same. It doesn't tell you how it feels, looks, etc.

 

[Guest]

Um...I don't quite understand how the iPad--which surfs the web--would keep you from visiting Lit, or, if you wrote up stories using the iPad word processing software, keep you from publishing stories on Lit. I can visit and read stories on Lit from my iPhone.

Maybe I should have explained myself better. I'm not saying that you can't do it now, but that Apple just passed a family friend;y app rule. So IF there were plans (and I don't know if there were) for a LIT app, it can't happen.

Now, if you're talking about downloading book off the iTunes bookstore--those will be limited for a while anyway, but likely, eventually, if e-book readers and reading become popular enough, then such censorship might relax. You can't, after all, buy X-rated porn off iTunes yet either. But you can buy X-rated porn off other sites. A MacBook isn't going to say, 'Sorry, that's x-rated porn, you can't download that."

You're absolutely right. but I think that these early few months with the iPad are going to tell. Some people are touting it as primarily an eReader

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/04/edonnybrook/7985/?pid=ynews

Books, however, are different. Until the iPad, no Apple device had offered anything comparable to the portability, readability, and battery life of a Kindle, or a book. With a big enough head start, Amazon had the chance to become the primary retailer of digital reading material. Moreover, if enough users acquired libraries of books in its proprietary format, Amazon could maintain that competitive advantage almost indefinitely, because of switching costs: users who adopted a different, technologically incompatible brand of e-book would lose their whole library.

But now the iPad will make it hard for Amazon to achieve that kind of effortless lock-in—just as several years ago, Amazon’s MP3 downloads helped to defeat Apple’s quest for lock-in with its proprietary copy-protected music.

As for which to get--it depends on what you want to do with the devise and how much you want to pay, etc. If just read, then Kindle. If more, than iPad. But I would advise buying neither UNTIL you check them both out in person and play on them. When it comes to electronic devices, like computers, a smart phone or an e-reader, then I think it's foolish to buy without giving them an actual test drive. On line research just isn't the same. It doesn't tell you how it feels, looks, etc.

Very very true.

 

[KillerMuffin]

iPad = 10 hours battery time.
Kindle = 2 weeks battery time.

iPad = useless in the bright sunlight like all backlit screens
Kindle = functions like a regular book in bright sunlight (electronic paper)

iPad = $14.99 for eBooks (thank you, Steve Jobs, for screwing us)
Kindle = $9.99 was the top price, until Steve Jobs made the public bend over

eBooks = remotely removeable content at any time without user consent
paperback = mine, no touchy

eBooks = once it's paid for, stuck with it
paperback = used bookstores rock!

 

[3113]

iPad = useless in the bright sunlight like all backlit screens

Really? When and where did you see one? Did you take it out in the sun and test it?

 

[Pure]

questions

isn't the problem with kindle that it handles only amazon's proprietary files [AZW]. i gather you can't download it [to your harddrive] into one of the standard formats, e.g. pdf.

further you can't upload certain other types files to kindle, that weren't from amazon. IOW, if someone gives you a book, in a standard file format (say, png or Word), you can't put it onto your kindle and read it, as you can, your computer.

even further, if you want a file to go onto your kindle [say, something you've written in Word], you have to send it to them and pay to have it converted.

is this true?

if so, i'd really like to know a comparison with a more flexible reader,like the Sony.

PS. would it not follow that your 'book' on kindle cannot be shared, ie. you don't actually own it, you're leasing access. i really hate this idea that you get something home, and they still control it (and if i heard correctly, they can delete it from your machine.) it's sorta like having a hotel room, and not a home.
---

that said, if Amazon gets control of most of the worlds books, i guess we all just join in on their terms.

---

note the size of display of kindles 1 and 2, before the larger version, is about 3.5 ins, by [just under] 5 ins.

 

[Liar]

Really? When and where did you see one? Did you take it out in the sun and test it?

I did. It's a notebook screen. With all that means. A fairly good notebook screen though. Better than what's in the latest macbooks.



Why are we comparing an e-book reader with what is essentially a notebook computer without a keyboard? Isn't that like comparing a motocycle with a bus?

 

[Guest]

I did. It's a notebook screen. With all that means. A fairly good notebook screen though. Better than what's in the latest macbooks.



Why are we comparing an e-book reader with what is essentially a notebook computer without a keyboard? Isn't that like comparing a motocycle with a bus?

Because I have run across several articles touting the iPad's potential success as an ebook reader lately, and I really just wanted some honest opinions on it. the only ebook reader I have gotten to truly experience was the Kindle, and I was impressed with it's portability.

I did miss turning pages, though.

 

[Liar]

Because I have run across several articles touting the iPad's potential success as an ebook reader lately, and I really just wanted some honest opinions on it. the only ebook reader I have gotten to truly experience was the Kindle, and I was impressed with it's portability.

I did miss turning pages, though.

Well, as an e-book reader, the iPad is just still too clunky IMO. It weighs 730 grams, 2.5 times as much as a Kindle or any other e-book reader. That more than anything is the main difference, I think. Comfort.

I'd rather read e-books on my phone. And I do.

 

[laurafairlie]

I love my Kindle reader. I've had it for several months, and I have read a ton of stuff on it. In fact, I've started to prefer it to physical books, and I wasn't sure that would be the case when I first bought it.

 

[LaRocha]

I used Kindle and owned Nook reader. I felt Nook was superior, it does other things but I'm not interested in the other iPad like features. My Nook got stepped on, and if I was going to buy a new reader I'd get another Nook. Apple is what 500? I'm not interested in Apple as a brand.

