What sort of ebook reader do we really want?

[jeffery]

Originally Posted by RZetlin

I would also to add large storage capacity (32 GB and higher).

4 GB and 8 GB is not cutting anymore in 2016.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7...3FZRGdJTjlMMG8
I wish they came this way.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Oh you mean like one of our local stores has canned vegetables 2/$1 this week so I will buy a couple of cases.

Hey your rocket science idea might work since I live in the land of sun and wind.

Does one freeze canned stuff?
Never have myself or thought I needed to .... though I note they list much shorter duration times on them these days ... which means you will need to keep replenishing your Nuclear Shelter stocks on a regular basis ... no more set and forget, with a can of Baked Beans still being edible in 50 years.

I also live in such a place, though seemingly more wind these days, and the Sun can't make up its mind when to appear anymore .... Seasons are all muddled up. Supposedly we are in the midst of spring, but you could have fooled me ... half the time it's been like Winter. The weeds love all the variant conditions though.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by graycyn

Kobo here, but it literally comes *everywhere* with me.

You never know when you'll catch some reading time! Waiting in the checkout line at the store, going through the automatic car wash, sitting out a momentary torrential downpour in a parking lot waiting for it to ease up before going into your destination. Or reading in the theater before a movie starts!

Once upon a time, I had to drag a physical book about ... with a couple more in the car and waiting in case I finished before getting home. Those days are gone! I don't miss them any...

I don't recall ever being that desperate .... there is more to life after all. It has never occurred to me to read in most of those places ... though I suspect you are being more than tongue-in-cheek there.

You forgot the Throne Rooms by the way ... they are always a good place to sit and ponder a page ... or a few sheets of paper. Though alas, in an emergency, you don't have any spare pages at hand with a device ... the last few blank pages in many books, was always an insurance in case of need ... luckily I never had a need to abuse my books, newspapers or magazines.

You also forgot waiting at traffic lights ... and while eating icecream or mowing the lawn.

I did however, more than make sure I took enough away with me overnight somewhere or on holiday, so yes an ereader is a dogsend in that regard ... though to be honest, my phone does great duty as an ereader in most circumstances ... that don't stretch into hours.

Sent from a paperback using telepathy.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Timboli

Does one freeze canned stuff?
Never have myself or thought I needed to .... though I note they list much shorter duration times on them these days ... which means you will need to keep replenishing your Nuclear Shelter stocks on a regular basis ... no more set and forget, with a can of Baked Beans still being edible in 50 years.

I also live in such a place, though seemingly more wind these days, and the Sun can't make up its mind when to appear anymore .... Seasons are all muddled up. Supposedly we are in the midst of spring, but you could have fooled me ... half the time it's been like Winter. The weeds love all the variant conditions though.

I guess you could freeze canned (tinned) goods if you are willing to repackage them.

On the weather, we are in Autumn but most of the time it is like summer. Yesterday, I finally had to get out my jacket. Tomorrow, I will need shorts again.
Oh and weeds love all weather especially if they get even a drop of moisture.

[Timboli]

And let's not forget the other major deterrent for people, that you never really own an ebook, as described by the following article.

Extracted from http://www.zdnet.com and written by Eileen Brown, and currently available at - http://www.zdnet.com/article/huawei-...ew-leadership/

Why Amazon is within its rights to remove access to your Kindle books

Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble can revoke access to your ebooks, music and software any time they want. Here's why.
Eileen Brown

By Eileen Brown for Social Business | October 25, 2012 -- 11:17 GMT (22:17 AEDT) | Topic: Social Enterprise

There has been a fair amount of indignation directed towards Amazon over the last couple of days.

Amazon deleted Norwegian IT Consultant Linn Nygaard’s Amazon account and removed access to the Kindle books she had purchased.

Martin Bekkelund blogged how Amazon closed her account and wiped her Kindle. It offered no explanation as to why it had done so.

Although it smacks of poor customer service, Amazon is completely within its rights to do this. Its terms of service state:

All content included in or made available through any Amazon Service, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, and data compilations is the property of Amazon or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws.

All the books on your Kindle are not yours. They belong to Amazon. All that cash you have paid was simply to access these books on your Kindle. You have not paid to own the books. If you want to own books, pay for physical printed books and get Amazon to send them to you by post.

Other online providers have similar terms and conditions.

Barnes & Noble “reserves the right to modify or discontinue the offering of any Digital Content at any time”. Apple’s terms and conditions state that “You acknowledge that iTunes is selling you a license to use the content made available through the iBookstore”

Non of these terms state that you actually own the content at all. In each case the content remains the property of the supplier.

Providers like Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble have structured their licences like this to protect themselves. If there is a catastrophic site failure that makes access to your books impossible, then you could sue for the return of your property. They would be liable.

Granting a licence to use the books or use the software makes sense. These terms are to protect their investment in their site infrastructure and costs to maintain the site.

To try and protect your investment on Kindle and Nook, you can try to remove the DRM from the book. Removing the DRM from the book puts you in contravention of terms and conditions and you then run the risk of having your account suspended. But you will have access to the books.

Digital Rights Management is a huge issue for publishers and authors. I totally get DRM, the need to limit access to digital content after purchase and I get the need to protect copyright.

I am a published author and I am delighted that I receive royalties for the books I’ve written that have been legitimately purchased. Why should the book that I spent months researching and writing, formatting and editing be available for free or downloaded on torrent sites?

With the imminent demise of the printed book, we are going to have to get used to the way we purchase but do not own electronic goods. Whether that is virtual clothing for my Second Life avatar, a customised background image on Twitter or a premium account on LinkedIn, it is not really mine.

