Like a Kindle in the wind 2

During these holidays spent between searing back pain and stacks of recycled cardboard boxes waiting to swallow my life, I was lucky enough to have some quality time to pass with my new Kindle.  I am indeed quite happy I finally decided to give it a try, and having it handy will somewhat decrease the sense of desolation best described as  “all my books are in lost in some box” which I will need to live with for the next few months.

While there are still obvious limitations to the eReader concept, the product totally surpassed my expectations, especially in the departments where the Nook immediately failed my hands-on test: ease of use and reliability.

The device worked very well, from the start, the screen is pretty good, although not as good as  the small Sony Pocket Edition I tried, which had higher contrast and whiter background. Still the Kindle is very readable, and the refresh fast enough not to bother me as I page through books, images and documents.  Needless to say I have been tossing at the Kindle every possible format document time to see how it behaves and renders the text and images.

Here is how it scored in various departments:

• It is very easy to grab documents here and there and direct them to the Kindle.  Moving files in and out is a breeze. Mostly I use Calibre, but direct access via file system is very simple and fast for supported file formats. For conversion even where Calibre failed, Amazon’s free service  worked flawlessly. Reviewing papers and book chapters is comfortable, better than on paper as my notes and corrections are saved directly in a clippings file. This could be improved having document-specific clippings (in a special folder) or being able to upload clippings  automatically to the Amazon web interface (right now this works, I am told,  just for Amazon-originated books and documents).
  

• The wireless connection: perfect! I get better reception in my poorly covered area than with Verizon cellphones. And downloading samples or entire books still has to fail, unlike what seems to happen with the Nook. I had already had that seen the problem in person during  a relatively short test at the B&N store. Needless to say it was a major turnoff.
  

• News reading: Pretty good. I used Calibre to download some papers (via RSS feeds)  and I started a trial subscription to an Italian newspaper. Calibre can be left to run somewhere (even a server) with a scheduled job, and mail the RSS-extracted paper (Amazon will charger $.15/mailing though) or can simply download to the USB-connected Kindle for free. The Italian paper is not bad, although it looks like a summary of the real thing. The essentials are there, however, and unlike what I read the articles are almost flawless and well suited  for screen reading.

• Manga/comics: hit & miss. Some look acceptable, others are printed too small for the 6” screen. But the main issues are software rather than hardware: next page and zooming involve too many clicks, that deter from the “natural” reading flow of comics. Sometimes zooming is just not adequate. Additionally, the lack of contrast controls make some of the offerings simply too “pale” to be appreciated. Most likely Kindle DX users have a better experience. What the Kindle is missing so far is better software to handle pictures. Even with limited screen real estate,  most the reading problems could be  solvable with a Comixology-like interface. While most of the commercial comics I have seen so far are just nor worth buying on the Kindle 2 (and the quality of the selection on Amazon is very poor in any case) “illegal” scans work surprisingly  well (in fact the results are more viewable of the “official” editions comics from Amazon). The solution to view well-rendered sequential images is Mangle. Mangle is a total no-brainer: just import a directory of jpeg page scans, outputs in a format optimized for the 6” Kindle.  I have used it to access the vast archive of fan-translated scans available on the web. Another example of open source (and illegal) work made necessary by the inefficiency of the official market.
  

• Music: well, this is not that great, functionality is very limited to playing mp3 files in sequence without even seeing what is being played. But what’s most annoying is the quality, with “skips” and crackles in the music when pages are turned or menus are clicked on. Definitely a “not there yet” for the Kindle”

• Web: this is surprisingly good given the several negative reviews I have read.  I am puzzled: What were people expecting? iPhone quality for free? It’s absolutely great to have quick web access to all sorts of things, from wikipedia to news headlines (hint: use the mobile phone version of the online newspapers), weather or even if your flight is on time. Some preparation might be necessary, of course, so I keep in my documents an updated version of a text file with links to the most useful sites. I just need to open that documents and click, and I’ll be reading the site in a matter of seconds, even with 1-bar coverage. I am totally happy with this, and much rather prefer a limited free service to a pay-for option. People with different priorities and needs that should probably buy a smart phone.
  

Overall: great fun, totally worth the cost and it might even get better once I take it on vacation.
 

Like a Kindle in the wind

‘Twas the week before Xmas, and I gave in to consumerist pressure, and ordered a Kindle2. I had of course immediate buyer’s remorse, went back to the site, but alas, it was already too late to cancel. Amazon is really happy about impulse buying, I guess, the whole Kindle philosophy is based on that. Oh well, I guess I will have to live with my poor choices.

But seriously, I had pondered for a long time about the opportunity to buy a eReader. I love books on paper, I collect them in various editions, read them in every possible place in the house (I’ll spare you the details) and leak coffee on them. Yes, never borrow a book from me, please. And I told everyone I know and their wives that it wasn’t yet the time to shell out the hard-earned dollars for a eReader, given what will happen in 2010 with the current ebook frenzy. Lots of people seem to be on the phone with China to produce new or rebrand old eReaders. Then there’s the Nook, dubbed the “most advanced eReader in the world.” I actually went to a store and tried one, and quickly realized that I needed something perhaps less advanced but that would actually work. I tried the Sony series, great screen (the non-touch version) but no user input. The touch version had great user input but terrible screen.

Then I went to the Apple store. Apple is allegedly working on an eReader killer that will do all sorts of things, some say it will look like a giant iPod Touch. So I tried a small one, for starters. Brilliant! But  the problem is, I don’t want a device that does all sorts of things. I don’t want it, because I have about just about a truckload of them already. They are called PCs, Macs, Laptop, Netbooks. They have brilliant shiny screens of the kind that I stare at all day every day, and I have no intention to spend additional time reading on one. There are nice apps for the iTouch, loads of them. Except my netbook has probably more, and they are all free. And I can use it to write too, with a pretty decent non-virtual keyboard. Sure, the iTouch fits in a pocket. But my pocket is already occupied by my Moleskine and Tradio pen. So no thanks, Apple, and I’m not looking forward to the iMyth tablet either.

So I went back home and I thought about what I really needed:

• A eInk reader, easy on the eyes
• Something I could use for a variety of materials, including:
• Books I read for reference, to check about the state of lit in the genres I might be working on. Very often is stuff that I do not care about having on paper.
• Scientific papers (so far I kept my day job, as it’s often recommended)
• Comics & manga... why not!
• All sorts of stuff I find on the web daily: articles, short stories, webzines, etc.
• News, again, as I'm tired of reading them on shiny screen

I realized that I buy 75% of my books from Amazon anyway (the other 25% being from local bookstores, 15% Independent, 10% big chains, and always on paper). And that I will keep buying the books that I want to keep and share on paper. At that point the choice was pretty easy. I’m still hoping of course that:

• Amazon will support at some point the ePub format
• The choice of newspapers and magazines will expand to include some I actually would like to read
• Amazon.fr will start selling Kindle-format ebooks. Because of the caution France is using in digital publications, and the desire to protect traditional outlets, this might take a while.

The truth is, there will be always a better deal and a better device next year, or even next month. The question is, will this one work for me and do all of the things I listed above? Waiting for the UPS Santa Elves to bring me the answer. Happy Holidays!