 

[3113]

Because I have run across several articles touting the iPad's potential success as an ebook reader lately

Liar's point is well taken. The two really shouldn't be compared as the aim of the iPad is, obviously, to be more than an e-book reader. If all you want is an reader, get a Kindle. Lighter, less money, more battery life--and, unlike the iPad, doesn't require extra expenses to do all it can do (iPad is like having a large smart phone--you have to pay extra for a monthly internet connection). What the iPad can do that the Kindle cannot as a reader is present text with video content. So, let's say you get a medical text and in one section it details an operation. The Kindle, like a book, is just going to show you the textbook images. The iPad would let you watch a film of the operation. If you were reading, on the iPad, a book on the history of music, you could read up on Bach, hear some Bach and watch someone playing it on the harpsichord.

One of the hopes of the iPad is to resurrect newspapers; get people to read the morning paper again on the iPad with video content, links and all the rest that they expect to see if reading it on a computer. If the iPad is a success as a reader, meaning people start buying a lot more e-books thanks to it, then books may start to add in multi-media content as well.

But, you see, this is the trick. Kindle is doing okay, but what everyone is hoping is that the iPad does for newspapers/books what it did for music/movies. It might not as a lot less people read as listen to music or watch movies. And it's not a cheap, slip-in-your-pocket ipod. The reason the iPad might beef up e-book sales as compared to the Kindle, however, is because it isn't just a reader, like the iPhone it can be made to do a lot of other useful things. Want the duty roster? There is it on the iPad. Want files on someone? All there. Want to make notes, draw, look at a map--all there. Want to rearrange the calendar? There it is. E-mail several people that new calendar--you can do that right there and then. As you can do all this on the iPad, you might buy it for all that--AND then, of course, you'll also use it as a reader, meaning read the newspaper on it, and buy an e-book to read on.

That's the "trick." Getting a "reader" into people's hands--and selling more e-books and e-newspapers--by making it a devise they'll carry around for work, etc. As it's not going to be just a reader, however, it's going to cost more, not be a light, and not have the same battery life. But, hey, you can write lit stories on it as well as read lit stories--and then use it to leave comments here in AH

 

[jperlow]

No erotica on iPads

Unfortunately, Apple's regional content review policies will prohibit ANY erotica or adult content on iPad bought from stores such as Amazon or B&N. You'll need to import the material yourself.

See my article and interview with Violet Blue regarding this issue:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=12398

http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=12357

 

[3113]

Unfortunately, Apple's regional content review policies will prohibit ANY erotica or adult content on iPad bought from stores such as Amazon or B&N. You'll need to import the material yourself.

But in what way does that prohibit reading free erotica here? On line?

 

[Huckleman2000]

[...]I can visit and read stories on Lit from my iPhone.
[...]

Does this change how you, erm... "consume" porn? i.e., making it portable and personal? Maybe that's a topic for another thread.

I know this is an old (by now) joke, but I swear I thought this was a thread about "feminine hygiene" products at first glance.

 

[SirLicksAalot]

Qualcolm Mirasol

I own Kindle v1 and love the product. I am completely sold on Bezoz' - Amazon.com CEO - vision that it's not really about the device, rather it should be about whatever one is reading; the more seamlessly the devise fades into the background, the better and richer the experience.

I find that serene and quiet moments -- undisturbed by the temptation to fiddle through emails, messages, voicemail -- with my Kindle as an unforeseen bonus, because I don't think I would ever be able to just read leisurely when there's too many things I know the device can do. It's a distraction.

A color e-ink like device (no back-light, can play full motion video) is about to come out this fall. You should consider this as one of your options.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KndnA8IfYFk

 

[3113]

I know this is an old (by now) joke, but I swear I thought this was a thread about "feminine hygiene" products at first glance.

Alas! Yes. A lot of us are still wondering about that unfortunate name choice.

 

[3113]

I find that serene and quiet moments -- undisturbed by the temptation to fiddle through emails, messages, voicemail -- with my Kindle as an unforeseen bonus, because I don't think I would ever be able to just read leisurely when there's too many things I know the device can do. It's a distraction.

Meaning you're not the target buyer for the iPad. Once again, the whole point of the iPad is not to be *just* a reader. It's to get people to use it for other things and discover the joys of e-reading along the way. People who love reading are either still buying books or have a kindle and, as you say, don't want any other distractions. But most people don't read.

The hope is that if one's mobile computer gives one the option of reading books, newspapers and magazines, then maybe those that don't read much will start reading more. That they'll take time out from reading e-mails and such to glance at a magazine article or read a chapter of a book. And we'd better hope that something like this does happen...because publishers are sinking fast, and something needs to get people reading again.

 

[cloudy]

I've thought about buying a kindle, but I really believe I'd miss the absolute pleasure of a book in my hands, turning the pages, becoming lost in the story - I don't think an e-reader can bring the same experience as a book can.

Besides, I have an entire room given over to my books and cds...and I like it that way.

 

[damppanties]

I think someone talked about battery time but I want to know if the electronic bits heat up if used for long periods of time. I spend hours reading, and was wondering how it would perform.

 

[Smarmy_and_Sappe]

I've thought about buying a kindle, but I really believe I'd miss the absolute pleasure of a book in my hands, turning the pages, becoming lost in the story - I don't think an e-reader can bring the same experience as a book can.

Besides, I have an entire room given over to my books and cds...and I like it that way.

I agree, there is nothing like the feel of a book. I have no desire to get either device.