I am renting the service just like I am renting the books I ‘buy’ on Amazon. And like any other service I rent, it can be taken away from me on a whim.

I just have to get used to that thought.

[Timboli]

And then of course, another disincentive, is the value of any existing collection of physical books.

The more that buy into ebooks, especially as their sole book source, the less in value physical books become, until they are eventually as worthless as Vinyl after CD's and Video (VHS or Beta) after DVD's.

Of course, there will always be high-priced unique exceptions, that don't make the media change. But most won't be affected by those.

So those of us who have a sizable collection of physical books are looking down the barrel of them steadily diminishing in value. Which is a lot when you have several thousand like I do ... most in paperback or the larger trade paperback. By my reckoning I only have a few hundred in hardcover. Not that I bought them as an investment ... except against being out-of-print.

So I can quite see how many refuse to buy into something that lessens the value of what they own. I expect, that many Publishers feel the same way, having who knows what sort of collections and rarities stashed away somewhere ... some deliberately no doubt.

While you can speculate, that ebooks vs books has an element of control to consider, it is not always easy to see to who's benefit either form is.

There are many things to consider -

Ownership.
Secondhand markets (resale).
Physical publishing & Transport costs (shipping & postage).
Damage.
Updating.
Editing & fees.
Licensing.
Zoning.
Exclusivity.
Lending (sharing).
Anti-DRM (removal).
Non-DRM.
Middlemen.
Indie providers.
Marketing differences (promotions).
Profits.
Long term value (investment).
Digital benefits and being realistic about the future.
Saving trees (perhaps).
etc

P.S. I never really took reselling what I've bought into consideration, except to use that word to placate my wife, for when I am beyond being concerned about my books.

[Cinisajoy]

Hate to burst your bubble but paper books are already devalued. Unless they are rare and you can find a collector. Yesterday, I bought a cookbook that had retailed for about $30 new. It is in mint condition. I paid $2 for it.
Now I just have to find the room for the new books. It wasn't the only one I bought.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Timboli

You also forgot waiting at traffic lights ...

Reading your ereader while waiting at traffic lights gets very expensive around here. It'll cost $543Cdn for the first offense. While this is aimed at using your phone, it applies to all electronic devices.

Originally Posted by Timboli

and while eating icecream or mowing the lawn.

Hmmm... the first maybe, the second is what I pay the gardeners for. Can I eat the ice cream and read while watching them?

Originally Posted by Timboli

Sent from a paperback using telepathy.

Is this the hi tech version of automatic writing?

I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. Jerome K. Jerome

[meeera]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Reading your ereader while waiting at traffic lights gets very expensive around here. It'll cost $543Cdn for the first offense. While this is aimed at using your phone, it applies to all electronic devices.

...if you're driving a car. I assumed Timboli was a pedestrian.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by meeera

...if you're driving a car. I assumed Timboli was a pedestrian.

Either Or works for me.

Hate to burst your bubble but paper books are already devalued.

No bubble to burst.
Devalued is not the same as worthless.

And to show you how worthless they didn't used to be. I've known a bookseller or three who have deliberately destroyed paperbacks in the past, to drive up the price of hardcover versions. They have also placed them within wall cavities, so they are out of circulation, and the books grow in value.

Shocking but true unfortunately.

No doubt there are ebook equivalents to that.

For example, once released as an ebook, that story should never become unavailable, but that is clearly not the case. Whether an ebook or physical book, they get deliberately taken out of circulation due to a Publisher's agenda. Something I view as immoral and unethical, if no due cause other than profit.

[Timboli]

Following on from that last post of mine, plus referring to earlier ones, I have just written a piece in General Discussions, called Dealing with Amazon can be a right pain. It deals with another issue particularly related to ebooks and not their physical counter-parts. Dreaded country zoning by Publishers ... an error in my situation though.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Timboli

For example, once released as an ebook, that story should never become unavailable, but that is clearly not the case. Whether an ebook or physical book, they get deliberately taken out of circulation due to a Publisher's agenda. Something I view as immoral and unethical, if no due cause other than profit.

Well now I have seen Amazon pull at least two books.
One was for trademark violations (the author was unaware she had used a trademark phrase) and the other was for EPIC copyright infringement. That one had put everyone from Dr. Seuss to the Disney character images in her book.

Now as far as published works being taken down, I know a few that took their books down because they were getting nothing but very well deserved one star reviews.
Those books will not be missed.

[jeffery]

Originally Posted by meeera

...if you're driving a car. I assumed Timboli was a pedestrian.

I used to have a mount on my steering wheel, in my old Isuzu Trooper, for my iPad. Since my hands remained on the wheel, it was impossible for police to say I was actually using a device. all it took was a thumb to change the page.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jeffery

I used to have a mount on my steering wheel, in my old Isuzu Trooper, for my iPad. Since my hands remained on the wheel, it was impossible for police to say I was actually using a device. all it took was a thumb to change the page.

That is criminally irresponsible . I don't give a damn if you kill yourself while engaging in this stupidity. It's the lives of the other people you're likely to kill that are the issue.

[Timboli]

Originally Posted by jeffery

I used to have a mount on my steering wheel, in my old Isuzu Trooper, for my iPad. Since my hands remained on the wheel, it was impossible for police to say I was actually using a device. all it took was a thumb to change the page.

Seriously?

We is all having a joke here, but if you did that for real, you need your head read.

Driving is never a joke, it is deadly serious, and any distraction just adds to the inherent risk that is always there.